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Sermon Notes for November 8, 2026

Acts 21:1-16

In Step With the Spirit, In the Footsteps of Jesus

Pastor Tom Yarbrough

“And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.”
Acts 20:22-24

Similarities Between the Journeys of Jesus and Paul (John Stott)

• Like Jesus, Paul travelled to Jerusalem with a group of his disciples (20:4)
• Like Jesus, he was opposed by hostile Jews who plotted against his life (20:3, 19)
• Like Jesus, he made or received three successive predictions of his “passion” or sufferings (20:22-23, 21:4, 11), including his being handed over to the Gentiles (21:11)
• Like Jesus he declared his readiness to lay down his life (20:24, 21:13)
• Like Jesus he was determined to complete his ministry and not be deflected from it (20:24, 21:13)
• Like Jesus he expressed his abandonment to the will of God (21:14)

Being in step with the Spirit means discerning His call.

“Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.”
1 Thessalonians 5:20-21

“Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.”
1 Corinthians 14:29

“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.”
1 John 4:1-3a

“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”
Galatians 1:8-9

Five Questions to Ask as I Seek God’s Will:

• Am I in Christ?
• Am I rooted in His word?
• Am I convicted/confessing/repenting?
• Am I part of His church?
• Am I in touch with reality?

“As followers of Christ we are called to be before we are called to do and our calling both to be and do is fulfilled only in being called to him.”
Os Guinness, The Call

“Christian growth, like any kind of growth, needs to be in continuous touch with the sources of its nourishment. If it develops more activity than its roots can support, it loses productivity. If it initiates activity that has no basis in its roots, it will wither quickly, to be replaced the next week by another cut-flower fad.”
Eugene Peterson On Living Well

“Does it make sense to pray for guidance about the future if we are not obeying in the thing that lies before us today?”
Elisabeth Elliot

“He calls us to responsible citizenship in his kingdom by saying–in effect or in reality–as often as possible, ‘My will for you in this case is that you decide on your own.’ God is preparing us for a life of initiative, so I know that God will be with me even when he does not tell me what to do.”
Dallas Willard, Hearing God

Following in the footsteps of Jesus means counting the cost.

“Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?”
Luke 14:27-28

“Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.”
John 15:20

“For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”
1 Peter 2:21, 23-25

“…the good shepherd’s paths of righteousness sometimes include the valley of the shadow of death. If I find myself in the valley of deep darkness, it is because he has led me there.”
David Gibson The Lord of Psalm 23

“God has designed and equipped the Christian life for perseverance that reaches beyond our own benefits… Our faithfulness isn’t just for us. It announces to the world that Jesus is worth every drop of our devotion.”
Glenna Marshall

“Go then, earthly fame and treasure!
Come, disaster, scorn, and pain!
In thy service, pain is pleasure;
With thy favor, loss is gain.
I have called thee Abba, Father;
I have stayed my heart on thee;
Storms may howl, and clouds may gather;
All must work for good to me.”
Henry Francis Lyte Jesus, I My Cross Have Taken