West Greeley Baptist Church
January 28th 2001
“Never Can say Goodbye”
Act’s 20:25, Acts 20:37-38, Acts 21:1
By Pastor Mark Hensley
Acts 2025"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.
Acts 20:37 “They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. 1
Acts 21:1 “ After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.
Introduction: The year was 1772, and a Baptist preacher serving a small country church was called to pastor a large, more prestigious church in London, England. As the story goes, John Fawcett delivered his farewell sermon and packed up his family’s earthly possessions, ready to go. It was the tears of his parishioners, helping them load the carts, though, that really got to John and his wife."I cannot bear this! I know not how to go," she said to him. "Nor I, either," he replied "Nor will we go. Unload the wagon, and put everything in the place where it was before." (The Story of Christian Hymnody, by E.E. Ryden, ©1959, Augustana Book Concern, p. 301)
Days after John Faucett wrote these words:
“Blest be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian Love
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above.
Before our Father’s throne we pour our ardent prayers. Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one, Our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual woes, Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows the sympathizing tear.
When we asunder part it gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart, and hope to meet again”.
Transition: Today’s message was inspired as a result of a spirited discussion Sunday night about God’s will and the inevitable saying of goodbye’s. This is not autobiographical! I don’t plan to go anywhere but all of God’s people realize that we must be ready to go as the Master directs! After all, “It’s never the prerogative of the servant to tell the Master what He or she will do” Dr. J.W. McGorman
Today we will look into the heart of the Apostle Paul. We will come away from that experience assured that there’s no fellowship on earth that compares to what Christians can experience.
We will realize, in a message titled “Never can say Goodbye” that we often do, for a time because;
God directs our steps.
God’s love binds our hearts.
God’s call can be painful.
I.God directs our steps. Acts 2025"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.
Paul spoke these words to the elders of the Ephesian
Church. Paul was on his way to Jerusalem, and he believed, with good
reason, that he would never see these men again. He had a solemn
burden on his heart for this church he loved. He believed that God was leading him away from his friends for the rest of his earthly days.
From His initial encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul became acutely aware that the Lord determines the direction of our lives! That’s not to say that everything is predetermined after all we have free will and our choices often cut against the grain of Gods plans. Yet!
God directs our steps! If we will allow Him access to our hearts our wills we can know that His hand rests on our shoulder steering us in the way that is right.
*In November I975, 75 convicts started digging a secret tunnel designed to bring them up at the other side of the wall of Saltillo Prison in northern Mexico. On April 18, 1976, guided by pure genius, they tunneled up into the nearby courtroom in which many of them had been sentenced. The surprised judges returned all 75 to jail. *Campus Life, September 1980.
Left to our own plans we many times turn up in unlikely and UN welcomed places!
Acts 2025"Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Paul’s words were based on his own impressions of mounting opposition to the Gospel message. He had surveyed the scene. Harsh realities were apart of his daily life. The Holy Spirit according to verse 23 had warned Paul that in every city prisons and hardships awaited him!
When was the last time you heard this Pastor or any other call people to faith in Christ with the admonition that prison and hardships would follow their commitment? Well? They can and do!
My dear friends goodbyes are apart of this Christian journey! The Lord who call’s you has the right to determine the span of your service. We so often get caught up in the comparison game. We assume (wrongly) that God will do this or that and when it doesn’t happen in the way we would prescribe, our Faith falters! In the Gospel of John 21:18-23 we see that the desire to compare was no stranger to the Apostle Peter!
“I tell you the truth, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go." Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!" Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, "Lord, who is going to betray you?") When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?"
God directs our steps! Let Him! You’re the “best” you God ever made. Allow Him control of your steps, He will guide though the path is steep and difficult He will guide and that’s enough!
God directs our steps.
II. God’s love binds our hearts. Acts 20:37They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. 1
· *Nobody wanted Paul to leave, but if Paul is compelled by the Spirit, he had better go
· and if we are compelled by the Spirit as well to move on, we had better go!
·
· Paul teaches us quite a bit about saying good-bye
· He’s reminded us to appreciate the time we’ve had together, and to accept the Spirit’s leading *Pastor Darryl Dash, Park Lawn Baptist Church.
Love experienced and shared leads to incredible friendships! And expressions of Love!
In Ernest Gordon’s Miracle on the River Kwai. Their Japanese captors forced the Scottish soldiers, to labor on a jungle railroad, they had degenerated to barbarous behavior, but one afternoon something happened.
"A shovel was missing. The officer in charge became enraged. He demanded that the missing shovel be produced, or else. When nobody in the squadron budged, the officer got his gun and threatened to kill them all on the spot . . . It was obvious the officer meant what he had said. Then, finally, one man stepped forward. The officer put away his gun, picked up a shovel, and beat the man to death. When it was over, the survivors picked up the bloody body and carried it with them to the second tool check. This time, no shovel was missing. Indeed, there had been a miscount at the first check- point.
"The word spread like wildfire through the whole camp. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others! The incident had a profound effect. . . The men began to treat each other like brothers.
"When the victorious Allies swept in, the survivors, human skeletons, lined up in front of their captors . (And instead of attacking their captors) insisted: ’No more hatred. No more killing. Now what we need is forgiveness.’" Don Ratzlaff, The Christian Leader. An innocent man had been willing to die to save the others!
God’s love is reflected in the son an innocent man who was willing to die to save others. Such love shines in everyone who believes! No relationship on earth equals what Christian’s can and should feel for one another! We have learned that:
God directs our steps!
God’s love binds our hearts! Acts 20:37They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. 38What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
III. God’s call can be painful. Acts 21:1 “ After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara.
The call of God requires our obedience. His call can and does lead too many and varied experiences. It can also be painful! After we had torn ourselves away from them,”
I can see Him looking long and deep into faces that had become friendly and receptive to the Gospel. When he had arrived in Ephesus they were strangers. Just as the people we meet for the first time are to us strangers. He must have remembered the awkward introductions and small talk that people have engaged in since humans first learned to communicate!
Paul’s eyes searched the faces of his friends and remembered! How could he forget those Ephesian Christians? He had marveled at their Love for one another. And now that love was reaching out to him through a thousand different memories. Christ’s love serene...enticing….genuine had bridged acquaintances and made them friends!
*I happened on an interview with Dr. Adrian Roger’s long time Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis Tennessee. Dr. Rogers is summing up what made his years of ministry there possible:
“If you were to put Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, anybody else out there and let them speak to the same people three times a week for 27 years they would be climbing the walls to get out if you are drawing from your own well; I don’t care who you are. The reason I preach the Bible is: first, I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The Bible is a bottomless well. So I’m not smart enough to preach anything else. The other reason is I am smart enough not to preach anything else, because I know that that has the staying power. My people love me today; I don’t want to say boastfully, but I know this is true: they love me, they come. This place is packed, we have run out of room. It is not a testimony to the man but to the Bible. If I stop preaching the Bible, these folks will saturate this place with absence. They come for the Word of God. They want it to be warm, they want it to be understandable and applicable. But I have learned that there is power in the preaching of the Word of God.” Dr. Rogers has learned that:
God directs our steps. Trust Him!
God’s love binds our hearts. Were to Love, as He loves!
God’s call can be painful…
“After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea and sailed straight to Cos. The next day we went to Rhodes and from there to Patara”.
You see Cos, and Rhodes and Patara await all of us…His call can come and leave this place or any other a warm memory.
Appeal: Allow Him to direct your steps!
Allow His love to bind you to fellow believers.
See through the pain to a promised city…and home!
* Remember, Christians never say goodbye for the final time!
