We got a great re-start into the Book of Acts last Sunday. Be sure to watch that message if you happened to miss it. As we see the narrative progressing, Paul is in Miletus on his way to Jerusalem, and he calls for the Ephesian elders to come meet him at the boat for a farewell. He knows and they know, this is the last time they’ll be seeing each other on this side of eternity. But Paul feels constrained to go. Constrained by the Holy Spirit. He can’t not go. This passage has had an impact in the life of our family in that it was how God led us to Barrie. We too felt “constrained by the Spirit.” Cheryl and I knew at the time that, “We can’t not go.” That compulsion to love, to serve, to follow his will and live in his grace is something we should all feel as Christians. We should all be “constrained by the Spirit” even when we don’t know the outcome. Acts 20:17-27 is the kind of passage that can be a turning point in a person’s life. Maybe in your life.

Series: The Book of Acts
Message: 55 – Constrained by the Spirit
Text: Acts 20:17-27
Todd Dugard
Harvest Bible Chapel
September 14, 2025

When the Spirit is at work in me, I am constrained…

…to love others (v. 17-18a)

John 15:12-13

John 13:35

…to serve the Lord (v. 18b-21)

Our life here, as saints, is no aimless life. We know the true way of living. We have found an object worthy of our living for. In all we speak and do we serve the Lord Christ. We do not live at random. Each hour, each word, each action, has its aim… Our desire is, not to kill time, but to use it; to gather up all its fragments, to lay out every moment well, to lose nothing of so precious a benefit. All that we have of it is too little to be trifled with, too precious to be thrown away.
—Horatius Bonar

…to follow his will (v. 22-23)

…to live in his grace (v. 24-27)

James 1:17 a

2 Timothy 4:6-7

2 Timothy 4:8