KEY SCRIPTURE:  Acts 20:24 “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

 Apostle Paul acknowledges that the Holy Spirit testifies to him that afflictions and persecutions await him in Jerusalem. In verse 24, he declares that he is not moved by the situation that lay before him.

  What made Apostle Paul so fearless and not worry about his life? Paul was a spiritual man. He was spiritually minded. If he had been carnal, he would have considered the threat to his life. Many Christian men have been engrossed with getting wealth and living by the comforts of this world. They live as if there is no heaven. A man of such persuasion cannot talk like Paul did. Carnality is the cause of a lack of commitment to the cause of Christ.

 Apostle Paul says it is his goal to finish his course with joy and the ministry that he has received from the Lord Jesus Christ. What is the ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to us?  Our ministry as people of God is to testify to the gospel of the grace of God and to keep at it till we meet our Lord. Our ministry is not to make wealth. The wealth is a means to fulfil the real mission. It is not to make a name for ourselves. There is a deceptive spirit that has taken over many servants of God.  That is the idea of the word BREAKTHROUGH. This idea of breakthrough to many means having a big ministry that brings a lot of money, and life becomes very comfortable for the man of God. In Apostle Paul’s testimony, he says his mission and focus are to testify to the grace of God. Winning the world for Christ is our breakthrough. A breakthrough in the concept of Paul is reaching many with the gospel of God’s grace. The outcome, like that of wealth, should be very secondary. Matthew 6:33 says it all. ” Seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”

 Dear fellow Christian and specifically servants of God, we have been enlisted by our master into his harvest field. We are his labourers. The earthly, temporary rewards should never get our attention. What he has called us to do should be our goal. Finishing it must be our joy. This earth is a temporal place, yet our role and actions determine our ultimate eternal state.  But our success is to be fulfilling the master’s tasks, not how many members we have and the affluence that goes with it. Europe is being populated by Muslim immigrants. Some places give no liberties to the preaching of the gospel. Our breakthrough is to conquer all these places with the gospel of the grace of God.  Arise, O giants of the Spirit of God, wash off every scale from your eyes, and win for our master.

   PRAYER

Dear heavenly father, I refuse to be carnal but to commit my life to pleasing you and to finish the race and mission with Joy. Make my forehead as hard as a flint so nothing would hinder me from overcoming it.

 FURTHER STUDY:

 Philippians 3:12-14 “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”