Acts
20: 17-38
17From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the
elders of the church. 18When they arrived, he said to them:
"You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into
the province of Asia. 19I served the Lord with great humility
and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. 20You 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. 21I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to
God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.
22"And now, compelled by the
Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. 23I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that
prison and hardships are facing me. 24However, I consider my
life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord
Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
25"Now I know that none of you
among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. 26Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the
blood of all men. 27For I have not hesitated to proclaim to
you the whole will of God. 28Keep 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. 29I know that
after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. 30Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth
in order to draw away disciples after them. 31So be on your
guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day
with tears.
32"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. 33I have not coveted anyone's silver or
gold or clothing. 34You yourselves know that these hands of
mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. 35In
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.' "
36When he had said this, he knelt down
with all of them and prayed. 37They all wept as they embraced
him and kissed him. 38What grieved them most was his
statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.
