Acts 28: A Testimony of Trials

We finish the Book of Acts by following Paul from shipwreck on Malta to house arrest in Rome, watching how God turns setbacks into open doors. I also wrestle with the abrupt ending of Acts and ask what it looks like to treat our own “stuck” moments as mission fields. 
• Acts as the story of Jesus working through obedient people 
• The question of what “the acts of” our lives would reveal 
• Proverbs 16:9 and the gap between our plans and God’s steps 
• Acts 28 highlights: Malta’s kindness, the viper bite, healings on the island 
• Paul’s arrival in Rome and the courage that comes from other believers 
• Paul’s message to Jewish leaders and the mixed response to Jesus 
• Why Acts ends where it does and what we can infer about Paul’s death 
• “Caesar’s household” and the gospel reaching unlikely places 
• Practical application: airports, hospitals, waiting rooms as opportunities to share hope 

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Podcast. This is Mike. We've been reading through the book of Acts. If you've been with me for several episodes now, have you enjoyed Acts going through this book? It's

What Would Your Acts Look Like

SPEAKER_00 0:22

pretty fast-paced, a lot of action. I mean, that's I guess that's fitting. It's Acts. Acts is actually short for the Acts of the Apostles. And uh just describing all of the things the apostles did to fulfill their mission for going out and making disciples of all nations, just like Jesus told them to do. And uh ultimately, we know it's not about what the apostles are doing, it's about what Jesus is doing through them, but they're out obeying, they're doing uh the best they know how to do in in this new exciting era of Jesus building his church. And sometimes God does things in spite of them, but uh often it's it's just a a case of obedience and honestly being as surprised as we are about what God does. It kind of makes me think of what would the book look like? The acts of, in my case, Mike Dominey, or the acts of you. You as a follower of Jesus. W what are the stories that are have been written or being written about your life, going out and obeying Jesus and having conversations and serving in his name and ministering to people in his name? What does that book look like? How many stories are in there? What could people walk away with after reading that book? Well, just a little something to think about as we wrap up the book of Acts today. Well, when we last left Paul in chapter twenty-seven, he was on a boat with a couple hundred other people, uh, a large group, but they were going through storms and ended

Plans Change And God Leads

SPEAKER_00 2:00

up getting shipwrecked off an island. They didn't even know where they were, they were blown so far off course. Ultimately, they're trying to get to Rome because Paul appealed to Caesar himself, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, because he was being falsely accused of causing trouble, and the Romans couldn't find any fault with him, but the Jews were very upset with him, and so he just kept climbing his way to the top and making his case to more and more powerful people until finally they said, All right, I guess he's gonna go to Rome. So that's the goal, but uh God has a different, a different destination in mind for today. They've gone through some storms and ended up here. Whereas here, we'll find that out and what happens after that. Really, this whole book serves as an example of Proverbs 16:9, one of my favorite proverbs that says, In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Look, we make our plans. Paul was making plans to travel here and there and stay with these people for this amount of time. Great. And often he was able to do exactly as he set out to do. But sometimes God establishes steps in a different direction, and uh, it may not be what we plan, but God always has a purpose and he's never wasting time. Let's check out how this pans out today in the last chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 28. Remember, this is being written by Luke, one of Paul's traveling companions. He also wrote the gospel of Luke, and this is the end of Luke part two here, kind of the conclusion of this whole grand gospel

Acts 28: Malta To Rome

SPEAKER_00 3:33

story that Luke is putting together. Here, this is Acts 28 in the New English translation. Well, after we had safely reached shore, we learned that the island was called Malta. The local inhabitants showed us extraordinary kindness, for they they built a fire and welcomed us all because it had started to rain and was cold. When uh when Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul's hand, they said to one another, No doubt this man's a murderer. Although he's escaped from the sea, justice herself has not allowed him to live. However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were expecting that he was gonna swell up or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. Now, in the region around that place were fields belonging to the chief official of the island named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days. The father of Publius lay sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. And Paul went into seeing and after praying placed his hands on him and healed him. And after this had happened, many of the people on the island who were sick also came and were healed. And they also bestowed many honors, and when we were preparing to sail, they gave us all the supplies we needed. After three months we put out to sea in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island and had the heavenly twins as its figurehead, and we put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days, and from there we cast off and arrived at Regium, and after one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Putioli, and there we found some brothers and were invited to stay with them seven days, and in this way we came to Rome. The brothers from there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and three taverns to meet us. And when he saw them, Paul thanked God and took courage. When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who was guarding him. And after three days, Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans. When they had heard my case, they wanted to release me because there was no basis for a death sentence against me. But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar. Not that I had some charge to bring against my own people, so for this reason I've asked to see you and speak with you, for I'm bound with this chain because of the hope of Israel. And they replied, We've received no letters from Judea about you, nor have any of the brothers come from there and reported or said anything bad about you, but we would like to hear from you what you think, for regarding this sect we know that people everywhere speak against it. They set a day to meet with him, and they came to him where he was staying, in even greater numbers, and from morning until evening he explained things to them, testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets. Some were convinced by what he said, but others refused to believe. So they began to leave, unable to agree among themselves, after Paul made one last statement. And you'll keep on looking, but will never perceive. For the heart of this people has become dull, and their ears are hard of hearing, and they've closed their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them. Therefore be advised that this salvation from God has been sent to the Gentiles. They'll listen. Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction. And there the story of Acts ends. It does seem a little abrupt, like what happened to Paul? What happened in Rome? Well, we do know, even in the Bible, in his letter to Timothy, the 2 Timothy, that

Why Acts Ends So Abruptly

SPEAKER_00 9:01

he was aware that his execution, the end of his life, was coming soon. And we have written accounts outside of the Bible of Roman historians who noted that Paul was executed in Rome, probably beheaded. And so we can pretty safely assume that Paul never left Rome and he came to the end of his life and was no doubt martyred for the sake of the gospel, uh, probably under Nero, who was killing all the Christians at the time. He was not the Caesar at this point in the story, but later on he would have been. But I think the most compelling and and really kind of sweet uh ending of the book of Acts actually doesn't come from the book of Acts, but uh when we read Paul's letter to the Philippians, the church in Philippi, he loves them so much, he helped start this church, and uh he has many great friends there. He ends that letter saying, All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. And of course, that is where we find Paul here at the end of the book of Acts, under house arrest with a guard dedicated to him for two years. You can imagine that Paul shared the gospel with anybody and everybody, just like the end of the book of Acts says, that he he taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without restriction. No doubt the guards around him would have heard the gospel multiple times and come to believe, and uh people coming in and out of the house, sharing the gospel with them, building up quite the body of believers in Rome in Caesar's household. And they said, Oh, you're writing to Philippi? Let him know we say hi. We're excited about them, tell him that, tell him that we greet them in the name of Jesus as well. Paul knew that uh he was not a captive in Caesar's household. Caesar's household was a captive to him. They were a captive audience, and they were gonna hear the gospel one way or another. And Paul took full advantage of that opportunity. What opportunities have you been given? They may look like a time for a pity party. Frankly, I know there are times where we may end up sick in a hospital. We may end up stuck on a

Turning Bad Delays Into Mission

SPEAKER_00 11:06

train or a plane or an airport terminal. We may find ourselves in the auto body shop waiting for a repair. Where do you find yourself? That frankly, if you had to choose your own way, you wouldn't be stuck here. But since you are, who might God have around you? Maybe this is a Malta situation where you end up shipwrecked after a long trial and things don't go right and your plans are out the window, but now you find yourself here. And then you get bit by a snake, and everyone's like, Man, what one bad thing after the next with this guy, but you find that the peace that passes all understanding accompanies you, and people are like, wait a minute. This would kill me if this happened to me, but it doesn't seem to be affecting this guy. What's going on here? And you have an opportunity to share the gospel, to share the hope that you have. I'm thankful for the examples that we have here in the Book of Acts, and I hope that you found it valuable as we spent time reading through the Book of Acts. We're gonna keep moving with our mission to go through the New Testament here in this

Next Up: Paul’s Letters

SPEAKER_00 12:13

season of the podcast. We're gonna take a look at some of the letters now that Paul wrote. Now that we've been introduced to Paul and his missionary companions, some of the names that he references of his friends and people that he's greeting are gonna sound familiar. Some of the churches that he's gonna write to are gonna sound familiar based on what we just read in Acts. So we're gonna go through these letters and find how he encourages and builds up these early churches and addresses some of the problems that they and we will face as Christians. So stick with me here. We're gonna keep going through the New Testament through the eyes of Paul, building up the church and unifying the church, addressing issues, overcoming challenges, and finding endurance in faith and hope in Jesus Christ. So stick with me. I'm excited to explore more of the New Testament with you in this way on the Out Loud Bible Podcast. We'll see you next time.