Calvary Chapel Lake Stevens

In Acts 21, we encounter a profound question that resonates through every believer's journey: when God calls us forward, how do we discern between warnings meant to prepare us and those meant to stop us? Paul's determination to reach Jerusalem despite repeated warnings from the Spirit reveals a critical truth about faithful obedience. Three times he was warned of impending trouble—by disciples in Tyre, the prophet Agabus in Caesarea, and his own friends—yet Paul remained resolute. This wasn't stubborn disobedience; it was Spirit-led conviction. The disciples weren't wrong to warn him, but they were interpreting the Spirit's revelation through human concern, wanting to protect Paul from suffering rather than prepare him for it. This teaches us that God's will often includes difficulty, and trials aren't detours from His plan but pathways through it. When we shelter ourselves or others from every hardship, we might actually be preventing the very growth God intends. Paul's declaration—'I am ready not only to be