This was an event that always inspires and challenges me in the life of Paul the Apostle. He was stoned for preaching the gospel, and apparently dead, his assailants dragged him out of the city to decay. But no, not Paul! He rose from the dead as disciples gathered around him, praying!
Guess what Paul did when he rose up? He went right back into the city where he had been killed for preaching the gospel. Glory to God! He didn’t say, “Far be it from me to preach again, I almost lost my life for preaching that time.” Somebody says, “When I went out to preach the gospel, I suffered terrible humiliation; someone slammed their door in my face, another threw dirty water on me from their balcony…”
The apostle Paul, who had suffered several beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks and even death, never once regretted preaching. Instead he said, “Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel” (I Corinthians 9:16b). In Acts 20:22-24, he said something very touching, “And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”
That’s a man who has died to his flesh. When you’re dead to your flesh like Paul, you’ll preach the gospel at all cost. That’s why I love the saying, “You can’t kill a dead man.” Glory to God!
