Acts 20:17-31

¹⁷So after the ship arrived at Miletus, Paul sent a message to Ephesus to get the church leaders to come to talk with him at the ship.

¹⁸After they got there, Paul talked to them. He said, “Each one of you knows the good way I lived, all the time that I was here with you in Asia country, from the first day that I was here until the day I left.

¹⁹You know the way I worked for our leader, Jesus. I didn’t try to make myself important, and I sometimes cried about people. You know that some of the Jews here tried to hurt me.

²⁰And you know that I told you all of God’s message, everything that will help you. I didn’t keep anything secret. I taught you God’s message in places where everyone heard me, and I taught you in your homes too.

²¹I talked to everyone. I talked to Jewish people and to people that are not Jews. I told all of them, ‘You have to turn to God and stop doing bad things, and believe in our leader Jesus.’”

²²Paul kept talking to them He said, “And now I want to tell you this. God’s spirit clearly showed me that I have to go to Jerusalem, so I’m going there. I don’t know what will happen to me at Jerusalem.

²³But I do know that in each town I went to, the Holy Spirit told me that the people in Jerusalem will hurt me and put me in prison.

²⁴But I will keep going to Jerusalem. I want to finish the work that our leader Jesus told me to do. I have to tell people the good news that God is good to us, and he saves us. I really don’t care about myself, even if they kill me, so long as I can tell them that good news.

²⁵I went all around your country and told you how to join God’s family. And now I know that none of you will see me again.

²⁶So I want you all to understand that if any of you doesn’t end up in God’s family, you can’t blame me.

²⁷I told all of you everything that God wants to do for you.

²⁸Now you leaders have to watch out for yourselves, and watch out for God’s people here too. Make sure you keep on following Jesus properly, and help all God’s people to follow him properly too. The Holy Spirit picked you to be their leaders, so look after them properly. Remember, God bought his people with the blood of his own son.

²⁹I know that after I go away from here, other people will come to you and they will teach you lies. They will try to trick all of God’s people. They will be like cheeky dingoes that kill sheep. Even in your own group of Christians, some men will get up and trick other Christians. They will change the true story and tell it wrong, so they can get people to follow them.

³¹So watch out. Make sure each one of you keeps on believing the true story about Jesus. Remember, I was here with you for 3 years, and for all that time I always told you not to believe a different message. And if I thought you were going wrong, I even cried about you.”