The Bible from 30,000 Feet,
soaring through the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Would you turn in your Bibles,
please, to the book of Acts? 28 chapters are before us to
fly over the book of Acts. God willing, we'll make
it out of chapter 1 and into chapter 28. Whenever a movie comes
out that's a hit, it seems like the producing
executives start seeing dollar signs and they think, if
we make a sequel to this, it'll do really well. And sometimes it works and
sometimes it doesn't, right? So I remember back to that
movie called The Mask. Do you remember that movie? I thought it was an
entertaining movie. I enjoyed it. I thought it was a good idea. It was funny. But then there was a sequel
called The Son of The Mask-- total flop. They should have just
stopped at number one. Then years before
that, there was a movie, when I was
younger, called Grease with John Travolta. And I don't know-- I never enjoyed the movie,
but it was a big hit. A lot of people loved it. But then Grease 2
was a total flop. Now, there are some movies that
sequels do really well with. Star Wars is one of them,
with the Empire Strikes Back and the 5,000 other
renditions of it afterwards. Toy Story 1 and 2, there were-- these are good. There are several that
have done well as a sequel. The book of Acts is a
sequel to the book of Luke-- both written by the same author,
two volumes of a single work. In fact, up until
the second century, it was a document
of one big volume. It was the writing of Luke. It included the Gospel of Luke. It included the book of Acts. Around the second century idea
was divided into the Gospel According to Luke and
the Acts of the Apostles, and that's how it is
presented in our Bible. But both of them
were written by Luke. One is a follow-up to the first
story, or the first narrative. Luke was a medical doctor,
a Gentile medical doctor. He became a friend
of the apostle Paul and became a traveler
with the apostle Paul. And so in the book
of Acts, you start seeing where the author
becomes the traveler. And you actually see
it in the pronouns that are presented in the book. So when you go through the
book of Acts for 16 chapters, you have the author, Luke-- Dr. Luke-- writing
about different events, using pronouns like he and him,
and they and them, until you get to chapter 16 verse 10. Then there's a change,
where he says we and us. And it's evident that
in Troas in chapter 16, after Paul got the vision
of the man from Macedonia-- some even think it was Luke-- that after that vision,
and Paul saw it, it says we concluded that
the Lord was sending us to Macedonia. So he becomes then someone
who travels with Paul throughout the
remainder of the book, probably even all
the way to Rome. Now, there are places where
he changes the pronouns once again-- goes from within us
to they and them-- and so it would seem
like Paul has removed him from being part of that
team at that place, but was waiting up to
be rejoined later on. And then he does rejoin, and
those pronouns come back. So you can follow along
with Luke that way because he is, as a
medical researcher, very precise in this. And you can follow the
pronouns and get to it. The theme of this book--
since we have 28 chapters, we have to just sort of jump
right in-- the theme of this book-- I've always called it
From Jerusalem to Rome-- from Jerusalem to Rome. But let me explain that. It's how the hope that
revitalized a generation centered at Jerusalem--
the hope of the gospel-- made it from
Jerusalem all the way to the very heart of the
empire, and that is Rome. And so the author
is very selective. Luke is very selective
in his storytelling. He doesn't tell us
everywhere the gospel went, just certain places,
because he wants to show you how the message of the
Messiah, a Jewish story, did not stay in Israel, did
not get confined to Jerusalem, but actually made it to
the very heart of the world at that time. And that is Rome. And that's why it
spread everywhere-- because it first went to
Rome, and then from Rome, spread around the world. So in chapter 1
verse 1, it begins, "The former account I
made, O Theophilus"-- there's that name again. We saw it in chapter 1 of Luke-- "of all that Jesus began
both to do and to teach until the day in
which He was taken up, after He through the Holy
Spirit had given commandments to the apostles
whom He had chosen." Notice the word began. It's a key word. It's a key to the book. Jesus started something. He began something. And so he starts the
book with this idea-- do you remember
what Jesus started? Let me tell you how what Jesus
started is now continuing. You see, the gospel record
is an incomplete record. Jesus started something. He did it while he
was on the Earth, but then He infused the
message and the power to preach that message by the
Holy Spirit into His followers. They take up the baton. They have the mantle. They continue that work
through the Holy Spirit. So Jesus began it. I wrote about that in
my-- in volume 1 of Luke. Now here, in volume
2, O Theophilus, I want you to know that
Jesus is still working. His work of redemption
is done on the cross, but His work of mediation
for his followers, His work of proclamation-- by sending the Holy
Spirit to infuse people-- that is still going on. And by the time we get to
the book of Acts's ending-- I hope you'll see it-- God willing, we will-- the book of Acts itself
is an incomplete book. Hold that thought. Just hold that until
we get to chapter 28. Go down to verse 6. And we're going to be skimming. I'm going to be turning to a
lot of different places here. Verse 6-- "Therefore, when
they had come together"-- that is His followers,
His disciples-- "they asked Him"--
that is Jesus-- this is right before
the ascension-- "saying, Lord, will
you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? And He said to them,
it is not for you to know the times or
seasons which the Father has put in His own authority,
but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses
to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the end of the Earth." Their question is
a question of when. Jesus's answer is a question
of what, or an issue of what. And so often, our
question is, when? When is Jesus coming back? When is this thing
going to happen? When, when, when? The issue is never
when-- it's always what. What ought you to be
doing until He comes back? What is the mission
He has called us to-- in this time, in this place,
our little blip on the radar-- as you heard in the video-- what are we to do? So forget about the
when, disciples, and think about the what. And the what is you
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit
has come upon you. I remember being saved a
long time ago in an era out on the west coast known
as the Jesus movement. And we were all about when
Jesus was coming back. By the way, I don't
think He's far away. I think He's soon to return. I believe that. I really do believe that. But it made a lot of
people in my generation want to check out from
the reality of life. Oh, Jesus is coming so soon. We might as well quit our
jobs and get a lot of debt, because we won't have
to pay it off anyway. We'll be in Heaven. And just this idea
of irresponsibility-- Jesus doesn't call you to
sit on a hillside strumming a guitar eating birdseed. He wants you to get your hand
to the plow and get to work. He's got a job for us to do. And what is the job? Witnesses unto Me-- Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
to the uttermost or ends of the Earth. I say uttermost, because
that's old King James. That's where my mind naturally
goes, because the first time I read the book of Acts was in
that version, so it's stuck-- uttermost parts--
ends of the Earth. In this verse, we
have an outline for the whole book of Acts. I love it when books
provide their own outlines. The book of Revelation
provides an outline. The things that you have
seen, the things which are, and the things which
will take place after these things--
that's the outline of the book in chapter 1. Here in Acts chapter
1, Luke provides us an outline of what
his narrative is going to be like in
the rest of the book-- Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria,
end of the Earth chapters. Chapters 1 through 7,
it's all about Jerusalem-- the gospel witness in and around
Jerusalem, that main city. Chapters 8 and 9 tell us
how the gospel witness goes from Jerusalem
into Judea and Samaria-- chapters 10 to 28, how the
gospel witness, primarily through a converted Jewish
rabbi named Saul of Tarsus, goes to Gentile countries
and the ends of the Earth. Make sense? The outline's right here. And that's the outline
Luke is going to follow in the rest of the book. Now, in chapters 2 through 7--
and I'm going to be skimming and skipping-- we have the birth of the church. If volume 1, or
the Gospel of Luke, is all about the
origins of the gospel-- and it is-- Jesus-- then the book of Acts-- Luke volume 2-- is about the
development of the church. So chapter 2 is the
day of Pentecost, the birth of the
church, followed by how the Holy Spirit
comes upon His followers, how they preach
the gospel message in and around Jerusalem. And because they are faithful
to preach the message, they get into trouble. They get persecuted. If you preach, will
get persecuted. If you're faithful to the gospel
message, people won't like you. If you're a person
who loves to be loved all the time by everyone,
it's very hard for you to witness. And short of the Holy
Spirit filling you up, you're a lost cause. But the good news is the Holy
Spirit's there to fill you, and empower you,
and make you bold. My hardest thing to do was
to give a witness for Jesus Christ, as a young believer. I thought, I could never speak
to an individual, let alone a group, the gospel. So when I say you'd be a
lost cause, you would be, but the good news is we have
the power of the Holy Spirit. And we're going to see that. So we go to chapter 2 now and
we dip in at around verse 14, where we're in Jerusalem. The gospel is going out. And the guy to give
the gospel is one of Jesus's closest followers-- Jesus is in Heaven Peter
takes up the mantle. "But Peter"-- chapter 2 verse
14-- "standing up with the 11, raised his voice
and said to them, 'Men of Judea and all
who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to
you, and heed my words." Now, a healing has
just taken place. When Peter and John were
going into the temple, there was a man lame from birth. They picked him up
and he was healed. It created an uproar. The two apostles used it as
an opportunity to preach. So he says, "Heed my words. For these are not drunk, as
you suppose"-- excuse me, I got my stories mixed up--
that's chapter 3-- chapter 2, the Holy Spirit fills the
church on the day of Pentecost. People don't know
what that's all about. They're wondering what it means. Peter is announcing
what it means. Got ahead of myself. "For these are not
drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the
third hour of the day." Look, it's 9 o'clock
in the morning, guys. The bars aren't even
open in Jerusalem. These men are not drunk,
as you think they are. It's early still. "But this is what was
spoken by the prophet Joel." In verse 17, he
quotes Joel chapter 2. Pick it up at verse 22,
Peter's still preaching. It's still Jerusalem. "Men of Israel,
hear these words." Now, as you listen
to Peter's message-- or part of it, because
we're only skimming it-- I hope you're going
to notice, man, this sounds like
a different Peter. I know it says
Peter's preaching it, but this is not the
Peter I remember. "Men of Israel, hear these
words; Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by
miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through
Him in your midst, as you yourselves know. Him being delivered by
the determined purpose and knowledge of God, you
have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to
death; whom God raised up, having loosed the
pains of death, because it was not possible
that He should be held by it." This is getting good. He's getting fiery. Let's go to his close,
the close of his sermon. Go down to verse 36. He's still preaching. That means he's
coming to an end. "Therefore, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made
this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this,
they were cut to the heart." That means they were
deeply convicted. "And said to Peter and
the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren,
what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them"-- now this is Peter-- "Peter said to them, 'repent'"-- this is his public sermon. This is Peter-- "repent,
and let every one of you will be baptized in
the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and you shall receive the
gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to
you, and to your children, and to all who are afar
off, as many as the Lord our God will call." One of the most noticeable
things about Peter's sermon is how different this is
from Peter few chapters back in the gospel narratives. That Peter was scared. This Peter is bold. That Peter denied Jesus. This Peter is preaching Jesus. That Peter ran away
and wept in bitterness. This Peter's standing up tall. What happened to Peter? Those people who
know him say, give me Peter back, the one I know. My friend Peter, where'd he go? Same guy. What made the difference? Two things-- a new
presence, a new power. The Holy Spirit,
that's the new power. But the new presence,
Jesus Christ, his master, has risen from the dead,
and he saw Him alive. He saw Him alive. He spent time with Him. He then ascended into Heaven. So it's a whole new resurrected
presence of his Lord. What Jesus predicted happened. That's the new presence,
the new power-- the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples. They didn't believe
it, when He said it. I'm sure they were scratching
their beards going, yeah right. When He told them, I'm going
away, I'm going to be killed, but I'll be raised
up on the third day-- but it is expedient for you. It is to your advantage
that I go away, for if I do not go away, I
can't send the Holy Spirit. But if I go away, I'm going
to send the Holy Spirit. He's going to be with you. He's going to be in you. He's going to direct you,
guide you into all truth. This is really good for
you guys for Me to go, because I'm going to send
someone who's going to empower you to do what you
cannot do on your own. So it's the same guy,
but a new presence. Jesus resurrected a new power,
the Holy Spirit living in Him, and preaching really,
as it were, through Him. 50 times, the book of Acts
mentions the Holy Spirit. I know it says-- at least at the top of my
Bible, and probably yours-- it says, at the very
beginning at chapter 1, the Acts of the Apostles. If you don't feel it is
blasphemous to do what I am suggesting that you
do, if you have the freedom to write in your Bible, you
may want to cross out apostles. Or don't cross it out. Put a carrot between
the and apostles, and put the Acts of the-- carrot-- Holy Spirit through-- and then the Apostles. That's really what
the book is about. This is the acts of the Holy
Spirit moving through people-- apostles, disciples, anyone
who will say yes to Jesus. It's what Jesus began
to do and to teach, and is continuing
to do and to teach, because of a new
presence and a new power. That means you. I'm eyeballing you. I've got you on my radar. Book of Acts. Oh, I know there
are 28 chapters, but there are more
chapters being written, and I'm looking at some of
the very ones he's writing it through-- you. Get a sense of the
resurrected powerful Christ. Be filled with the Holy Spirit,
and let God work through you. So we'll see the Holy Spirit
active in the book of Acts. He regenerates people. He baptized his people. He sends people out. He directs their
mission endeavors. Now, chapter 3 is the story
of that lame man who was healed at the Gate Beautiful-- and after he's healed, the
preaching of Peter and John. Chapter 4 and 5 is the
response to the preaching. Because of the lame man who was
healed, they get into trouble. They get persecuted. So persecution is chapter 4
and 5, after they get arrested. In chapter 6 of
the book of Acts, we get a little insight, as
we go deeper into the church and we find a crisis that
happens in the early church. There's one in chapter 5 too
with Ananias and Sapphira but there's an organizational
crisis in chapter 6. I'm not impugning. I'm just stating the
fact-- it happened in the women's ministry. It was about the daily
distribution of the women. They started complaining. So the apostles got
together to fix it and chose seven deacons filled
with the Holy Spirit, full of good report, while they
would themselves pray and study the word of God. That's chapter 6. Chapter 7, all
still in Jerusalem-- happening in Jerusalem. Remember, that's the focus-- the gospel witness in Jerusalem. One of those deacons,
by the name of Stephen, goes to the synagogue
for a worship service. The synagogue he
attended was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen. And he shares an incredibly
historical powerful message. It's one of my favorite
messages, because it is-- appeals to the mind. It appeals to history. It's very logical. He basically presents
Jesus as the fulfillment of messianic
history in prophecy. And they don't want to hear it. They kill him. They stone him. They lay his clothing at
the feet of a young man by the name of Saul of Tarsus. That's where we get
introduced to Him. In chapter 8, after the Stephen
stoning, after the persecution, we get into the second
part of the book of Acts. Remember, chapter 1 through
7, the gospel witness at Jerusalem-- chapter 8
and 9, the gospel witness in Judea and Samaria. So in chapter 8,
we have another one of those deacons in
that crisis of chapter 6 by the name of Philip, who
shares the gospel in Samaria. So the gospel goes from
Judea into Samaria. He preaches it in
Samaria in Gaza down south, and then
back up to Caesarea. So we have the gospel going
from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria. But turn to chapter 8, before
we go much further than that, and see how chapter
8 opens, as we are introduced to a character
named Saul of Tarsus. Because the rest of the book
will be highly selective, as we follow him. It begins, chapter
8 verse 1, "Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution
arose against the church which was at Jerusalem." This is the pivot point. "And they were all scattered
throughout the regions of Judea and"-- where? Samaria. Samaria. So we're following our outline. From Jerusalem, they're
scattered to Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. OK, stop there. I want what you and I
just read to sink in. Jesus promised in
chapter 1 verse 8, you will be My witnesses. You'll be filled
with the Holy Spirit. You'll be My witnesses in
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the Earth. That's what he promised them. They're probably thinking, good. Awesome. Can't wait. Question is, how is
that going to happen? What is the vehicle whereby
those believers in Jerusalem are going to be
exported, pumped out into the Gentile world
and Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the Earth? Here's the answer-- this is
not what they wanted to hear-- persecution. In fact, let me give
you a little formula that I came up with just by
reading the Book of Acts. If you practice Acts 1:8,
you will experience Acts 8:1. If you are filled
with the Spirit and you want to take the
gospel from where you are and export it to
others in the family, at work, around the
block, across the world, expect persecution to break out. So persecution brought the
propagation of the Gospel. Persecution of the believer
is like wind to seed. When a farmer sows, he
sometimes uses the wind as sort of a fuel or an
engine to push the seed down into the furrow
a little bit further. It gets scattered that way. As believers, we
are to be scattered. That doesn't mean
we're to go and have our own little fellowship on a
rock up in the Sandia Mountains with a pine tree. It means we gather
together and we get taught, and fed, and
inspired, and instructed, but then we disseminate. We scatter. And some of us will move
to different places, or we'll lose our job
here, or a disease will cause us to send our
loved one to another city and we'll have to join
them, and we wonder why. And now, we have to move there. A number of things
can move us, but God wants us to be on the
move with His gospel. And I'm sure they're going,
Lord, how could a God of love allow us to be
persecuted like this? We're sharing faithfully
in Jerusalem your message, and now we're scattered. Because He wants the gospel
not to stay in Jerusalem. He loves the people
of Samaria and Judea, and he wants you out there. He knows we get comfortable. Who wants to leave Jerusalem? There's a revival
breaking out there. That's the most exciting
place to be in the world. The early church
just got born there. I'm sticking around. No, you're not. I'm going to make
things hard for you. You're going to want to leave. "And devout men"-- verse 2--
"carried Stephen to his burial, and make great
lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made
havoc of the church, entering every house, and
dragging off men and women, committing them to prison." This is Saul of Tarsus. We'll see more of
him in chapter 9. Before we move on and I
summarize a great deal and go on to the
next section, let me give you a more modern-day
example of this persecution thing. For hundreds of years,
Western missionaries went to China, country
of a billion people-- now much more than that. The gospel penetrated
into China, although it was
very, very difficult. And the result of Western
mission activity and church planning for hundreds
of years in China yielded about 800,000 believers. Well, that's
significant-- 800,000-- not quite 1 million believers-- with hundreds of
years of mission work. But in the 1940s, China
experienced what's called a cultural revolution. Missionaries were forced
out of the countries. Christians were
persecuted intensely. The church went underground. They met secretly. In some cases, they
still do, in some places. Mission experts around the
world, especially in the West, were scratching their
heads thinking, man, this is the end of the church
in that part of the world. It's over. We were surprised, when
we got the first peek behind that bamboo curtain to
find out how many believers existed after all that
cultural revolution, and the church
going underground, and the persecution. They didn't get squashed. They actually grew larger. At the end, we
discovered not 800,000. We discovered between 50
and 100 million believers in Jesus Christ. It was a horrible
process to get there, but God had something
greater in mind through that very,
very difficult time. So chapter 1 through 7,
gospel witness in Jerusalem. Chapters 8 and 9, gospel
witness in Judea and Samaria. Now, in chapter 9, we
get the conversion. We have one of the most pivotal
moments in church history, and that is why it comes
up in the Gospel of Luke-- or in the book of Acts. In Luke's gospel volume
2, I should call it. It is such a pivotal moment
for this rabbi of Tarsus that his conversion
is highlighted-- is written about three
times in the book of Acts. Chapter 9 verse 1, it says,
"Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against
the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
and asked letters from him to the synagogues
of Damascus, so if he found any who were of the
Way"-- that's what Christians were called then-- "whether men or women, he might
bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he journeyed he
came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone
around him from Heaven. Then he fell to the ground and
heard a voice saying to him, 'Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?'" Saul of Tarsus was a rabbi. If you want his personal
testimony-- not now-- but go read it in
Philippians chapter 3. He tells it to you-- tells you who he was,
tells you his background. He was from the
tribe of Benjamin. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was a Pharisee. We know he studied under the
great teacher Gamaliel, a very notable stature in Jerusalem. So he was tutored
well, trained well. He was a Roman citizen, as
well as somebody very familiar with Greek customs,
culture, and language. He knew Hebrew. He knew rabbinical tradition. He was an interesting mix
from Judaism, Greek culture, and Roman culture
all mixed into one person-- highly intellectual. I marvel at his arguments. I don't even understand
his arguments. I teach the book of
Romans on Sunday morning. I have a hard time understanding
the book of Romans, and that's his Magna Carta. You know the same feeling. Peter was right, when he said
Paul wrote a lot of things hard to understand. I'm so glad he wrote that. I thought, I'm glad he
said that, because I thought I was the only one. But this is his conversion. And notice verse 4. He fell to the ground. He heard a voice saying,
"Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Now, he didn't even
know who this is yet. He's going to find
out It's Jesus. And it's like, what do
you mean persecuting You? I'm after people. I'm after these
people who follow You? The point in verse 4 is, if
you mess with God's people, you mess with God. You touch Christians,
you touch Christ. The body of Christ is connected
to the head of the church inextricably. So when people are out to get
you, God takes it personally. So why not-- if they're
attacking you for the right reason, like the gospel-- move aside and let God at them? Sic 'em, Holy Spirit. He'll do a much better job,
like He did with Saul of Tarsus. Why are you persecuting Me? So he said, "Who are You?" It's a good, fair question. I hear a voice. Who are you, Lord? "'The Lord said, I am Jesus,
whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to
kick against the goads.' So he, trembling and
astonished, said, 'Lord, what do you
want me to do?' The Lord said to him,
'Arise, go into the city, and you will be told what you
must do.'" Saul of Tarsus ask two questions-- two questions
that I think every one of us should ask and answer. Most of us have asked
and had answered the very first question. Not all of us have
asked nor have we had answered the second question. The first question
is, who are you, Lord? That's basic. People go to church for
years and they never get an answer to that question. I grew up in church. I was an altar boy in
the Catholic church. I went to mass sometimes daily-- very, very devout family. I did not know Jesus. I did not know the Lord. I went for years not having
answered, who are you, Lord? But when I did,
everything changed. It was a life-changer for me. I was 18 when it happened. But then, there's
a second question we must ask and have answered-- Lord, what do you want me to do? Some people have the
first question answered, but they lived their whole life,
but it's an unproductive life, because they never find out
why God put them on this Earth. The two greatest days of your
life are the day you were born, and the second is the
day you figured out what you were born for. When you find out why God
put you on this Earth, and you take up that
mantle of service to Him, it's a great and glorious day. Lord, what do you want me to do? Well, he goes into the
city, goes into Damascus. He becomes a basket case-- literally. They let him over
the wall in a basket. OK, let's go to verse 22. Sorry. Don't clap for that. I detract it from God's holy
word, even though it was fun. Verse 22, it says, "But
Saul increased all the more in strength, and
confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving
that this Jesus is the Christ." Now, watch this very
next verse, verse 23. "Now after"-- what-- "many days"-- it's
an important phrase, because-- let me explain this. It says, "After many
days were passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. But their plot
became known to Saul. And they watched the gates
day and night to kill him. Then the disciples
took him by night, let him down through the
wall in a large basket"-- so a basket case, right? That's how he escaped. However, between verse 22 and
23 is a period of three years. Many days is many days,
like 1,000 plus days. It's only when we put the other
testimony of Saul of Tarsus in this book along with his
testimony in Galatians 1 that we figured out-- he
gets saved, goes to Damascus. After he gets saved
and he's in Damascus, he leaves Damascus, goes
to Arabia for three years-- after that, comes back to
Damascus, stirs things up. They let him over
the wall in a basket. He then goes to Jerusalem. Then he's too hot to
handle in Jerusalem. They ship him back home to
Tarsus, where he's from. Before he ever gets a call-- and he gets the
call from Barnabas-- not a call, not a text, but-- Barnabas brings him to Antioch
and his ministry starts. But here's what I
want you to know-- Saul of Tarsus, AKA
now Paul the Apostle, does not start his ministry for
years, maybe even up to seven to nine years, some figure-- several years. Why three years in Arabia? Maybe he went back
to Mount Sinai. He was a Jew. He followed the law. Maybe under the shadow
of Mount Sinai for years, maybe in seclusion, maybe with
a few other Jewish scholars, he wrestled with the Old
Testament scriptures. One thing we know-- when
he came out of that silence and he started preaching,
he was an unstoppable force, a brilliant unstoppable force. He had reasoned through the
Old Testament scriptures. He knew what to say in the
synagogues, in the temple. He knew how to preach to
Greeks, Romans, the whole lot. Three years in Arabia,
then years in Tarsus-- all of that to say,
don't be mad at God if He doesn't use you next week. I've been saved a whole week. What's up, God? How come I don't have
a worldwide ministry like Billy Graham did? It's been a month. First of all, you
may never have that. Second of all, never despise
the day of small beginnings, the prophet said. Saul of Tarsus never
would have made it to Rome, did he not go
to Arabia and then Tarsus. Preparation is necessary
for fruitfulness. Gets down, over a basket, goes
to Jerusalem, goes to Tarsus-- chapters 10 through 28-- it's the third
section of the book-- the gospel goes to the ends
of the Earth, the Gentiles. Chapter 10, Cornelius
the Gentile is reached. Chapter 11 takes this to
a northern city in Syria called Antioch. And I just want to
underscore this. Luke is now very,
very selective. He's just basically going to
say, yeah, Peter, whatever-- John, whatever. Thomas, the rest of
you guys, whatever. I'm following Paul and I'm
going to write about him. That's what he is--
very selective. So Luke does not tell us how
the gospel gets down to Egypt. And it did, by the way,
in very powerful means. History or tradition
says the apostle-- the gospel writer Mark-- John Mark-- went down to
Egypt and planted the gospel. And it grew powerfully. It became a bastion of
learning, and scholarship, and church planting. And Mark took it down there. And then the gospel
went to North Africa. He didn't follow that. He doesn't talk about
how Thomas went to India and shared the gospel. He's all about how the
gospel goes from Jerusalem, goes north, and then goes
west and ends up in Rome. That's his story line. That's his narrative--
from Jerusalem to Rome. He wants you to know how
the gospel got there. So I take you over
to chapter 13, where we get the first
leg of that gospel to the ends of the Earth. Chapter 13, it says,
"Now the church that was in Antioch"-- notice
how the chapter opens up. You can't go to Antioch
today because it's in Syria. You know it's
happening in Syria. But 2,000 years ago, Antioch
was the third largest city in the Roman Empire. It was massive. It was not Jewish. It was polycultural-- very
multicultural-- perfect place for Paul. So Barnabas gets sent
to Antioch because he hears, man the holy
spirit's moving to Antioch. Let's send Barnabas. Barnabas goes up there, and
when he looks around the city and sees the makeup
of the city he goes, I know just the dude who
would be perfect here. And so he tracks
down Paul, brings Paul from Tarsus, his hometown. And this is where
Paul's ministry begins, because
there was a guy named Barnabas who believed in him-- brings him to this city. "Now in the church that was
at Antioch there were certain prophets and-- teachers Barnabas
Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who
had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch-- as they ministered
to the Lord"-- they were having a
worship services-- "they worshipped God and
fasted, the Holy Spirit said, 'Now separate to Me
Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then, having fasted and
prayed, they laid hands on them and sent them away." Antioch now becomes the base--
not Jerusalem-- for Paul. He's the apostle
to the Gentiles. His base of operations becomes
a Gentile city, headquarters of Gentile multiculturalism. That's his base. So he's in Antioch. They hear this word
from God, they fast, and they lay hands on them. That's sort of a formal way of
saying, we identify with you and we confer upon
you what we believe God has already confirmed. When I lay hands on
somebody for ministry, it's only because I believe
the Holy Spirit has already laid hands on that person. Lay hands on no man suddenly. Now, you know, in
the Bible, it speaks of the laying on of hands in
a good way and in a bad way. In a bad way, when
somebody lays hands on you, it's like they're grabbing
you to beat you up. If you lay hands on
somebody in a good way, it's because you
identify with them, and you see something in
them, and you pray over them-- whether it's healing them-- or praying for their
healing if they're sick, or you believe God laid
His hand on a man who's going to be a pastor or somebody
who's going to be in ministry. So they laid hands on them. They had this
formal association. So verse 4-- and I love
this-- they sent him away. But watch this-- acts
of the Holy Spirit. "So being sent out
by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia,
and from there they sailed to Cyprus." That's an island out there
in the Mediterranean, off the coast. "They arrived in Salamis"--
that's the big city there-- "and preached the word of God
in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John
as their assistant." OK, this is the first
missionary journey. Paul has three-- three
missionary journeys. Paul has three missionary
journeys and a fourth journey, which really is a missionary
journey, but it's-- he's going to jail. He's imprisoned, and
he's on a prison ship-- his journey to Rome. On the first journey, the
first missionary journey, he goes through Cyprus. Then he goes up into Asia
Minor into the area of Galatia. And he goes to the
provinces there of Galatia. His journey ends in
chapter 14 verse 26. So now, we get the end of
that journey, where it says, "From there"-- verse 26 of chapter 14--
"they sail to Antioch"-- that's where they started-- Antioch of Syria--
"where they had been commanded to
the grace of God for the work which
they had completed." That was chapter 13--
laid hands on them. That's what the reference is. "Now when they had come and
gathered the church together, they reported all
that God had done." Hey, Paul, we heard about you. We heard how great you were. And Barney, you
were awesome too-- none of that. Let me tell you what God did. Let me tell you
what we saw God do-- "and that he had opened the
door of faith to the Gentiles so they stayed there a long
time with the disciples." This was the first mission
conference in history. They gather together
back in Antioch, the place that sent them. They tell stories
about what God did. They said, let me
tell you what happened in Lysra, in Derbe, in Iconium,
and Antioch of Pisidia-- a different Antioch. That's why the book of
Acts confuses some people. Antioch? They left Antioch. What are they doing
in Antioch with-- it's a different Antioch. So anyway, now they're back. They have this conference. One of the things Paul
was able to tell them-- and we didn't cover it, but it's
in chapter 14 around verse 19-- when Paul is in
Lystra, he gets stoned. Let me rephrase that. When Paul is in Lystra,
they throw rocks at him, and they all think he's dead. So it wasn't-- Paul wasn't smoking
hooch in the back. It was somebody took a disliking
to him preaching the gospel, threw rocks at him. And they thought he was dead,
so they carried him out like they were going to bury him. And he gets up, dusts
himself off, and goes back. It's like, yeah, but I
didn't finish that last point in my sermon. And he goes back and he
shares the gospel again. This guy is an
unstoppable force. How do you stop
somebody like that? You don't. So they're telling
all that God had did. That's the first journey. Chapter 15, they go
down to Jerusalem, because Jerusalem hears
that non-Jews have received the gospel of our messiah. And they're a little
bit miffed at this. So this is, in chapter 15, the
first doctrinal conference-- council. There were people in Jerusalem
who were believers in Jesus, but they had
Judaistic tendencies-- legalistic tendencies-- believed
that you have to be circumcised and to keep the Law of Moses
in order to be a Christian. This is a very seminal argument. Oh, it says that in verse 1. I should have just kept reading. "Certain men came from Judea
and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom of Moses, you can't be saved.' Therefore, when
Paul and Barney-- Barnabas-- had no small
dissension and dispute with them, they determined
that Paul and Barnabas and certain others
of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the
apostles and elders, about this question. So being sent on their
way by the church, they pass through
Phoenicia, Samaria, describing the conversion
of the Gentiles, and they caused great
joy to all the brethren." So they hashed it
out in Jerusalem, had this big conference. The danger is this-- I understand where the
Judaizers were coming from. They're traditionalists. Some of us are traditionalists. I love you, but
you can be weird-- especially if you start wanting
to mix the law and grace, and you want to take the
new wine of the gospel and stuff it in the old
wine skin of Judaism. You want to take the
veil of the temple that has been ripped in two
by God, and you go, I think we can so
that back up again-- make it nice. No, leave it ripped. It's a whole new work
that He wants to do. So there's that dispute. At the same time, I do want
to say something that you may have never heard me say. I am thankful for those
legalists and traditionalists. I'm glad they had an argument
with Paul about legalism and keeping the
law, you know why? If they didn't, we wouldn't have
books like Galatians, Romans, the book of Hebrews. It's because of
those early debates that we have this
doctrine of grace unfolded in all of its New
Testament glory in those book. So for that reason, I'm glad. Verse 6-- "Now the
apostles and elders came together to
consider this matter. And when there had
been much dispute, Peter Rose up and said,
'Men and brethren, you know that a good while
ago God chose us that-- God chose among us,
that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear
the word of the gospel and believe." OK, something we need
to cross-reference-- Jesus said to Peter, when He
was with all the disciples, to you I give the keys
of the kingdom of Heaven. Now, I know, being raised
Roman Catholic, how that church interprets it. Peter's the first pope. He's given the keys
to the kingdom. That is not what he
is speaking about. Keys open doors. And it was Peter who opened
the door of faith to the Jews, when he preached on Pentecost. It was Peter who opened the door
to the Samaritans' salvation in chapter 8. A revival is
happening in Samaria. When Philip was there, they
sent Peter to observe it. And he was able to open the door
and say, this is God's work. He also opened the door to
the Gentiles in chapter 10 with Cornelius. So yeah, he was given keys
to the kingdom-- to unlock the doors for Jews,
Samaritans, and Gentiles. So he says, I'm speaking
from experience. You all know that,
that God used me to open the first door
of faith to the Gentiles. But go down to verse 10-- and
we won't spend much time on this incredible sermon he
gives-- but we won't. Verse 10-- "Now therefore,
why do you test God by putting a yoke on the
neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor
we were able to bear?" Now, Peter frames the
traditionalists in the light that they need to
be framed with. He is saying, the
law that you espouse has become too burdensome. It's now like a yoke
on the neck of people. It'll break their neck. It'll break their spirit. The law of Moses won't free you. It'll bind you. It'll break your neck. Jesus said to the Pharisees, you
bind burdens too heavy for men to bear. Woe unto you, scribes,
Pharisees, hypocrites. Now, a couple of
centuries after this-- second century AD
in church history-- all of those traditions that
he's referring to became codified into
commandments under a rabbi that became very famous,
name Rabbi Shammai. Rabbi Shammai is
second century AD-- follow? He codified all of the
traditional Commandments into 613 commandments. So if you ask the Jews how many
Commandments-- they won't say, we keep the 10 Commandments. They will tell you, I
keep the 613 commandments. And there are knots that they
wear on their prayer shawl to indicate those 613
knots and commandments. But get this-- of all those
613 commandments, 365 of them are negative commandments. 248 are positive commandments. There's more don't do that, than
do this, in that burden that breaks their back. Enter Jesus, enter
the gospel of grace. Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself. You've kept the whole law-- liberation, freedom. So Peter said, why are you
trying to put that yoke back on people, that Jesus busted? I love Peter. Can't wait to tell him that. Go to verse 28. "For it seemed good to the
Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you
no greater burden than these necessary things." Now, this is a letter they
write to the Gentiles who have been saved. We're not going to lay that
heavy burden on your neck. "That you abstain from things-- from idols, from blood,
from things strangled, from sexual immorality." There's a whole bunch of
cultural reasons for that-- don't have time to explain now. You can look it up
on our tape library. "If you keep yourselves
from these, you do well. Farewell." Now, chapter 16,
17, and 18 takes us to the second
missionary journey. They revisit some
of the same places they did on the first one-- see how people are doing. And then they go
to some new places, like Philippi, and
Thessalonica, Berea, Corinth, where he spends
about a year and a half-- almost two years. Then we go to the third
missionary journey. He revisits some
of those places, but goes back to-- or goes to
a new place called Ephesus. So I'm going to take you
to chapter 20 verse 22. I'm trying. I'm working my way through. So third missionary
journey, he goes to Ephesus. I bring that up why? Because Ephesus is where
he spends three years-- spent the longest time in
Ephesus than anywhere else. Boy, I wish I had more
time, and I don't. OK, I'm goingn to
take you chapter 23. I'm going to have to say a
lot of things really quick. He's in Ephesus. He goes back to Ephesus after
being there three years, leaving, coming back, because
he wants to go to Jerusalem one last time. Everywhere he goes on the way
to Jerusalem, prophets, signs, and wonders saying, don't
go to Jerusalem, dude. They're going to arrest you. He gathers them all
together and says, "the Holy Spirit
testifies in every city"-- this is chapter
20-- in every city-- the chains and
tribulations await me, when I go to Jerusalem. But listen, but none of
these things move me; nor do I count my
life dear to myself, that I might finish
my course with joy, and the ministry given
to me by the Holy Spirit. So bye-- he goes-- goes to Jerusalem. You know what happens? He gets arrested. He gets thrown in
jail for two years. He gets taken to Rome,
which have caused people throughout church history,
from his day until now, to say, Paul was not in the will of God
for wanting to go to Jerusalem. Holy Spirit tried to warn him--
don't go-- but he was stubborn, and he went. Well, Paul would tell you
something very different from a prison cell that
he was put into in Rome. In Rome, in a prison cell, he
wrote the book of Ephesians. Thank you for that
prison cell, Lord-- and for Philippians-- thank
you for that prison cell, Lord-- and Colossians-- thank
you for that prison cell, Lord-- and the
book of Philemon-- thank you for that prison
cell, God, for those letters. He writes to the
Philippians-- he goes, I just want you guys to know
that the things that have happened to me-- imprisonment-- have happened for
the furtherance of the gospel. The gospel is being furthered. By the way, I happen to be
chained to people 24 hours a day. And because of that people
and Caesar's household-- Philippians chapter
4-- are saved. Can you imagine being chained
to Paul 24 hours a day-- or for a few hours? Talk about a captive audience. This guy's like-- he's going ah. He's not seeing this
as, I'm chained to you. It's like, you're chained to me. And he gave him an
earful, and many of them responded because of him. He gets arrested in Jerusalem. He gets taken to
Caesarea, where he goes through three
trials in two years, with two governors
and one king-- first governor, Antonius Felix-- second governor,
Porcius Festus-- the king, Herod Agrippa II,
and his sister Berenice. So I'm skipping here. He, in chapter 25, is
giving his second defense at his second trial. In chapter 25 verse 8, while he
answered for himself, he said, "'Neither against the law of the
Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I
offended anything at all.' But Festus, wanting to
do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, 'Are you
willing to go up to Jerusalem and there be judge before me
concerning these things?'" He just came from
Jerusalem in a trial. So he says, "'I stand at
Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews, I have done
no wrong, as you well know. For I am not an offender,
nor have I committed anything deserving of death. I do not object to dying,
but if there is anything in these things of which"-- I'm not going to
keep reading it. He knows he'll never get
justice among the Jews, so he looks forward
among the Romans. He had the right,
under the Roman law, as a Roman citizen, the right of
A Palatio, the right of appeal. As a Roman citizen, you could
appeal to the Supreme Court, to Caesar himself. He does that. They take him on a
voyage in chapters 27, and he goes to Rome. We now go to chapter 28. Paul now gets what
he always wanted-- sort of. He's one he always
wanted to be-- kind of. He's in Rome-- always
wanted to go there. He didn't think he'd
go there as a prisoner. Can I just say, I think that
God is interested in economy, and he likes twofers. You get two for
the price of one. So if I make you a prisoner,
the Roman government will send you, at their
expense, all the way to Rome, and you'll be able
to actually speak to Caesar Nero at their dime. So he gets what he always
wanted, but by the wisdom of God, as a prisoner. And he is taken to Rome. Chapter 28 verse 16-- "Now when we came to
Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to
the captain of the guard, but Paul was permitted to dwell
by himself with the soldier who guarded him." From there, he writes
those prison letters that I mentioned. Verse 30-- we'll
close the book-- "Then Paul dwelt two whole
years in his own rented house, and received all
who came to him, preaching the Kingdom of God
and teaching the things which concerned the Lord Jesus
Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him"-- period. The book ends abruptly. It does. It's a weird ending, as far
as the book is concerned. It ends abruptly. It ends inappropriately. It ends with the main
character just sort of-- well, he was there, and he
preached, and that's it. But what I'm here to
tell you, in closing, Paul isn't the main character. The reason it seems
odd and inappropriate is because the main
character is the Holy Spirit, and therefore, it keeps
getting chapters added to it. And I'm just wondering, as
I close, what chapter you're going to be writing,
what you're going to be doing, what the Lord's
going to be doing to you, what Jesus will continue to do
and work through your life, as the Book of Acts
continues to be written. I actually had much more to say. Can you believe it? I'm way over time. I wanted to actually close
with Paul's last words-- which are not here-- but
we don't have time. But we will at some other time. Father, thank you for our time
together-- in Jesus's name, amen. We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible From 30,000 Feet.
