Well, good morning, everyone. What a privilege it is to be here today and to accompany you all as you sing. I've asked Kristen to read two verses from God's Word, and then we're going to respond by filling this room with harmony and singing the songs of heaven. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb saying, "Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed." Let's stand. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee.

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the world as we sing, cherubim and seraphim, all who come before thee, who were and are to come before thee.

Holy, holy, holy, though the darkness hide thee, though the eye of sin foment, thy glory may not see, holy thou art, holy, there is none beside thee, perfect in power, in love and purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all thy works shall praise thy name, in earth and sky and sea.

Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty, God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, early in the morning, our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the world as we sing, cherubim and seraphim, all who come before thee.

Reaching out to those in darkness, I call to war, to love the captive soul, not to rage against the captor, and with the sword that makes the wounded whole, we will fight with the Lord, and Christ will have the prize for which he died, an inheritance of nations. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, all the saints adore thee, casting down their golden crowns around the world as we sing, cherubim and seraphim, all who come before thee.

Hear and come, with strength in every strife, give grace for every hurdle, that we may run with faith to win the prize of servant good and faithful. Let saints of old still line the way, retelling trials of His grace. We hear and call, and hunger for the day, when through Christ we stand in glory.

Speak, O Lord, as we come to you, to receive the food of your holy word. Speak in your truth, and in deep in us, shape and fashion us in your likeness, that the light of Christ might be seen today in our acts of love and our deeds of faith.

Speak, O Lord, and fulfill in us all your purposes for your lowly. Teach us, Lord, full obedience, holy reverence, true humility. Test our thoughts and our attitudes in the radiance of your purity. Cause our faith to rise, cause our eyes to see your majestic love and authority. Words of power that can never fail, let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds. Help us grasp the heights of your pleasure for us. Truths found and shaped from the dawn of time that will echo down through eternity. And by grace we'll stand on your promises, and by faith we'll walk as you walk with us. Speak, O Lord, till your church is built, and the earth is filled with your glory.

Speak, O Lord, till your church is built, and the earth is filled with your glory. Well, good morning. Good morning, men. And thank you so much to Keith and Kristen Getty for leading us in worship through song. What a blessing they have been to the church, and just such a joy to hear you men singing those great hymns of praise to our Savior.

Please take your Bibles and turn to Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. My assignment this morning is to consider the connection between missions and pastoral training. Between missions and pastoral training, the raising up of the next generation of faithful leaders, specifically through formal training in pastoral training centers, Bible institutes, and seminaries.

The connection between all of that and missions. To consider that topic, we're going to look at the example of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 19 and in Acts chapter 20. And I'd like to begin this morning by reading a section of Paul's address to the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20, verses 28 to 35.

This will be where our message will conclude this morning, but I'd like to begin by reflecting on this text. There Paul tells the Ephesian elders at Miletus, "Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

For I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock, and from among your own selves. There will be men who arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them. Be watchful, therefore, remembering how night and day, for a period of three years, I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among those who have been sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or clothes. You yourselves know how these hands ministered to my own needs and to those who were with me, for in everything I showed you that by laboring in this manner you should help the weak.

And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." In the year 1559, it was June of that year, John Calvin and his fellow ministers dedicated a new building in the city of Geneva. It was a building that had been constructed specifically for the purpose of education, and part of that building was used to actually train young people, but a primary purpose of that building was to continue the work of training pastors, something which John Calvin and his fellow ministers were deeply committed to.

That building became known as the Geneva Academy. There are some historians who, looking back on the Reformation, might accuse someone like John Calvin of not being very missions-minded because his ministry was focused primarily on Geneva, but that would not be accurate. Calvin was a Great Commission Christian, and he fulfilled that Great Commission primarily by training the refugees who came from all over Europe to Geneva, fleeing persecution, and there under Calvin's tutelage and his fellow ministers in Geneva, through the Geneva Academy, these men were trained and then sent back to the nations from which they had come.

We know from the register of the consistory, which was the church council there in Geneva, of at least 88 names of men who were trained in Geneva and then sent back home. And yet the reality is, scholars estimate, that there were hundreds more whose names were not recorded because it was simply too dangerous, their ministry was too risky to actually publish their names.

In the 1560s, it's estimated that there were more than 2,000 Protestant Reformed churches in France alone, and most of those churches were pastored by men who had been trained under Calvin in Geneva. Calvin's academy in Geneva earned itself the nickname "The School of Death." I'm thinking about using that at the Master's Seminary.

The School of Death, but not because the curriculum was so hard or the professors were so unrelenting, but instead because, although the curriculum was rigorous and the professors did hold a high standard, after those men were educated and deployed, the places to which they went were so dangerous that they were risking the very real possibility of persecution, imprisonment, and in some cases, even martyrdom.

And yet through this approach, John Calvin sent pastors to places like Poland and Holland and England and France. Three centuries after Calvin's academy, in the year 1855, there was a man named Thomas Medhurst who wanted to study theology, and he began meeting with his local church pastor to do so.

That engagement was so enticing to other men in the congregation that soon there was a group of men. And in just a few years, Charles Spurgeon found himself teaching an entire pastor's college. By the time he died in 1892, over 900 men had graduated from Spurgeon's pastor's college. And the results were exponential.

Over 200 churches were planted in England. But even more than that, although Spurgeon's ministry was focused on London and on Britain, graduates of Spurgeon's pastor's college went all around the world. They took the gospel to every continent on the globe, with the exception of Antarctica. These examples serve as historic illustrations of the connection between pastoral training and missions.

And of course it should not be surprising to us that there is such a connection, because of course the Great Commission involves the advancement of the church, and faithful churches need faithful leaders. And so training and proper preparation is of course required. But the question before us this morning is, is there a biblical precedent for that kind of training?

Is there somewhere in the New Testament where we see something equivalent to a pastoral training center or even a seminary? I would argue that there is, and it's found in Acts chapter 19, just one chapter earlier. Acts chapter 19, specifically in verses 8 through 10 of that particular text.

And what may seem to us as almost a parenthetical comment by Luke as he records Paul on Paul's third missionary journey, is actually a very important part of the development of Paul's missionary work. And as we will see, it would have exponential impact. In Acts chapter 19, Paul finds himself, as I mentioned, on his third missionary journey in Ephesus.

In verses 1 through 7, he encounters some former disciples of John the Baptist. He introduces them to the one to whom John pointed, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 8, Luke records that Paul entered the synagogue. And he continued to speak out boldly regarding the gospel for a period of three months.

He was reasoning and persuading with them in the synagogue regarding the kingdom of God. And we imagine that Paul's messages over those three months were very similar to how he preached in the synagogue of Antioch of Pisidia on his first missionary journey in Acts 13. How he used the Old Testament to show those Jewish congregants that Jesus is the Messiah to whom the prophets pointed.

How he explained the historic truths of the gospel. That Jesus lived a perfect life, that he died a substitutionary death on the cross, and that he rose again in victory and has ascended to the Father's right hand. And then I'm sure Paul continued by explaining the implications of that truth, even as he did in Acts 13, 38 and 39, where he explains that through faith in Christ, you can have what the law of Moses could never give you, forgiveness and justification.

For three months, this is Paul's message in the synagogue in Ephesus. And in addition to those 12 disciples of John the Baptist who are now disciples of Jesus Christ, we can only imagine that there were many more who were saved through Paul's ministry. And yet, verse 9, there is opposition.

"When some were becoming hardened, when they were no longer willing to listen, they were not believing," Luke says. "They began to speak evil of the way." Paul withdrew, he took the disciples with him, and he began reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. Encountering opposition and conflict, the Apostle Paul takes these new believers, at least a dozen of them, probably many more, maybe two, three dozen men, and he begins to disciple them on a daily basis in this lecture hall belonging to some local lecturer, a man named Tyrannus, which of course means tyrant.

It's interesting to think about that lecture hall where Paul met daily with these disciples. When would Paul have had access to it? We don't know if he rented it or if it was given to him, but it seems based on the climate of Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey, where business operated in the cool of the morning or in the cool of the evening, that Paul likely would have had access to this lecture hall in the middle of the day, in the warm hours of the early afternoon.

In fact, there is a 4th century scribal note in a manuscript of the Western text that actually suggests that Paul had access to this lecture hall from the 5th hour to the 10th hour. If sunrise represents hour one around 6 a.m., the 5th hour to the 10th hour would have been from around 11 a.m.

to around 4 p.m. If that scribal note is even close to accurate, that means that Paul would have had access to this lecture hall for roughly five hours a day to meet with these students, and Luke says daily, so we can assume perhaps five to six days a week.

That's 25 to 30 hours of instruction from Paul to these disciples. And look at what Luke says in Acts 19, verse 10, "This took place for two years." If we're even close to estimating the amount of time that Paul invested in these students, 30 hours a week for two years, that's over 3,000 hours of instruction.

I'm making the case this morning that the school of Tyrannus, which became the lecture hall of Paul, sets a precedent for seminary training, for pastoral training, for the intentional and formal investment and preparation of men who represent the next generation of spiritual leadership in the church. And look at then the impact of this training center here in Ephesus.

Luke continues in verse 10 to tell us that as a result of this, all who were in Asia--that's a reference to Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey-- all who were in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. This was exponential impact. Because as Paul trained up these men, he sent them out.

Commentators believe that Epaphras, for example, who went and planted the church in Colossae, was likely trained here in Ephesus under Paul at the school of Tyrannus. Others suggest that all seven of the seven churches of Revelation, except for Ephesus, the other six were planted by men who trained under Paul here at the school of Tyrannus.

And even in Ephesus itself, if we were to look a little bit farther down in verse 21 and following in Acts chapter 19, we would find that even in Ephesus itself, this training is having massive impact. So much impact that so many people are becoming Christians that the local economy is suffering.

Not because Christians cause the economy to suffer, but because Christians don't buy idols. And when you're a silversmith making idols, Christianity hurts your pocketbook. This seminary was, or this training center, was, as I mentioned, founded by Paul on his third missionary journey. I'm going to propose that maybe we can call it the Third Missionary Seminary, or TMS for short.

Now the question I want us to -- that may have been a little bit of eisegesis. The question I want us to consider as we continue thinking about this connection between missions and pastoral training is the focus of Paul's training. The focus of Paul's training. We can certainly speculate as to what the curriculum was in terms of the instruction that Paul gave.

While he was in Ephesus on his third missionary journey, Paul wrote 1 Corinthians. And so likely all of the topics addressed in 1 Corinthians were things he discussed with the men at the school of Tyrannus. He also wrote 2 Corinthians. And so those same truths, even the heartaches of ministry, Paul likely talked about with his disciples there in Ephesus.

Shortly after leaving, he would write the book of Romans. So even that truth is probably all part of the curriculum that Paul imparted to his students as he met with them daily in this school. We know a little bit more from Acts 20 that Paul will say, "I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole purpose of God." And it's in Acts 20, as we continue to think about the focus of Paul's pastoral training here at this school in Ephesus, that I think we gain even more insight into, again, the connection between pastoral training and missions and really what it is that God calls us to do as we seek to raise up the next generation of faithful leaders.

After the riot in Acts 19, Acts 20, verse 1, Paul leaves Ephesus. He goes across the Aegean Sea to Macedonia. He visits the Philippians. He goes down to Greece. He spends three months in Corinth. He then goes back to Macedonia and then back across the Aegean Sea. And in Acts 20, verses 6 through 12, he finds himself in Troas.

It's there in Troas, late at night, that Paul is speaking in a upper room. He's going long. He's at a shepherd's conference. And you have a young man named Eutychus there sitting in the windowsill, and Eutychus just can't stay awake. Some of you know how Eutychus feels even this morning.

Thank you, brothers, for praying for me. I'm assuming that's what you're doing. And, of course, it didn't end well for Eutychus until it did end well because Paul, of course, came and raised Eutychus back to life. And then Paul and his traveling companions, including Luke and Timothy, they make their way further south.

Paul wants to see his brothers in Ephesus one more time. He wants to see the students into whose lives he had poured so much time and so much energy. But he needs to get to Jerusalem, and he wants to get there quickly. He wants to get there in time for the Feast of Pentecost, and so he doesn't want to stay in Ephesus.

And so he sails past Ephesus, and he comes to Miletus. And in Miletus, he sends for the Ephesian elders, and they meet him in Miletus. And starting in verse 18 of chapter 20, Paul addresses the Ephesian elders. And this is where we're going to spend our time this morning as we look at Paul's address to his former students.

In fact, I would argue, insofar as the school of Tyrannus in Ephesus represents the first seminary, that this address by Paul to the Ephesian elders represents the first seminary graduation address. This is Paul's charge to his former students, because those men who trained at the school of Tyrannus, many of them were sent out, but many of them stayed.

And the men who stayed were trained up to be elders and leaders in the church in Ephesus. And so as we reflect on Paul's address to the Ephesian elders, this is Paul giving the first graduation charge. And it is particularly poignant because Paul tells them, verse 25, that they are never going to see him again this side of heaven.

His training is complete in terms of his instruction to them, and now it's time for them to take what they've learned and to employ it in ministry. Now, like a good graduation address, Paul will spend half of this address looking back on what it was like when he was with them, and he'll spend the other half looking forward as he instructs them to be faithful in the future.

Commencement is both an end and a beginning, and that's true here for Paul with his former students. This is the end of their training. It's the beginning of the rest of their ministry, where Paul will not be physically present, and yet they have been well-prepared, well-equipped. These verses, verses 18 to 35, Luke's record of Paul's address there to the Ephesian elders, they can really be divided into two big categories.

First, Paul's example in verses 18 to 27, and then Paul's exhortation in verses 28 to 35. Paul's example, and then Paul's exhortations. Last night here at the Shepherd's Conference, we had a prospective student event, and it was wonderful, just a joy to meet men whose hearts are on fire to serve the Lord.

And there was a young man last night who asked me this question. I don't know if that was apropos. He said, "What are the seminary's expectations for its graduates? What are your expectations for your graduates?" Well, I was ready for that question because I've been thinking about this passage.

So maybe I can give you an idea of the answer I gave him based on what comes next in our message this morning. But I really think here we have Paul expressing his expectations for his graduates. After 3,000 potentially hours of apostolic instruction, of seminary on steroids, these men are ready.

Now Paul is charging them with his expectations of what they must be and what they must do. And in particular, as he reflects on his example, he's going to emphasize the character that they must display. And then as he gives exhortations, he's going to emphasize the convictions that they must possess.

Character and convictions. And what I think is so interesting about this, because this is Paul's final lesson, or at least his final in-person lesson to these former students here at Ephesus, he knows they have the content. He knows they have the information. He knows they have the theology. They have the head knowledge.

He doesn't spend his time now talking about information or methodology. He spends his time instead focusing on character and convictions. Because he assumes that if they're men of character, they will stay faithful to the truth. And if they are men of conviction, they will live out that truth in a way that is consistent with being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

So let's talk then about Paul's example of character in verses 18 to 27. Paul begins by noting the fact that the whole time he had been with them, while he was in Asia, this is verse 18, then verse 19, that he had been serving the Lord. And this gets to our first sub-point under character, and that is Paul's mindset for ministry.

His mindset was a mindset of service. His motivation was a motivation of service. In fact, while Paul was with these Ephesians, while he was meeting with them daily in the school of Tyrannus, when he was writing 2 Corinthians, did he not say to the Corinthians, "We make it our ambition, whether at home or absent, "to be pleasing to Christ." And here we see Paul living that out, that he had come to Asia Minor and to Ephesus, and they themselves knew that Paul's heart for them was a heart of serving the Lord.

And that service to the Lord manifest itself in three specific ways, as it says there in verse 19. It was serving the Lord with all humility, and with tears, and with trials. Trials that had come upon him through the plots of the Jews. I can't help but think of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11, again, written right around this time, where Paul outlines all of the things that he suffered, being beaten innumerable times, and scourged, and shipwrecked, and imprisoned, starving, and cold, and yet he says at the end of all of it, it was the care of the churches that was the real weight on his soul.

And even in chapter 12, the thorn in the flesh. And here Paul says to these Ephesian elders, "Hey, remember, when I was with you, "my mindset was a mindset of service, "and it was selfless service." That's what humility is. "And it was sincere service." That's what the tears represent.

"And it was sacrificial service, enduring many trials." I do think it's interesting in this text, I don't think of Paul as a guy who cried very much, I think of him as a rough and tough kind of missionary, and he certainly was that. But you'll notice in verse 19, the word "tears," and in verse 31, the word "tears," and in verse 37, the word "tears." There's a lot of crying happening at this graduation ceremony.

Because this is brotherly affection of lives shared in the foxholes of ministry, the kind of kinship that you men know because you have those kinds of relationships, and Paul looks at these men. These men are not some just product of a program. These men are his life. He's personally invested to the point of weeping for these men.

Not only is his mindset a mindset of service, but you'll notice that his message, secondly, his message in verses 20 and 21 was a message of convictional courage. He says, "I did not shrink back from declaring to you "anything that was profitable, "but in public and from house to house, "I taught you," and in verse 21, he emphasizes the fact that he was fulfilling the solemn testimony to both Jews and Greeks that God had given him to declare a message of repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

See, Paul had the right mindset, and he also had the right message. He was on point. He was not off script. He was speaking courageously. He did not shrink back, and he was speaking continually in private, house to house, in public, in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, to everybody, Jews, Greeks, and he was speaking clearly because he knew the message that he must communicate.

This simple principle alone would save so many seminaries and institutions from going down the wrong path if they would just have convictional clarity with regard to the message that they are to proclaim and the message that they are to instill in the lives of their students, and so Paul says, "Remember, my mindset "was a mindset of humble service.

"My message was a message of convictional clarity "aimed at the gospel of Jesus Christ." Thirdly, verses 22 to 24, Paul's mission. It was a mission of enduring obedience, a mission of enduring obedience. In verses 22 and 23, Paul talks about the fact that he's on his way to Jerusalem.

He's bound in the Spirit, on his way to Jerusalem. He doesn't know what's going to await him there. All he knows is that everywhere he goes, prophets through the Holy Spirit reveal to him that chains and afflictions await. Paul doesn't need to know what's going to happen next to know what his mission is, because verse 24, he says, "But I make my life of no account.

"I do not hold it as dear to myself." Brothers, this is self-denial. And Paul says, "I die to myself "so that I might finish the course." That's his mission, that I might finish the course, that I might be faithful as a steward to the ministry that I have received from the Lord Jesus himself, a ministry that focuses on the declaration of the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul's not confused about his mission. He doesn't know what's going to happen to him when he gets to Jerusalem. He knows it's probably not going to be a lot of fun for him. But he doesn't care, because the mission is everything, and he's ready to serve. "I die to myself so that I might finish my course, "so that I might complete and finish "the ministry that I have received." It is a stewardship, and Paul is a good steward.

And here we have, in response to his mission, enduring obedience. And then fourth, verses 25 to 27, his measure of success, his measure of success. Paul's mindset was one of humble service. His message was one of convictional clarity. His mission, at least in terms of his response, was one of enduring obedience.

And now we have his measure of success, in verses 25 to 27. In verse 25, he tells them, "You are those among whom I preached the kingdom of God, "and now I will no longer see your faces "this side of heaven." This is a true graduation, in the sense of, once this service is over, and I get on that boat, I will never see you again until glory.

And yet Paul's response to that, recognizing their training is complete, his instruction is finished for them, in terms of in-person training. Verse 26, he says, "But I have a clear conscience. "I'm declaring to you that I am innocent "of the blood of all men. "My conscience is clear before God." Paul, how can you say that?

Because, verse 27, "I did not shrink back from declaring to you "the whole purpose of God." How did Paul measure success? We already know from Acts 19, there were those in Ephesus who rejected the message. There were those in Ephesus who rioted because they hated the message so much.

We know from the subsequent verses here in Acts 20 that Paul knows that some of his students will defect. We know that to be true from 2 Timothy and other places in Paul's writings that not everyone he trained stayed true. So how does Paul measure success? He measures success in terms of courageous faithfulness.

Courageous faithfulness. He did not shrink back, but he was faithful to accomplish his mission, which was to declare as a herald the truth with which he had been entrusted. Amen. There are so many in our evangelical world today who are absolutely and totally confused about God's standard of success.

There are so many who think that success is measured in terms of numbers, numbers of people on a Sunday, numbers of followers on a social media platform, numbers of likes and subscribes. But when you stand before Christ, he's not going to say to you, "Well done, my good and popular servant." I heard one pastor once compare the ministries of Jonah and Jeremiah.

I thought it was a helpful comparison because if you asked the question, "Who had the more successful ministry, Jonah or Jeremiah?" How would you answer that question? Jonah had more converts. Jonah had the numbers. Jonah had the results. But Jeremiah was faithful. And so when we look at Paul's example in these verses, verses 18 to 27, what we see is an example in terms of mindset of humble service, an example in terms of his message of clarity and conviction, an example in terms of his mission of enduring obedience, and an example in terms of his measure of success, that he measured success in terms of faithfulness to proclaim the truth, not results.

It was faithfulness to God, and therefore his measure of success was vertical, not horizontal. Well, that brings us to the passage that we began with this morning, verses 28 to 35. Paul's exhortations. Paul's exhortations. As Paul has looked back, he has recounted his example, and it is the weight of his faithful example that gives weight to his fervent exhortations.

And Paul, now having invested, as he will say here, three years of his life, two of which in the school of Tyrannus, into these men, his former students, he says to them, "As we look forward, "there are three convictions for ministry "that must define your ministries "if you are to be faithful ministers, "faithful shepherds of the flock of God." What are these convictions?

Number one, guard. Guard the sheep. Verses 28 to 30. Paul now shifts the focus from his example and looking back to their faithfulness and looking forward, and he says to them, "You men know a lot. "You have good doctrine. "I know I trained you. "You know what you need to know.

"The question is, will you be who you need to be? "That's character. "And now, will you minister in a way that honors Christ? "That's conviction." So number one, guard. Guard the sheep. "Be on guard for yourselves and for the flock "among whom the Holy Spirit made you overseers "to shepherd the church of God "which he purchased with his own blood." Why are they to guard the sheep?

Well, verse 28 gives us two reasons. Because of the position in which God has placed them and because of the purchase which God made. And of course, verse 28 is one of the clearest testimonies, attestations in the New Testament of the deity of Christ because for Paul to say that God shed his own blood is a reference, of course, to our Lord Jesus Christ, God in human flesh.

Paul's point here is that the church is precious and because the church is precious, so precious to God, that he would sacrifice his own son on her behalf to redeem for himself a people for his own possession and he entrusts that to us. He is the chief shepherd. We are under shepherds.

To be honest, even thinking of ourselves as under shepherds and the flock as mere sheep maybe sometimes tempts us to think that we are somehow above the flock. We also are sheep. Maybe a good illustration would be that we are like sheep dogs. We're like sheep dogs. We can be useful to the master if we honor the master and if we obey the master, but we are more like the sheep than we are like the shepherd.

Number of years ago, seven and a half years ago actually, around Christmas time, we got our kids a dog. Against our better judgment, we did. Very, very cute little cocker spaniel puppy and she's still a very cute little dog. Other than being a cute little dog, she has no value.

She is incredibly lazy. She just lays around the house all day except in those moments where we accidentally leave the front door open and then she runs into the street. So she's lazy but also prone to straying. She's scared of everything. Even when she has people that we know who come over to the house, she runs into the other room leaving a little puddle behind.

And I kid you not, but even though I know she loves our family, she would trade all of us in a heartbeat for a piece of pepperoni. So she's lazy, she's prone to straying, she's scared of everything, and she's easily corruptible. Men, don't be like my dog. I have a friend who works in the canine unit for the Los Angeles Police Department.

He just got back a few months ago from San Antonio where he was training a police dog. Four months of training. His dog is way better than my dog. Men, that's the kind of sheepdog that we are to be, the highly trained, on guard, ready to act, not the lazy, corruptible, easy, distracted, "Oh, I'm cute." Paul goes on, "So we are to guard the flock because of the position in which we've been placed and because of the price that was paid for the church." Paul goes on to say that he knows that after his departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.

"Even from among your own selves, men will arise, speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after them." And this is one of the most sobering texts in all of the New Testament, in my opinion, that Paul, after spending three years with these men, his former students in whom he invested so much, we saw his sacrifice in verses 18 and 19, he's invested his very life in these men, and now he tells them that, "I know that even from among you, there are going to be those who arise, who lead the sheep astray." And going back up to verse 28, what did Paul say?

He says, "Be on guard first." For whom? For yourselves. And this is why, because if you are to protect the flock, you must first protect your own heart. It was Robert Murray McShane who said that, "The greatest need of my people is my own personal holiness." Because when you watch your life and your doctrine closely, as Paul told Timothy, in 1 Timothy 4:16, as you watch your life and your doctrine closely, you will be able to save not only yourself, but those under your spiritual care.

And Paul here recognizes the great threat that ministerial failure represents. When men defect, when men fail, the results are catastrophic for the flock. So guard yourselves. Guard yourselves. I was having a conversation with a couple of the faculty of the seminary just a couple of days ago, and we were speaking very soberly about examples of men who have graduated from the Master's Seminary and then, to our great sadness, have defaulted morally or defected doctrinally.

And thankfully, by God's grace, those are in the minority of seminary graduates from our school. And yet we look at the Apostle Paul and we recognize that even Paul had men in whom he had invested who did not finish the course, who did not run the race without defaulting and being disqualified.

You can think of some of the examples in the New Testament. Judas is probably the most well-known, who defected for the love of money, or Demas, who defected for the love of this world, or Diotrephes, who defected for the love of self. Paul has other names on that list, Fijelus, Hermogenes, Philetus, Hymenaeus.

It's quite likely that those men also trained in Ephesus. This is going to date me, but... Do you guys remember motivational posters? This is back before internet memes were a thing. Motivational posters were like internet memes, except you couldn't swipe them away because they were hanging on the wall.

And it was a picture of some inspirational picture, and then underneath there was a title and then a slogan. And the title and the slogan were supposed to be motivating, and they were hung up all across office spaces around the nation in an attempt to entice workers to be excited about their jobs.

About 20 years ago, I came across some motivational poster parodies. There was a company that produced these. They're still around. They're called Demotivators. And, I mean, it was things like a picture of a gear, and underneath it would say "worth," and then the caption would read, "Just because you're necessary doesn't mean you're important." One of my favorites was a guy dressed up like he was going to run a marathon, but he obviously hadn't done that yet, and he was laying down on a park bench.

The title was "Procrastination." "Hard work sometimes pays off later, but laziness always pays off right now." I mention those because there was one more that I saw, and this one actually cut me to the quick. This one wasn't funny. This one was sobering. It was a picture of a ship that had obviously crashed into a reef and was now half-submerged in the ocean.

It was a picture of a shipwreck. The title underneath said "Mistakes," and then the slogan read this, "It may be that the purpose of your life is merely to serve as a warning for others." Men, don't be on that list. Guard yourselves. Guard your sheep. Guard your hearts. Guard the truth.

Finish your course like Paul did, and hear the Savior say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." Well, there's a second conviction in the next verses, verses 31 and 32, and that conviction is that we must also guide the sheep. This is the positive side. Guard the sheep is keep away all of the things that are bad.

Guide the sheep is lead them in the truth. Guard the sheep, verses 28 to 30. Guide the sheep, verses 31 and 32. And even guiding includes both a negative aspect and a positive aspect. The negative aspect, verse 31, be watchful, and remember what Paul had warned you about. Remember that I, for night and day, for a period of three years, that I admonished each one with tears, verse 31.

This is intense. Be watchful and avoid error. And then verse 32, "And now I commend you to God and His Word, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among those who are sanctified." You see, we're not only guard dogs, we're guide dogs for God's people.

And as we seek to lead the sheep and feed the sheep, we are not only to protect them from outside influence, we are to take them to the source of truth. So be watchful, verse 31. Remember apostolic admonition and warning. Does not the entire New Testament warn us about false teachers, starting with Jesus in Matthew 7?

"Beware of false prophets who come to you dressed in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Be watchful, be vigilant. I love even Paul's personal anecdote, that his pastoral ministry to these students was that which was 24/7, night and day, for a period of three years. I did not cease to admonish you and to do it again with tears.

This is not an academic exercise for Paul. This is life. And yet, Paul recognizes that he must point them to the truth. That ultimately, in Paul's absence, as he leaves them and goes now to Jerusalem, that he entrusts them to the care of God and His word. The word of grace, which is able to build you up, the source of edification, of spiritual growth, of spiritual nourishment, of spiritual life.

All that we need for life and godliness is revealed in its pages. Men, if you want to be faithful, not only guard the flock from error, but also teach them the truth. And as you do that, you will edify them and you will ensure for them that they will have a part in the inheritance that is ours in Christ Jesus.

For we are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. And in Him, we have the hope of eternal life, of forgiveness, and of being in His presence for all of eternity. And this is something that is shared among all of those whom He has sanctified through His work on the cross and whom He is sanctifying through His work in the scriptures, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And one day, who we are positionally and who we are becoming practically will be our reality in both spheres. For we will be holy when we see Him. For we will be like Him when we see Him as He is. And let us not then neglect the work of guiding.

There's only one true compass, one true source, one true guide. It is the Word of God which points to the God of the Word. I remember a number of years ago, my family was traveling back from a family camp of vacation in the Rocky Mountains. We were at Estes Park, if you know where that is.

And I put Grand Junction, Colorado in my GPS because that's where we needed to get. And it gave me a route that I was very excited about because it was not the route we had come, which was much longer. This route was much shorter, and I thought, "This is great.

GPS has figured out a shortcut." And it was great for about the first three hours, and then we hit the fire road. And for about an hour, I was grabbing onto a steering wheel with the widest knuckles you have ever seen as I'm taking my family, all in the back, watching probably VeggieTales.

It's probably not a great example at a Shepherd's Conference. Thinking about the danger that I'm putting my family in as we're driving down steep roads with no guardrails, on dirt, as it's getting dark. I don't know if you know this, but there's actually a Wikipedia entry for "Death by GPS." And what it represents is people who were guided the wrong way.

We know the right way because we have a sure guide. Let us be careful men to always lead our sheep in the right way and to not neglect the truth of God's Word. Well, there's a final conviction and it's in verses 33 to 35, and that is give. Give yourself for the sheep.

Guard the sheep, guide the sheep, and give yourself for the sheep. Verse 33, Paul says, "I didn't covet anybody's clothes "or their silver or their gold." Verse 34, he says, "I worked with my own hands "to supply my own needs." This, by the way, is not Paul saying that every minister has to be bivocational.

There's other passages of Scripture where he talks about how a laborer is worthy of his wages, how it's appropriate for us to be supported through the work of gospel ministry. That's not Paul's point here. Paul's point here is, "I didn't take advantage of you, "Ephesians." Instead, verse 35, "In everything, I showed you "that by laboring in this manner, "you should care for the weak." You must care for the weak.

And you should remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, "It is more blessed to give "than to receive." Men, give yourself to the flock. Paul was an example of this. He gave his time, his energy, verses 18 and 19. He gave them the truth, verses 20 and 21.

He gave them his very life, verses 22 to 24. He gave everything, including the whole purpose of God, verses 25 to 27. He gave it all. He's about to go to Jerusalem to be arrested. And I think verse 35, I think we, at least for me, I tend to think of it as a verse about money, and it does have financial implications, but I want to suggest to you men this morning that the statement from Christ, from our Lord, that it is more blessed to give than to receive, is actually, in context, a statement about ministry.

And some of you men here may be feeling like you've given everything, and you can't give any more, and now it's time to actually give up. And I want to challenge you with the truth of this text, that there is blessing in giving everything, because you're giving everything for the one who gave you everything.

David Livingston, the famous missionary explorer to Africa, after more than three decades of fighting danger and disease, more than three decades of work in Africa, he was asked about all the sacrifices that he had made. He said, "Don't speak to me of sacrifice. "Don't speak to me of sacrifice.

"It is nothing compared to the debt of gratitude "that I owe to my Savior. "Don't speak to me of sacrifice. "It is no sacrifice. "It is privilege. "It is privilege." I think the Apostle Paul would have said the same thing. And so we have here in this first graduation charge a reminder about the kind of character that we are all called to reflect, and a reminder of the kind of convictions that we are all called to implement.

I want to close with this. If we think about Paul's timeline here on his third missionary journey, this was in the mid-50s. He probably gave this charge around the year 57. If we fast-forward 10 years, around the year 67, Paul is now in the Mamertine prison. He's about to die, and he writes a letter to Timothy, his last letter, the letter of 2 Timothy.

The connection I want you to see is that when Paul writes to Timothy, Timothy is now pastoring in Ephesus. Timothy was with Paul on his third missionary journey, was with Paul at Miletus. Now Timothy is away from Paul, but Timothy is back in Ephesus, and Paul writes him this final letter.

And what does Paul emphasize in that letter? He emphasizes guard, right? 2 Timothy 1:14, "Guard what has been entrusted to you." And then he emphasizes that the only way that Timothy can lead himself and his people is by continuing on in the Scriptures, chapter 3, verses 14, all the way to chapter 4, verse 5.

Guide them in the Scriptures. And then how does Paul end? He ends by talking about the fact that he gave of himself, as a sacrifice, a drink offering. Because here he says, "I am finishing my course," in Acts 20, but in 2 Timothy 4, he says, "I have finished my course." And what I think is so amazing is that in 2 Timothy 2-2, when Paul says to Timothy, "The things that you've heard from me "in the presence of many witnesses, "entrust these things to faithful men "who will teach others also." That's not just a principled statement in abstract.

For Paul and for Timothy, this was very specific. And I think Paul was thinking back to those warm summer days in the school of Tyrannus when he poured out his life into the disciples who met with him daily for a period of two years, and he says to Timothy, "Keep it going.

"Keep it going. "Because as you invest in the next generation, "God uses their faithfulness for global gospel proclamation." And in this chapter in Acts 20, we see missions, pastoral ministry, and seminary training all converge in a way that I hope is not only helpful for you as you think of investing yourself in others, but also helpful as you ask God to be faithful to your own stewardship for His glory and by His grace.

Let's pray. Father, we thank You for the truth of Your Word, for the example of the Apostle Paul, and for all of it pointing to Your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. How glorious it is to consider that You purchased the church at such a cost. May we steward it well by Your strength and for Your name's sake.

And it's in that name that we pray these things this morning. Amen. Very sobering, very important. Thank you, Nathan, for that. Men, I have an important announcement for you. As you know, this week is always the highlight for Pastor John, and he was hoping to be with us in person at this conference.

However, he will not be able to join us in person. He has asked H.B. to fill the pulpit tonight and has sent a personal video greeting that we will play at the end of the next session, along with a gift for each one of you that you will receive before you leave for lunch.

So you will not want to miss the next session. You're dismissed. you