Hardship is
Coming
Jim Cymbala
“ Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers . Be shepherds of the church of God , which he bought with his own blood . I know that after I leave , savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock . Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them . So be on your guard !” — Acts 20:28 – 31
Keeping watch over the flock is challenging , whether that flock numbers in the dozens , hundreds , or thousands . The apostle Paul warns of the hardships they can expect , and there are several lessons for those of us who shepherding flocks today .
First , notice the words “ I know .” Paul 32 knew , through revelation by the Holy Spirit , what the future held for the elders in Ephesus . And yet he didn ’ t presume to be able to stop events from happening or to “ rebuke ” them away . Like it or not , these difficult moments were coming . When God speaks about the future , it is never “ negative ,” but rather the guaranteed reality of future events that he is preparing us to face .
In Matthew 24 , Jesus describes what will happen in the last days : Wars . Famines . Earthquakes . In particular , he said of his followers , “ You will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death , and you will be hated by all nations because of me . At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other , and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people ” ( Matt . 24:9 – 11 ).