Ok.  This one starts out funny, tragic, then funny.  Paul is going on and on and on.  So much so that a young man sitting in the window falls asleep and falls out of the window.  He dies.

Paul rushes down, says a prayer and the man comes back to life.  Then he goes back upstairs, eat, and continues preaching until morning!

The man could talk.

But it was his last time and he knew it.  He was trying to convey to them everything he wanted to impart.  It was his good-bye.

It was a sacred time.

After this, Paul traveled to his next city.  He was once again saying good-bye to them.  And in it we see how he lived.

1) He served with humility

serving the Lord with all humility and with tears (Acts 20:19)

2) He did not back down just because of severe hardship and opposition

in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents.  You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house (v. 19-20)

3) He preached faith but also repentance

 I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus (v. 21)

4) Even though he knew suffering was ahead, he kept going

 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there.  I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me.

5) He stayed on the task that he was given by God

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace. (v. 22-23).

6) He proclaimed the whole will of God to them

For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. (v. 27)

7) He never stopped warning them of false teachers from without, but even form within

Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.  I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.  So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears (v. 28-31).

8) He committed them to God’s grace

 “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified (v. 32)

9) He worked hard on the side to supply his own needs and the needs of his companions

I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing.  You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions.  In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (v. 33-35).

10) He never stopped praying for them and with them

When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed (v. 36)

What an incredible model of a pastor’s and evangelist’s life.  There is nothing that he did not give.  He gave his body for persecution, his heart that was often hated, his spirit before God, and everything in him.

Which one of these stood out to you?