WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.599 Good morning. My name is Jeff Simpson. I am one of the pastors here and delighted to be 00:00:12.599 --> 00:00:18.160 here with you this morning. It's been a great two months working here at Advent. So I'm thankful 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:22.300 for those of you who have gotten to know so far and look forward to continuing to get to know 00:00:22.300 --> 00:00:29.460 so many of you. I'm actually going to switch out this binder. Sorry. Here we go. All right. 00:00:30.359 --> 00:00:36.140 Well, so this morning we come to the end of our study in the book of Acts, which we started back 00:00:36.140 --> 00:00:42.320 in April. And I think, you know, I've really enjoyed this series in the book of Acts. And if 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:47.900 you're new to our church, something you should know is that one of the main things that we do 00:00:47.900 --> 00:00:52.679 is preach through books of the Bible. And that's because we have a really high view of scripture. 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:57.539 We believe that our main diet on Sunday mornings as we gather together in worship should be walking 00:00:57.539 --> 00:01:02.140 through books of the Bible. And so I've really enjoyed this series in the book of Acts. And 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:07.659 I'm honored and excited to be able to close it out in Acts chapter 28. So as we do that, 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:14.180 let me just recap where we've been. So last week, Tommy talked about Paul's trial before the Roman 00:01:14.180 --> 00:01:21.820 governor Festus. And Paul was in Caesarea and he was arrested. He was innocent. And because he didn't 00:01:21.820 --> 00:01:26.080 think he was going to get a fair trial, he actually appealed to Rome because he was a Roman citizen. 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:32.280 And so what that meant is that he actually had to travel to Rome to await trial. But before Festus 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:38.360 sends him to Rome, he brings in King Agrippa to hear Paul's case and to hear what charges he should 00:01:38.359 --> 00:01:45.819 send along with him as he travels to Rome. And so we heard Paul's defense in his trial last week, 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:53.560 that Paul's defense was not so much to clear his name and his reputation, but to communicate that 00:01:53.560 --> 00:01:59.019 the events of Jesus' death and resurrection are public truth for all people. And so that's where 00:01:59.019 --> 00:02:06.659 chapter 26 ends and it's where chapter 27 picks up. And chapter 27 is really about Paul's voyage from 00:02:06.659 --> 00:02:15.419 Caesarea across the Mediterranean to travel to Rome. And so he starts traveling on a boat with about 00:02:15.419 --> 00:02:21.639 275 other people. They start sailing across the Mediterranean and on the way, they hit a huge storm. 00:02:22.400 --> 00:02:28.419 And the huge storm causes their ship to start to break up. And they realize they have no other option 00:02:28.419 --> 00:02:34.240 that they're not going to be able to make it to Rome because this storm has caused their ship to run 00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:40.740 aground. And so they start throwing cargo off the ship. And eventually their ship runs aground in the 00:02:40.740 --> 00:02:46.500 island of Malta. And it's there that they have to stay for a while before they can find another ship, 00:02:46.580 --> 00:02:51.540 before they can start and continue the journey back to Rome. And so that's where we actually pick it up 00:02:51.540 --> 00:02:58.320 in chapter 28. And in many ways, this chapter is really a capstone to the book of Acts. We don't 00:02:58.319 --> 00:03:06.099 actually see a lot of new themes or new ideas here in Acts 28. What we actually see is a summary. What 00:03:06.099 --> 00:03:10.239 we actually see is the continuation of a lot of themes that we have seen all throughout the book 00:03:10.239 --> 00:03:16.620 of Acts. So I think it provides a kind of capstone to the mission of the early church in Acts and our 00:03:16.620 --> 00:03:24.479 mission as a church today. In this chapter, we see Paul both demonstrating the deeds of the kingdom of 00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:30.620 God and also proclaiming the words of the kingdom of God. And I think that there's a temptation in any 00:03:30.620 --> 00:03:35.979 church to emphasize one of those things at the expense of the other. There's a temptation to emphasize 00:03:35.979 --> 00:03:42.799 word ministry over at the expense of deed ministry. There's a tendency, there's a temptation to emphasize 00:03:42.799 --> 00:03:49.919 proclamation or demonstration, one or the other. And there are all sorts of reasons why individuals 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:54.099 and churches might be tempted to do this. But what I want us to see this morning is that when it comes to the 00:03:54.099 --> 00:03:58.039 mission of the church, when it comes to our mission, that both of these things are inseparable. 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:04.180 Demonstration and proclamation. And this is true, not just because it sounds great on a church vision 00:04:04.180 --> 00:04:10.199 statement or website, but it's true because of the very nature of the kingdom. We believe that in Jesus 00:04:10.199 --> 00:04:15.299 Christ, the nature, that the kingdom of God has broken into this world in ways that are real and powerful 00:04:15.299 --> 00:04:21.659 and transformative. But we also believe that the kingdom is not fully here yet. As Christians, we await the 00:04:21.660 --> 00:04:27.220 final consummation of that kingdom and hope. And one of the ways that theologians across the ages have 00:04:27.220 --> 00:04:35.140 learned to describe that tension is that the kingdom is already, but not yet. It's already, but not yet. 00:04:35.200 --> 00:04:39.879 It's here, but not fully. And this is why the words of the kingdom and the deeds of the kingdom are 00:04:39.879 --> 00:04:44.640 inseparable. Because the kingdom is here, we can demonstrate the reign of Jesus in our midst right now. 00:04:44.639 --> 00:04:51.139 And we also believe that the kingdom is not yet. And so we proclaim the words of the kingdom with hope 00:04:51.139 --> 00:04:58.079 that one day that kingdom will be finally fulfilled. And so that is what we see here in Acts 28. And that 00:04:58.079 --> 00:05:03.120 is what I want to draw our attention to this morning, that we see the kingdom of God demonstrated with 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:09.939 power. And we see the king proclaimed with boldness. So first of all, we see the kingdom of God 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:16.379 God demonstrated with power. So Luke tells us in verse two, that when Paul and all 276 crew members 00:05:16.379 --> 00:05:23.600 arrive on the Island of Malta, he says, the native people showed us unusual kindness for they kindled 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:29.480 a fire and welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and was cold. The people on the Island greet 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:36.240 them with incredibly warm hospitality. And this word for kindness here is the word that we get our word 00:05:36.240 --> 00:05:43.920 for philanthropy from. Philanthropia. It means benevolence or love for humankind. But translators 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:50.319 translate it unusual kindness. And before we go any further, I mean, wouldn't this be great if this 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:56.019 was something that we were known for as a church? Those Church of the Advent people, I don't know 00:05:56.019 --> 00:06:03.100 necessarily if I agree what they believe, but they are unusually kind. They're unusually kind. I mean, 00:06:03.100 --> 00:06:08.060 what a thing to be known for, right? I mean, what a thing to strive for. As the story continues, 00:06:08.140 --> 00:06:11.920 something kind of strange happens. So they kindle this fire and Paul is grabbing sticks to put on 00:06:11.920 --> 00:06:17.280 this fire. And as he's laying the sticks on the fire, a snake jumps out and bites him on the hand. 00:06:17.939 --> 00:06:22.560 And it must have been a poison to the snake because the people expect him to die. Verse four says, 00:06:22.780 --> 00:06:29.040 no doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. 00:06:29.040 --> 00:06:35.120 But then as the story continues, verse five and six, we see that nothing happens. Nothing happens 00:06:35.120 --> 00:06:39.819 to him. And so the people change their mind. They say, well, this man, maybe he's not a murderer, but 00:06:39.819 --> 00:06:46.800 maybe he's a god because the snake bite has not caused him to die. And of course, he's, we know that 00:06:46.800 --> 00:06:52.160 Paul's not a god, but that's what they believe. That's their perspective. Then verses seven to 10 tell 00:06:52.160 --> 00:06:57.100 us that the chief of the island, a man named Publius, continues to show great hospitality to the crew. 00:06:57.100 --> 00:07:04.960 But, but during their stay, Publius's father falls ill. And so Paul goes to him and he prays for him 00:07:04.960 --> 00:07:10.260 and he puts his hands on him and heals him. And then Luke tells us that many other people in the 00:07:10.260 --> 00:07:16.280 island come to Paul and he heals them as well. And so this is one of the many examples in the book of 00:07:16.280 --> 00:07:23.040 Acts where we see the power of the kingdom of God demonstrated through acts of compassion and healing. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:28.840 And as a church, this is one of the main things of this part of our mission, that we demonstrate the 00:07:28.840 --> 00:07:35.360 power of the kingdom through acts of love and compassion and kindness. I don't say, I want to 00:07:35.360 --> 00:07:42.259 say two things about this. The first is this, we believe that, that every ordinary act of love and 00:07:42.259 --> 00:07:47.720 mercy and kindness demonstrates the power of the kingdom. Every ordinary act of love demonstrates the 00:07:47.720 --> 00:07:53.200 power of the kingdom, whether it's feeding hungry people or, or teaching young children, changing 00:07:53.200 --> 00:07:59.720 diapers, serving Afghan refugees, or whether it's just the ordinary work that you do every day in 00:07:59.720 --> 00:08:05.080 your jobs and vocations, whether or not that feels meaningful or whether it feels boring. Whether you 00:08:05.080 --> 00:08:10.300 know it or not, your everyday work matters. The kingdom work, demonstrating the kingdom, isn't just 00:08:10.300 --> 00:08:16.160 the work of clergy or staff of a church. We believe in a priesthood of believers. Demonstrating the power of 00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:22.620 the kingdom is every believer's job. The logic of the kingdom is not only do your small, ordinary acts 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:28.060 of love, not only do your, not only does your everyday work matter, but somehow by the power of the spirit, 00:08:28.180 --> 00:08:34.920 we believe that it will last into the new creation, which one day God will make. So we believe that every 00:08:34.920 --> 00:08:39.740 ordinary act of love demonstrates the power of the kingdom, but we also believe that sometimes God does 00:08:39.740 --> 00:08:45.980 extraordinary acts of healing, like what we see here in Acts 28, that also demonstrate the power of the 00:08:45.980 --> 00:08:51.539 kingdom. And these, these two things, we don't pit these against each other. We, we must not expect that 00:08:51.539 --> 00:08:56.800 the extraordinary acts of healing are somehow better or varsity compared to junior varsity, 00:08:57.060 --> 00:09:03.440 ordinary acts of, of love. Ordinary acts of, of love are, are not less important. And there's a very 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:09.200 specific reason that, for this, because even the extraordinary acts of power in healing, like we see here in 00:09:09.200 --> 00:09:16.160 Acts 28, are always meant to restore people back to their ordinary vocations as people made in God's image. 00:09:16.680 --> 00:09:22.780 The spectacle of the healing isn't the point. The point is the restoration of God's purposes for 00:09:22.780 --> 00:09:32.420 humanity. And that is what the kingdom of God is about. Our Anglican Catechism, question 179, says, 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:38.259 what is the kingdom? What is the kingdom? And the answer that the catechism gives is the kingdom of 00:09:38.259 --> 00:09:45.740 God is the just and peaceful reign of Jesus over all the world, especially in the lives of his faithful 00:09:45.740 --> 00:09:51.179 people through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit. And Jeff Bailey, if you're listening, that was for you. 00:09:51.819 --> 00:09:58.879 So the reign of Jesus, the kingdom says, the kingdom is about the reign of Jesus, and it is a reign that is 00:09:58.879 --> 00:10:05.299 just. And that's important because another thing that we notice here in this story, in Acts 28, 00:10:05.899 --> 00:10:12.799 is that the demonstration of the power of the kingdom always exposes faulty views of justice. 00:10:13.620 --> 00:10:20.519 It always exposes faulty views of justice. What we see here is that even though these islanders on 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:26.759 the island of Malta, even though they excel in the virtue of hospitality, they are deficient in their view of 00:10:26.759 --> 00:10:33.200 true justice. They have a fatalistic view. They basically believe in karma, this idea that you get 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:39.379 what you deserve, that what goes around comes around. And we see this here right after Paul gets bit, and 00:10:39.379 --> 00:10:46.080 they say, this man must be a murderer. Justice has not allowed him to live. And they're probably imagining 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:52.879 a personified view of justice, maybe in some ancient gods or goddesses, but it is a fatalistic view of 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:59.960 reality. And there's a couple problems with this kind of fatalism or this view of karma. And the first is that 00:10:59.960 --> 00:11:08.480 a fatalistic view or a karmic view of justice can't account for unjust suffering. In a fatalistic mindset, if 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:14.659 you're suffering, you deserved it. You probably deserve it from a past life or sins that you've committed in this 00:11:14.659 --> 00:11:20.279 life. But all of us know, right? All of us know that suffering, there's a lot of suffering in the world that is 00:11:20.279 --> 00:11:25.360 unjust. There's a lot of people, there's a lot of innocent people who suffer all the time. And so a 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:30.899 fatalistic view of justice can't account for this unjust suffering. But the second thing that it can't 00:11:30.899 --> 00:11:35.919 account for is God's grace. It can't account for God's grace. And in one sense that they were right 00:11:35.919 --> 00:11:41.899 about Paul, that he was a murderer. In his past life, he was a murderer. He oversaw the execution of 00:11:41.899 --> 00:11:48.759 Christians. But they weren't right about Paul's God. They didn't know that Paul's God was both a God of 00:11:48.759 --> 00:11:57.879 justice and a God of grace. How can God be both? How can God be both a God of justice and a God of grace? 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:05.559 And the answer is that because Jesus and God in the flesh took on the justice that you and I deserved 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:12.100 on the cross. It's through the cross of Jesus that we see the justice of God and the grace of God 00:12:12.100 --> 00:12:20.920 meet. Psalm 85 says that righteousness and mercy kiss one another. In Jesus Christ, we see the justice 00:12:20.920 --> 00:12:25.759 of God and the grace of God kiss one another. And the kingdom of God is present in Paul's life, 00:12:25.940 --> 00:12:30.740 not because he deserved it, but because he has experienced his grace. And the kingdom is present 00:12:30.740 --> 00:12:37.779 in your life if you have experienced the grace of God. I think one of the questions for us this morning is, 00:12:37.779 --> 00:12:49.100 do we pray like that is true? Like, do we pray like the kingdom of God is here in power? That God wants 00:12:49.100 --> 00:12:55.559 to demonstrate the kingdom through us. Do we pray as if the power of the kingdom is accessible to us by 00:12:55.559 --> 00:13:01.120 faith? Do we pray like that? Through prayer and through ordinary acts of love and compassion and 00:13:01.120 --> 00:13:06.620 sometimes extraordinary acts of healing, the power of God is present in the church to demonstrate that 00:13:06.620 --> 00:13:13.500 in Jesus Christ, the kingdom of God is breaking through even now, even through us. And the political 00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:21.580 economy of God's kingdom is not karma, but grace. So first, we see the kingdom of God demonstrated with 00:13:21.580 --> 00:13:28.179 power. And secondly, we see the king proclaimed with boldness. We see the king proclaimed with boldness. 00:13:29.460 --> 00:13:36.279 Matthew Parris is a journalist for the British newspaper, The Times. And in 2008, he traveled to his home 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:41.799 country of Malawi to report on some British charities that were working there. And when he returned, 00:13:42.100 --> 00:13:47.699 he wrote about his time there. And I think the title of his article is very telling. The title of his 00:13:47.699 --> 00:13:55.220 article is, As an Atheist, I Truly Believe Africa Needs God. And here is what he says in his article. 00:13:56.220 --> 00:13:56.679 He says, 00:13:56.679 --> 00:14:04.120 The trip to Malawi inspired me, renewing my flagging faith in developing development charities. But traveling 00:14:04.120 --> 00:14:09.899 in Malawi refreshed another belief too, one I've been trying to banish all my life, but an observation 00:14:09.899 --> 00:14:16.399 I've been unable to avoid since my African childhood. It confounds my ideological beliefs, stubbornly 00:14:16.399 --> 00:14:22.659 refuses to fit my worldview, and has embarrassed my growing belief that there is no God. Now a confirmed 00:14:22.659 --> 00:14:27.519 atheist, I've become convinced of the enormous contribution that Christian evangelism makes 00:14:27.519 --> 00:14:32.620 in Africa. Sharply distinct from the work of secular NGOs, government projects, and international 00:14:32.620 --> 00:14:40.000 aid efforts, these alone will not do. Education and training alone will not do. In Africa, Christianity 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:48.199 changes people's hearts. It brings a spiritual transformation. The rebirth is real. The change is good. 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:54.080 I used to avoid this truth by applauding, as you can, the practical work of mission churches in Africa. 00:14:54.920 --> 00:15:00.400 It's a pity, I would say, that salvation is part of the package. But Christians black and white working 00:15:00.400 --> 00:15:06.060 in Africa do heal the sick, do teach people to read and write, and only the severest kind of seculars 00:15:06.060 --> 00:15:11.120 could see a mission hospital or school and say the world would be better without it. I would allow that 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:16.440 if faith was needed to motivate missionaries to help, then fine. But what counted was the help, 00:15:16.440 --> 00:15:23.700 not the faith? But this doesn't fit the facts. Faith does more than support the missionary. 00:15:24.280 --> 00:15:29.540 It is also transferred to his flock. This is the effect that matters so immensely and which I cannot 00:15:29.540 --> 00:15:37.440 help observing. As a convinced atheist, Matthew Parris was confronted with an inconvenient truth, 00:15:38.240 --> 00:15:45.400 that Jesus changes people. And the change that he brings is real, and it is powerful. And that is why 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:50.480 Paul's ministry not only involves the demonstration of the kingdom indeed, but the proclamation of the 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:56.459 king and word. Verses 11 through 16 chronicle the rest of the journey from Malta to Rome, 00:15:56.980 --> 00:16:02.379 after they find a seaworthy ship that can take them the rest of the way. And when Paul gets there, 00:16:02.740 --> 00:16:08.240 he continues to remain under house arrest with the Roman guard. And then in verses 17 through 22, 00:16:08.240 --> 00:16:14.159 Paul calls the local Jewish leaders together and asks to speak with them. He tells a story of how 00:16:14.159 --> 00:16:19.820 he got to Rome, of though how he was innocent, that he was put on trial in Jerusalem. And because he 00:16:19.820 --> 00:16:26.100 didn't think he was going to get a fair trial, he appeals to Caesar as a Roman citizen. And they respond 00:16:26.100 --> 00:16:32.279 and they say, we haven't heard of you. We don't know anything about you, but we'd be happy to hear from 00:16:32.279 --> 00:16:39.100 you. And so Paul gathers them together, and this is where we pick it up in verse 23. Luke says that 00:16:39.100 --> 00:16:44.699 when they had appointed a day for him, they came to him in his lodging in greater numbers. From morning 00:16:44.699 --> 00:16:50.259 till evening, he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God, and trying to convince them about 00:16:50.259 --> 00:16:57.459 Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets. Now, Luke here doesn't give us a direct 00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:04.279 quoted sermon from Paul, but instead what he does is he tells us that the content of Paul's message 00:17:04.279 --> 00:17:09.660 was that he testified to the kingdom and tried to convince them from the law and the prophets about 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:14.299 Jesus. And I actually want to spend a couple minutes teasing this out for a second, because we actually 00:17:14.299 --> 00:17:22.200 see this wording come up again and again throughout the book of Acts. What does it mean that Paul is 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:27.440 teaching about the kingdom and trying to convince them about Jesus from the law and the prophets? 00:17:27.980 --> 00:17:34.160 What is he doing there? Like, what is the connection between the kingdom and the law and the prophets? 00:17:35.340 --> 00:17:43.440 The connection is that Jesus is the king that the entire Old Testament points towards and foreshadows. 00:17:43.779 --> 00:17:49.380 The law and the prophets was a way of saying the entire Old Testament. So Jesus is the king that 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:56.039 the entire Old Testament foreshadows, but he is a king that no one in Paul's audience could have imagined, 00:17:56.039 --> 00:18:05.259 that not one of us could have imagined. Jesus is the hero of every story that Moses tells. 00:18:06.339 --> 00:18:11.460 He's the true and better Adam, who truly bore God's image and who passed the test in the garden, 00:18:12.099 --> 00:18:17.700 a much tougher garden, and whose one act of righteousness brings salvation to all. He's the 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:21.180 true and better Abraham, who kept God's covenant and through whom all the nations are blessed. 00:18:21.180 --> 00:18:25.420 He's the true and better Isaac, who actually did take the knife from his father up on the mountain, 00:18:25.920 --> 00:18:31.039 the father who gave his son, his only son. He's the true and better Joseph, who suffered unjustly at 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:34.240 the hands of his brothers, but whose suffering brought hope and redemption to his people. 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:40.819 Jesus is the hero of every story that Moses tells. He also obeys the law that Moses reveals. 00:18:41.480 --> 00:18:46.519 He fully embodies the love of God and neighbor that the law requires. He's the sacrificial lamb and 00:18:46.519 --> 00:18:51.240 the great high priest, the one whose sacrifice brings full and final atonement for sins. He's the 00:18:51.240 --> 00:18:55.900 one who takes the curse of the law so that you and I might receive the blessing of the law. 00:18:56.920 --> 00:19:02.980 Jesus is the singer of every psalm, the poet and the sage of all wisdom literature. He's the God of tears 00:19:02.980 --> 00:19:10.339 who laments with his people. He is the asker of and the answer to the question, how long, O Lord? 00:19:11.420 --> 00:19:17.500 He is the prophet who both speaks truth to God's people and who fulfills all the promises the prophets 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:23.019 make. He is the king who will come to deliver his people. He's the judge who will set all things right 00:19:23.019 --> 00:19:30.980 in justice. He is the new temple who will come to dwell on earth. He is the groom who will marry his bride, 00:19:30.980 --> 00:19:36.420 the church. This is what it means for Paul to proclaim the kingdom and to proclaim Jesus from 00:19:36.420 --> 00:19:42.860 the law and the prophets. It means that all of the Old Testament anticipates, longs for, foreshadows, 00:19:43.339 --> 00:19:51.680 hopes for promises is fulfilled in him. And this is why demonstrating the kingdom with deeds is necessary, 00:19:51.960 --> 00:19:58.460 but by itself is insufficient for Christian mission. We must also proclaim the king of the kingdom. 00:19:58.460 --> 00:20:04.259 Our acts of love and compassion are not enough for people to fully experience the kingdom of God. 00:20:04.759 --> 00:20:12.319 They must know about the savior king who they are made for and who longs for them and who has rescued 00:20:12.319 --> 00:20:19.900 them in love. Second Corinthians four or five says, we do not preach ourselves, but we preach Jesus as a 00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:27.340 Lord. That is what it means to bear witness to the kingdom. And so how does Paul's audience respond to this 00:20:27.339 --> 00:20:30.419 message? How do they respond? We pick it up in verse 24. 00:20:31.679 --> 00:20:36.759 And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved. And disagreeing among themselves, 00:20:36.859 --> 00:20:41.679 they departed after Paul had made one statement. The Holy Spirit was right and saying to your fathers 00:20:41.679 --> 00:20:46.059 through Isaiah the prophet, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. 00:20:46.919 --> 00:20:52.039 And you will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull and with their eyes 00:20:52.039 --> 00:20:56.240 they can barely hear, and with their eyes they have closed. With their ears they can barely hear, 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:00.180 and with their eyes they have closed. Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, 00:21:00.599 --> 00:21:05.159 and understand with their heart in turn, and I would heal them. Therefore let it be known to you 00:21:05.159 --> 00:21:10.799 that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen. This is a common pattern 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:16.220 in Paul's ministry. He goes and he preaches the gospel. Some are convinced, others disbelieve. 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:22.259 There's a mixed response. And Paul quotes to them from Isaiah the prophet to diagnose their core 00:21:22.259 --> 00:21:27.120 problem wasn't a lack of intelligence. It wasn't a lack of education. It wasn't a lack of Bible 00:21:27.120 --> 00:21:33.420 knowledge. It was hearts that were hardened by sin. It was the inability to spiritually hear and see. 00:21:34.680 --> 00:21:39.019 And this would be a reminder to us that faithfulness in proclaiming the kingdom and faithfulness in 00:21:39.019 --> 00:21:45.279 proclaiming the king doesn't always result in changing people's minds and hearts. Paul and even Jesus 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:50.279 himself experienced that some hearts were too hard, some eyes were too blind, some ears were too deaf. 00:21:51.319 --> 00:21:56.359 And as we seek to share the gospel with others, we should not only pray for boldness and for courage 00:21:56.359 --> 00:22:02.420 ourselves, we should pray for soft hearts. We should pray for open ears. We should pray for open eyes. 00:22:02.759 --> 00:22:06.359 Because it's through the Holy Spirit and him softening hearts that anyone can believe. 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:13.440 Ephesians 2 says that the ability to believe, even the ability to believe in the gospel is a gift itself 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:21.299 from God. And so despite the hardness of heart and the unbelief of Paul's audience, despite all that, 00:22:21.820 --> 00:22:28.600 the book of Acts ends on a high note. It ends on a really encouraging note. The final two verses, 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:35.380 verses 30 and 31, tells us that he, Paul, lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all 00:22:35.380 --> 00:22:41.380 who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness 00:22:41.380 --> 00:22:47.180 and without hindrance. With all boldness and without hindrance. This is an interesting statement because, 00:22:47.940 --> 00:22:51.920 I don't know about you, but as I've looked at the book of Acts, and as we've studied this book, 00:22:51.960 --> 00:22:57.020 it just looks like there is one hindrance after another for the early church. One hindrance after 00:22:57.020 --> 00:23:04.760 another for Paul's ministry. Here in this chapter alone, Paul faces a storm, a shipwreck, a deadly snakebite, 00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:11.140 hard hearts, deaf ears. He's living under house arrest, right? Those all sound like hindrances to me. 00:23:11.380 --> 00:23:19.660 Those all sound like obstacles. But Luke says, without hindrance and with all boldness. I think 00:23:19.660 --> 00:23:25.260 this is an incredible way to end the book of Acts. That if we look back to Acts chapter one, 00:23:25.860 --> 00:23:30.560 and we remember this moment in Acts chapter one, where it's after Jesus's resurrection, 00:23:30.720 --> 00:23:34.840 and it's before his ascension, and the disciples are gathered around him in Jerusalem. 00:23:35.660 --> 00:23:40.360 The gospel has yet to spread around the Mediterranean. There's no church in Ephesus. 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:44.179 There's no church in Corinth. There's no church in Thessalonica or Athens. 00:23:46.459 --> 00:23:50.819 Jesus looks at this group of disciples, and they're probably anxious. They're probably really 00:23:50.819 --> 00:23:56.179 unsure about what is coming next. And he looks at them, and he says, you will receive power 00:23:56.179 --> 00:24:01.439 when the Holy Spirit comes on you. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:08.279 and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And the incredible thing is that as we go through the book 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:13.720 of Acts, we see that this comes true. That the gospel spreads from Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, 00:24:13.720 --> 00:24:20.340 to the ends of the earth, all around the Mediterranean, and even now to Rome, through the demonstration of 00:24:20.339 --> 00:24:27.619 the kingdom in deeds, and the proclamation of the king in words. And what's more even incredible than 00:24:27.619 --> 00:24:34.639 this final capstone of the book of Acts, is that you and I today are the continuation of this story. 00:24:34.759 --> 00:24:41.959 We are the continuation of this mission. Since Acts 28, the baton has been passed from one generation 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:48.380 of disciples to the next. And now the baton of the mission of God is in our hands. This is our moment. 00:24:48.920 --> 00:24:54.140 We have been part, we have been invited to be part of the inbreaking of God's kingdom into the world, 00:24:54.400 --> 00:24:58.900 and the spread of the gospel to the ends of the earth. This is the North Star for your life. 00:24:59.299 --> 00:25:03.779 There is no greater story. There is no greater mission. There is no greater purpose to be part of. 00:25:04.920 --> 00:25:10.059 This is what it is all about, to see God's glory and his kingdom spread throughout the whole earth. 00:25:10.059 --> 00:25:19.259 And you and I get to be part of it. And that's incredible. Our vision as a church involves both 00:25:19.259 --> 00:25:27.700 kingdom demonstration and kingdom proclamation. Our vision is that we want to see the gospel spread 00:25:27.700 --> 00:25:34.119 throughout Washington, D.C. and beyond to the ends of the earth. And that as the kingdom is proclaimed, 00:25:34.259 --> 00:25:39.839 as more and more people become followers of Jesus and who embody the gospel, we will believe, 00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:44.720 we believe that we will see the kingdom of God demonstrated. We will see, we believe that we 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:50.399 will see loneliness eradicated. We will see neighborhoods become more vibrant and communal. 00:25:51.240 --> 00:25:57.379 We will see workplaces become more humane. We will see racial healing accelerated. We will see 00:25:57.379 --> 00:26:03.379 institutional corruption cease. We will see the arts imbued with beauty and hope and people becoming 00:26:03.380 --> 00:26:10.800 more truly human. And we believe that one day we will see this city as a place not centered around 00:26:10.800 --> 00:26:17.100 human power and influence, but one centered around the king, where Jesus Christ is worshiped and glorified 00:26:17.100 --> 00:26:24.500 and whose reign of peace and justice is fully and finally here. And I know that all of us in this room 00:26:24.500 --> 00:26:29.920 right now, as we think about that, as we think about that vision, I know that we could probably come up 00:26:29.920 --> 00:26:35.380 with a long list of things that feel like hindrances to that vision, that feel like obstacles to that 00:26:35.380 --> 00:26:42.460 vision. You know, the Delta variant, political polarization, the challenges of a secular culture, 00:26:42.560 --> 00:26:45.800 right? And on and on we could go. We could come up with a long list of hindrances. 00:26:47.740 --> 00:26:53.120 But we have every reason to face these things with boldness. In the midst of these things, 00:26:53.200 --> 00:26:56.640 the gospel goes forward. In the midst of these things, the kingdom is demonstrated and the kingdom 00:26:56.640 --> 00:27:03.800 is proclaimed because we have a king who is without hindrance. We have a king who is unhindered by any 00:27:03.800 --> 00:27:12.980 of those things. We serve an unhindered Lord who is on his throne as the risen and reigning king who 00:27:12.980 --> 00:27:19.400 is coming back. And he is with us, his church through his spirit. And that is our hope. That is where we find 00:27:19.400 --> 00:27:25.960 our boldness in the midst of every hindrance and obstacle that comes our way. And so I think this is 00:27:25.960 --> 00:27:33.940 an exciting season of our church. I know that there are still hindrances every single day, 00:27:34.019 --> 00:27:39.559 every single week. But I just want to encourage us as we move forward into what's next, that this is 00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:44.819 what God has for us. It is this incredible mission that starts in Acts 28, continues through, 00:27:45.380 --> 00:27:49.860 starts in Acts 1, continues through Acts 28. It is the mission of God that we're part of, 00:27:49.859 --> 00:27:56.439 that we get to demonstrate his kingdom with love and we get to proclaim his, we get to proclaim the king. 00:27:58.279 --> 00:28:07.099 Let's pray together. Lord, thank you so much that you are the hero of the book of Acts. That despite 00:28:07.099 --> 00:28:12.679 all the challenges and obstacles that the early church faced, that you advance your kingdom and 00:28:12.679 --> 00:28:16.199 you advance your gospel to the ends of the earth. And today you are still doing that. And we're so 00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:23.380 grateful that we get to be part of that. Lord, would you show each and every one of us what it 00:28:23.380 --> 00:28:28.799 looks like to be part of your kingdom work in this world, whether it's our daily work and vocations, 00:28:29.200 --> 00:28:32.160 whether it's in our home, whether it's in our neighborhoods, or show us what it's like. 00:28:32.600 --> 00:28:40.940 Show us what it looks like for us to demonstrate your kingdom and to proclaim you as king. Lord, 00:28:40.940 --> 00:28:48.080 would you fill us with your spirit and give us all boldness as we do this. Pray this in Christ's name.