This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Hi, this is Pastor Tom and I want to welcome you to week six, day five, Acts
chapter 28, our last study in the book of Acts. This is the last chapter of
Acts. If you've studied Luke and Acts together, we've come to the end of a look
at how the good news of Jesus came into the world at Bethlehem and then went out
into the world from Jerusalem.

At the beginning of Acts, Acts chapter one, we read about the gospel going out
from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and the remotest part of the earth. For
Paul, one of those places to go out to from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria was
Rome because it was the center of governmental power in that day. He wanted to
preach the gospel in Rome.

He'd had a dream for all of his ministry of doing this and God had confirmed
this dream again and again that it was a dream of God and not just of Paul. And
so he'd tried time and again to go to Rome and he'd been prevented. It's not
time yet.

He'd been thrown in prison and eventually had appealed to Caesar, only to have
to wait over two years in that process. And finally, on the trip to Rome, he
faces shipwreck and possible death. They get off of the ship, they've been
saved.

Now he's almost there and believe it or not, he has one more hurdle to face.
Listen to what happens in Acts chapter 28 verses one to three. Once safely on
shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.

The islanders showed us an unusual kindness. They built a fire and they welcomed
us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and as
he put it on the fire, a viper driven out by the heat fastened itself on his
hand.

Unbelievable. Paul has survived prison and murderous plots and shipwreck and now
it looks like he's going to be killed at the end by an accidental bite from a
small but very poisonous snake. Sometimes this is an example.

Sometimes we face the big things, you face the big things, only right at the end
to have it look like some small thing is going to trip you up. Well Jesus is
Lord of the big things and he's also Lord of the small things. So listen to what
happens in verses four to six.

When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other,
this man must be a murderer. Though he escaped from the sea, justice has not
allowed him to live. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no
ill effects.

The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a
long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and
said that he was a God. Well, Paul wasn't a murderer as they first supposed and
he obviously wasn't a God as they supposed at the end. That's by the way what
happens when you make circumstances you're only God, you get the craziest
beliefs.

No Paul is just a man who's trusted in Jesus and Paul passes this test like all
the others. He is saved by God once again even in this seeming detail of life,
this little accident that could have happened that could have taken his life.
God is there too.

And so then Paul, after being saved, actually meets and ministers to the
governor of the island. After winter has passed, they set sail and they reach
their destination. And so here it comes in verse 14, what Paul is waiting for
all of his ministry, verses 14 to 16.

And so we came to Rome. The brothers there had heard that we were coming and
they traveled as far as the forum of Appius and the three taverns to meet us at
the sight of these men. Paul thanked God and was encouraged.

And when we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier to
guard him. Paul gets to Rome and he's allowed, he's still in prison, but he
lives in a house with a soldier to guard him. He has an open door to share the
gospel.

He's allowed to preach to the Jewish leaders who are in Rome with the same
results that have happened everywhere else he went. Remember the gospel has been
preached in the thousands of years since. Here's the result in verse 24, some
were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.

What does Paul do? He just keeps on preaching. And so we come to these last
three verses in the book of Acts, Acts 29 to 31.

For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and he welcomed
all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance, he preached the kingdom
of God and he taught the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the end of the book of
Acts.

This is why, by the way, some people hate studying the book of Acts because they
hate this ending. They feel like it just leaves you hanging. It doesn't tell you
what happened to the apostle Paul.

Did they have a trial? Was he killed? Was he martyred?

Does he go out to preach some more? What happened to him? Now we know from
history that Paul is released from this imprisonment only to keep on preaching,
possibly to go as far as Spain and preaching the gospel, only to be arrested
again and eventually to be put to death, we know according to Christian
tradition, beheaded for his faith because he just keeps on telling the good
news.

But the end of Acts does not tell us this. It just ends. He's preaching about
Jesus Christ and he's in Rome.

It ends this way because the book of Acts is not the story of Paul. The book of
Acts is not the story of Peter or any other person. The main characters in the
book of Acts are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And the main message in the book of Acts is how the good news reaches the entire
world. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in
him shouldn't perish but have eternal life. And so in the book of Acts, Jesus
challenges the church to go out from Jerusalem to Judea, to Samaria, to the
remotest part of the earth, so that all would hear the good news of Jesus
Christ.

Yesterday, I talked about the fact that we can, should become a part of the
story of the book of Acts. And some of you yesterday became a part of that story
by trusting in Christ, beginning to follow him. All of us today can become part,
can continue to be a part of that story by following Jesus and going out to
Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the remotest part of the earth.

Where's God sending you? Where's your Jerusalem? Jerusalem is your neighborhood.

Who do you need to go to that's right next door, that's at your school, that's
in the next cubicle in your office? How can you share the good news with them?
First maybe by serving them and then by sharing with them.

What's your Jerusalem? Or where's your Judea? Judea was right next door.

It's like the county next door to us. It's just right there. Who do you need to
share with that's right next door to you?

Maybe the city next door. Who do you need to go to and tell the good news to?
Are you stuck in your little community?

How can you get outside of that community and go to the next city, the next
county and tell the good news of Christ? What church could you help? What person
could you encourage?

Start by getting connected with people even online. Encourage other believers in
other places. What's your Judea?

What's your Samaria? Who do you need to go to to become part of this book of
Acts? Samaria was right next door but it was a different people group.

It was people who were rejected by many of the Jews. They had a long history of
being rejected. Who is it that you've maybe had a prejudice against?

Or maybe ignored? Someone who speaks a different language. Someone who looks
different than you.

And they're right next door. They're right in your own community. How could you,
how could your church share the good news with them?

And then the remotest part of the earth. Where every Christian is challenged to
go to the remotest part of the earth. So how can you be doing that?

You say I can't travel. And there are so many ways without traveling that you
can give, that you can support, that you can encourage those who are in other
places. Who could you be writing?

Who could you be encouraging that someplace else? Who could you be praying for?
Who do you need to travel to see?

What's God challenging in your life? The book of Acts is not the story of Paul,
it's not the story of Peter. It's a story of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit sharing the good news out into the world.

And it's a story of your life. How are you going to come to know Christ? And
then how, because you know him, are you going to share that good news with
somebody else?

In many ways, the book of Acts is never going to be finished. Because it's the
acts, it's the acts of the Holy Spirit through the lives of believers. What does
Jesus want to do through your life today?

Let's pray together. Jesus show me. Show us.

What do you want to do through our lives today to get the good news out to our
Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria, our remotest part of the earth? Who do we
need to call? Who do we need to write?

Who do we need to encourage? What door do we need to knock on? What city do we
need to go to?

What country do we need to go to? Lord, plant a seed in our hearts and let it
just keep on growing. And give us faith that even as you used Peter and Paul and
these early apostles, you want to use us.

It may not be obvious to us at first, but you are still at work today in amazing
and miraculous ways. So Lord, instead of just reading the book of Acts, help us
to live the book of Acts, to be the book of Acts. Let this book take a hold of
my life, of our lives, and let us live it out the rest of our lives.

We ask this in your name we pray. Amen. I'm glad that you joined us for this
study.

I hope you'll go to drivetimedevotions. com and do one of our other Bible
studies, or just keep on with this downloading of the podcast and be with us
next week as we continue together in Drive Time Devotions.