SPEAKER_00: Talking about you know the the book of Acts and how the apostles when they learned the you know what the Holy Spirit was going to do through them that they that they went, that they that they are going and that they are as they are going.
SPEAKER_00: So you know the the this association is is does exactly that as they are going, as they are writing, as they are doing their hobbies, as they're in their world, that they are delivering the gospel where they go, as they are going.
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's the same exact thing that we're talking about in the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: So as we wrap up today, uh I I want to inform you that you know last week we ended in chapter 16.
SPEAKER_00: And today, somehow we're going to get to chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, so uh, you know, bear with me with the with the time that we're going to be you know kind of warping through a little bit because I want you to know that that you know the book of Acts doesn't you know um have a have a crescendo ending, okay?
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't have a uh a sweeping, here's what's going on, uh, and this is how everything kind of overcows overpowers.
SPEAKER_00: It is actually a little bit of the opposite of that.
SPEAKER_00: It's you know, I don't know if you've ever watched a movie or a show that ends without really ending.
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you you get to the final scene, the music swells, the camera pulls back, and you're waiting for loose ends to all tie together, and then it just ends.
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: I paid for it as a conclusion here, okay?
SPEAKER_00: I deserve that a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: And you uh, you know, that's how the book of Acts feels.
SPEAKER_00: Um, because Acts does not end with everything wrapping up really neatly.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't act, it doesn't end with Paul planting a megachurch in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't end with uh Caesar bowing the knee, it doesn't end with the apostles uh gathered all together reminiscing about the good old days.
SPEAKER_00: It ends with Paul under house arrest.
SPEAKER_00: But he's preaching and he's teaching, welcoming.
SPEAKER_00: He's unhindered.
SPEAKER_00: And then the curtain drops.
SPEAKER_00: And if we're really being honest when we're reading this, it feels incomplete.
SPEAKER_00: But maybe that's the point of it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe that's the point of it feeling incomplete, because Acts ends open-ended because the mission is still open.
SPEAKER_00: The story continues, and that matters for us because we are not simply reading ancient church history, which is what we are doing, but we are stepping into the ongoing mission of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Acts does not end with a period, it ends with an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: So most of us love the idea of mission until it becomes personal.
SPEAKER_00: We like hearing the gospel uh went from Jerusalem to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: We like hearing that Peter preached boldly, that Paul endured suffering.
SPEAKER_00: We like hearing that churches were planted, barriers were broken, prison doors open, and households were saved.
SPEAKER_00: We like hearing all those things.
SPEAKER_00: But then the question comes home.
SPEAKER_00: What about us?
SPEAKER_00: What about Duluth?
SPEAKER_00: What about your family or your workplace?
SPEAKER_00: What about your neighborhood?
SPEAKER_00: What about the person that you've written off?
SPEAKER_00: What about the person who is far from God, that friend who you know who is far from God?
SPEAKER_00: What about, you know, the family member you've stopped praying for?
SPEAKER_00: What about the calling God has placed right in front of you?
SPEAKER_00: Because Acts is not just about what God did through them, the Acts of the Apostles.
SPEAKER_00: It asks what God wants to do through us, through us, through the people that are here right now.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the tension that we have to live with.
SPEAKER_00: We often want resurrection, hope without a resurrection mission.
SPEAKER_00: We often want the benefits of Easter without the burden of witness.
SPEAKER_00: We want Jesus to comfort us, but it actually shows that Jesus also sent us.
SPEAKER_00: The resurrection did not create spectators to watch more resurrections, it created witnesses to go out into the nations.
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we have to go back to the very beginning of the book of Acts to understand how that all came together, how this all comes together.
SPEAKER_00: So in the book of Acts, in 1.8, it says, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: That verse is the map of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Not just spiritually, but geographically.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus gives them the route, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the end of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And as we wrap up the series, we need to see how beautifully and how powerfully that happened.
SPEAKER_00: So we see very soon that Pentecost happens.
SPEAKER_00: That we know that the Holy Spirit comes down onto the people.
SPEAKER_00: And that is where the mission starts, not with map on the wall, not with a strategic plan, not with the marketing campaign.
SPEAKER_00: It starts in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Because many of us imagine mission and going on mission as you know something out there, something that's far away that we have to, you know, raise a lot of support for, that we have to go on a mission, we have to be a part of a mission-going community.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just not true.
SPEAKER_00: We say, okay, that's we have to wait for mission for somewhere else, to another country, to another city, another season of life.
SPEAKER_00: But Acts is saying, start where you are.
SPEAKER_00: Your Jerusalem might be your home, your street, your school, your workplace, your family, your circle of friends, your calendar, your normal rhythms of life.
SPEAKER_00: Jim Peterson and Mike Shammy argue in their book called The Insider that God's global mission is worked out first in ordinary relationships where he has already placed us.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, we don't bypass our neighbors on the way to the nations.
SPEAKER_00: We begin as faithful witnesses right where we live.
SPEAKER_00: Mission usually begins before you ever leave town.
SPEAKER_00: We can't think that we can go reach the nations if we're not willing to reach the person who is right next to us.
SPEAKER_00: So we go from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and there's boldness that is being speaking, and there's the words being preached, and the people are scattered.
SPEAKER_00: This is the surprising thing that as they are scattered, there's more opposition.
SPEAKER_00: The mission, though, spreads through hardship, not around it.
SPEAKER_00: It spreads through it.
SPEAKER_00: Opposition did not stop the church.
SPEAKER_00: It became the road that the gospel traveled on.
SPEAKER_00: And then we hear about Saul, how Saul converted into Paul.
SPEAKER_00: He was not spiritually curious.
SPEAKER_00: He was breathing murderous threats against the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: He's trying to stop the moment and movement of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And then Jesus meets him on the Damascus road and says, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?
SPEAKER_00: My church, my body.
SPEAKER_00: The person you think is unreachable may be the person that Jesus is already pursuing.
SPEAKER_00: And then we hear about Peter and Cornelius and how the gospel breaks barriers, of the vision that came from God to say, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: What God has made clean, do not call common.
SPEAKER_00: And Peter realizes that this isn't just about food, this is about people.
SPEAKER_00: He says, God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
SPEAKER_00: So the gospel does not belong to one people group.
SPEAKER_00: It does not just belong to Jews alone.
SPEAKER_00: It belongs to the world.
SPEAKER_00: And then we finally, we in uh starting in chapter 13, we hear of this man named Paul who is going on these missionary journeys.
SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna have some maps behind me so that you can follow along because it's kind of confusing to see all these things that were happening.
SPEAKER_00: All these things that were happening in the world.
SPEAKER_00: So uh the first map is of Paul's first missionary journey.
SPEAKER_00: It's Paul and Barnabas being sent from Antioch, which is kind of like a sending source.
SPEAKER_00: It's a sending city.
SPEAKER_00: They're sending out Christians to the world from this city.
SPEAKER_00: They traveled to Cyprus, then into southern Galatia, which is where we get the book of Galatians.
SPEAKER_00: Places like City and Antioch, Iconium, Leicester, and Derby.
SPEAKER_00: They appreach Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Some believe, some oppose.
SPEAKER_00: And as they are going, they are creating more opposition.
SPEAKER_00: But churches are still formed.
SPEAKER_00: But as you can see, that they circle back.
SPEAKER_00: They are not just building churches, they're strengthening the disciples, the people who are learning about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: They appoint elders, they establish churches, and the mission is not just for Jesus, it is disciples formed for Jesus, formed in him.
SPEAKER_00: So the second missionary journey, Paul travels again and he revisits these same churches as he's hearing them.
SPEAKER_00: But God redirects Paul through a vision of a man from Macedonia.
SPEAKER_00: So the gospel crosses into Europe, which is, you know, getting towards the ends of the earth in that map that we talked about in Acts 1.8.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to Philippi, which is where we get the idea of the book of Philippians.
SPEAKER_00: Thessalonico, where we get Thessalonians, Berea, Athens, Corinth, is where we get the book of Corinthians.
SPEAKER_00: This is the journey where we meet Lydia by the river, where Paul and Silas are beaten and imprisoned, where they sing hymns at midnight.
SPEAKER_00: And the Philippian jailer asks, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
SPEAKER_00: And they answer, Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.
SPEAKER_00: You and your household.
SPEAKER_00: The gospel spreads through conversions, suffering, worship, households, and public witness.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the mission moves forward through open doors, and sometimes through prison doors.
SPEAKER_00: And so we get to his third journey, where he goes into Ephesus.
SPEAKER_00: And in Ephesus is where we get the book of Ephesians.
SPEAKER_00: The word spreads powerfully, and people repent.
SPEAKER_00: Idols are confronted, and there is revival, and there is still opposition.
SPEAKER_00: And that opposition to the gospel is making it back to Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: Paul teaches publicly from house to house, and eventually he heads toward Jerusalem, Jerusalem, knowing that suffering is awaiting for him.
SPEAKER_00: He says in 2024, but I do not account my life of any value nor is precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I receive from the Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That is a life surrendered to mission.
SPEAKER_00: Not to comfort, not reputation, not safety, mission.
SPEAKER_00: A surrender life does not ask, what's the easiest conversation I can have?
SPEAKER_00: A surrender life doesn't ask, you know, what's the what is the um what's the easiest person I can witness to?
SPEAKER_00: Where's the easiest country I could go to?
SPEAKER_00: A surrender life asks, what has Jesus entrusted to me?
SPEAKER_00: And so we find Paul's final journey when he is arrested in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_00: He gives his testimony and he appeals to Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: He is transported by ship to Rome.
SPEAKER_00: And but there's a storm, there's a shipwreck, uh, as uh he stops in Malta where there is more witnessing, there is more gospel opportunity, more healing.
SPEAKER_00: Then finally, Paul reaches Rome.
SPEAKER_00: Not as a free traveling preacher, but as a prisoner.
SPEAKER_00: And yet, the gospel is not chained.
SPEAKER_00: Which brings us to the end of the book of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna start reading in verse 23, chapter 28.
SPEAKER_00: When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers.
SPEAKER_00: From morning till evening he expounded to them, testifying to the kingdom of God, and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets.
SPEAKER_00: And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.
SPEAKER_00: And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement.
SPEAKER_00: The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, Go to this people, and say, You will indeed hear, but never understand, and you will indeed see, but never perceive.
SPEAKER_00: For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and with 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_00: Therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, they will listen.
SPEAKER_00: He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus with all boldness and without hindrance.
SPEAKER_00: That is the ending.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is confined, but the gospel is unhindered.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is limited, but the word of God is not.
SPEAKER_00: Paul is waiting, but the mission continues.
SPEAKER_00: That word uh without hindrance, that phrase is one of the most beautiful endings in scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Because Rome thought Paul was under arrest, that the gospel would be stopped, that we wouldn't be able to uh you know hear through through what the word was going to say.
SPEAKER_00: But heaven knew the gospel had arrived at the center of the empire.
SPEAKER_00: And Luke just stops.
SPEAKER_00: Why does he stop?
SPEAKER_00: Because the story continues through the church, through generations, through ordinary believers, through homes, through missionaries, through pastors, through parents, through students, through workers, through suffering saints, through churches like ours.
SPEAKER_00: Paul may be in chains, but the gospel is still running.
SPEAKER_00: And we need to be very clear about what this message is.
SPEAKER_00: The message of Acts is not be better, try harder, be religious, join a movement.
SPEAKER_00: The message of Acts is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus lived the life that we could not live.
SPEAKER_00: He died the death that we deserved.
SPEAKER_00: He rose from the grave, and Jesus offers forgiveness of sins to everyone who repents and believes.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone.
SPEAKER_00: The religious person, the rebellious one, the insider, the outsider, the skeptic, the wounded, the ashamed.
SPEAKER_00: The mission begins with this.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus saves sinners.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do with that?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do with that idea?
SPEAKER_00: What do we do knowing that He is saving us and that we are not supposed to stay in one spot?
SPEAKER_00: First of all, we got to see your place on the map.
SPEAKER_00: That's the application that you need to go to.
SPEAKER_00: You need to see who is on your map.
SPEAKER_00: You know, write down three names this week to say what is my Jerusalem?
SPEAKER_00: Who are the people nearest to me?
SPEAKER_00: Where has God already placed me?
SPEAKER_00: Your mission field may include your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your coworkers, your classmates, your extended family, your group, your regular coffee shop, your gym, your workplace, your street.
SPEAKER_00: Do not despise ordinary proximity.
SPEAKER_00: God often uses ordinary presence for eternal purposes.
SPEAKER_00: Your location is not accidental.
SPEAKER_00: It is assignment.
SPEAKER_00: The second thing that you need to do is ask yourself, where have I grown quiet because I'm afraid of pushback?
SPEAKER_00: You're going to get resistance.
SPEAKER_00: That is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: It happened with Paul, it happened with Peter.
SPEAKER_00: It happened with Stephen.
SPEAKER_00: They were killed, shipwrecked, imprisoned.
SPEAKER_00: A lot of things happened to the apostles.
SPEAKER_00: But the mission kept moving.
SPEAKER_00: You will receive resistance to delivering the gospel to the people who need to hear it the most.
SPEAKER_00: So you need to ask yourself, where have I grown quiet?
SPEAKER_00: Because I am afraid of being pushed back.
SPEAKER_00: You need to pray, Lord, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.
SPEAKER_00: Boldness is not the absence of fear, it is the obedience filled with the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And the final charge that you need to do.
SPEAKER_00: Keep going.
SPEAKER_00: When doors open, preach.
SPEAKER_00: When doors close, pray.
SPEAKER_00: When you are welcome, speak.
SPEAKER_00: When you are opposed, endure.
SPEAKER_00: When you are confused, trust.
SPEAKER_00: When you are tired, depend on the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: When you fail, return to grace.
SPEAKER_00: When you suffer, worship.
SPEAKER_00: When you are limited, remember Paul in Rome.
SPEAKER_00: You may feel restricted by season, by age, by health, schedule, resources, circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: But Acts remind us that a limited person can still carry an unhindered gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Your circumstances may be limited, but the gospel is not.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to remember that church this we need to remember this, that Acts ends with Paul in Rome, limited by chains, confined by circumstance, restricted by Rome, but the gospel is not restricted.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's under house arrest, but the word of God is unhindered.
SPEAKER_00: And that is a perfect ending to access because it reminds us that the mission never depended on perfect circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: The mission never depended on political favor.
SPEAKER_00: It never depended on popularity or comfort or on everything according according to plan.
SPEAKER_00: The mission has always depended on the risen Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit working through ordinary people.
SPEAKER_00: And the world still needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our homes need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our schools need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our workplaces need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our city needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Duluth needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Not simply a better version of religion, not a little moral polish, not vague spirituality, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The one who saves sinners.
SPEAKER_00: The one who heals what sin has broken.
SPEAKER_00: The one who gives hope to the weary.
SPEAKER_00: The one who brings light into darkness.
SPEAKER_00: The one who can take dead hearts and make them come alive.
SPEAKER_00: And if the world needs Jesus, then church cannot stay silent.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot keep the hope of the gospel tucked inside these walls safely.
SPEAKER_00: Acts does not end with a monument, it ends with a movement to go.
SPEAKER_00: Paul keeps proclaiming, the church keeps witnessing, the spirit keeps sending, and the gospel keeps on going.
SPEAKER_00: And now the story continues through us.
SPEAKER_00: So we need to be a church that prays like acts, speaks like acts, serves like acts, endures like acts, and goes like acts.
SPEAKER_00: Because faith alone saves.
SPEAKER_00: But faith that saves is never alone.
SPEAKER_00: It moves towards the lost.
SPEAKER_00: It speaks good news.
SPEAKER_00: It crosses barriers.
SPEAKER_00: It worships in hardship.
SPEAKER_00: It keeps going when circumstances are hard.
SPEAKER_00: The world needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And by God's grace, may they see him in us.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father God.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the story of Acts.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you that the gospel was never stopped by threats, prison cells, persecution, storms, shipwrecks, or chains.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that what began in Jerusalem has reached even us here, right now.
SPEAKER_00: Today, we confess that the world still needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our families need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our friends need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our neighbors need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Our city needs Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: The nations need Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And we need Jesus too.
SPEAKER_00: We need his grace when we fail.
SPEAKER_00: We need his mercy when we sin.
SPEAKER_00: We need his love when we feel weary.
SPEAKER_00: We need his spirit when we are afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, you are the hope of the world.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Savior who died for sinners.
SPEAKER_00: You are the King who rose in victory.
SPEAKER_00: You are the Lord who still sends his people.
SPEAKER_00: So go send us.
SPEAKER_00: Give us eyes to see the hurting.
SPEAKER_00: Give us courage to speak the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Give us compassion for the loss.
SPEAKER_00: Give us boldness without arrogance.
SPEAKER_00: Give us love without compromise.
SPEAKER_00: Let the story continue in our homes.
SPEAKER_00: Let the story continue in our church.
SPEAKER_00: Let the story continue in Duluth.
SPEAKER_00: Let the story continue to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_00: And may our lives declare what our world desperately needs to know.
SPEAKER_00: There is hope.
SPEAKER_00: There is grace.
SPEAKER_00: There is salvation.
SPEAKER_00: There is Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this in his powerful and saving name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.