Video first posted: October 10, 2026
Below is a machine-generated transcript of the Song of songs 3 v6-11 (Part 93) BitChute video, with a few minor manual edits. At the bottom, after the transcript, is a machine-generated summary of the transcript.
| Hello, in this video, we're going to continue meditating on the influence of the spirit of Solomon on the early church, the spirit of Solomon that God describes in Song of Songs, chapter three, verses six through 11. So we've been seeing how that spirit began to infect Paul, the one who was amongst the apostles, the one most resistant to it, but even he | |
| eventually gave in, in part. And we're seeing the spiritual consequences of that here in Acts chapter 20, where we have been in the last video or so. So we had left off in around verse 28. So we're going to read from there, Acts chapter 20, verse 28. | |
| So it says here, take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. So as you may recall, this is Paul speaking to the elders of Ephesus. He was in Miletus on his way back to Jerusalem. | |
| He was determined to go there. And before going all the way over there, he went past Ephesus to Miletus and then called for the elders of Ephesus to go down to meet him. And he's giving them these words, these final words, because he knows that they will never see each other again. | |
| And so he's telling them, notice these are the last words he's giving to the elders in Ephesus. And he knows he's never going to see them again. And he's going to warn them of some pretty bad stuff. But notice what he says to them. The words that come out of his mouth. Knowing that these are the last words of advice or counsel or however you want to call it. | |
| that he's about to give, that he's ever going to give to the Ephesians. It's take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock. So let's look at the words in Greek here, unto all the flock. And the word flock is poimnion. And just to get a better sense of this word, we've said this before, but we'll just emphasize it again. | |
| I'm going to go to the Blue Letter Bible and we'll go to the famous passage or verse in Ephesians 4:11. That's the verse that mentions the five ministries. And I'll be very frank at this point. I am wondering, and I don't mean to impose this thought on anyone else, but me personally... | |
| I always had a bit of a difficulty, even though I wouldn't verbalize it, in using the word ministry to refer to the five things or people mentioned in Ephesians 4:11. And now that, because the word ministry is connected in Greek is diakonia, and diakonia is the word, there's several words for ministry, but the one that's used the most is diakonia. | |
| And diakonia, as we saw before, is strongly connected to the pastoral endowment because it's a word of service. Diakonia means serving, but serving as a waiter, someone who serves food, that type of serving. So it's the word most directly connected to the pastoral. So it's interesting that that's the word that we have now attached to all five endowments. | |
| The ones in Ephesians 4:11, apostles, as you can see here, prophets, evangelists, and then pastors and teachers. But if you read here in Ephesians 4:11, you'll see that God does not call these ministries. We have called them ministries. And he gave some apostles. So he refers to the person. The person is a gift. The person comes with a gift. | |
| of an apostolic anointing or an endowment. And then to some he gave prophets. In other words, people who within them carry the gift of the prophetic endowment. They are the gift. The gift is not what's in them. It's the person. And then to some he gave evangelists. Again, the same idea. Someone who has the endowment of evangelists inside of him or her. | |
| and then pastors and teachers. And as we've shared before, it's interesting how God separates the three male ministries, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and then pastors and teachers are lumped together after the word some. And the words some that appear here are according to the Greek text. So this is not a translation issue. So notice how pastors and teachers are lumped together and the other three, which as we know, are the male ministries. | |
| or the male endowments, male in quotes, spiritually male, they are separate, they're individual. Again, spirit is singular and soul is plural. So because these are male endowments centered around the spirit, they are individually named or listed. And then pastors and teachers who are more for the soul, | |
| For the female soul. These are the female endowments. They are put bunched together. Not as a singular endowment. But as a plural endowment. Two endowments here. But the thing is. Notice the word ministry is not here. You have to go down to verse 12. And read it. And it says. For the perfecting of the saints. So he gave these five endowments. Or these five types of people. | |
| for the perfecting of the saints. And then, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And the word work here is ergon, I think. Yeah, the word that's usually used in the Greek text of Scripture to refer to work. That's where we get the words ergonomic. You know, ergonomic is something that is useful or efficient for work activities. | |
| And even the word energy, our word energy in English, the ergy part comes from Ergon because energy is work. In physics, when they teach you what work is, work is energy. The measure of work is joules, and joules is a unit of energy. | |
| So work is forced, applied over a distance, forced times distance. But the thing is that this is the word for work. And then the word ministry was translated from the word diakonia that we have seen before. So these five people are given for the perfecting of the saints. That's what God says first. He does not call the ministries. He says they are for the perfecting of the saints and they are for what? For the work of the saints. | |
| for the work, the releasing of energy through applying the application of force of the diakonia, and then for the edifying of the body of Christ. So notice how the word diakonia is kind of in the middle as part of the things that these endowments are for. They are for perfecting saints. | |
| They are for the work of the diakonia, and then they are for the edifying of the body of Christ. So I believe, and again, I'm not implying this is a rule to everybody because this is just something that I believe in, and I don't feel that I could be wrong on this and not feeling the conviction of saying it out there. | |
| Because the important thing is not to get caught up in words, in semantics of words and kind of creating dispute about them when the purpose is to say something deeper. But the thing is that I, from now on, will try, though it's going to be difficult at times, to restrain myself from using the word ministry to refer to these five endowments. | |
| I'll be calling them endowments from now on instead of calling them the five ministries because when you attach the word ministry to it and you say this these are ministries like you're saying this is the essence of these things then what you're basically kind of making them is all pastoral because the word diakonia ministry the one that's used here in the middle of verse 12 is a pastoral word and I think | |
| have called the ministries because of the strong influence of the or the control of the pastoral endowment over the church so we everything is seen from the pastoral perspective so all the all the endowments are treated as forms of the pastoral um endowment if that makes sense uh and that's why we call them ministries or diakonias um but um | |
| And we didn't intend to talk about that here. Oh, and by the way, let's just keep reading here in the next verse, verse 13 of Ephesians 4. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. This is what the endowments are for. It is to edify the believers and to get them to reach the perfection. | |
| of the perfect man. And I wouldn't be surprised if the word man here is aner in Greek, which is male, the perfect male. Let's see. Yes, here we go. Yeah, perfect man. Aner, which as we've seen before, is male. It's not man in the generic sense of the word. It's not like the word anthropos that means human. It's the male. So we are supposed to reach | |
| To become perfected in our maleness, our spirit nature. The spirit is male, the soul is female, as we've said so many times. And we are to reach the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's what these ministries are for. Notice that the pastors are mentioned almost last here. And they're practically last because they're in the last item here bunched together with the teachers. | |
| So God puts the male ministries first because the purpose of all of these endowments is to make us perfected as spirit beings, as male spirits. That's why the male endowments are mentioned first. And so it is to edify believers and grow them in the spirit. And yes, there's a need for pastors and teachers in the midst of that. | |
| But the problem is that they have become the central people controlling everything. And then the message of the gospel is perverted into soulishness. Everything is soul-centered. But the reason why we came here was not to say this, but I feel it's of the Lord that we ended up saying these things, that God brought us here for that. But my original... | |
| I was just to point out the word for pastor here in Ephesians 4:11. It's poimen. So whenever you see something that looks like that, that is pastoral, shepherd or pastor. So if you see P-O-I and an M and then an N somewhere else, a word that looks like that is a word that's referring to pastorship, pastoring. | |
| Okay, so now if we go back to Acts 20, the word flock, therefore, you can see here that it's a very pastoral word, and it kind of makes sense. Pastors are sheep herders, and sheep are herded in flocks. So here the word flock is poimnion, and clearly it's... So notice, therefore, how Acts 20:28, | |
| Here just starts off very pastoral. Paul saying. Take heat therefore unto yourselves. And to all the flock. So how is Paul seeing. The believers of Ephesus. And you could say by. Projection. You could say this is also. His view of the entire church. Of all believers. He's seeing them. As sheep. | |
| So he's seeing them as a pastor, as a shepherd sees sheep. So what endowment is he speaking from? And these are his final words to these people. He's speaking from a pastoral endowment, even though he's an apostle by nature. | |
| And he had a pastoral side to him. And I think that was the side that, and it's very obvious in this, when you read it, read the epistles, he had a pastoral side to him. And I believe that's the side through which the infection came of the spirit of Solomon. But notice, okay, so flock is very pastoral. And you kind of miss it a bit. I mean, you get the sense in English, flock, sheep, sheep, pastor, sheep, shepherd, shepherd, pastor. So you do get the sense in a general way in English. | |
| But when you read it in Greek, it's much more like in your face. Oh, poimen means pastor. So boom, it's very pastoral. Okay, so over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. And it says then to feed. Notice again, you see the word feed and you think, oh, okay, you know, eating food. So you kind of... | |
| don't see the direct connection to the pastoral endowment. But if you see it in the Greek, it hits you in the face again. Look at the word poimaino. Again, to pastor. That's what it really says in the Greek, to pastor. And you say, why was it translated as feed? Because, you know, pastoring means, you know, when you let the sheep out and they're grazing, you know, munching on the grass and so forth. So they're feeding themselves, but they're being pastored. | |
| Because a pastor is a food server. He's a waiter. That's how God sees the pastoral endowment. It's an endowment of a waiter. So providing food, serving out food. So again, the word feed here, poimaino, is very pastoral. And let's go back to overseers here. | |
| The word overseers is Episkopos. And you say, oh, well, that doesn't sound too pastoral. Well, every time I'll be very frank, every time I see Episkopos, I think pastor. And you say, why? And the reason is because of this. So if I if I'll do the control click trick to open a new tab by clicking here, the Greek strong number Episkopos. | |
| And this opens this new tab, and you can see here Episkopos, this is the entry here in the blue letter Bible for Episkopos, the Strong's entrance. And Episkopos does literally mean overseer, epi, the epi part means over or above. And skopos is to see, and that's where we get telescope, | |
| What else? Microscope and so forth. You know, those are instruments that are used to see. Telescope to see at a distance, to see a goal at the end that you want to look at. And a microscope is when you see something that's small. Micro means small. So skopos has a strong connotation of seeing very literally. And just as a side note here, skopos | |
| It says here literally means observer, watchman or the distant mark looked at the goal or end one has in view. OK, so. So. Epi means over or above and skopos means to see or watch. So overseer is almost a literal translation into English of what the word says in Greek. But. | |
| And if you think about it, an overseer is someone who's watching over and you kind of think of a supervisor. I mean, literally the word supervisor is another way of seeing Episkopos. We'll just write it here in this notepad thing. So Episkopos means, let's put a hyphen there, has the connotation of over or above | |
| Plus seeing or watching. Or observing. And if you think about it. The word supervisor. Super. Kind of has the connotation of something that is superior. That is above. Superior or above. And visor. | |
| know comes from the same root as the word visual and visual obviously has to do with seeing visual um seeing so as you can see supervisor is basically episkopos uh translated a different way just like overseer so a supervisor I just think when I think of a supervisor I think of someone in a factory supervisor who's like watching | |
| from a higher floor looking down at the at the at the | |
| ground floor. Imagine a factory, you know, with like a ground floor with lots of machines and people working and someone like from above on a second or third floor looking down on the plant floor and see and kind of supervising, overseeing the workers. So. In that sense, | |
| When I think of episkopos, I also think of a pastor who is watching over a flock, you know, like the sheep are grazing. They are shorter at a lower level than the pastor. The pastor is standing. He's a human. He can stand and he can stand above all the sheep and he's watching over them. He's episkopos. He's supervising and, you know, making sure that none of them get lost or get taken by some other animal or something like that. | |
| um so uh but let's go back now to uh to the usage usages of episkopos here in Scripture uh so notice acts 20:28 the verse we are reading is the very first time that episkopos is ever used in Scripture Paul uses it for the first time uh and then um | |
| Here, let's just go very quickly through the appearances. They're not too many. As you can see here, it's just seven appearances. So then Philippians 1:1, Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ to all the saints in Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi with the bishops, the episkopos. So notice bishop is another way of translated episkopos. And I'm not sure how bishop connects to overseer in terms of | |
| the etymology of the word. But whenever you see bishop, just think of episkopos, think of overseer. So with the overseers or bishops and deacons, and I'm pretty sure the word deacons is the same, is the word connected to diakonia in Greek. So notice, and diakonia is connected to pastorship. | |
| So you can see right off the bat a connection to pastorship, just like in Acts 20:28, the first appearance of Episkopos, you see the connection to pastorship because Paul mentions flock, a word that's, I forget the exact word in Greek, but it's almost identical to the word for pastor in Greek. And then feeding was another word that's almost identical to pastor. So | |
| So in these two verses, we've immediately seen the connection, the very subtle connection, subtle but very evident when you look at, when you recognize it, between the connection between episkopos and pastoring. And then 1 Timothy 3:2, a bishop or an episkopos, an overseer, then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, given to hospitality, apt to teach. Now here it's a little subtler. | |
| But we've shared on the website before that hospitality is the ministry most directly, or the endowment, let's say from now on, most directly connected to the pastoral. Hospitality, the endowment most directly connected to it is the pastoral endowment. Because hospitality involves allowing someone into your home | |
| And when you have a guest in your home, what do you do? What is the first thing you want to do if you're a good host? Serve. Do you want a drink? Do you want some food? Are you staying for the night? I'll set up the bed and kind of prepare your blankets and your pillows and whatever you need. So you go into service mode. You go into waiter or butler or servant mode, maid mode, | |
| To be a good host to show hospitality. It's part of. What hospitality is about? So there you can see the pastoral endowment because the pastoral endowment is the endowment of service of being a waiter, a provider of food and provide providing comfort and relaxation to someone that is pastorship and then teacher here again is a female ministry. So here you see pastor and teacher so. | |
| This verse 1 Timothy 3:2 is connecting. Episkopos or bishopry or overseeing to things that are very strongly connected to the pastoral to the pastor, pastoral endowment and the teacher endowment, the two female ministries. And the other three things mentioned here. | |
| or actually four, husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behavior, I wouldn't know exactly how to think of them. But we're seeing them here. We're trying to see the connection that God establishes between episkopos and the pastoral endowment. And even though here in 1 Timothy 3:2, it's not that obvious. It is subtle, but it's there once you see it. Oh, hospitality, pastoring, service, pastoring. | |
| And then when you see teacher, oh, the other female ministry that works with the pastoral endowment. The other female endowment, I should say, instead of female ministry. And then the next verse that uses the Episkopos, as you can see here, is 2 Timothy 4:22. And it says, the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit. Grace be with you. Amen. Well, interesting. The verse doesn't say Episkopos. | |
| And you say, why is it then included in the search results? And you have to look at the footnote here. I'm not sure if you can see it in the video, but the footnote says the following subscription appears in the textus receptus denoted in triple brackets by the KJV translators as not being in the original monographs. And so in triple brackets, square brackets, it says this is what the KJV | |
| the King James translators put there. So 2 Timothy 4:22, I believe is the last verse of that book to Timothy. So like as a footnote, at the end of that book, the translators wrote the second epistle until Timotheus ordained the first bishop of the church of the Ephesians was written from Rome when Paul was brought before Nero the second time. | |
| So that's why Episkopos appears in the search result because it says the first bishop of the Church of the Ephesians in that footnote, but it's not part of the original text. So you could say that it's wrong to say that a bishop appears seven times in seven verses. It's really, at least so far, just six times because this one really doesn't count. But it's kind of ironic that it's connected | |
| The word bishopry is. Indirectly connected. To this verse. Which ends with. Grace be with you. And we talked about the ministry of. How the gospel of grace. Is what the pastors preach. The spirit of Solomon. Promotes through the pastoral endowment. Through the pastoral matriarchy. But okay. But then the next appearance. Of bishop. | |
| or Episkopos is Titus 1:7. It says, for an Episkopos must be blameless as the steward of God, not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre. So I'll be frank. Here it's not that obvious, at least to me, the connections to the pastoral endowment, but I kind of see it a little bit in steward. | |
| For some reason, let's just go there very quickly. So I'm clicking here to go see Titus 1:7 in the Greek text. And the word steward, oh yeah, I knew it. The word steward is oikonomos. And we've seen this word before. Oikos means house. The first part of the word means house. And nomos means rule. Whenever you see nomos, just think of nominal. | |
| or it and it has to do with the law something that gets established and defines what is and isn't so the thing is that it's the laws of the house and again and what does that make you think of it makes you think of the woman in the house the wife you know the husband goes out to work and who establishes the law in the house who tells the kids | |
| you know, wash your hands before eating your lunch or do this or do that, do the other, do your homework and all that. It's the wife, the female element. So the female element stays at home and the male element goes out. And we're talking spiritually here. So the thing is that, again, there's this connection to the pastoral relationship | |
| Endowment to the to the female endowments of pastor and teacher so even though it's subtle it's there | |
| Again, the connection to the pastoral endowment in Titus 1-7. So let's read the next appearance of Episkopos. That's Titus 3-15. Again, it's the same issue as you can see here. The word bishop or overseer, Episkopos, is not here at all. All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. Amen. And then there's the footnote. And again, | |
| it's a footnote that was added by the King James translators at the end of Titus. That must be the last verse of Titus 3:15, the one we just read. And the footnote says, was written to Titus, ordained the first bishop of the church of the Cretans from Nicopolis of Macedonia. But see, God didn't bother to put that there. It wasn't that important, but it was important to the King James people for some reason. | |
| The thing is that, again, grace. Notice how the verse that the King James people connected to Episkopos is a verse that just like 2 Timothy 4:22 above here ends with grace. Grace be with you. Amen. Like the emphasis on grace. And obviously when Paul wrote this, he was writing it in the spirit. | |
| you know, saying things, speaking of the word grace in the spirit. That's why even here in 2 Timothy 4:22, he says, the Lord Jesus Christ be with thy spirit, not with thy soul, with thy spirit. And then he says, grace be with you. Amen. But I hope you see what we're saying here, that the emphasis on the word, the verse ending and the book ending with grace is like, oh, pastor, Episkopos. | |
| And the King James people felt drawn to put that footnote there. And I know it's not a coincidence. Okay, so then the last appearance, this is like the clincher, you could say. And this is the one that I'll be very frank, was the one that kind of made it very clear to me many years ago that episkopos is like another word for pastor. I'm still, I'll be very frank, not too clear on exactly what the difference is. | |
| But the episkopos is a very pastoral word. It's almost like a quality or a feature of the pastoral endowment. Like part of what being a pastor is about in certain circumstances. But my understanding is still very limited on that. So here, 1 Peter 2:25, the last time episkopos appears. For you were as sheep. | |
| Notice right off the bat, the connection to pastoring. And the word sheep, let's look at it in the Greek. Okay, it's not quite poignant. I thought it's going to look like pastor in Greek, but not quite. So for ye were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd. And the word shepherd is... | |
| Poimen, the same word that is translated as pastor in Ephesians 4:11 that we saw a moment ago. So it might as well have said pastor unto the pastor and bishop. And the word bishop is episkopos. So a bishop is here, as you can see, episkopos. So it could have been translated as unto the pastor and overseer of what? Of your spirits? No, of your souls. | |
| And is that a mistranslation? Let's confirm here. Souls is psuche and psuche is the Greek word for spirit, for soul, just like nephesh is the Hebrew word for soul. So whenever you see psuche, that's where we get the word psyche in English or in words like psychology or psychiatry and so forth. That when you see that word, that's that's literally the word for soul in Greek. | |
| So it is well translated when it says here the bishop of your souls. So, again, notice this just emphasizes the connection of the pastoral endowment to soul to the soul, because that's what God created it for. The pastoral endowment is to care for your soul, not your spirit, your soul as you grow in the spirit. So it's part of the process of perfecting you in the spirit. God takes care of your soul. | |
| as he works your spirit because you we are spirit soul and body we're just not spirit beings or just bodies we're spirit soul and body so it's part of the process but notice the focus on so and here you can see the two words together uh pastor and episkopos an overseer and that's why uh I've always believed that episkopos is a very pastoral word um | |
| And I don't understand the full dimensions of how the two work together. I feel like overseer is a subset of pastor. Maybe it overlaps a bit with apostle. For some reason, I just get the sense that it's also connected to the apostolic in some way. But I haven't quite been able to discern in my heart. I pray that God will give me understanding. And I pray that God will give you understanding on that as you need it. | |
| As God grows you up in him, that you'll be able to see that. And I do believe there's something there that we need to understand. Because God doesn't, the word episkopos is there enough times for us to take notice, as if God is trying to say something to us through that word. | |
| And there's a role for episkopos. And that's one thing we may one day look into in another video, if God allows it, to kind of meditate on what these bishops and deacons that Paul talks about in his epistles were about. How are they to manifest in the church today? What was God's intention for those roles of bishops and, you know, overseer episkopos and diakono, diakono or | |
| or deacon. So those are things we will have to meditate on. But the thing is that it's a very pastoral word. And that's, I guess, the essence of what we wanted to say. So if we go back, I'll keep clicking here until, okay, I can't get past this. So notice out of the seven verses that here that have episkopos supposedly, | |
| Only five actually do, and the other two are included in the list because of the footnotes that the King James people put for these two verses. And the word bishop is in that footnote, the word episkopos. Okay, so let's now go back to Acts 20:28. | |
| We've been here quite a while, so let's keep going back until we get to Acts 20:28. It's taking me a while here to get back. Oh, yeah, we have to go back to this tab. Here we go. Here is Acts 20:28. So let's read Acts 20:28 again. Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves and to all the flock, all the, what was the word? | |
| Again, all the past, so flock is pastoral in the Greek, very obvious. Over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, episkopos. We saw, again, a very pastoral word, even though it's not that in your faith evident, but it is there. And then to feed, the word feed, as we saw, is poimaino, to pastor. | |
| So again, a very pastoral word, the church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. So these are the words that Paul is saying. This is the beginning of his advice. Acts 20:28 is the beginning of his advice to them. His last words like, please do this. Because up until verse 27, he's been talking about his own testimony of what he believes he's done. | |
| In verse 28 is the first time he starts giving them a word of advice. And the first thing that comes out of his mouth is pastoral stuff. Flock. Overseer. Feed. The church of God. And there you see the contamination. Paul has been contaminated by the spirit of Solomon and the matriarchal spirit. You can see it there. | |
| And you say, oh, you're being harsh. Well, if we keep reading, you'll see why we're saying this, I pray, more clearly. That it's not just like us exaggerating. It's God saying this is what's at the heart of Paul's mind. This is how Paul now views the church. He sees the church as a bunch of sheep. | |
| and a bunch of sheep that need to be pastored and overseen by elders, by people who are a little better than the rest. And because they're a little better, | |
| are qualified to oversee the rest of the little people you can see the spirit of Solomon in these words and they look very holy very righteous but there's an underlying emptiness it's like there's something missing here and you'll and I pray you'll see it as we keep reading you'll see what is missing here uh and not that the words are wrong technically | |
| all these words have a purpose and a role to play that makes sense there is we are in a sense a flock we are sheep of God and God does provide us pastorally he is Jehovah Jireh he's our provider he does care for us pastorally so there's truth in that the problem is the emphasis it's like | |
| You're saying something ahead of something that was more important to say, especially if it was the last things you were ever going to say to someone. And you will see how relevant that is in the verses that follow. You're saying something that's true, but that's not what you were supposed to say at that moment or put emphasis on. | |
| And that's where the emptiness is. It's like it's missing something. It's missing the actual message that Paul had to give to the Ephesians and to the church in general. But he got lost by the spirit of Solomon that infected him. And what was the entry point? His love for the Jews. | |
| he would not let go of them he kept preaching to them when God says kept saying let him let them go let them go I have I have sent you to the gentiles not to the jews but Paul just would not accept it and yes he had to preach to the jews first because it's always like God going through the legal motions yes the jews had the opportunity to hear first they got the chance | |
| Then you realize it's over. Move on now. It's Gentile time, but just couldn't accept it. And that entry point is what slowly infected him. And he ended up talking like this, like as it says here in Acts 20:28. So but there are some interesting little details just like side notes, quote unquote, that we wanted to share here that kind of you kind of miss them if you're reading very quickly. | |
| And I'll be frank, I didn't notice that until maybe, I don't know, maybe today. I'm not sure if I had noticed that earlier, but today it did hit me either for the first time or again. When I read the last part here, when it says, which he hath purchased with his own blood. And I said, okay, he. So the word he is being used here. He. | |
| has purchased uh he has purchased us the you know the church of God the ecclesia of God I think that's the word the word here in Greek is it ecclesia yes it is as you can see here church is ecclesia um so he has purchased us the ecclesia of God with his own blood but then the question is who is he | |
| Yeah, obviously we know who, but what I'm trying to say is, if you look at the verse, if you just look at the verse, who is he? So the first he that you could think of is the Holy Ghost, because it says over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. But the Holy Ghost does not purchase us with its own blood. That wouldn't make sense, if you know what I mean. So, okay. So... | |
| The "He" is not the Holy Ghost, so who else is left to qualify as the "He"? And obviously, I would dare say it's God. So he says to feed the church of God, the church which He, and you could say, well, the "He" is referring to someone that's not directly mentioned or explicitly mentioned in the sentence, but I would say that | |
| No, that the "He" is referring to someone in this sentence. And who is the "He" then? God. So Paul in a very subtle way is saying that God purchased us with His own blood. God shed His blood to purchase us. And obviously that's saying that Jesus is God. | |
| And I just as I said that I have the balcony door open, partially open it. There's a lot of rain going on because there's a hurricane called Isaiah. But in Spanish, the Spanish word version of Isaiah, there's a hurricane that's just made landfall here in the U.S. And it's impacting even up here where I where I'm living at this time. | |
| it's just raining. It's not like a hurricane because this is very kind of relatively far away from where it hit landfall, made landfall. But the thing is, there's a lot of wind. And as I said, what I just said a moment ago, the door, the balcony door moved and made a sound because the wind blew at that moment. It's like the anointing of the spirit just boom hit when I, when I, when, when, | |
| It's like God testifying and saying, yes, when he had me saying that God purchased us with his own blood, meaning that Jesus is God. And I think a lot of people missed that. But that's what Paul say here. OK, and. All right. So then let's continue here. Verse 29. | |
| It says, for I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. So we see the word. Oh, one thing that I found very interesting, I don't know if I'm overemphasizing the significance of this or exaggerating it. I mean, the word "know" here, the verb | |
| is E-I-D-O, eido, in Greek. The word that we, as we've seen before is the word for knowing with your mind. And I, and for some reason, if I had. Again, uh, this might be wrong of me to say, but if I, if I'd been in Paul's shoes and was talking about these wolves to, to them. I don't think I would have used the word eido. Um. | |
| would have used the word gnosis the verb for heart knowledge not the word for mental knowledge because this this would have been such a deep thing that I would have said I know in my heart it's not mental knowledge I know it in the deepest parts of my heart that there's this danger of these grievous wolves coming against the church and I don't know I could be wrong on this but I feel in my heart that the fact that Paul used a word for mental knowledge instead of heart knowledge | |
| It's almost like he knew it in his mind, but it hadn't sunk to his heart because something was blocking it from going down to his heart, if that makes any sense. And it's that spirit of Solomon that was blocking him, having full understanding of what his mind was grasping, his apostolic mind was grasping. So verse 29 says, For I mentally know this, that after my departing shall grieve as wolves. And the word wolves... | |
| Just so you know, here is the word lykos in Greek. And we'll run into that word a bit later if the Lord allows it. But the thing is that he's referring to wolves. And if you think of wolves, what is the first thing that you think of? At least when I think of wolves, if someone asks you associated with something, the first thing I think of is sheep. | |
| You know, like the phrase, a wolf in sheep's clothing. So it's like this strong connection between wolves and sheep. And what is a wolf? A wolf is a kind of a ravenous dog. It's like a canine. So the dog points to the pastoral and to the Canaanite spirit, which is the pastoral endowment gone bad. So the wolves here are like... | |
| Like a warning, the pastoral endowment is about to come in. The Canaanite spirit of Canaanite pastors with a desire to conquer what is not theirs. That's what's coming. That's what's being said. But the thing is, there's a connection again to sheep and pastoring. | |
| implicit in the word wolves. And if we click on that word to see the usages of it, lykos, you can see | |
| again the connection to sheep like here the very first time it's used Matthew 7 to 15 the Lord said beware of false prophets which come to you in what in sheep's clothing but inwardly they're ravening wolves next time it's used Matthew 10:16 behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves again wolves and sheep mentioned together Luke 10:3 the third time | |
| That lykos is used. Go your ways. Behold I send you forth. As lambs among wolves. It doesn't say sheep. But lambs are young sheep. So again the connection to sheep. John 10:12. But he that is a hireling and not the shepherd, not the poimen, not the pastor, whose own the sheep are not. Seeth the wolf the lykos coming. And leaveth the sheep. And fleeth and the wolf. | |
| the Lycos catcheth them and scattereth the sheep. And we'll run into this scattering thing later. So I'll try to make a mental note of that because the Lord will bring this up later, John 10:12. So the thing is, again, every single time we've seen a wolf is connected to sheep and pastoring and shepherd or pastor. In Acts 20:29 is the verse we were reading. | |
| And that's the last time that wolves is ever used. And that's interesting. That's the last time wolves is ever used. And I know that's significant. Paul never uses it again. And I find that interesting, especially if you read what he's going to say later. But the thing is, again, everything that we've been reading, the words of advice of Paul to the Ephesians, | |
| to the Ephesian elders is all in the context of the pastoral endowment. Notice, that's why he uses wolves. And then, and I know, I'm not sure how to, what sense to make of this, but the word grievous is translated from baris. And this word may look to some of you like the word barometer. | |
| And that's not a coincidence. The word barometer comes from bodies. And barometer, as you know, barometers measure atmospheric pressure. And what is atmospheric pressure? The weight of air above your head, you know, because it's like. We may not realize it, but we're in an ocean of air and we're deep inside that ocean of air on Earth and | |
| On top of every one of us is a column, you could say, of air whose weight reaches all the way up to the top of the atmosphere. And that weight of air is the pressure that's on our head. That's atmospheric pressure. It's the weight of all the air from your head all the way up to where the atmosphere of the earth ends. So that's why barometer is connected to this word. | |
| is connect because bar is by itself. If you look at it here, you will see bar is literally means heavy, heavy in weight. So the word grievous. It doesn't look like it, but it has the connotation of weight to it, something that's heavy. And I let's see if I can find it between all these tabs, but I did a quick search before this recording. | |
| Let's see if I can find it. Oh, here we go. Yes, it's this tab. I just typed in Bing Grievous etymology. And this is what the co-pilot stuff came back with. And it's interesting. They renamed instead of co-pilot. Now they call it AI mode because co-pilot, the word has become very unpopular. They know that people really didn't flock to it. | |
| speaking of sheep, flock to it and embrace it. So they're just rebranding it too because they've suffered, what's the word, brand. Yeah, the brand has been damaged. So that's why they're shying away from using it now. So they just say AI mode. So the AI overview set of co-pilot summary says the word grievous comes from the old French gréveau. | |
| derived from the Latin gravis, meaning heavy or serious, and obviously gravis is where we get the word gravity. So again, even the word grievous that the King James people chose for the translation of baris, even that word has the connotation of heaviness. So it is kind of an appropriate translation in this case. And what I get in my heart about this grievous or baris thing | |
| Is that that it means. Putting burdens on people that that they shouldn't bear, and that's what these wolves come to do. They impose a certain set of mandates and restrictions and laws, earthly laws, but those laws are intended for them to take control of the sheep and eat them up. If that makes sense. | |
| So that's what these pastors do. They put these burdens that are not from God on the sheep in order to weigh them down, in order to control them and then eat them up. So that's what that's conveying, I believe. OK, so if we go back now to. Yes. Oh, I just wanted to mention here the word lamb. Lamb. | |
| As you can see here, the word that we saw with wolves in one of the verses, lamb is a young sheep. So even though it doesn't say lamb or sheep, it's saying it implicitly. Okay. And for some reason, I think I've shared this before. I associate lamb, even though a lamb is a young sheep, like the picture here, | |
| I always think of lamb as authority because I think of the lamb of God. And when I hear that phrase, I hear the authority of God for some reason. That's why every time I see lamb, even though it's a young sheep, I think of authority and I can't explain why. And lamb is also connected to prophetic sacrifice because the Lord Jesus was the lamb of God | |
| who died to pay for the sins of man. So lamb is referring to sacrifice and on account of that sacrifice, it then speaks of authority of someone who can operate in the spirit because they've been willing to sacrifice their life, their soul. Those are the things that come to my mind when I see the word lamb. | |
| Um, and that's why when, when that verse that we saw a moment ago, um, was referring to, um, uh, uh, to the wolves coming to eat the sheep, the lamb, uh, it, it just, it kind of burdens my heart. It, it, for some reason, let's see, um, if we, I think I, I kind of exited out of that, um, | |
| Let's look at the word wolves here again. And as you can see here, it was in Luke 10:3, when it says, go your ways, behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. But it's interesting that God says, he sends them with authority. He's sending the disciples in pairs, I believe here in Luke 10. He's sending them into the cities to preach the gospel like conquerors. | |
| And that's why that kind of reinforces the connection with authority. The lambs coming with evangelistic authority and prophetic willingness to die to fight the wolves. But yeah, the wolves, they want to destroy the authority, the spirit authority, the grace authority of God in you. Okay, so now let's go back here. | |
| to Acts 20:29, which is where we are right now. For I know this, I know mentally this, that after my departing shall heavy or burden bringing wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. So again, the emphasis, he's talking to them like a bunch of sheep. You're sheep, you're sheep, you're sheep. And some wolves are going to come and they will not spare the flock. | |
| the flock of sheep. And the word flock here, as we saw in the other verse is the same word for, it's the word poimnion, which again is a variation of the word for pastor or shepherd in Greek, poimen. Okay, so then Acts 20:30 says, also of your own self shall men arise, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Oh, and by the way, when he said, They will enter in among you. It's... | |
| It just emphasizes that the spiritual door has been opened. That we the church opened a spiritual door for these spirits to come, these wolf spirits uh these Canaanite ravenous canine pastors coming to conquer us and take us over, and OK. And then. OK, so once again, Acts 20:30, also of your own self shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. | |
| And the word men, let's see what it is. It's the word aner, which is a male word. So from amongst yourselves, shall men arise uh speaking perverse things and uh and I feel like it uh you know it's people who will exercise the male endowments but for evil purposes to take over the flock and then "pastorise" it, if that makes sense. | |
| so yes they manifest maleness but it's maleness in order to conquer unto femaleness, if that makes any sense um okay also of your own uh cell shell men arise speaking perverse things um to draw away disciples after them and the word disciples is Mathetes, and that has the connotation of a pupil someone a student just like the word disciple does in English so it has the connotation of someone who | |
| is being taught so again so we see the pastor uh influence you know in the wolves the dogs uh the Canaanite dogs and we see the teacher influence in these people teaching people uh things that are not that are wrong um, okay. And I don't quite... What I get in my heart is that the verse 29, the wolves are more of a spirit thing. | |
| And then verse 30 are the people inside who embrace those spirits, and then activate them if that makes sense, so that's why the wolves come from the outside. And these men of verse 30 are from inside. So they come from these spirits come from the outside. They kind of attach to people who have a maleness about them, but who want to use that maleness. | |
| To establish their own kingship and not the kingship of God if that makes sense and will be from amongst us, ourselves, and that's how it happened. All these pastors who speak all this nonsense, the Joseph Princes, the Joel Osteens, they rose up from amongst us, to speak perverse things, to draw away disciples after them to teach them things the distortion of Scripture the distortion of the male spirit uh uh word of God the male spirit um | |
| Scripture they have they have taken things out of context and they start using it to exalt the soul because as they exalt the soul they exalt themselves and take over and control people, control people's thinking. So then, because at the end, and they don't quote mean to do it, but, but they're being moved by wolf spirits inside of them | |
| that are just impelling them to do these things. Then Acts 20:31 says, Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years, I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears. So for three years, he was in Ephesus, because that's how long he was, I believe, and a total of three years and over that time he says that he kept saying the same thing over and over and over again uh and the word watch um | |
| It's Gregoreo. That's where we get Gregorian chants and all that. The word Gregoreo literally means like watchman, you know, like a sentinel or a watchman. I you know someone who stays overnight stays awake overnight and is on the lookout and what does that make you think of again pastors. | |
| Like shepherds who are out in the field who are, you know, if they have the sheep out at night, they're constantly on the lookout to make sure that no wild animal comes in and takes the sheep away. So everything is very pastoral. Everything that Paul has said is very pastoral. | |
| And the comment, the words that he gave about remembering that, telling people to remember that for three years he kept saying the same thing over and over again. That makes me think several things. First of all, it's interesting, we're hearing this for the first time. | |
| We didn't know that he had been talking about wolves for three years in Ephesus. We've been reading all the way into verse 31 here of Acts 20. And this is the first time that we find out about this, and I find that very peculiar. I'm not saying he I believe that he for three years was saying that these things | |
| But one thing I find interesting is that the Holy Spirit didn't bother to inspire Luke at any moment to record this for a span of three years about the wolves. The wolves are coming. The wolves are coming. Why? Why not? | |
| And so that's one thing and I believe I uh and we'll share what the thought, what I believe in my heart, the Lord is saying, you know, what the answer is to that question. Why? Because the word wolves here, you know, is used for the first time in Acts in this verse | |
| Let's go to the appearances of wolves again. I'm sorry, that would have to be in verse 29 which mentions the word wolves so we'll go there and look at the appearances of wolves, lykos, in Scripture and as you can see God uses it twice in Matthew | |
| once in Luke, once in John. Mark, interestingly enough, doesn't mention wolves, and Mark is the gospel from the man face the gospel written from the perspective of the pastor and the teacher, which I find kind of peculiar that the gospel that is the most pastoral of all the gospels, of all four gospels, was the only one that didn't mention wolves. | |
| And as I'm saying this, I don't think you can hear it, but a dog is barking as I'm saying this right now. Some neighbor's dog is barking and he started barking as I began to talk about the wolves here and the fact that Mark does not mention them. | |
| But after that, after these four appearances of wolves in Matthew, Luke, and John, not in Mark, then it only appears one last time and one yeah one last time in acts 20:29 never again never before in the book of Acts and never again in the whole script in the whole bible and all of Scripture. So again, it seems kind of peculiar that it took so long for Paul to bring it up. | |
| Yeah, he was bringing it up to the Ephesians, but, for some reason, and this is what I understand in my heart, why we don't hear about wolves until now. is that Paul was saying these things, but he was saying them as he was getting infected by the spirit of Solomon, and that's why his voice was muffled. I hope that makes that's making sense. It's like the power of the words were not coming, were not escaping this cocoon. I don't know why I'm seeing it's like I see this this this thing enveloping Paul and | |
| Like this cone of silence coming over him you know just like the Maxwell Smart cone of silence thing, but it's like something that covers his whole body, and he starts to talk and say these things. And no one is hearing it. And why is this envelope on him? | |
| Because he has embraced the spirit of Solomon in part. It's like the spirit of Solomon captured him in part and put a muzzle on him so he would talk, you know, through the muzzle, but the muzzle would muffle the sound of his voice, and people just could not get what he was saying. | |
| I hope that's making sense. Because that spirit of Solomon that he had let in, through that back door of embracing the Jews and never letting them go, that spirit knew that those words were dangerous because it was exposing them. So that spirit of Solomon just kept muffling him, like muzzling him. And he would talk, and all you'd hear would... | |
| It would be these muffled words. Like Paul talking like someone trying to warn someone else of danger, but having something tied to their, you know, binding their mouths and, and, and not letting them talk. That's why we don't hear it until now. Um, and, and the thing is that, um, if, if it was so dangerous to the point that he would, uh, uh, if we go back to Acts 20:31, I think it was, um, | |
| He says that for three years he didn't stop warning about this night and day with tears. If it was that intense and that dangerous, why don't we ever hear about this again? Ever. Again, the word wolves does not appear again in Scripture. Ever. Again, after Acts 20:29. And if this was such a big danger, wouldn't it be in Paul's heart | |
| To the point that he would mention it in the epistles. And someone could argue, I could just hear some matriarchal defender of Paul. Because I know, see, they hate Paul deep in their hearts, these matriarchals, the ones who defend him. At the end of the day, they hate Paul. Because at least what they do is, when Paul starts saying things that they don't like, they just cover their ears. | |
| and just start humming I can't I'm not hearing that not hearing that and when once Paul stops saying the things they don't like then they take they uncover their ears and then listen especially when you they see Paul saying something about grace oh yeah I want to hear that one uh but when Paul starts talking about oh I have judged that person and I have handed him over to satan and the spiritual one judges all things and is judged of no one um | |
| And I rejoice over you Corinthians exercising revenge, because that's the word he uses in the Greek. And what revenge, what zeal, like congratulations for exercising judgment. When they hear that, I don't want to hear that. So they hate the real Paul, the one who spoke those words of apostolic judgment. They hate him. But the Paul side that was getting infected | |
| um when they feel that side of him getting attacked they know they are being attacked and that's why they react I hope that's making sense uh it's like it's like they so I just can I can just hear someone who is a matriarchal defender of Paul just reacting oh oh you don't talk about my brother Paul like that my matriarchal brother Paul like that | |
| And I can hear them say, no, no, Paul was warning people about the end times and the man of iniquity and this and that and the other. Yeah, I know. I know. And in a general sense or sometimes a specific sense, it is connected to the wolves. But why does he never use the word wolves again? Why not? | |
| And I know in my being it's because the spirit of Solomon was not letting him say those words because he allowed himself to be muffled, to be muzzled and muffled by that spirit. And it was so important that he would shed tears trying to warn people about this for three years. Why doesn't he warn anybody else ever again about this in his epistles? | |
| And someone could argue, oh, well, maybe he did warn some people in some of the epistles because we don't have all of them. But God put in the epistles that counted. The ones that reflected what was spiritually going on. And out of all those epistles, he doesn't once use the word wolves. And he saw them coming, yet he could not warn us about them. | |
| Because he got infected by the spirit of Solomon. And we get this one simple. One singular warning. In these verses of Acts 20. And we don't hear that warning. In this kind of overt form. Ever again. And the sad thing is the one time we hear about the wolves. Is in a very pastoral. Tone of voice. And that's why. He could not overcome the wolves. Because you cannot overcome. These wolves with pastoral. | |
| commands. I hope that's making sense. You cannot defeat them if you remain in the pastoral endowment. You cannot. It's like, and I just said, a thought came into my heart and the wind and the door, balcony door suddenly opened again. And the thought that hit my heart is, when David saw, he was a shepherd out in the field and he saw a lion and a bear or a bear come, | |
| and take one of the sheep he would go and fight the lion and the bear and take the sheep back from the lion and the bear but what he was doing that he was not doing that as a pastor he was doing that as an apostle and an evangelist and I would dare say also a prophet and that anointing the apostolic anointing of judgment in the prophetic anointing of I don't I'm willing to sacrifice my life to do what to do God's will uh | |
| And he would go after the lion or the bear. And with that evangelistic authority, I can defeat him and overcome him. No matter how strong he is, I can do it. And that male anointing, that's how he rose up to fight off the lion and the bear and save the sheep. You can't fight these wolves in a pastoral mode. You can't sue them. See, a pastor is a food server. The wolf is coming to eat the sheep. | |
| So in other words, if you want to be pastoral to a wolf, then you actually have to offer him the sheep instead of taking it away from him. I hope that's making sense. It's like using the wrong tool for the wrong job. It does not work. So he's giving warning pastorally. | |
| of something that cannot be defeated pastorally. And I could be wrong on this, but when I think of the tears here, you know, he's crying with tears and this is kind of a very difficult or kind of murky, dangerous territory I'm going into, but the tears thing makes me wonder | |
| If that's just like emotionalism, if that makes sense. Like him being feminine about it. And I'm not saying that crying is by in and of itself feminine. But what I'm saying is that I get the feeling in my heart that that's why the message never got through. Because he was speaking from his soul. From an emotional soul, female soul perspective. There wasn't the anointing needed. | |
| He was not imparting. To the Ephesians. Or to anyone. The anointing that was needed. To destroy these wolves. So. But it could also. The tears could also be a reflection. Of the deep pain he felt. But. But. What I'm trying to say is. He was trying to appeal. | |
| To their souls about something. And it landed on deaf ears. Because. He needed to stir the maleness in them. And he just wasn't doing that. And that's all he could do is cry. Cry like a woman. Emotionally. Instead of getting angry. If that makes sense. | |
| And he was capable of getting angry. You can read it in the Corinthians or the other epistles. He could get angry. Apostolically angry. But something got turned off in him. He just would not release that apostolic judgment anger when speaking about these things. So then... | |
| So that's how he says, oh, I warn you, please take care. The wolves are coming and be a good pastor to the sheep. And then it says, verse 32, Acts 20. And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. So. | |
| And that's fine. And the word, I believe, is logos in Greek. So it's judgment word. The judgment word of his grace. But notice the weakness. Like, wolves are coming to destroy the church from within. It's not a moment of acting, of talking about grace and building you up. I hope you see what we're saying. | |
| There's a certain weakness in the words being said here. The anointing of the spirit is not there. There's a danger coming. And he's not preparing them for it. | |
| And why is he not preparing them for it? Because he's too busy going to Jerusalem to preach to the Jews. In other words, he was too busy focusing on getting the Jews to believe that he stopped giving to the Gentiles the word that was needed for them to prevent the pastoral matriarchy spirit doing the damage that it did. So then verse 33 of Acts 20 says, I have coveted no man's silver. | |
| or gold or apparel. And it says, I have coveted the word in Greek is epithimeo. And we've seen this word before. It's a word that is often translated as lust, epithumia. It comes from epithumia, epi above or high or above. And thumia comes from thumos or something like that that has to do with passions. So it's like high passions. | |
| Um, and that's why it's often sometimes translated as lust. Um, so it says, I have lusted, uh, no ones, the word man is not there in the Greek. Uh, I have lusted no one's silver or gold or apparel. And what I get in my heart is silver is, um, uh, in a positive sense, refers to the apostolic, uh, endowment because silver is connected to purity. | |
| Purity is connected through judgments because silver is purified by fire, gold and silver. And fire has to do with judgments and judgments has to do with the apostolic. So silver is apostolic. Gold, as we've shared so many times, has to do with the glory of God, the glory of the resurrection. Resurrection implies giving yourself in sacrifice, just like the Lord Jesus did. And sacrifice refers to the prophetic. | |
| So gold is prophetic. So silver and gold here is apostolic and prophetic. And then apparel, then it would have to be the evangelistic, the other male endowment. Apostle, prophet, and evangelist are the three male endowments. Pastor, teacher, the two female endowments. And so therefore, by elimination, I would dare say apparel would be the evangelistic. | |
| And I feel, in my heart, the confirmation here, apparel here is translated from himatismos, which comes from a himation. A himation means cloak. And a cloak was something that people wore to tell everybody else. It was a sign of authority. You know, the king would wear a certain himation. A leader, a political leader, a person with authority would wear a certain type of clothing. And the clothing would be a reflection of his head authority. | |
| and head authority is connected to the evangelistic endowment. The evangelistic endowment is the endowment of king authority, king and head of kingship, of conquest and head authority. So Paul is saying, I have not lusted after, like in the flesh, the apostolic, the prophetic, or the evangelistic endowments of others | |
| And that's kind of what the pastors in the pastoral church do. They lust after the silver, the gold, and the apparel that they see in the believers. To take it from them to use unto themselves. So because they don't allow the believers to operate in their silver, in their gold, in their apparel. Because that's be too dangerous for them. | |
| So when someone starts manifesting the apostolic endowment of wisdom and judgments, they go and take it away from them. That's mine. That's mine. That's for my benefit. And so they take whatever wisdom is coming from the believers and then they twist it to promote their kingdoms, their ministries. And when they see something prophetic rising up, oh, the prophetic is dangerous if you leave it untamed because... | |
| It means someone speaking with no fear, confronting the authority of men. So, oh, I don't want that. The pastor does not want to be confronted. So he goes and takes the gold away from the sheep and says, oh, I'll use this, but I'll use it for my own benefit. So they use the prophetic for their own ends and they pervert it. And then when they see someone, someone, a believer, a sheep, quote unquote, wearing a kingly apparel, like they are manifesting the head authority of God. | |
| They go, oh, I can't have that because that'd be a competing, that'd be competition. That's another king trying to compete in my kingdom. My kingdom is my ministry, my church. So they come and take the himatio away from the believers and say, that's mine. That's for me. And then they take that evangelistic endowment and use it for their own purposes to conquer and enlarge, conquer others and enlarge their kingdom, their ministry, their church. | |
| But it's for their own ends, not for the glory of God, not for the edification of the saints. That's what the endowments are for. It says in Ephesians 4:11 through 13 that we read earlier, those endowments are not to build our kingdoms. It's to edify others, to have them perfected in the maleness of God, the maleness of God's spirit. But no, whenever they see maleness in others, they go and steal it from them, take it away from them. | |
| So that it will never be used against them. And then they use it and pervert it for their own ends. That's what Paul is saying. Implicitly here. He's referring to the kind of pointing. Like I am not one of the wolves. That's what he's saying. I'm not like one of the wolves I'm talking about. Because I don't covet anyone's silver or gold or apparel. | |
| And then verse 34 of Acts 20 here says, Yea, ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. And you say ministered. Oh, but it's very curious here when you look at the word in the Greek. It's nothing connected to diakonia. And notice one side note here. Ye yourselves know. Notice the word know here is ginosko, the word we said a moment ago. | |
| The word that he did not use to say that he knew that wolves were coming afterwards. It's like it got stuck in his mind. It didn't go down to his heart. It meant the heart knowledge. Ginosko is heart knowledge. But it's interesting that here he says, you know that these hands administer unto my necessities. That they knew in their hearts that Paul, you know, kind of worked to pay his own way. That's kind of what he's saying. | |
| literally but it's interesting he uses a deeper word when referring to them knowing how well he did or how well he acted but he doesn't use that same word ginosko to refer to his awareness of the wolves that are coming because that word awareness was muffled there was something muffling it okay so ye yourselves ginosko that these hands hands keir | |
| Again, hands is always or often connected to the pastoral endowment of service that these hands have ministered. And the word minister is not diakonia or anything like that. It's hyper eteo, as you can see here, hyper eteo. And you would think that it's hyper and eteo, but it's not that actually it's kind of an interesting word because hyper makes you think of something above, you know, hypertension is tension above normal. | |
| Hypo tension is tension below normal. So there's hyper and hypo. So it looks like it's coming. This word is connected to hyper something, but it's actually hypo something. And if we look here, it comes from hyperetes, which comes from hypo or hupo. This means below. And the eretes part comes from eresso, which means hero. | |
| And that's what creates the confusion. The word Eresso starts with ER. So when you combine it with hypo, then the hypo becomes hyper, but it's more by accident than the actual root of the word, if that makes sense. So Eresso means to row and hupo means under. So it's someone who rows under. And it makes me think of, you know, in the old ships because, you know, they didn't have, | |
| electricity or, or steam engines or anything like that. So everything was manually powered. So they had to row to move, um, to move the ship. And as you know, from the movie Ben-Hur, they always had the people rowing at the, you know, at the bottom of the, of the ship, um, uh, or near the bottom of the ship, uh, you know, right where the surface of the water was. And obviously because that way the rows could, you know, stick out of the ship and, and reach the water, um, | |
| So as you can see here, it's an under rower or a subordinate rower. Anyone who serves with hands a servant. In the New Testament of the officers and attendants of magistrates as of the officer who executes penalties. So that's kind of what the word is. So it is kind of connected to diakonia, but diakonia is more directly connected to serving food. | |
| So here he's doing menial, he's referring to menial war | |
| the work of a servant you like scrubbing the floors things like that um so that's the emphasis there uh so he's saying I wasn't behaving like a pastor I was behaving like a servant I was taking maybe uh what um I was not exalting myself he's using a word of um uh abasement if that word exists like he was | |
| He was lowering himself. That's why it looks deceiving. It says hyper, like he's elevating himself, but it's hypo-ereteo, you could say. So he was lowering himself to serve others. So he was exercising some form of pastorship towards others using his hands, his pastoral hands, but not to exalt himself, but to serve others as a lowly servant, if that makes sense. So, and... | |
| But it's interesting that, so he, and this is kind of like an amazing thing when you think about it, Paul subsidized his own ministry, you could say. His hands have ministered unto my own necessities and to them that were with me. So he would not only provide for himself, the people who work with him, he would provide for them too, through his tent making profession and stuff. So it's a very different picture from the pastor | |
| who just sits in some, you know, church and just waits for the tithes to come in, you know, and the offerings. Very different attitude. I hope you see that. Okay. And then verse 35 of Acts 20. I have shewed you all things how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said it's more blessed to give than to receive. | |
| um so he says I'm giving I'm doing I was doing this as an example for you to do the same and obviously the implication there is that the wolves were coming have the very opposite mindset um they don't come to support the week they come to eat the week um they don't come to that's what the pastoral endowment is supposed to do it's supposed to | |
| to serve and tend to those whose souls are in a condition of weakness to bolster them so that they can be spirit beings so that their souls will not get in the way of their spiritual growth or so that the wounds and the suffering of their soul cannot be an obstacle to them growing spiritually. | |
| And also to provide comfort for those who are wounded from battle. From going out and doing male battle. That's what the female endowments are for. Of pastor and teacher. That's what they're there for. To nurture up the weakness so that those who are in a state of weakness. So that they can rise up in male strength. It's not to control the males. It's to enable the males. That's what the female endowments are for. If that makes sense. | |
| but obviously the wolves do the opposite of this. And so then it says in verse 36 of Acts 20, and when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all. And then verse 37, and they all wept sore and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. And then verse 38, the last verse of Acts 20, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spake, that they should see his face no more. | |
| And they accompanied him unto the ship. So there's several things here. Like the first thing, and I'll be very frank, I'm still not sure what to make of this. But in verse 37, when it says, and they all wept sore. The word sore, it's kind of an interesting word in Greek. It's hikanos. And hikanos literally means enough. That's what it literally means. I believe that's the word that the Lord Jesus said when he was angry with the disciples and he said enough. | |
| Let me just confirm. Let's click here to see the usages of Hikanos. Let's see if I can find it. I'm sure it's in Luke somewhere. Yeah, here it is. Luke 22:38. And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, it's enough. Hikanos would have been the word in Greek that he would have used if he had been speaking Greek at that moment. I'm sure he was speaking Aramaic, but when it was translated, | |
| plastered in writing by the Holy Spirit in Greek. That's the word that conveys what he was saying in Aramaic. Hikanos, enough. So it has the connotation of something like reaching a limit. That's kind of what it kind of conveys. So they wept up to a limit. I don't know what to make of that. But I'm sure it means something. | |
| sure not sure what it means but the other thing that I do not know what to make of is when it says and they fell on Paul's neck and kissed him so the word neck is um kind of sounds like um like words related to neck um do have that word "trache" kind of in them embedded in them um and um | |
| let's look at as you can see it's only used a few times in Scripture you would think the word neck would be there a lot more but it isn't it's just used seven times in seven verses it says here so it's used in Matthew 18:6 and Mark 9:42 to refer to uh you know tying a millstone around the neck of someone who uh causes uh who is a stumbling block to one of God's little ones um | |
| And we've heard this verse before. So notice neck is connected here in a negative sense to like binding someone to a heaviness as a judgment for what they did to others. It's kind of like the wolves, the heavy wolves, the bodies wolves, the grievous wolves. They come and impose a burden on the little ones to keep them down and under control. | |
| And so God does the same thing back to them. That's why he ties a millstone around or hangs it around their necks and then cast them into the sea because that's what they are doing to God to his people or trying to do to his people. And often they succeed sadly. And then neck is used. This is the one that confuses me. If it weren't for this one, I'd have a clearer understanding of what neck is in this next 20:37. | |
| But this verse, Luke 17:2, is the one that confuses me. It says, it were better for him. I'm sorry, not this one. Again, sorry, Luke 15:28. I skipped one here. It says, and he arose and came to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. And so you can see that it's this verse that obviously is talking about the prodigal son when he | |
| came back home finally. And it says, notice that it says, fell, the father fell on his neck and kissed him. So three things, fell, neck, and kissed. And notice if we go to Acts 20:37, it says, and they all wept enough, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him. Fell, neck, and kissed. | |
| The three words are used to refer to the father's reaction to the prodigal son coming home. And I'll be very frank. I have no clue what that means. But that's what they did to Paul. Like Paul was the prodigal son. And it's coming to me right now, but I could be wrong. I think this is of the Lord. I pray it is. It just came to my heart. | |
| The prodigal son, you know, it all can be taken at different levels. That's that parable. But one level, and it's a level that a lot of people talk about, and I believe they're right when they refer to it like that, even when matriarchal pastors use it that way, I believe they are right, technically correct. When they talk about the prodigal son representing the Gentiles and the elder son representing the Jews. | |
| you know, the, the, the one who, the ones who had stayed in the house of the father the whole time, uh, nominally speaking, you know, like the, the Jews, even though the Israelites, even though they were rebellious and all, uh, at least nominally they were with God, you know, uh, and trying to practice the law of God and all that. And it's like the Gentiles ran up, ran out of the house and went and did their own thing. And then they, and then God is calling them back into the house. Um, | |
| And so the prodigal son refers to the Gentiles. And there's something kind of fitting as if God is saying, Paul, to me, you're like the Gentile, like the prodigal son who left the house and is coming home. Because you would think Paul would see himself as the Jew. And I hope you see what we're saying that. | |
| If we're saying that the prodigal son, if God is saying that the prodigal son is the Gentiles and the older son are the Jews, if Paul had to choose which one he was, he would say, I guess I'm the older son. But God is saying, no, to me, you're like the prodigal son. I have joined you with the Gentiles. You are like a Gentile to me. | |
| And yet you keep refusing that call that I've given to you, that you are a Gentile. Stop thinking of yourself as a Jew. To me, you're a prodigal son because you were the one rebelling against me. You're the one persecuting Christians and grabbing them by the hair, pulling them out of their houses to take them to the magistrates and imprison them and punish them. | |
| You are the one standing there watching the mantles as the Jews were killing my son, Stephen. You are the prodigal son. You're the one who rebelled against me, who would not listen to me, who left the house of the spirit and went following other things that I didn't call you to follow. You were doing all these bad things. You came home. You are the prodigal son. | |
| and that's what God is saying to Paul here you are the prodigal son you are the Gentile that came home that's how I see you my son you keep clinging to a Jewish identity you really didn't have because to me you were always like a Gentile a rebellious Gentile um that's what God is saying um | |
| Yeah. OK, so just just to complete the looking at this list here. So we saw Matthew 18, six and Mark 9:42 refer to neck in the context of the millstone, like putting burdens on others. So God's going to put a burden on you. And Luke 17 to the next time that neck is used. I think it was again in the context of the millstone. | |
| So it's interesting in the four gospels, well, John doesn't mention neck, interestingly enough, John, the prophetic gospel. But the other three gospels, they all refer to the neck in a negative sense, Matthew, Mark, and Luke in the context of the millstone. And then there's this exception in Luke 15:20, where the neck is used for something else in reference to the prodigal son coming home. | |
| It's like God is in all of this saying, Paul, the people that you're enamored with have been putting millstones on my people, on the ones I want to enable and exalt. They've been putting these millstones on their necks and you keep reaching out to them. And I've told you, I don't want you to deal with them anymore. And because you keep reaching out to them, | |
| And these people have a spirit of millstone hanging on people's necks. You've allowed a spirit that will do precisely that to come into my fold. It's the spirit of these ravenous, of these grievous, heavy wolves. These wolves will come and impose this heavy millstone on my people. | |
| And that spirit is coming from the Jews that you keep making contact with. It's the irony. The Jews always shied away from contacting the Gentiles because they always felt that the Gentiles were unclean. And if they touched them, something spiritual would contaminate them, like some sort of contagion just by virtually touching, just by the virtue of touching them or eating with them or talking with them. | |
| And the irony is that the ones with the infection were the Jews. And every time Paul kept reaching out to them, when he was doing it at the beginning, under the anointing of God, he had the protection of God. But once he stopped going to the Jews, when God told him to, and he started going to them even when God wasn't telling him to, then he lost the protection. He was, I hope you see what we're saying. It's like, | |
| When God sends you to do something, he will give you what you need. And if you're going to be exposed to some disease, he's going to put a protection over you against that disease so that you can do what you're supposed to do. But if you're going to minister to people who are infected with something and God is not sending you to them, what's going to happen is God's not going to protect you against that disease because he's not sending you to do that. | |
| so you you will become infected and that's what happened he kept reaching out to the jews who have to have this millstone uh you know a neck hanging spirit on them and he got infected with it and maybe he didn't embrace the spirit but he had on he had it on him you know it's like those people who are who carry a contagious disease but they themselves do not show the symptoms but they can spread the disease to others | |
| I hope that makes sense. Like they can control the disease themselves. Like they have the antibodies to resist the disease and the impact, the deep impact that it has. But they still carry the virus and then they infect other people with it. I forget the name. There's a technical name for that. Silent carriers or asymptomatic carriers. | |
| carriers or something like that but the thing is that that's what Paul was so he could he kept con making contact with people with that spirit and he brought it into the church and that's why the ravenous wool the burdensome the grievous wolves were coming in started coming in in full force they were going to come anyway but as we said before um they would have come with much less of an impact uh but | |
| But Paul didn't see that. So the thing is that that's what God is saying here. Yeah. Thank you, Lord. The more I keep, I didn't understand it, but God in his mercy right now is, I believe, making me understand. Okay. Yeah, I pray it's of the Lord. Then Acts 15:10 says, Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck, | |
| the trachylos, of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. I believe this is Peter talking in the so-called Council of Jerusalem when they were deciding on whether or not the Gentiles were supposed to follow the Jewish law. So notice how the neck and everything is connected to Jewishness versus Gentile-ness. And that was the issue with Paul. Paul kept reaching out to the Jews | |
| and the Gentiles when God said focus on the Gentiles because you're like a Gentile to me. So notice again how God keeps connecting the imposing of a burdensome weight on your neck on the Jews. The Jews were the ones putting these weights on people's necks. And then Acts 20:37 the verse that we started from and then the last time the neck is used. It's very interesting. So after Acts 20:37 the verse we're reading | |
| God only uses the word neck one more time. And it's in Romans 16, verse four, when it says, when Paul says, who have for my life laid down their own necks unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the what? The Gentiles. Notice how the neck is connected to the Gentiles and the Jews, that whole contrast. And so Paul's referring to someone, I'm not sure who, let me just go read it quickly, sorry. | |
| Greed Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus. That's what Romans 16:3 says. And then verse 4. Who have for my life laid down their own necks. Unto whom not only I give thanks. But also all the churches of the Gentiles. And Priscilla and Aquila were Jews. But these Jews were Jews that were serving the Gentiles. And they laid down their own necks. | |
| and for the benefit of the Gentiles. So again, God keeps connecting neck to Jews versus Gentiles. I hope you see that. And that's what God was saying. So all of this talk about them, you know, falling on Paul's neck and kissing him and all that, you'd say, oh yeah, it's just an emotional moment. No, God is saying something here. | |
| God was trying to say. It's like a recap of everything. That was messed up with the whole story. Of him having to go to Jerusalem. The big mistake he was making. And it was. Maybe the word mistake is not there. It's like a detour. That he was taking. Because he had made a spiritual mistake in his heart. | |
| And he just would not let go of it. Because he felt this burden. Like, I have this responsibility. I have to preach to the Jews first. Because they are the chosen race. He had a little mini millstone on his neck. And that kept pushing him and forcing him to do something God was not calling him to do. And God kept saying, let go of the neck. Let go of that thing. Cut it off from your neck. | |
| And God would hand him the scissors to cut off that thing that was hanging from his neck, that burden that he had for the Jews. And he would grab the scissors and start kind of like nibbling away at the strings, holding that burdensome weight to his neck. And he would just snip, nip. | |
| A couple of times. And he would say. No God I can't do it. Can't do it. And he would hand back the scissors. And he kept carrying the neck. So God said okay. I'll give you the weight then. And the whole trip to Jerusalem. Was God saying. Now you'll feel the weight. That you've chosen. To leave on your neck. Okay. So going back to. | |
| Let's see, to Acts 20:38. There are more things here. We're running out of time. So, "sorrowing". This word is very interesting. Very, very interesting. And it was translated from Odinao. And if you go to Odinao, or Odunao, however you want to pronounce it, you will see here... | |
| It literally means to torment or sorrow to cause intense pain. So they were sorrowing the Ephesian elders, you know, as they were saying goodbye for the last time in person to Brother Paul. So the first time that Odinao sorrowing appears in Scripture is here in Luke 2:48. Notice what a strange context. | |
| And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing, or thee now. And you may recognize this is from the passage that describes what happened when the Lord Jesus at the age of 12, he kind of got away from his earthly parents, Joseph and Mary. | |
| And he went to the temple and he was there asking the people, the elders there, you know, questions and talking about Scriptures with them and asking and stuff. And then Mary and Joseph started looking for him. They didn't know where he was. They found him in the temple. And that's when she uttered these words. The question is, is this Godly sorrow or soulish sorrow? | |
| And I believe you will agree that this is soulish sorrow. This is not sorrow of the Spirit. Because if it was sorrow of the Spirit, it would mean grief over what Jesus had done. Do you and I believe that Jesus was doing the wrong thing? Obviously not. So we cannot, and therefore we have to admit the Spirit of God was not grieving or sorrowing | |
| when he saw Jesus at the temple. No, Jesus was doing what was about his father's business. So the spirit was happy with what was happening, but who was sad? The soul. The soul didn't understand what was going on. Mary's soul was sorrowing and sorrowing in the soul. In other words, it was not sorrow of the soul in the spirit because you can have a sorrowful soul that emanates from something in the spirit. | |
| And that makes you feel sorrow in your soul. But the thing is, this was sorrow of the soul because she was in the soul, not in the spirit. She didn't understand what God wanted to do with the child Jesus. She didn't understand. And she kept pastoring him as a female pastor, tending to him. | |
| Like a little child. Without realizing no. He has to grow as a spirit male. As a male spirit being. Does that make sense? So obviously. This is not of God. This sorrow is not of God. This was from Mary's soul. And it was not right. And notice how she calls him. She says thy father. Referring to Joseph. So she forgot that his father. Was God the father. Not Joseph. | |
| Joseph just had like this earthly role as a father but the father was and Mary knew it because she was she knows that she was made pregnant by the Holy Spirit so she had to be the first one to know and recognize that the real father was God and she was so in the soul she missed it so this is not good sorrow | |
| And then Luke 16:24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented. The word tormented was already now. So they could have translated I'm sorrowing in this flame. Again, is it a good sorrow? Obviously not. Well, it's a judgment sorrow, but it's a sorrow that emerges from bad behavior. | |
| he was being punished. As you know, this is the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and all that. So this is the man being sorrowed in his soul because he didn't live in the spirit. And then Luke 16:25, again, it uses sorrow. But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he's comforted | |
| and thou art tormented, or odinao, or sorrowed, or sorrowing. So again, negative context. And then Acts 20:38. So I would dare say, and especially because of what's said in the rest of the verse, that sorrow from the Ephesians was not good sorrow. The words of Paul didn't produce the effect that they needed. Paul was supposed, if he was really warning them about the wolves, | |
| He had to imbue them with a male anointing to fight these wolves off. But he didn't. He kept speaking to them pastorally. So the males that was needed to fight these wolves was not there. So they ended up sorrowing. And notice what is so sad about this. We have so little time left. Sorry, most of all, for the words which he spake. The words, and we just read all the words. | |
| that they should see his face no more. In other words, what made them sorrow the most, that's what this verse is saying, out of all that Paul said was, you will not see me again. And he just said, wolves are coming to destroy the people of God. And what made them sorrow most was, oh, we're not going to see Paul again. | |
| I hope you see the problem there. It's like someone saying, hey, | |
| I went to the to the store to get some milk. And when I got there, when I was there, some robbers came in and they pointed guns at us and they took my money and they took the money from the cash register from the owner of the store. Let's say this is a wife telling her husband, you know, the husband said, oh, I need milk for my cereal. And he sent and he sends her to go get the milk. | |
| And she goes to the store, goes to buy the milk and this whole thing happens. And then she comes back and tells her husband what happened. Imagine the husband hearing the whole story of the robbery and the guns and there was even a shot fired and this and that and the other. And then after hearing all that, the husband's saying, so you didn't get my milk? That's the same thing that happens here. Paul was saying all these things and the only thing that they got, | |
| It didn't resonate. That's what we were saying a moment ago. The words were spoken with a female mindset. That's why they didn't resonate. And all they got is, oh, we're not going to see our friend again. That's all they got. Instead of saying, Paul, how do we fight these wolves off? And that just shows you that Paul had lost the male anointing that was needed to fight off these wolves. | |
| because he got contaminated by the spirit of Solomon and he let in the wolf spirit, the burden, the heavy heaviness spirit that puts burdens on God's people to control them. He let that in because he kept connecting to the Jews. |
The discussion begins with a meditation on the "spirit of Solomon," a concept drawn from Song of Songs 3:6–11. This spirit represents a subtle infection that even the most resistant apostles, such as Paul, eventually succumbed to in part. The spiritual consequences of this infection are explored through Paul’s final words to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:28.
In Acts 20:28, Paul warns the Ephesian elders to "take heed" to themselves and the "flock" over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers. As Paul knew he would never see these men again, his words carried immense weight. However, the language he employs is deeply pastoral.
An analysis of the Greek term for "flock" (poimnion) reveals a strong connection to the pastoral endowment. The speaker notes a tension in how we define "ministry." While the term diakonia is often used to describe the five gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4:11 (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers), diakonia is fundamentally a word of service, akin to a waiter serving food.
In Ephesians 4:11, God does not call these "ministries" but rather presents these individuals as gifts to the church. There is a notable distinction in how they are listed: the "spiritually male" endowments (apostles, prophets, and evangelists) are listed individually, whereas the "female" or "soul-centered" endowments (pastors and teachers) are grouped together.
The primary purpose of these endowments is the "perfecting of the saints" and the "work of the ministry" (ergon) for the edifying of the body of Christ. The speaker argues that by labeling all these gifts as "ministries" (diakonia), the church has inadvertently allowed the pastoral (and thus soulish) endowment to exert undue control over the entire body, treating all gifts as forms of service or pastoring.
The goal of these endowments is to lead believers toward the "stature of the fullness of Christ," specifically reaching the perfection of the "man" (aner, meaning male/spirit). The speaker suggests that the male ministries are placed first in Scripture because the ultimate goal is the perfection of the spirit nature.
Returning to Acts 20, the term "flock" and the command to "feed" (poimaino) are overtly pastoral. Paul, though an apostle by nature, speaks from a pastoral perspective in this moment. This pastoral lens is seen as the entry point for the spirit of Solomon.
The term "overseer" (episkopos) is also analyzed. Etymologically, epi (over/above) and skopos (to see/watch) combine to mean one who watches from above—similar to a modern supervisor. In a biblical context, an episkopos is one who watches over a flock to ensure their safety.
The discussion tracks the seven appearances of episkopos in the New Testament, noting connections to hospitality and teaching. The speaker emphasizes that hospitality is inherently pastoral, as it involves serving and providing comfort.
In Titus 1:7, an episkopos is described as a "steward" (oikonomos). The speaker relates oikonomos (house-rule) to the domestic, female role of managing the home, further reinforcing the link between the office of overseer and the pastoral/soul-centered endowment.
In Acts 20:29, Paul issues a warning: "grievous wolves" will enter and not spare the flock. The speaker notes a subtle distinction in the Greek: Paul uses eido (mental knowledge) rather than gnosis (heart knowledge). This suggests that while Paul's mind grasped the danger, his heart was being blocked from full understanding by the spirit of Solomon.
The term "wolves" (lykos) is intrinsically linked to sheep in Scripture. The speaker suggests that these wolves represent the "Canaanite spirit"—the pastoral endowment gone bad, characterized by a desire to conquer rather than serve.
The word "grievous" (baris) carries the connotation of "heaviness" or "weight," similar to the word barometer. The speaker interprets these "grievous wolves" as those who impose heavy, unGodly burdens and restrictions on the sheep to maintain control and "eat them up."
Paul warns that men will arise from within the church to speak perverse things. These individuals may manifest "maleness" (apostolic/prophetic traits) but use it for the purpose of conquering and "pastoralizing" the church into a soulish state.
Paul’s plea to "watch" (gregoreo) is the call of a watchman. The speaker reflects on why the warning about wolves is not recorded more frequently in Paul's other epistles. The conclusion is that the spirit of Solomon acted as a "muzzle," muffling Paul's apostolic voice and preventing his warnings from reaching the hearts of the believers.
Because Paul had partially embraced the spirit of Solomon—specifically through his refusal to let go of his preoccupation with the Jews—his voice became muffled. He was speaking from a pastoral/soulish place rather than an apostolic/spirit place, which prevented the message from truly penetrating.
A central theme is that wolves cannot be defeated through pastoral commands. The speaker uses the analogy of David fighting a lion or a bear; David did not act as a pastor (a food server), but as an apostle and prophet with the authority to judge and strike. You cannot "pastor" a wolf; you must confront it with spiritual authority.
The "tears" mentioned in Acts 20:31 are analyzed. The speaker suggests that these may have been "soulish" tears—emotionalism rather than Godly, spirit-led grief. By appealing to the emotions (the soul) rather than stirring the "maleness" (the spirit) of the Ephesians, Paul failed to equip them for battle.
Paul's transition to "commending them to the word of his grace" is viewed by the speaker as a sign of weakness in this context. Instead of preparing them for the coming onslaught of wolves, he offered a message of building up and grace, which lacked the "edge" needed for spiritual warfare.
In Acts 20:33, Paul declares he has coveted no man's silver, gold, or apparel. The speaker identifies these as symbols of the male endowments: silver (apostolic/purity), gold (prophetic/glory), and apparel (evangelistic/authority).
The speaker warns that "wolves" in the pastoral office often lust after these endowments in others. They seek to seize the apostolic wisdom, the prophetic word, or the evangelistic authority of believers to use for their own personal kingdoms and to maintain control over the flock.
Paul concludes by noting that he served through "menial" labor, acting as an "under-rower" (hypo-eretes) rather than seeking to exalt himself. He lived a life of service that was not about self-promotion.
The final moments of the passage—the weeping and the kissing of the neck—are analyzed. The speaker draws a connection between the "neck" and the "millstone" of Jewish legalism. Paul’s insistence on maintaining ties to the Jews acted as a "millstone" on his own neck, a burdensome weight that hindered his ability to fully transition into his calling to the Gentiles.
Ultimately, the speaker posits that Paul’s detour into the Jewish identity was a spiritual mistake. He carried a "mini millstone" of responsibility that prevented him from fully releasing the apostolic authority needed to protect the church from the coming wolves. The passage serves as a somber reminder of how even a great apostle can be hindered by the subtle infiltration of a soulish, pastoral spirit.