1a After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for the disciples…

There had been a riot at the end of Chapter 19 after Paul, and the message of Christ, disrupted a local industry of making idols to Artemis (Acts 19:23-41), prompting him to leave for Macedonia.

1b and after encouraging them, he said farewell and departed for Macedonia. 2 When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. 3 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.

Have you noticed how often the disciples are described as "encouraging" each other in Acts?

• Acts 4:36: Barnabas' real name was Joseph. His nickname means "son of encouragement." 
• Acts 11:23: "When he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them"
  
• Acts 13:15: "…the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it”
  
• Acts 14:22: "strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith
  
• Acts 15:31-32: "And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words".
  
• Acts 16:40: "So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
  "
• Acts 18:27: "And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed."
  
• Acts 20:1-2: "After the uproar ceased, Paul sent for 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."
  

The Hebrews writer exhorted us to "encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb 3:13). We are accountable for each other's purity. Throughout John 14-16, Jesus called the Holy Spirit a helper (paraklētos), which is a variation of the Greek word used here for "encourage."

"Encourage" has almost shifted meanings in American English. We often use the term to mean making people feel positive with their chins up and hopeful. But in biblical Greek and in original English the word means to infuse someone with courage to face the difficult task ahead. It means to help them face frightening or dangerous situations. And that, clearly, is needed when you are preaching the gospel to a hostile group of people as they were.

It is also clearly needed when we are do what we are recreated to do… demonstrate the futility of human wisdom through the gospel message., inviting people to take up their own crosses and follow Christ.

When we genuinely do the work of God and grow in His grace, we will need a lot of encouragement from our brothers and sisters because it won't be a worldly life, and it won't be an easy life. We partner with the Holy Spirit of God when we encourage and strengthen our brethren in this way.

4 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.

Paul rarely traveled alone. Here's what we know from the rest of the New Testament about the elders he selected to deliver the offering to Jerusalem with him. [Much of the following is adapted from the indispensible resource, Everyone In The Bible by William P. Barker (1966)]

1. Sopater – From Berea. We don't know much about him. Probably the same as Sosipater (Rom 16:21)
2. Aristarchus – From Thessalonica. He traveled to Ephesus and was arrested with Paul there (Acts 19:29). 
3. Secundus – From Thessalonica. We don't know much more than that. 
4. Gaius – This isn't the Gaius from Corinth whom Paul baptized (1 Cor 1:14). Neither is it the Gaius from Macedonia who was arrested in the Ephesus riot at the end of the last chapter (Acts 19:29). The Gaius who accompanied Paul and the gang to Jerusalem was from Derbe Thessalonica (Acts 20:4).  [Note: John also called out a man named Gaius in 3 John 1:1. That is yet a 4th Gaius in the New Testament]. 
5. Timothy – We all know Paul's son-in-the-faith.  
6. Tychicus – A gentile from Ephesus. Later, when Paul was in the Roman prison, Tychicus served as a messenger to several churches including Ephesus, Colossae, and Corinth (Colossians 4:7, 2Tim 4:12, Titus 3:12). 
7. Trophimus – From Ephesus, he will be an important part of the story when Paul is arrested. 2 Tim 4:20

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.

Luke joined Paul again here at verse 5 (signified by the shift again from "they" to "we"). He will disappear in Chapter 21, reappear in Chapter 27, and from there it will be "we, we, wee all the way Rome."

While the rest went ahead and waited for them to catch up, Luke and Paul took a detour. This may have been in order to make it harder for a mob to attack them. It was important to Paul to arrive by Passover. I imagine with the Passover being a symbol of sacrificial love Paul - who gave his life to the cause of Christ through unimaginable sacrifices across several decades - would have taken great pleasure in delivering the sacrificial love offering from the Gentile churches to the saints in Jerusalem.

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. 8 There were many lamps in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 And a young man named Eutychus, 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.” 11 And when Paul had gone up and had broken bread and eaten, he conversed with them a long while, until daybreak, and so departed. 12 And they took the youth away alive, and were not a little comforted.

13 But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. 14 And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. 15 And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and the day after that we went to Miletus.

16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost.

17 Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church to come to him. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, 19 serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; 20 how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, 21 testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. 22 And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, 23 except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. 24 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. 25 And now, behold, I know that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, 27 for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God. 28 Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. 29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; 30 and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.

Pay attention to v29-30. He warns them of the “savage wolves that will come in among them and will not spare the flock.” They will do this by distorting truth. He charges the Elders to be on their guard against this. I don't want us to miss this. Paul's entourage consisted if 7 elders from Ephesus. Several years later, John wrote the words of Christ to this very church in the 2. Jesus commended this Ephesian church for their good deeds, their hard work, their perseverance, and their intolerance for false teaching.

They had taken Paul’s advice! The savage wolves had come in, but the church didn’t tolerate them!

31 Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. 32 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 all those who are sanctified. 33 I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. 34 You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my necessities and to those who were with me. 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

36 And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. 37 And there was much weeping on the part of all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 being sorrowful most of all because of the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And they accompanied him to the ship.

Paul's first letter to Timothy was written at this time. The letter gives us insight into that time period when the false teachers were among them. In 1 Timothy 1:3-11 we find that Paul had made a trip back to Macedonia and Timothy at that time returned to Ephesus to work with the church. Timothy desired to leave and go somewhere else but Paul urged him to stay. This is the reason Paul wrote 1 Timothy.

Timothy’s job at Ephesus was twofold:
(1) Command certain people to quit teaching false doctrine and
(2) To make clear the proper use of the Law (1 Timothy 1:3-4).

Some historical references mixed with tradition tell us that Timothy was the Bishop (aka, elder) at Ephesus. He was allegedly martyred under the Roman emperor Nerva

"Doctrine" is a word we don’t use more than we have to anymore, isn’t it? And I don’t blame us. Those of us who have spent any time in legalistic churches have seen some pretty awful things in the name of doctrine. I’ve seen perversions of the Word. I’ve seen genuine seekers turned aside from Christian fellowship because of their lifestyles. I’ve seen debates and arguments and divisions. All for the sake of pure doctrine.

In fact, the more “modern” (for lack of a better word) churches are not like that at all. Many churches focus on the more positive aspects of our faith: Acceptance, forgiveness, fellowship, praise, love, etc. This is a good thing.

But what happened to doctrine? What happened to the old-time religion where Christians were people of the Word?

Today, if you look around you’ll see children growing up with very shallow knowledge of the Bible. The Bible memory verses that are in most Sunday School curricula are ignored. They might be mentioned in class, but they are not reinforced the next week. Preaching isn’t always very scripturally focused. Instead, preachers and teachers prefer to be non-specific, indirect, unchallenging, all positive, with very little unfolding of the Word.

Adult Sunday School classes aren’t any different. Teachers teach above the text, maybe using it as a springboard to discuss lessons we’ve learned from life. Way too often I have encountered Sunday School classes taught by people who teach from a human-authored books provided by some Christian publishing house rather than opening the Bible and having each class member grapple with its text. I hear comments that come out of Psychology or Philosophy or other such human disciplines, and these are thrust upon the class under the name Bible study!

What’s wrong with focusing on positives? NOTHING. NOTHING at all. The problem comes in when we seem to be only able to find these positives in our own thoughts rather than in God’s thoughts.

1 Timothy 4:3 says, “stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrine any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God’s work.”

We find out in verse 7 that these myths and genealogies were taught in conjunction with teaching the Law. The Bible and human wisdom were blended then as they are today. Some Jewish Christians were taking the scripture (the Law) and making it “interesting” by adding myths and teachings about bloodlines to the scripture's own words.

Today we are more likely to add something like politics or psychology. We cannot lose sight of the core teachings of scripture and still survive as the church. I’m not saying we can’t still exist as people who call themselves the church. Gatherings that call themselves churches but spend all their time in pop Psychology and feel-good things eventually forget the Bible almost entirely.


Back to the Word of God.

First let us remember we are not perfect by our nature. Don't be overly hard on yourself or the church.

Next... pray the Lords prayer
Matthew 6:9-13
Your Kingdom come

Heaven is not up in the sky. Heaven is within your heart.

Mediate on this passage every morning.

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21 NIV
bible.com/bible/111/luk.17.20-21.NIV