SPEAKER_00: Today we see Saint Paul saying goodbye to the presbyters of Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: These are not colleagues, these are spiritual sons, men he cried with, prayed with, suffered with, built up.
SPEAKER_00: There's a scene at the end that almost feels like a movie.
SPEAKER_00: He kneels down, they all begin to cry, they throw their arms around him, they kiss him, because they know they will never see him again.
SPEAKER_00: But we gotta ask ourselves why such emotion?
SPEAKER_00: Because real ministry leaves fingerprints on the soul.
SPEAKER_00: Paul did not manage people, he loved them.
SPEAKER_00: And notice what he tells them before he leaves.
SPEAKER_00: Keep watch over yourselves and over the whole flock.
SPEAKER_00: Then comes a warning, savage wolves will come.
SPEAKER_00: That line is uncomfortable because it reminds us that the church is beautiful, but she is also always under attack.
SPEAKER_00: Not only from the outside, but Paul says something even more painful.
SPEAKER_00: From your own group men will come forward perverting the truth.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, danger can also come from within.
SPEAKER_00: False teaching, compromise, half truths, egos, ambition, jealousy, people who slowly move away from Christ while still using Christian language.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing has changed in 2,000 years.
SPEAKER_00: We see that today.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly why the gospel today is so important, because Jesus prays one of the most beautiful lines in all of Scripture.
SPEAKER_00: I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
SPEAKER_00: Notice what Jesus does not pray.
SPEAKER_00: He does not say, Father, remove them from difficulty.
SPEAKER_00: Remove them from suffering, take away their opposition, take them out of the mess.
SPEAKER_00: No, he says, leave them in the world.
SPEAKER_00: Just do not let the world enter them.
SPEAKER_00: That's a challenge of every Christian.
SPEAKER_00: We live in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We have to live in the world.
SPEAKER_00: We work here, raise our families here, pay bills, go to school, use technology.
SPEAKER_00: But we cannot belong to the world.
SPEAKER_00: Because the world is constantly trying to catechise us, to change us, to give us a truth that doesn't belong to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, your word is truth.
SPEAKER_00: The world says happiness comes from getting when you want, how you want.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, it's more blessed to give than to receive.
SPEAKER_00: The world says, protect you first.
SPEAKER_00: Christ says, lose your life and you will find it.
SPEAKER_00: What does the world say?
SPEAKER_00: It says, build up your kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says, seek first the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_00: Two different voices, two different roads, two different destinies.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus prays this incredible line.
SPEAKER_00: Consecrate them in the truth.
SPEAKER_00: Consecrate means apart, make holy, belong totally to God.
SPEAKER_00: That prayer is not only for the apostles, it is for us.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is praying for you, that you remain faithful, that you survive the wolves, that you are not swallowed by the spirit of the age, that you belong to him.
SPEAKER_00: And maybe the most powerful image today is not the wolves, but it's Paul kneeling.
SPEAKER_00: Because at the end of everything, after all the preaching, the missions, the suffering, the tears, Paul kneels.
SPEAKER_00: Because the church is not built by strategy alone, not by programs, not by personalities.
SPEAKER_00: It's built on prayer, sacrifice, tears, and truth.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps today we should ask ourselves what voice is forming me, the world or Christ?
SPEAKER_00: Because one of them is shaping up every single day, shapes everything that we do, the direction, the priorities we have.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus today is praying that we remain in his love, in his mission.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.