The Fifth Act | Finish Well - Ralph Castillo

Church of the City New York

COTC NYC

Religion & Spirituality, Cotc, Churchofthecitynewyork, Cotcnyc, Christianity, Jontyson, Churchofthecity

4.8 • 837 Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo closed out our Summer sermon series, The Fifth Act, with an in depth look on the Apostle Paul’s final remarks to the Ephesian Elders in Acts and a call to finish well. Throughout his ministry, Paul endured great suffering for the sake of Christ, undergoing intense persecution and opposition nearly everywhere he went. However, at the end of his life, he was able to confidently say that he finished the work set out for him. Paul’s life challenges us to focus on finishing well, not in our own strength, but by anchoring ourselves in Christ, committing to submit to the Holy Spirit, and by loving what Jesus loves, His Church.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you can go ahead and remain standing for the reading of God's Word, we're going to be reading
0:07.5	from Acts 20, verses 22 through 24. And now, behold, I'm going to go to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen
0:23.1	to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment
0:28.6	and afflictions await me.
0:30.4	But I do not account my life of any value, nor as precious to myself.
0:35.4	If only I may finish my course in the ministry
0:38.2	that I received from the Lord Jesus
0:40.4	to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.
0:43.6	This is the word of the Lord.
0:44.9	This is God.
0:50.0	Oh, good morning, church. Morning. Good morning, Church.
0:56.0	Good morning, if we've not had the chance to meet, my name's Ralph, and I have the honor of serving on staff here at Church of the City on the care team.
1:10.0	And I have the double honor of closing out our 19-week series through the Book of Acts.
1:20.6	Ten years ago this month, my son Corey, who's now 19 and a whopping six feet, five inches tall, was invited to compete in a citywide
1:38.3	track and field event sponsored by Nike at Icon Stadium on Randall's Island.
1:47.0	We drove by it this morning on our way to church.
1:52.0	And I want you to imagine one of those classic summer days in New York City.
2:02.6	It was hot, it was humid,
2:06.6	it was buzzing with energy,
2:09.6	and the bleachers were full of lost New Yorkers,
2:13.6	far from God, cheering for their kids and their borough. And since this was a citywide event,
2:22.5	each borough showed up and showed out. Brooklyn was in the building, Queens, Staten Island,
	...

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