Acts:20 The Wolf of Benjamin - Dadcast Timonspodcast

Welcome to another podcast. Dad went through Acts 20 and preached a sermon. Please enjoy!Paul in Macedonia and Greece After the uproar ceased, (this refers to the riot in Ephesus in the last chapter) Paul sentfor the disciples, and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. There he spent three months, and when a plot was made against him by the Jews as he was about to set sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia. Sopater the Berean,son of Pyrrhus, accompanied him; and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus; and Gaius of Derbe, and Timothy; and the Asians, Tychicus and Trophimus. These are probably the leaders from the churches that Paul planted in these cities. It is possible that they are carrying the donations of the Gentile churches to the impoverished church in Jerusalem (see the prophecy of Agabus Acts 11:28). [5] These went on ahead and were waiting for us at Troas, [6] but we sailed away from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas, where we stayed for seven days. It seems that Paul and those with him who were Torah observant stayed at Philippi to celebrate Passover. As a faithful Jew you would want to observe the week long feast of Passover. The Gentile leaders moved on ahead to Troas and waited there for Paul to arrive a few days later. This is because the Gentile believers were not obligated to stay for the Passover. Remember the council at Jerusalem. Jewish believers who follow Jesus the Messiah are to remaindistinctly Jewish; while Gentile believers who follow Jesus only need to adhere to the four restrictions outlined in Acts 15:20 “to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.” Eutychus Raised from the Dead [7] On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight. Note that these Gentile Christians didn't meet on the Jewish sabbath to worship, but on Sunday, the first day of the week. Again, they are not obligated to mimic Jewish customs. If you as a Gentile want to be Torah observant that's fine. However, some denominationstoday require that their members keep the Jewish sabbath and other dietary laws. This demand is not biblical according to Colossians 2:16-17:Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
The Mosaic laws are a beautiful foreshadow of the reality of Christ. They are not meant to be treacherous, they point to the Messiah. Gentiles should not scoff at them and Jews should not make them a requirement for the salvation of the Gentiles. [8] There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. [9] And a young man named Eutychus, (his name means lucky) sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer.
And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. [10] But Paul went down and bent over him, and taking him in his arms, said, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”
Paul echoes the miracles of Elijah and Elisha. Consider the miracle of raisingthe dead throughout Scripture. Elijah raised the son of the widow at Zaraphath. Elijah took him to his upper room and stretched out over the boy three times and life came back into the boy (1Kings 17).
Similarly, Elisha raised the young son of the Shunamite woman. She laid him on Elisha's bed in the upper room. Elisha stretched out over him twice before bringing him back to life (2 Kings 4).Several years later there was a funeral going on where the body of the deceased man was thrown into Elisha‘s tomb. When the dead man’s