SPEAKER_01: If you have your Bibles, go with me to Acts chapter 28.
SPEAKER_01: Well, guys, listen, um, we have been in a journey.
SPEAKER_01: I prefer to preach book by book in the Bible.
SPEAKER_01: We get context.
SPEAKER_01: How many know that we are called to preach the whole counsel of God?
SPEAKER_01: And we um we are in part 50, uh, and we will finish out chapter 28 today.
SPEAKER_01: You've hung with me for 50 messages uh in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, has it been a good journey?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not talking about listening to me.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying digging deep into this wonderful historical book.
SPEAKER_01: Hasn't it been great?
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so um thank God for this wonderful book.
SPEAKER_01: One of the goals that we've had at the beginning for doing this was to, was it in there?
SPEAKER_01: Oh, thank you, Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Thought I was gonna have to wing it.
SPEAKER_01: We don't want that.
SPEAKER_01: I would do it.
SPEAKER_01: Um, anyways, one of the goals was to evaluate first our church to say, are we living and doing what the early church did?
SPEAKER_01: But secondly, we want to do that in our personal lives.
SPEAKER_01: Are we committed to the same things that the early church was committed to?
SPEAKER_01: Are we living as faithfully, giving our lives uh sacrificially to the cause of Christ?
SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, that was all fillers uh to uh kill the awkwardness.
SPEAKER_01: So, uh, anyways, go with me to Acts 28.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be nice if all of our endeavors came with guaranteed success?
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Like if you join a sports team, you're guaranteed the trophy.
SPEAKER_01: You play the stock market, there's a guaranteed surge.
SPEAKER_01: If you play the lottery, guaranteed jackpot that you should tithe off of.
SPEAKER_01: If you students, if you take an exam, imagine a guaranteed A plus.
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's not how life works, is it?
SPEAKER_01: Benjamin Franklin famously said, nothing is certain in life except death and taxes.
SPEAKER_01: That's encouraging, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: What if there was an entity, though, that offered guaranteed success, guaranteed victory?
SPEAKER_01: What if there was an entity whose mission was guaranteed to succeed?
SPEAKER_01: Well, friends, I've come with great news for you today.
SPEAKER_01: There is an entity, there is a mission that will succeed.
SPEAKER_01: In Matthew chapter 16, Jesus says this to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: He says, after Peter confesses Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, he says this, Matthew 16, 18.
SPEAKER_01: I tell you, you are Peter on this rock.
SPEAKER_01: I think the gospel, I will build my church, and what the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel is unstoppable, the work of Christ unstoppable, the kingdom of God unstoppable, guaranteed to succeed, and the Lord shall return and consummate his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing or no one, nothing nor no one can thwart the ultimate purposes and promises of our great God.
SPEAKER_01: And that's the kingdom of which God invites us into, beckons us to come.
SPEAKER_01: That's a good deal.
SPEAKER_01: We've been following for several months now the last leg of Paul's journey.
SPEAKER_01: He's finished with his third missionary journey.
SPEAKER_01: And in Acts 23, 11, he is being, what would you say, chased by the Jews?
SPEAKER_01: They want him dead.
SPEAKER_01: Some of the Jews have been, they've made a vow at this point and said, we will not eat again until we have his head, essentially.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul is taken then for protection by the Roman guards, and he's taken off to the barracks.
SPEAKER_01: And while in the barracks, he's wondering what's going to happen.
SPEAKER_01: And the Lord comes to him in a vision.
SPEAKER_01: You might remember this just a few chapters back in Acts 23, verse 11.
SPEAKER_01: It said, The following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify to me in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: You know what Jesus is doing here?
SPEAKER_01: He's making a promise.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, I'm not done with you yet.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's going to take you out.
SPEAKER_01: The multitude of Jews that want you dead are powerless because I'm in control, I'm sovereign, I'm omnipotent, and you're going to make it to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: So take courage, take heart, because you can take my promises to the bank.
SPEAKER_01: So I love this.
SPEAKER_01: Five chapters later, chapter 28, I want you to look at the second part of verse 14.
SPEAKER_01: Luke is writing, and he's with Paul, and he says these words.
SPEAKER_01: So we came to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: So many people against Paul.
SPEAKER_01: He experienced tribulation.
SPEAKER_01: That's a vast understatement.
SPEAKER_01: And yet, nothing can stop God's will.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to know today, you can take God's promises to the bank.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: The Christian life on that journey towards his promises is often filled with many detours.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a straight point.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, from point A to point B.
SPEAKER_01: God's plan, number one, God's plan often comes with unexpected detours.
SPEAKER_01: So think about Jesus gives this promise, right, to Paul in Acts 23.
SPEAKER_01: But then watch what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Right after that, Peter is escorted by, I think, a couple hundred soldiers, not to Rome, but to Caesarea.
SPEAKER_01: When he's in Caesarea, he stands before the governor Felix, and he's in prison for two years.
SPEAKER_01: Two detours already.
SPEAKER_01: After Jesus gives him this promise.
SPEAKER_01: Then he appeals to the new governor, Festus, who finally puts him on a ship and he says, All right, you're going to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: You've appealed to Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: Here you go.
SPEAKER_01: But it's not a straight shot.
SPEAKER_01: More detours.
SPEAKER_01: The ship ported in many different cities, and there were no forklifts.
SPEAKER_01: So it took forever, sometimes months, to unload cargo.
SPEAKER_01: These were cargo chips.
SPEAKER_01: He actually sailed on two different ships.
SPEAKER_01: One, the final one, large ship.
SPEAKER_01: It had 276 passengers, including Paul, on it.
SPEAKER_01: Another detour.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, they port, they get on this massive ship, and then what happens?
SPEAKER_01: They have a shipwreck.
SPEAKER_01: There's a violent storm coming.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, Don't go through it.
SPEAKER_01: It's not going to be good.
SPEAKER_01: God showed me.
SPEAKER_01: They don't listen.
SPEAKER_01: They have to throw all the cargo overboard and they experience the shipwreck.
SPEAKER_01: Then they swim the shore by God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: No one is harmed.
SPEAKER_01: They all make it and they spend three months at Malta.
SPEAKER_01: Another detour.
SPEAKER_01: Now Paul makes it to Rome, and I want to point you to Acts 28, verse 16.
SPEAKER_01: It says, When we came to Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself, but watch this, with a soldier who guarded him.
SPEAKER_01: That might not be how Paul intended to get there.
SPEAKER_01: Paul's supposed to preach the gospel in Rome.
SPEAKER_01: He's not going for a cruise or a visit.
SPEAKER_01: No, he's going there to spread the gospel, yet he is guarded night and day.
SPEAKER_01: He's under house arrest.
SPEAKER_01: So here's the point.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus' mission, as we're going to see today, the gospel will spread throughout Rome.
SPEAKER_01: It does come to pass, but only after many detours.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us, when we travel by automobile now, we use a navigation app on our phones, right?
SPEAKER_01: You use Waze or Apple Maps or Google Maps.
SPEAKER_01: And one of the words when we're driving that we hate seeing pop up on the screen are silly Siri, silly, silly Siri, uh, tell us is this rerouting.
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what that means.
SPEAKER_01: They've detected a traffic jam or an accident or a road closure, and it's rerouting to send you a different way, which means perhaps on an already long journey or when you're making a trip and you're running late, it's adding time to that journey.
SPEAKER_01: And you know, detours can be frustrating, can't they?
SPEAKER_01: And you know, that can be true in the Christian life too.
SPEAKER_01: Detours can be very frustrating.
SPEAKER_01: Unexpected detours.
SPEAKER_01: You know, the tragedy is that many pastors have not prepared their people for detours.
SPEAKER_01: They preach a gospel of nothing but health and wealth and prosperity, as if it were a straight line to point A to point B.
SPEAKER_01: And then when hell breaks loose in your life, you're left jaded, bewildered, doubting God's promises.
SPEAKER_01: But see, I love Jesus because he prepared us for the detours.
SPEAKER_01: Let me just read you a couple scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew 7, 13 and 14, familiar, uh familiar passage reads like this: Jesus says, Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is easy, that leads to destruction.
SPEAKER_01: And those who enter by it are many.
SPEAKER_01: For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life.
SPEAKER_01: And those who find it are few.
SPEAKER_01: Did you catch that?
SPEAKER_01: The the wide road, the easy road that leads to uh death is more of a straight line.
SPEAKER_01: It life is still difficult, but it's not like the Christian life that has detours, detour after detour after detour, and it's a difficult journey.
SPEAKER_01: First Peter 4 12, he says this, beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we we could talk called trials, detours, unexpected uh detours.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says, Don't be surprised when it happens, and he should know.
SPEAKER_01: I accepted this call 12 years ago, almost 12 years in July, that's hard to believe.
SPEAKER_01: To pastor real life.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I'd been an associate pastor for about 15 years, I believe.
SPEAKER_01: And man, when I felt the Lord calling me to be a lead pastor, this was a few years before I came here, I was excited.
SPEAKER_01: And I thought, you just wait till I get in that pastor seat, that lead seat.
SPEAKER_01: Buddy, we're gonna need to build a new building.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Carol, you remember this, you were here, and I was given all this vision, and I'm thinking, man, we're gonna bust loose, we're gonna run, you know, a thousand people uh by the end of my first week, you know, and uh we started with like 30, and uh yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So I romanticized what being a pastor would be like.
SPEAKER_01: And I'll just tell you, I didn't ex, I thought this was gonna be fun.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect, and it is a lot of the time, but not always.
SPEAKER_01: Like one day a year, it's really fun.
SPEAKER_01: Um, I love my job seriously.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: I thought it was going to be a smooth ride.
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus put vision for this church on my heart, I thought, man, just point A to point B.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't prepared for budget issues that would stop us from doing things in our community and ministries in the in the church.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect a pandemic that when we came back after we the church had grown, would cut our attendance virtually in half.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't expect an onslaught of problems with church people who would cut me when they were when they disagreed with me at all and would walk out on me when I would take a bullet for them.
SPEAKER_01: I've since learned, become a little bit wiser.
SPEAKER_01: I've learned to expect and prepare for detours.
SPEAKER_01: The apostle Paul, he was prepared for this.
SPEAKER_01: You might remember back in Acts uh early Acts, he he says um when Jesus called him by the Holy Spirit to Jerusalem, all the Holy Spirit said, You remember this?
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna suffer and be imprisoned.
SPEAKER_01: That's all he knew.
SPEAKER_01: And so all his friends, his uh his co-workers who were in the ministry with him, what did they say?
SPEAKER_01: Paul don't go.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit told you what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_01: Just stay here and relax.
SPEAKER_01: But what did Paul say?
SPEAKER_01: I'm really willing to be imprisoned or even die.
SPEAKER_01: I think this is in chapter 21, for the name of the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Paul says, I don't care what detours come, I'm going where Jesus tells me to go.
SPEAKER_01: But he was prepared.
SPEAKER_01: And I would encourage you to prepare for detours.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying uh think in your mind, thoughts of doom and gloom.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, just realize the Christian life is not only easy, there are detours.
SPEAKER_01: But secondly, let me give you the great news about detours.
SPEAKER_01: Detours often become opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: Detours that are frustrating and unexpected often become opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about Paul's detours and how they become opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: In Caesarea, when he's in the uh in prison for two years, he gets to share the gospel with all kinds of Jews, and he gets to share the gospel even with King Agrippa.
SPEAKER_01: Only because he's imprisoned.
SPEAKER_01: This is wild.
SPEAKER_01: It becomes an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: His arrest in Caesarea, watch this, means that the government pays for his ticket to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: His shipwreck causes him to go to this island of Malta.
SPEAKER_01: And do you remember what happened?
SPEAKER_01: He got to share the gospel, and there are all kinds of sick people on the island.
SPEAKER_01: Apparently, seriously, they were getting sick from goat milk.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for somebody for laughing.
SPEAKER_01: It was true, but that was an awkward pause.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing, you remember this?
SPEAKER_01: Paul was able, by God's grace, to heal all of these people.
SPEAKER_01: It was a pagan, unbarbaric place, but it was changed because of the shipwreck.
SPEAKER_01: A detour, detour after detour after detour became opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: So let's look at our text today as Paul is brought to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Uh let me point you, um, well, let me just summarize verses 17 through 22.
SPEAKER_01: Paul basically summarizes a group of Jews.
SPEAKER_01: They've heard about Paul.
SPEAKER_01: He's this rebel, right, according to the Jews that they know.
SPEAKER_01: And so he calls them to his home.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, he's able to rent a house, but again, he's under house arrest.
SPEAKER_01: But friends and and and anybody that wanted to could come and visit with him.
SPEAKER_01: So he invites all these Jews to come.
SPEAKER_01: And in verses 17 through 22, he makes a defense against the false accusations that the unbelieving Jews had brought upon him.
SPEAKER_01: And then I want to point you to verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: He says, For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since watch this, it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.
SPEAKER_01: Just think through that.
SPEAKER_01: Paul, what he could have seen as a detour, being in chains, being under house arrest, he sees as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: So, beginning in verse 23, he begins sharing the gospel with the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: Look there with me.
SPEAKER_01: When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers.
SPEAKER_01: So they're just cramming in the house.
SPEAKER_01: From morning till evening, he expounded to them.
SPEAKER_01: Well, what did he tell them?
SPEAKER_00: Testifying to the kingdom of God, trying to convince them about who?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.
SPEAKER_01: And some, this is great news.
SPEAKER_01: Some were convinced by what he says, but others disbelieve.
SPEAKER_01: Here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I love.
SPEAKER_01: Paul does not wait until he is a free man to start following God's mission for him, to start preaching the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: He just uses the detour as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, think about this that the Jews from city to city want to kill him.
SPEAKER_01: But he is, he has uh, you know, that will not happen here because he's guarded by the Romans.
SPEAKER_01: They can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: This detour is an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Then he shares the gospel not with the Jews, but with the Gentiles.
SPEAKER_01: He's in prison again for two years.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and and his house becomes a revolving door.
SPEAKER_01: People come in and go out.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Paul shares the gospel during his time there with both Jew and Gentile, but not only that, Paul wrote what we refer to as the prison epistles during these two years.
SPEAKER_01: Two of them are Ephesians, the book of Ephesians, and the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is really cool.
SPEAKER_01: Paul would have been chained to a Roman guard.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't have ankle monitors then.
SPEAKER_01: He would have been chained 24-7 to a Roman guard.
SPEAKER_01: And he seems to allude to this back in verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: And also he talks about this in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 20.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let me just read you.
SPEAKER_01: This is so cool.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians chapter 1.
SPEAKER_01: He's writing this while in prison in Rome, Philippians 1, 12 and 13.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me, watch this, it's a detour, but it's really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Could you imagine being chained to Paul for hours?
SPEAKER_01: Scholars tell us that these guards would switch out about every four to six hours for two years.
SPEAKER_01: Different guards were chained to Paul.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think he talked about?
SPEAKER_01: We know Paul was a man of many words.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, he preached till midnight, till a guy fell asleep and you know fell out the window.
SPEAKER_01: I just I just have a feeling they were drawing straws, trying not to go these guards to be chained to Paul.
SPEAKER_01: But watch this, it gets even better.
SPEAKER_01: Philippians 4 22.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is so great.
SPEAKER_01: All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
SPEAKER_01: Now, watch this.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel makes it all the way to the emperor's household.
SPEAKER_01: Caesar, this would be Caesar Nero.
SPEAKER_01: And do you notice what he calls some of these people?
SPEAKER_01: Saints.
SPEAKER_01: What are saints?
SPEAKER_01: Christians.
SPEAKER_01: It's a word synonymous with Christian.
SPEAKER_01: Paul on this detour, God uses the detour to get the gospel, not just around Roma a little bit, but all the way to Caesar's house, and lives are changed.
SPEAKER_01: People are saved, both Jew and Gentile, even some in the house of Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: It's crazy what God can do on a detour.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you this have you ever taken a trip and you were forced on a detour, closed road, wreck, whatever it might be, and you're frustrated, but then all of a sudden, during that detour, you find Like a quaint little town that becomes a favorite vacation spot, or you find this like breathtaking scenic view that you never would have seen.
SPEAKER_01: Don Wynne sent me a story about he and his brother growing up, they used to often ride ATVs across the mountains of southeastern Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01: One Saturday, he writes on a warm, colorful October evening, a newly fallen big pine tree forced us to take another route home, a detour.
SPEAKER_01: Usually, he says it's not a problem, but it would be getting dark soon, and retracting our route would make us really late getting back to camp.
SPEAKER_01: So we took what I thought looked like an ATV trail, but there was little wear or tracks on it, so I had my doubts.
SPEAKER_01: I took it anyways.
SPEAKER_01: It was steep and overgrown with briars.
SPEAKER_01: There were several spots that were so narrow I didn't know if we would make it.
SPEAKER_01: Steep cliffs, muddy water holes made me question my decision.
SPEAKER_01: But then, as we near the top of Black Mountain, it seemed as if the mountain opened up and gave us a view that we still talk about until his brother passed.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I took a picture of the moment, not realizing at the time what it would mean to us.
SPEAKER_01: That was a frightening endeavor, a frightening detour that led to something magnificent.
SPEAKER_01: And by God's grace, they made it back to camp, and Don's with us today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to encourage you to see life's detours as opportunity instead of ruminating and stewing on, I was going to this place, and you know, I had planned to do this ministry, and I had planned to have this job, and yet there's a detour.
SPEAKER_01: See it as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think Ken would mind me sharing this.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't plan this, but uh, you know, we we shared a little bit about this, so we're good.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: So Ken got a um, you know, he had a job for many, many years, one that he was passionate about, and they laid off people.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and when he first came to this church, probably a year and a half ago, Kathy, um, he had lost his job.
SPEAKER_01: And the job market was tough.
SPEAKER_01: And he looked and looked and looked for something in his particular field and could not find anything.
SPEAKER_01: And so, doing what you should do as a man, you do whatever it takes to provide for your family.
SPEAKER_01: And so he took a job at Bucky's.
SPEAKER_01: And there's nothing wrong with working at Bucky's.
SPEAKER_01: I hear actually they pray very well, but that wasn't his passion.
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
SPEAKER_01: That detour, maybe it was an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there were people at Bucky's, both visiting and both and employed there, that needed to hear the good news of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he just, by the way, started what, Ken, three weeks ago at a wonderful job.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe God was holding out, maybe the detour was for the sake of him getting this job.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, detours become opportunities if you're in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You just got to trust the Lord that he's working in your life.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the final thing I want to tell you about detours.
SPEAKER_01: Detours catch us by surprise, but they do not catch God by surprise.
SPEAKER_01: Let me read you verses 24 through 28.
SPEAKER_01: You can look with me.
SPEAKER_01: And some were convinced by what he said, some of the Jews, others disbelieved, and disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit, listen, was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, go to his people and say, You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive, for this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen.
SPEAKER_01: See what Paul's doing here?
SPEAKER_01: Many Jews throughout the book of Acts have violently even rejected the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Jesus is the fulfillment of their story.
SPEAKER_01: He is the promised Messiah, yet they missed it.
SPEAKER_01: And this had to be frustrating for the apostles because they so want their brothers and sisters, their Jewish brothers and sisters, to see the glory of Christ and be brought into his kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: So for some of them, this might have been unexpected.
SPEAKER_01: And Paul is used to this by now in chapter 28, but Paul is telling his audience, listen, centuries ago, this is no news to God, it's no news to me, because centuries ago, the prophet Isaiah, by the Holy Spirit, foretold that you would reject.
SPEAKER_01: Many of you would reject.
SPEAKER_01: Your hearts are so hard and your eyes so blind that you would reject your own Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved detours do not catch God by surprise.
SPEAKER_01: Now, let's just think at the book of Acts as a whole.
SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember in Acts 1.8?
SPEAKER_01: Acts 1.8 serms serves as a theme verse and an outline for the entire book of Acts.
SPEAKER_01: Remember this?
SPEAKER_01: But you, he's talking to 11 of his disciples, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
SPEAKER_01: And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: So how do they do with that?
SPEAKER_01: Think about this.
SPEAKER_01: This is 11 men, they're not superheroes, and they're in the midst of an empire that isn't too fond of Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Romans who just crucified him, and Jews who had Jesus crucified.
SPEAKER_01: With all odds against them in the Roman world, they're supposed to take the gospel to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus says, wait, you're not alone.
SPEAKER_01: The Holy Spirit will come upon you.
SPEAKER_01: Now watch this.
SPEAKER_01: In chapters 1 through 7, the gospel against all odds spreads throughout Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: There are martyrs, detours.
SPEAKER_01: There are accusations, detours, there are rejections, detours, but the gospel spreads nonetheless.
SPEAKER_01: Thousands of Christians, because of the persecution that came about in Jerusalem, had to leave their homes.
SPEAKER_01: Detour.
SPEAKER_01: They didn't plan that.
SPEAKER_01: They had to leave everything behind to follow Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Yet at the beginning of chapter, I think it's eight, we see the gospel spread throughout Samaria and Judea.
SPEAKER_01: These detours are opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: They don't catch God by surprise.
SPEAKER_01: Then in Acts 9, Paul is charged with spreading the gospel to the Jews and the Gentiles throughout the Western world.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the significance.
SPEAKER_01: Watch this.
SPEAKER_01: In today's text, where does the gospel make it to?
SPEAKER_01: Rome.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, I need to start over.
SPEAKER_01: In Paul's day, watch this, do not miss this.
SPEAKER_01: In Paul's day, Rome, for all intents and purposes, was considered the ends of the unknown earth.
SPEAKER_01: The apostle's mission is fulfilled in Acts chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: Think of all that happened.
SPEAKER_01: Martyrs, imprisonments, stonings, shipwrecks, beatings, mockings, false charges.
SPEAKER_01: And we could go on and on and on.
SPEAKER_01: Yet the gospel still makes it to the then known ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I want you to see.
SPEAKER_01: It gets even better than this.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I want to call these detours.
SPEAKER_01: I want to call them perceived detours.
SPEAKER_01: Because what we find out when we look back at the whole book of Acts, that these detours, could it be that they were not detours at all?
SPEAKER_01: Because watch this the gospel did not spread to Rome, to the ends of the earth, in spite of these, what would you say, tribulations?
SPEAKER_01: These detours.
SPEAKER_01: The gospel spread to Rome because of the detours.
SPEAKER_01: Every time persecution came up on the church, every time there was a detour, thousands of people were saved.
SPEAKER_01: This is how the gospel made it to Rome.
SPEAKER_01: I don't have time to get into this, but you know the story of Joseph, right?
SPEAKER_01: Just a quick overview.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph was given a dream at 17 years old.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to be over your, you know, put in this position of leadership.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to rule over your brothers and even your mother and father.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph, a 17-year-old, goes to his brothers and, like, hey, guess what God told me?
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: That wasn't smart.
SPEAKER_01: So Joseph is excited for this dream, yes, to come to pass.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe he thought this would happen in the next, you know, six months or something.
SPEAKER_01: He's going to go to vice regent school, you know, and just be promoted.
SPEAKER_01: But it didn't happen that way.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, betrayed by them, taken off to Egypt where he served in Potiphar's house.
SPEAKER_01: Remember?
SPEAKER_01: Then what happened?
SPEAKER_01: He served faithfully.
SPEAKER_01: But Potiphar's wife, Joseph, must have been a good-looking dude because she wanted to quote unquote be with him.
SPEAKER_01: And when he rejected her, she took his robe and accused him of sexual misconduct.
SPEAKER_01: So he's now in prison and he's there for years.
SPEAKER_01: He interprets dreams by the grace of God and the power of God.
SPEAKER_01: But he's forgotten detour after detour after detour.
SPEAKER_01: But there's a final act in this story.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Pharaoh himself has a dream?
SPEAKER_01: And it's a serious dream.
SPEAKER_01: It's a frightening dream, but he can't figure out what the meaning is.
SPEAKER_01: And all of a sudden, someone remembers Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: And Joseph is brought to Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: There's a famine.
SPEAKER_01: The dream uh represented this famine that would come upon the land, this prolonged famine.
SPEAKER_01: And because Joseph was able to interpret the dream by God's grace, Egypt was saved.
SPEAKER_01: They were able to store up food.
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember what happened?
SPEAKER_01: Joseph's brothers, not in Egypt, they're out of food.
SPEAKER_01: So they come to Egypt where the food is and they stand before Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Joseph is now 30 years old.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, dream at 17, coming to pass at age 30 after many detours.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: They don't recognize Joseph, but finally, after a series of events, Joseph says, Hey, I'm your brother.
SPEAKER_01: And they freak out.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna kill us.
SPEAKER_01: He's the second most powerful man now in Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: He's gonna kill us.
SPEAKER_01: And somewhere, I don't remember the particular verse in chapter, I think it's 50.
SPEAKER_01: His brothers are scared.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Joseph says to them.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What am I gonna do?
SPEAKER_01: Am I in the place of God?
SPEAKER_01: And watch this.
SPEAKER_01: He says, What you meant for evil.
SPEAKER_01: Now, most preachers even get this wrong.
SPEAKER_01: They say God turns around for good.
SPEAKER_01: It's not what it says.
SPEAKER_01: What's it say?
SPEAKER_01: What you meant for evil, God meant for good.
SPEAKER_01: God is not responsible for sin, but he planned to use the brother's hardness of heart.
SPEAKER_01: That is the means by which he got to Egypt.
SPEAKER_01: Come to find out imprisonment and slavery and all of these things were not detours at all.
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
SPEAKER_01: John Bunyan was in prison for 12 years for preaching without a license.
SPEAKER_01: That was a massive, I'm sure, unwanted detour.
SPEAKER_01: But you know Bunyan used it as an opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: It was there in prison.
SPEAKER_01: He wrote the famous book, maybe one of the most influential books.
SPEAKER_01: It was written in the 1600s, is that right?
SPEAKER_01: I think it's 1600s.
SPEAKER_01: It's become one of the most, if not the most influential book outside of the Bible in Christian history.
SPEAKER_01: It's called The Pilgrim's Progress.
SPEAKER_01: Have you heard of it?
SPEAKER_01: How many have read The Pilgrim's Progress?
SPEAKER_01: Could it be that that imprisonment wasn't a detour at all?
SPEAKER_01: Could it be that God had to get him alone, give him this, where he could give God his undivided attention?
SPEAKER_01: See, imprisonment was meant to silence John Bunyan's life, his voice, but what did it do?
SPEAKER_01: It amplified it so that he could reach generations to come.
SPEAKER_01: Finally, let me uh talk about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That'd be a good place to end, wouldn't it?
SPEAKER_01: The greatest perceived detour in the first century, maybe in all of history, was the murder of the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: The one who never sinned, the one who was compassionate and healed people, the one who left heaven to come and serve, crucified.
SPEAKER_01: And it was perceived as a detour.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you remember Peter going back to Matthew 16.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, he confesses, Jesus, thou art the son, you know, the Christ, the Son of the living God.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter goes, Oh, that's great, Peter.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Spirit of God who's revealed this for you.
SPEAKER_01: You got it right.
SPEAKER_01: And then Jesus says, Oh, by the way, um, I'm gonna be crucified and then I'm gonna be raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: And what's Peter say?
SPEAKER_01: Far be it from you, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: It's not gonna happen, Lord.
SPEAKER_01: You got me by your side.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody's getting through me to get to you.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter says, Get behind me, Satan.
SPEAKER_01: Boy, that's a shift very quickly, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01: In other words, Peter thought that this is a detour that Christ was not supposed to take, but Peter changes his mind after Jesus' resurrection.
SPEAKER_01: He preaches at Pentecost in Acts 2, verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he said: This Jesus delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.
SPEAKER_01: You crucified, you killed by the hands of lawless men.
SPEAKER_01: Did you get this?
SPEAKER_01: You think this, you think the crucifixion of Christ caught God by surprise?
SPEAKER_01: He planned it before the foundations of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Let me read you one more text.
SPEAKER_01: It's glorious, Ephesians 1, 7 through 10.
SPEAKER_01: In him, Christ, we have redemption through his blood.
SPEAKER_01: The forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of his grace, which he has lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth in him.
SPEAKER_01: In him, watch this.
SPEAKER_01: In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things together, according to the counsel of what?
SPEAKER_01: His will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_01: The redemption that came by the cross of Jesus Christ was God's definite plan.
SPEAKER_01: It was according to, as Ephesians says, his purpose for the praise of his glory.
SPEAKER_01: Beloved, I would submit to you today that detours in your life, sometimes, by the way, they're caused by us because we get off track and we don't listen to the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: But the detour, you can be doing everything right, seeking God with all your heart, ministering to the poor and the marginalized, praying and reading your Bible, be faithful in church, and yet your life can take unexpected and even unwanted detours.
SPEAKER_01: But I would suggest to you today that if you are in Christ, don't look at them as detours, look at them as opportunities because the promise is this Romans 8 28.
SPEAKER_01: All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.
SPEAKER_01: This is gonna work out for your good.
SPEAKER_01: It's a detour.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you just experienced a severed relationship or the loss of a job.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what it is, but we all go through detours.
SPEAKER_01: And I just want to tell you, take heart, God is still in control.
SPEAKER_01: You and I cannot connect the dots forward, but you can trust the God who knows the end from the beginning.
SPEAKER_01: You may not understand the road that you're traveling, but watch this.
SPEAKER_01: You can trust the God who guides your journey, even maps it out.
SPEAKER_01: The journey is not easy, it will come with many unexpected detours that aren't actually detours at all.
SPEAKER_01: But the destination is worth it.
SPEAKER_01: Fight the good fight like Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Finish your course like Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Keep the faith like Paul.
SPEAKER_01: Walk with Jesus every step of the way in the power of the Spirit.
SPEAKER_01: Glory be to God.