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This teaching looks at the final years of Paul the Apostle’s life. It covers his imprisonment under Nero, his possible release for a short period of time, his prison epistles (Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon, 2 Timothy) and possible events near the end of his life. This is the conclusion of the series on Paul during which the following has been covered:
- His early years as a young man studying under Gamaliel to become a Pharisee of the Pharisees
- His persecution of the church – forcing believers to blaspheme and deny their faith, the approval of the death sentence for many
- The witness of the Lord Jesus Christ himself as Paul traveled to Damascus where he is called to be an apostle and is told of his ministry to the nations during which the Lord would appear to ensure his deliverance
- His early years of growth and the new direction of being “all things to all men” so that he could by any means save some
- His journeys in the Levant as the gospel continued to be made known to both Judeans and Gentiles and the Word of God prevailed
- The struggles of the First Century Church as it wrestled with the inclusion of the Gentiles and the central role that Paul played in making known God’s will on this matter
- His continued recognition of being dead to the world and the world being dead to him as he grew in his awareness of his real life being hid with Christ in God
- His embracing of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus has he put away those things that were behind and looked ahead to those things that were before – and taught the church to do the same
- The constant attempts of the adversary’s kingdom as it tried at every turn to obstruct Paul’s ministry – in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft, stripes five times, three times beaten with rods, multiple shipwrecks, a day and night in the deep, In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. – All which he declared to be a light affliction when compared with the eternal weight of glory that was to come.
- His writing of the “all truth” of the seven church epistles which is the living and vital foundation of the Church of the Body as it moves steadily in the direction of all things in heaven and earth being gathered together under Christ
- His imprisonment in Caesarea and Rome during which he declared that since his calling he was not disobedient to the heavenly vision but spent his life declaring to both small and great exactly what the prophets and Moses did say should come.
- His declaration by revelation that he had finished his course and that he had kept the faith as he had been called to do.
- May we take full advantage of all that the Apostle Paul’s life has made available to the Christian believer.