WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.399 Welcome to Gateway Church's Podcast. 00:00:02.560 --> 00:00:06.959 Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message. 00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:10.560 Well, the Spirit of the Lord is here. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:11.519 Gateway Church. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:12.960 What an honor to be back with you. 00:00:13.119 --> 00:00:15.919 If you have a Bible, we're going to be in two places. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:23.839 And while you're turning to the book of Acts, which is our first place, and the second place is a place that you may not ever really turn to. 00:00:23.920 --> 00:00:33.359 And you may, if you're new to the conversation of Jesus and church, not know why the Bible has all this, like in the back of it, maps and pictures and atlases, and you're like, what's going on here? 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:40.560 We end geography class, but I'd like you to turn to uh the map in the back of your Bible labeled The Missionary Journeys of Paul. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:45.200 So this is the two places we're going to be, the book of Acts and the Missionary Journeys of Paul. 00:00:45.359 --> 00:00:51.920 And while you make your way there, the title of this message is Your Past, God's Plan. 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:54.640 Your past, God's Plan. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:00.159 I want to talk to you about the importance of Rome in the New Testament. 00:01:00.479 --> 00:01:07.040 You can't really read the New Testament without bumping into Rome and the Roman Empire everywhere. 00:01:07.200 --> 00:01:24.159 I mean, from the birth of Jesus, which was brought about in the messianic fulfillment of the prophecy of Bethlehem because of Caesar Augustus, who, like the first character in your Christmas activity, is wrong because you think it's a donkey or the shepherds, or Mary, or just no, it's Caesar Augustus. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:33.280 He even included, uh he isn't even included, and yet he was the one who issued the decree that caused them to have to travel to Bethlehem, which is where Jesus was born. 00:01:33.519 --> 00:01:44.319 Then you come to the miracles of Jesus, and of course, one of the most pronounced ones was the centurion whose son was sick, and he said, Don't even come to me, just speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 00:01:44.400 --> 00:01:45.359 And what did Jesus say? 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:47.359 Jesus said, What the heck? 00:01:47.439 --> 00:01:48.239 Why didn't I think of that? 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:49.040 That's so amazing. 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:50.079 I won't even travel to you. 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:50.959 Let's just do it from here. 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:54.079 Then he turned to his disciples and said, What's the matter with you guys, right? 00:01:54.400 --> 00:01:56.719 Why didn't anybody tell me about a long-distance miracle? 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:57.439 That's a great idea. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:01:59.200 Do you realize how much time we will save, right? 00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:02.719 No, true, in true form, he was impressed by the centurion's faith. 00:02:02.799 --> 00:02:06.640 And he said, I have not found such faith in all of Israel. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:11.199 But then he turned to the man and said, Let it be to you according to your word. 00:02:11.439 --> 00:02:15.520 You had the faith to ask for a ATT, reach out and touch someone long-distance miracle. 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:16.800 That's exactly what you're gonna get. 00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:19.280 I'm gonna snap you a miracle on Snapchat, right? 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:21.280 That's what happened, and the guy was touched. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:28.960 Uh, but it was a centurion, meaning he was an officer wearing the red plumed helmet in the Roman Empire. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:30.400 So there it is. 00:02:30.479 --> 00:02:37.280 And one of Jesus' most famous Yoda moments was when there was a dilemma about do we pay taxes, do we not pay taxes? 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:38.240 And what did Jesus say? 00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:39.520 He said, Give me a coin. 00:02:39.680 --> 00:02:40.800 Whose image is that? 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:52.080 And then he said, Ren under Caesar, that which is Caesar's, run under the Lord, that which is the Lord's, which is the ultimate Jesus Duke, because Jesus owns everything in the world. 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:54.159 God owns everything in the entire world, right? 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:00.639 And yet it was again an illustration involving Caesar, Caesar, who was emperor of Rome. 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:06.800 We could go on and talk about how Jesus stood before Pilate, the Roman procurator. 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:12.000 And Jesus did not die a death of stoning, which was a Jewish manner of execution. 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:12.800 How did he die? 00:03:12.960 --> 00:03:15.520 He died at the hand of the Romans. 00:03:15.680 --> 00:03:19.520 Our creed tells us he died under Pontius Pilate. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:29.280 We could talk about how one of the most important doctrinal books in the entire Bible is the epistle written to the church at Rome, the book of Romans. 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:35.280 He wrote that, by the way, from the city of Corinth and wrote two Christians in the Roman Empire. 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:50.319 And then our series that we are in, This Is the Way, a study through the book of Acts, which is really, if you want to think about it, and let's hear it for Gelani and Matthew, these pastors who did such a great job starting us out in this collection of messages. 00:03:52.639 --> 00:04:01.039 The movement of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome, the capital of the universe at that time. 00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:05.280 This was the New York City on steroids of its day. 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:11.120 So the gospel movement from Jerusalem to Rome is the book of Acts. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:21.199 And of course, uh we have to ask the question why was Jesus born when and where he was born? 00:04:21.360 --> 00:04:23.600 Why was Jesus born in the moment that he was? 00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:24.480 It's not random. 00:04:24.560 --> 00:04:34.720 The Bible tells us, Galatians 4, 4, that when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law. 00:04:35.120 --> 00:04:40.959 When the fullness of time had come, it was ready for Jesus to show up. 00:04:41.120 --> 00:04:43.120 So God, wait for it, wait for it. 00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:44.800 Hundreds of years of silent years. 00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:45.839 No, not time yet. 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:47.040 Everyone's going, when is it coming? 00:04:47.120 --> 00:04:47.680 When is he coming? 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:48.319 When is he coming? 00:04:48.480 --> 00:04:49.199 And do you ever feel like that? 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:50.160 God, when are you coming? 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:52.079 He's coming when he's exactly ready to come. 00:04:52.560 --> 00:05:00.480 When the fullness of time had come, when it was the right time, when it was the strategic time, not just chronos time in the Greek. 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.279 That's just like chronograph, that's any time, any old time. 00:05:03.519 --> 00:05:10.560 Kairos is a Greek word that's time here and means it's the strategic time, it's the right moment, it's the exact time. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:13.279 When it was ready for Jesus to come, he came. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:27.920 Now, we're not used to that, especially with a conversation about birth, because none of us had a say in when we were born or where we were born or to whom we were born, but Jesus did. 00:05:28.319 --> 00:05:33.759 Because Jesus, let this blow your mind, predated his birth. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:36.560 What were you doing 20 years before you were born? 00:05:36.800 --> 00:05:37.680 Not a lot. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:39.279 And yet Jesus was. 00:05:54.240 --> 00:06:02.319 Here we go, it the perfect time for Jesus to come at the height of the Roman Empire, in the midst of these circumstances. 00:06:02.560 --> 00:06:04.959 Theologians will point to three primary reasons. 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:10.560 Number one being the Koine Greek that, thanks to Alexander the Great, was spoken all around the world. 00:06:10.639 --> 00:06:13.199 So no matter where you went, you could speak the common language to people. 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.000 And Koine Greek is a nuanced language. 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:24.800 It has a whole golf, uh, golf, golfing, golf club bag word worth of tools to do everything it needs to do. 00:06:24.879 --> 00:06:26.399 It's a very, very specific language. 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:29.120 Like the famous example would be all the words for love. 00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:34.800 That's not just got one word like I love sushi, I love my mama, I love the Dallas Cowboys, I love Jesus. 00:06:34.959 --> 00:06:39.120 It's like, I hope you don't love the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ like you love sushi. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:39.600 That would be weird. 00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:40.800 That doesn't make any sense, right? 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:43.519 But in Greek, you could pick the right word for love. 00:06:43.600 --> 00:06:47.279 And so it's a very good language that he chose to have in operation. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:07:05.680 Theologians also point to what's called the Pax Romana, the Roman-enforced peace, that there had never been before this moment, a time when you could travel around the world in the Roman Empire, and it was safe to do so because if you were to start a rebellion, oh, Rome would crucify you faster than you could even blink. 00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:11.199 I mean, Spartacus, the slave uprising, there were thousands of people crucified just to show the Roman power. 00:07:11.279 --> 00:07:11.839 You don't mess. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:15.120 Rome would leave you alone as long as you didn't cause any waves. 00:07:15.279 --> 00:07:17.040 So the Pax Romana is the second reason. 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:26.560 And the third reason that it was the perfect time for Jesus to come when he did, where he did, was that Rome had really good roads. 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:32.319 The Roman network of roads was sophisticated and unparalleled. 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:38.639 So you could say that Jesus was born at the perfect time for Christianity to take a road trip. 00:07:38.879 --> 00:07:40.639 And there's nothing like a road trip. 00:07:40.720 --> 00:07:42.560 And how road trips have changed since I was a kid. 00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:43.519 I don't want to be that guy. 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:45.360 Paper maps, you know what I'm talking about? 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:53.360 Nothing to do, no iPads, just punching your sibling when you saw a Volkswagen and trying to collect as many states as you could. 00:07:54.480 --> 00:07:59.759 No, I don't think there has ever been a road trip quite like Dwight D. 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:11.120 Eisenhower, who would go on to become president, uh commander of the Allied forces during World War II, as well as the president of Columbia University, and for just a hot minute ran NATO. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:24.959 This guy, when he was just a young man coming out of World War II, 29 years old, sorry, sorry, coming out of World War I, 29 years old, he went on a road trip with the army called the uh first intercontinental convoy. 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:31.920 Okay, it was a road trip from Washington, DC to San Francisco along the Lincoln Highway. 00:08:32.080 --> 00:08:38.480 And the Lincoln Highway at that time was the only route that you could take to get coast to coast. 00:08:38.559 --> 00:08:51.840 The year's 1919, like I said, World War I has just ended, and the Army gets this idea of sending a convoy from DC to San Francisco, the purpose of which was to illustrate how bad roads were in this country. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.360 There were hardly any roads. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:59.120 Now, people, the car was only 25 years old. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:03.279 And so there wasn't a need for roads. 00:09:03.440 --> 00:09:04.960 There wasn't a need for roads. 00:09:05.039 --> 00:09:09.679 There was just routes because you're gonna ride on a horse, you're gonna ride in a wagon, it's gonna be the Oregon Trail. 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:13.519 Granny's gonna die because she's gonna get bit by a snake or get dysentery or something. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:14.320 You know what I'm saying? 00:09:14.559 --> 00:09:15.679 So there's just routes. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.720 And and so after World War I, the army's like, man, moving troops around Europe was difficult. 00:09:20.879 --> 00:09:22.879 What if a war ever broke out in our country? 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:26.000 How are we gonna get troops from one side of the country to the other? 00:09:26.159 --> 00:09:30.399 How are we ever gonna get uh supply line to the to the soldiers, get food to the soldiers? 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:38.320 So, to exhibit how bad the roads were, they said, let's send 80 vehicles in this convoy of vehicles from DC to San Fran and show. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.440 We'll bring the news corps along, we'll take pictures of it to document it. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:43.840 Everyone's gonna realize, man, we don't got good roads at all. 00:09:44.080 --> 00:09:47.679 Guess how long it took them to get from DC to San Francisco? 00:09:48.240 --> 00:09:50.080 Sixty-two days. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.559 Sixty two days. 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:59.039 And they would get stuck in the mud, and it was just it was it was terrible. 00:09:59.120 --> 00:10:03.600 They got stuck in quicksand in Utah, they ran out of food, had to start rationing water. 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.919 It took a full six days longer than they thought it would, and it illustrated the point. 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:09.919 That's that's a photo of a Model T, by the way. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:11.840 That's 10 years before the road trip took place. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:13.759 But this was what roads were like in our country. 00:10:13.919 --> 00:10:14.960 Now consider this. 00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:20.399 In the year 1919, less than 5% of roads in this country were paved. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.759 Less than 5% of any road that existed was paved yet. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:26.960 So there was no paved roads, and and so it would take a long time. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:33.840 But listen, this this photo is a photo I punched up before I came out to preach on Google Maps of how long it would take you today to do the same drive. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:35.360 It would not take you 62 days. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:44.240 Google says it would take you about 41 hours if you had enough Red Bull in a small enough bladder in Jesus' name. 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:45.279 You know what I'm saying? 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:54.639 So, how crazy is that that in just a hundred or so years we've gone from this drive taking 62 days to taking 41 hours. 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:56.240 Why is it sped up so fast? 00:10:56.399 --> 00:11:00.559 Because today you would not be taking the Lincoln Highway, you would be taking I-80. 00:11:00.799 --> 00:11:12.240 Because just about all of our lifetime, we have had access to what we tend to take for granted, and that is the United States Interstate system, which is one of the most sophisticated interstate systems in the entire world. 00:11:12.320 --> 00:11:20.240 And you coast to coast, up and down, anywhere you want to go, you have multiple lanes, no stop signs, no intersections, consistent, predictable, safe. 00:11:20.399 --> 00:11:24.799 You can get from one side of the country to another because we have access to that. 00:11:25.120 --> 00:11:26.000 Anyone grateful? 00:11:26.080 --> 00:11:30.799 I just feel like it's important to say, man, what a great thing that we have these amazing highways. 00:11:31.360 --> 00:11:33.759 And why do we have this interstate system? 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:37.679 We have this interstate system in large part due to President Dwight D. 00:11:37.840 --> 00:12:01.440 Eisenhower, who in the 1950s, after World War II, seeing the Autobahn system inside of Germany and seeing how good their highways were and realizing how much further along they were than we are, he made the big emphasis of his presidency passing the$25 billion legislation to get this thing funded before he left the White House. 00:12:01.679 --> 00:12:06.159 And of course, uh in today's dollars, it would cost about$500 billion. 00:12:06.639 --> 00:12:08.480 He thought it would take 13 years. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:10.879 It took uh 10 times longer than that. 00:12:10.960 --> 00:12:14.240 I mean, or four times longer than that, it took like 40 years to get done. 00:12:14.320 --> 00:12:23.039 Uh but but but President Bush renamed it the Eisenhower Interstate System, and to this day, it's him that you have to thank for access to these roads. 00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:40.559 Now, what's interesting about it is he always pointed back to that road trip he took in 1919 as planting the seed for realizing the need for us to have this interstate system, and that's why you'll see his name on the side of the road, which is how this message was born. 00:12:40.639 --> 00:12:47.759 I was driving in the Smoky Mountains between Tennessee and North Carolina and saw a sign that said Eisenhower Interstate System, and I was like, why? 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:48.399 Why? 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:51.759 I went to Eisenhower Middle School, I know a little bit about this guy, why? 00:12:51.919 --> 00:13:02.399 And so I Googled it and found all the following out, and I was like, man, I have got to tell Gateway about this because they were probably dying to know, like I was. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:30.799 Now, nowhere in the Roman Empire were you traveling in the first century AD or 30 or 40 years after that, um, as you would walk around, or even to this day, which you can still go to Rome and walk up the Via Appia, the Route 66 of the Roman Empire, and and and nowhere will you see a plaque or a sign on the side of the road that says Paul the Apostle Memorial Highway. 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:43.200 But it is impossible, hear me, it is impossible to separate the life and impact of Paul the Apostle from the Roman roads. 00:13:43.440 --> 00:13:44.000 Why? 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:48.320 Because he was saved one day while walking on a road. 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:52.720 He retells the story in Acts 26 where he says, one day I was on just such a mission. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:53.679 What kind of a mission? 00:13:53.840 --> 00:13:59.759 A mission to oppose Christianity, to Damascus, armed with the authority and commission of the leading priests. 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:07.600 About noon, your majesty, he says, as I was on the road, a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shone down on me and my companions. 00:14:07.759 --> 00:14:13.600 We all fell down, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? 00:14:13.840 --> 00:14:16.720 It is useless for you to fight against my will. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:18.159 Who are you, Lord? 00:14:18.320 --> 00:14:19.039 I asked. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:23.519 And the Lord replied, I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:28.240 Now get to your feet, for I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:39.360 Tell people, you've seen me, and tell my tell them what I will show you in the future, and I will rescue you, both from your own people and the Gentiles. 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.200 Yes, Paul, I didn't stutter. 00:14:41.360 --> 00:14:50.159 I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes so they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the power of God. 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:58.559 Then they will receive forgiveness and from their sins and will be given a place among God's people who are set apart by faith in me. 00:14:59.279 --> 00:15:08.080 You might say that while on the road, Paul met the one who is the road. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:12.879 Because that is actually, by the way, uh the best translation of John chapter 14. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:19.600 Eugene Peterson put it this way: Jesus speaking, I am the road, also the truth, also the life. 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.840 No one gets to the Father apart from me. 00:15:22.000 --> 00:15:27.440 You see, there is one road that gets to heaven, and his name is Jesus. 00:15:27.519 --> 00:15:28.879 And that's who Paul met that day. 00:15:29.519 --> 00:15:35.919 He was on the road, and he met the road, and then God said, Hit the road, Jack. 00:15:36.000 --> 00:15:38.240 Don't you ever come back no more, no more. 00:15:38.399 --> 00:15:43.440 And for the rest of Paul's life, Paul realized his life, like yours, like mine, really is a highway. 00:15:43.519 --> 00:15:52.320 And God wants to use it all night long to turn off darkness and to turn people on to the light of his life. 00:15:53.840 --> 00:15:58.320 And he spent the rest of his life on the road, pointing people to the road. 00:15:58.480 --> 00:16:08.720 And weirdly enough, and back to our first question, for the rest of his life, there's this strange thread of a desire to get to Rome. 00:16:08.960 --> 00:16:18.000 He wanted to get through the capillaries and arteries of the of the of the Roman network to the heart itself, to the beast, uh, to the head of the beast itself, to get to Rome. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:19.679 And in fact, you see it in Romans 1. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:25.600 Paul said, Now, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that I often planned to come to you. 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:28.480 So you would often come to Paul and he's planning, and you'd be like, Well, what are you planning? 00:16:28.559 --> 00:16:29.840 He's like, trying to get to Rome. 00:16:30.240 --> 00:16:44.000 Often planning, regularly rehearsing ideas, looking at travelosity, looking at, you know, different travel websites, often planned to come to you, but I was hindered until now that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:45.840 So look at it, verse 15. 00:16:46.080 --> 00:16:51.279 As much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:17:09.119 In Acts chapter 19, verse 21, Paul said, When these things were accomplished, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia to go to Jerusalem, saying, Here's his quote, After I have been there, I must also see, say it with me, Rome. 00:17:09.440 --> 00:17:18.960 Now he gets arrested in Jerusalem, as you probably know, through the series of trials and ending up at Caesarea and a conspiracy of people who said, I won't eat or drink till I kill him. 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:21.519 I mean, it's just like the craziest movie ever. 00:17:21.759 --> 00:17:28.480 He ends up in a ship, and and and before he gets to the ship, he's freaking out maybe a little bit, but look what happens. 00:17:28.640 --> 00:17:41.920 Acts 23, Jesus shows up, but the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, because just as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome. 00:17:42.400 --> 00:17:46.079 So Jesus personally showed up to tell Paul, you need to get to Rome. 00:17:46.160 --> 00:17:48.160 This dream is gonna come to pass. 00:17:48.480 --> 00:18:17.599 And then he gets loaded up on the ship, and in the ship they face a bunch of storms, and uh everyone freaks out except for Paul, and Paul explains why he's not stressed, why he just knows he's blessed, because Acts 27 he says, There stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, who said to me, Do not be afraid, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar. 00:18:17.839 --> 00:18:20.799 You are gonna get to Rome in the end. 00:18:21.200 --> 00:18:25.200 And he ends the book of Romans by saying, I'm coming. 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:26.880 I'm coming, I'm coming. 00:18:27.039 --> 00:18:29.200 Get a guest room ready, I'm coming. 00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:31.680 So let's ask this question. 00:18:32.079 --> 00:18:36.720 Why was Paul so obsessed with Rome? 00:18:37.119 --> 00:18:38.400 Three reasons shot him down. 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:42.240 I think number one, he knew it was significant strategically. 00:18:42.559 --> 00:18:44.960 There is nothing wrong with strategy. 00:18:45.200 --> 00:18:49.680 Jesus said, we are to be harmless as doves and yet cunning as serpents. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:19:01.119 In all of the parables about stewardship, there's a sense in which strategy can be important when we're exalting God and honoring him and knowing it's only on his power, and yet we're gonna honor him with hard work. 00:19:01.200 --> 00:19:02.240 So strategy is important. 00:19:02.319 --> 00:19:09.920 And Paul knew strategically Rome was significant because all through the empire there were these really, really good roads. 00:19:10.160 --> 00:19:14.559 And of course, the empire was built around the idea of travel. 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:20.640 Because what good Eisenhower knew is an empire if you can't even access it. 00:19:20.880 --> 00:19:29.599 If you need to get troops, if you need to get commerce, if you need to get communication, it doesn't matter how great your empire is if you can't even get to it, if it takes two months to get across it. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:33.359 And so Rome had all these roads, and that they're called the Roman roads. 00:19:33.599 --> 00:19:38.880 Actually, in the Greek language, it's via militaris, which means the way of the military. 00:19:39.119 --> 00:19:44.559 So, like our network of roads, the primary purpose in building them was military. 00:19:44.640 --> 00:19:46.160 And Eisenhower knew that. 00:19:46.319 --> 00:19:51.039 That's why almost all every major installation of military is near a highway. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:57.200 That's why there's straight stretches every few miles, which in a pinch can double as an emergency aircraft landing place. 00:19:57.279 --> 00:20:02.400 And so his heartbeat was hey, Cold War's going on, we need to get these roads so we have them. 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.920 Uh, and of course, the benefit was to the civilian population. 00:20:06.000 --> 00:20:07.519 So it was in the Roman Empire. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.920 Caesar had this little goal where uh, and and the Roman Empire was big. 00:20:12.079 --> 00:20:21.519 If you overlay it over a map of America, it's roughly, if you include all the bits of it, the same size as the lower 48, including the yellow, which is the ocean in the middle. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:29.920 You see the boot of Italy there, but that's the land mass of the Roman Empire, which so it was massive, 70 million people in the empire at its peak. 00:20:30.079 --> 00:20:32.400 And so, how are we gonna get to the different parts? 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:40.319 And Caesar's goal was no matter where you needed to get to in the empire, you could get there in three weeks, because there had to be good roads everywhere, and so there were a lot of them. 00:20:40.559 --> 00:20:52.400 In fact, 50,000 miles of Roman roads is what you'll find as you look at the network at its highest of Roman roads, which is 2,000 more than we have interstates today in America. 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:57.039 We have 48,000, and they're like 2,000 years ago, we had 50,000. 00:20:57.119 --> 00:20:58.160 How you like me now, right? 00:20:58.319 --> 00:20:59.440 So it was incredible. 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:19.599 They were all two-lane, and it had to be toward uh the opposite directions traffic would not have to go into the shoulder at all, that you could pass each other with a sidewalk, and uh, it's one of the most incredible things, and the only thing from 2,000 years ago that still exists in the same purpose it was built for and is used in the same manner it was used then. 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:27.279 And Paul had kind of probably looked at the empire and goes, wow, a guy could use that if his job is to get the gospel to the whole world. 00:21:27.440 --> 00:21:28.400 And so he did. 00:21:28.640 --> 00:21:47.599 If you look at your maps, Paul went from Syria through Asia Minor, he would evangelize Galatia, Ephesus, Pergamum, he would sail through the islands in the Mediterranean, he would go through Turkey to get to Greece, he would do ministry in Corinth, uh, which is uh where he was third longest than anywhere, Ephesus, where he was second longest than anywhere at Rome. 00:21:47.839 --> 00:21:51.759 If you add every time of him being there, it's likely he was there more than anywhere else. 00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:54.559 But he spent two years where the book of Acts ends with. 00:21:54.799 --> 00:22:05.759 Add it all up, and in the three missionary journeys, in the fourth voyage to Rome, on Foot, we can safely say Paul personally walked 13,000 miles. 00:22:07.200 --> 00:22:08.400 Think about it. 00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:13.440 No Uber, no bird scooter, no airplane. 00:22:13.599 --> 00:22:14.640 This is walking. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:15.359 He walked. 00:22:15.440 --> 00:22:19.039 I would walk 5,000 miles, and Paul would say, I would do it again for Jesus, right? 00:22:19.200 --> 00:22:24.079 And I would walk, and he walked 13,000 of the 50,000 miles of the Roman roads. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:24.400 Why? 00:22:24.559 --> 00:22:27.759 He knew it was strategic uh strategically. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.519 It was important strategically. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:39.039 And I also think Paul knew once a scripture book was written, once he wrote scripture, it would be sent out and piped out from Rome itself. 00:22:39.200 --> 00:23:05.839 We know Paul wrote Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, and he would hand them to a messenger and off they would go with the precious cargo down the Via Appia into the network of all these roads, where they eventually, by God's holy providence, would reach us here in this moment at every single campus and streaming out across the world, gateway online, on the internet, where God's word cannot be changed. 00:23:06.640 --> 00:23:08.799 Significant strategically. 00:23:08.960 --> 00:23:11.519 Secondly, significant redemptively. 00:23:12.000 --> 00:23:15.759 Our God is a God who's a redeemer. 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.759 A redeemer of things that were broken, a redeemer of things that were stolen. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:26.160 Did you know that He sees what the thief steals and he knows it must be restored sevenfold in Jesus' name? 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:28.240 What's been lost can be found. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:31.200 If you are in need of redemption, you are in luck. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:36.960 I think about how it was the Romans who crucified Jesus. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:41.039 It would be the Romans who would crucify Peter upside down. 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:47.440 It would be the Romans who would lead the Apostle Paul out to execute him by beheading. 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:49.279 They would chop his head off. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:24:01.599 And so it's fitting that in a manner of something evil being used for something good, that it would also be Rome that would be used to spread the gospel, because that's how God works. 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:06.160 And so when Paul wrote to the Philippians who were praying, oh Lord, get Paul out of jail. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:07.440 Oh Lord, we're so sad. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:08.640 Don't let him get killed. 00:24:08.880 --> 00:24:12.480 Paul said, Don't cry for me, Argentina, right? 00:24:12.880 --> 00:24:13.680 Didn't he say it? 00:24:13.920 --> 00:24:15.200 Philippians 1 verse 12. 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:23.039 He said, I want you to know, dear brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel. 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:27.200 Come on, there's what the devil wanted to do through it, and then there's what God's gonna do through it. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.759 So don't worry, your little pretty little hearts praying. 00:24:29.839 --> 00:24:30.799 Don't feel bad for me. 00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.160 God's turning things around. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:34.880 Come on, in your situation right now, would you believe with me? 00:24:35.039 --> 00:24:38.160 God's gonna turn them out for the furtherance of the gospel. 00:24:38.319 --> 00:24:44.559 He's not gonna let what the enemy wants to do through your pain, your difficulty, your darkness, and your hardship be what is eventually what's served up. 00:24:44.720 --> 00:24:48.160 He's gonna use it for good, for his glory and joy and your joy. 00:24:48.319 --> 00:24:49.759 Amen, somebody. 00:24:52.559 --> 00:25:09.279 Paul spent multiple years a prisoner in Rome, but during that time the gospel was going out day by day, Philippians 1:13, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ. 00:25:09.920 --> 00:25:15.680 If you are in Christ and you are in chains, you can say your chains are in Christ. 00:25:15.839 --> 00:25:20.559 If you are in difficulty and you are in Christ, you can say my difficulty is in Christ. 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:26.240 If you are suffering lack today and you are in Christ, you can say I suffer lack in Christ. 00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:29.440 It couldn't have got to me if it didn't go through him. 00:25:29.759 --> 00:25:33.680 And so I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. 00:25:33.759 --> 00:25:39.440 Come on, it's a perspective difference in how you shift your way to victory. 00:25:39.759 --> 00:25:43.200 And by the end of the book, the book of Philippians, I love Paul's sign-offs. 00:25:43.279 --> 00:25:49.680 It's so punk rock, he says in Philippians 4 22, because he would always be like, so-and-so says hi, and so-and-so says hi. 00:25:49.839 --> 00:25:51.039 So look how he signs up. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:00.400 How BA is his sign-off in Philippians when he says, All the saints greet you, but especially those who are of Caesar's household. 00:26:01.759 --> 00:26:03.119 Come on, come on, somebody. 00:26:03.200 --> 00:26:05.519 Hey, uh, there's a bunch of guys who want to say hi. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:10.799 It's all these people who have important cabinet-level positions in Caesar's household. 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:18.480 They want to say hi because they've come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord as well, and so they want to greet you in Jesus' name. 00:26:18.720 --> 00:26:19.519 How'd it happen? 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:20.319 How'd it happen? 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:22.319 Because Paul was incarcerated. 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:24.319 That's how it happened. 00:26:24.559 --> 00:26:31.680 And four hours at a time, a soldier would come in and get chained to Paul and sit there for four hours next to Paul. 00:26:33.759 --> 00:26:35.039 Paul would be like, How you doing? 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:36.319 What's your name? 00:26:36.880 --> 00:26:39.200 I could tell you about this road trip I checked one time. 00:26:39.359 --> 00:26:42.079 I used to hate Jesus more than anybody until I met him, turns out. 00:26:42.240 --> 00:26:43.519 Green eggs and ham situation. 00:26:43.599 --> 00:26:44.799 I like the guy. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:47.519 He straight turned my life upside down. 00:26:47.599 --> 00:26:51.920 I got some fresh Principal Air energy on this story, and the guy would get saved. 00:26:52.079 --> 00:26:55.759 And then four hours is up, the next guy would come in, he'd say, good luck. 00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:58.799 You know, I think after the end of a couple weeks, guys were coming in. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:26:59.279 We've heard. 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:00.319 Just tell me this finished prayer. 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:00.720 I'm ready. 00:27:00.799 --> 00:27:03.680 I know the I know the routine, I know how this story goes. 00:27:04.079 --> 00:27:08.240 And then they're going out and they're sharing and they're sharing and they're sharing and they're sharing. 00:27:08.319 --> 00:27:09.359 And you know what happened? 00:27:09.599 --> 00:27:16.079 The imperial army was soon penetrated with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 00:27:19.599 --> 00:27:22.400 And guess what the imperial army did with ease? 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:24.480 Moved throughout the Roman Empire. 00:27:24.640 --> 00:27:27.519 In a manner of three weeks, they could get near anywhere. 00:27:27.839 --> 00:27:29.920 And guess what they brought with them? 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:31.920 The gospel. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:42.960 We know for a fact that when Christianity first reached the Isle of Britain, it was being spread and preached through Roman soldiers. 00:27:43.279 --> 00:27:47.839 Roman soldiers who didn't quit their job as Roman soldiers to become missionaries. 00:27:47.920 --> 00:27:48.880 They would suggest that to Paul. 00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:50.480 Well, now that I'm saved, they're probably got to quit. 00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:52.079 And Paul would say, To hell with that idea. 00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:53.440 To heaven, people need to go. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:56.720 You need to go back to work and show up in the Lord's army. 00:27:56.880 --> 00:27:57.359 Come on. 00:27:57.519 --> 00:28:01.519 And so they would go and be stationed and be deployed and bring the gospel with them. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:13.279 It happened so often that Christians were bringing the gospel to new deployments in the army that one historian soon was referring to the Roman army as the mouthpiece of the gospel. 00:28:13.920 --> 00:28:15.920 The mouthpiece of the gospel. 00:28:16.160 --> 00:28:18.799 Put the map up one more time or look at it in your Bible. 00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:23.519 This is why I laugh so hard when I see the map of Paul's four missionary journeys. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.240 Do you see first missionary journey in the key? 00:28:26.480 --> 00:28:30.720 Second missionary journey in the key, third missionary journey in the key. 00:28:30.799 --> 00:28:38.240 And then finally, when the desire of his life was fulfilled and he got his bucket list and he got to go to Rome, it's not even called a mission trip. 00:28:38.799 --> 00:28:41.359 I think God would laugh. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:46.400 I think Paul would laugh at the label makers, and they were like, not a missionary journey. 00:28:46.559 --> 00:28:48.640 That was the missionary journey. 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:53.039 That was the one all my life I longed to take when I got to bring the gospel. 00:28:53.200 --> 00:28:58.319 But it may all I'm saying is maybe the most important missionary journey of your life won't even be labeled that. 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:07.200 Maybe you'll just be labeled going to work, walking into a board meeting, sitting down in third period, showing up at gym class, clocking in for your shift as a nurse. 00:29:07.359 --> 00:29:12.000 I'm telling you, you get to bring, you may not ever be called a missionary or a pastor or an evangelist. 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:15.359 You may just be showing up in Dubai for a meeting with oil and gas. 00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:28.559 You may just be consulting for a company and doing work, and people see your light shine before men, and then after you sit down after cocktail hour and get to share the light that's in you, all of a sudden people are coming to Christ, and it won't even be called a missionary journey. 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:30.799 It's just called the voyage to Rome. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.480 Maybe cross out voyage to Rome, missionary journey in your maps. 00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:39.519 You have permission just one time to cross something out in your Bible. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:41.200 Just this one time. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:49.200 Thirdly, going to Rome was significant for Paul personally. 00:29:51.440 --> 00:29:57.599 Because it finally made sense of some unique part of his story he had wrestled with his whole life. 00:29:58.000 --> 00:30:02.079 And that was the fact that he had two passports. 00:30:03.200 --> 00:30:05.039 Born in Tarsus. 00:30:05.839 --> 00:30:07.680 He had Roman citizenship. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:12.000 We know that specifically because of Acts 22, verse 28. 00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.759 The commander answered, with a large sum, I obtained the citizenship. 00:30:15.920 --> 00:30:19.519 And Paul said, But I was born a citizen. 00:30:19.759 --> 00:30:22.160 And all the oxygen sucked out of the room. 00:30:22.319 --> 00:30:24.400 And they got scared because they had tied him up. 00:30:24.559 --> 00:30:26.799 They got scared because they had thought about binding him. 00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:27.519 There were rules. 00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:29.839 You see, a Roman citizen couldn't be crucified. 00:30:30.000 --> 00:30:33.759 A Roman citizen could not be tortured without due process. 00:30:33.839 --> 00:30:36.720 A Roman citizen could appeal to the Supreme Court of his day. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:40.160 And Paul in fact did take that perk and say, I appeal to Caesar. 00:30:40.240 --> 00:30:43.599 And so everyone said to Caesar, he must go, because he was a citizen. 00:30:43.759 --> 00:30:51.440 And that citizenship gave him the opportunity to have his court drag on as long as it took to get him an audience before Caesar. 00:30:51.680 --> 00:30:56.240 Peter, when he gets to Rome, he gets crucified pretty quickly, and they just sent him out to be crucified. 00:30:56.319 --> 00:30:59.279 But you you could do that to Peter because he wasn't a citizen. 00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:00.880 You couldn't do that to Paul. 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:06.960 And I think Paul knew likely his time in Rome was going to end in his death, but he knew it would take a long time. 00:31:07.039 --> 00:31:11.359 He would be dragged out for multiple years through all the various levels of appeals, etc. 00:31:11.599 --> 00:31:14.559 And he knew that's all I need to get me some gospel into some people. 00:31:14.640 --> 00:31:16.000 That's all I need to write me some letters. 00:31:16.079 --> 00:31:16.640 That's all I need. 00:31:16.720 --> 00:31:19.920 Hey, God can get me out if he wants to, but if he doesn't, he's bringing me home anyway. 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:21.200 So what do I have to fear? 00:31:21.279 --> 00:31:23.759 If God be for me, who can be against me? 00:31:23.839 --> 00:31:28.480 You see, and I'm gonna get to use this part of my story that I never knew was there for. 00:31:28.720 --> 00:31:30.079 He's like Jason Bourne, right? 00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:31.200 His drawer of passports. 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:33.599 He's like, I'll finally get to use all this. 00:31:34.240 --> 00:31:36.079 I was always Saul, but I'm Paul. 00:31:36.160 --> 00:31:41.279 I got my Hebrew thing, but I got my Greek thing, and now I get to use this for good. 00:31:42.319 --> 00:31:43.519 And so he did. 00:31:43.759 --> 00:31:46.720 And what was the result on Christianity? 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.119 What was the result on Christianity? 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:58.480 Because we can safely say that when Peter first arrived in Rome, 45-ish AD, there's likely about a hundred Christians. 00:31:58.559 --> 00:31:59.920 And they got there because of Pentecost. 00:32:00.000 --> 00:32:11.920