[0:01] Today's scripture comes from the book of Acts chapter 28. This is the concluding story in the book of Acts. Acts chapter 28.
[0:24] After we were brought safely through, we learned that the island was called Malta. The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and it was cold.
[0:44] When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer.
[1:00] Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead.
[1:14] But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days.
[1:38] It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed and putting his hands on him, healed him.
[1:51] And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. They also honored us greatly. And when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
[2:07] After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria with the twin gods as a figurehead. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.
[2:21] And from there, we made a circuit and arrived at Regium. And after one day, a south wind sprang up. And on the second day, we came to Potielli.
[2:33] And there we found brothers and were invited to stay with him for seven days. And so we came to Rome. And the brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and three taverns to meet us.
[2:50] On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. And when we came into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
[3:02] After three days, he called together the local leaders of the Jews. And when they had gathered, he said to them, Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
[3:19] And when they had examined me, they wished to set me at liberty because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, though I had no charge to bring against my nation.
[3:37] For this reason, therefore, I have asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain. And they said to him, We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or spoken any evil about you.
[3:59] But we desire to hear from you what your views are, for with regard to this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against. When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in greater numbers.
[4:15] 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. And some were convinced by what he said, but others disbelieved.
[4:32] And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement. 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.
[4:51] You will indeed see, but never perceive. For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.
[5:09] Therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen.
[5:20] 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 Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
[5:35] This is the word of God. Thanks be to God indeed. It's been quite a journey, quite a journey through the book of Acts, and isn't it awesome to hear the sound of babies in the church?
[5:58] Some parents can get very, very self-conscious about that, and I don't want any parent ever to feel self-conscious about a crying baby here, okay? Let's just let that be known.
[6:10] Our nice wood floor and our wood ceiling amplifies any sound. You could hear, you know, I won't go into that saying, but you can hear a lot of silent things in the church, and boy, it's great to hear those children.
[6:28] These are disciples of the future, and I know, I won't preach for very long. I'll have you all crying in 30 minutes. But as we're kind of reaching the end of, I would say, this is like a marathon.
[6:44] This is almost a longer series than the book of John, the gospel of John, we went through that, and the endings of movies and books even are quite contentious topics.
[7:01] It doesn't matter what took place in the entire film that you watch. If the ending is off, it kind of just ruins the whole thing.
[7:13] Most ratings and reviews rise and fall upon the ending of a book or the ending of a movie. And I won't waste any time today to get into my own pet peeves in movies.
[7:27] We can talk later. But there have been many theologians, many scholars that have looked at the end of Acts and said, what? That's it?
[7:41] After all of that? And the word continues. They continued with boldness and without hindrance. Many have looked upon Luke's second volume, known as the book of Acts, as having this bad ending, that there's no closure to it.
[7:57] Paul's in the middle of appealing to Caesar and we don't figure out the end of the story. We don't know what comes up next. What about the disciples that follow after Paul into the first century, the second century, right?
[8:13] What has turned into the saga of Paul ends abruptly without any resolve? But, maybe that is Luke's intention. Maybe the oddity that this ending actually has should serve for us to actually reinforce something that Luke is trying to prove and trying to drive home today.
[8:37] That it's not about Paul. It's not the acts of Paul. It's not the acts of Barnabas. It's not the acts of Peter. It's the acts of the Holy Spirit in this nationwide spread of the Word of God.
[8:56] Maybe Luke is trying to drive that home here as the gospel is reaching Rome. In an ending that leaves more questions than answers, maybe, just maybe, Luke intends to drive home that main point that he began in this historical narrative since chapter 1, that he is indeed putting together a work for Theophilus of how the church came to be.
[9:27] What if to Luke, as we live in this world of needing a nice little cherry on the top of the story, where the guy gets the girl and they live happily ever after, maybe to Luke, Christianity isn't a closed book at all.
[9:46] Maybe Christianity is an open book and he leaves it like that. Maybe the actual issue is our expectations of the happily ever after storylines that we kind of read into the text and all of a sudden we're just like, what?
[10:02] What happened to the rest of the manuscripts? Well, John Chris's psalm helps us in this reflection. He says, the author conducts this narrative up to this point and leaves the hearers thirsty so that he fills up the lack by himself through reflection.
[10:23] Today's the 49th sermon in the book of Acts is that nothing can shrink nor hinder the work of God's sent word.
[10:57] And what we're going to do is break this up into two sections. We're going to kind of take this narrative, this last narrative in the arrival to Rome and then what happens when he gets to Rome.
[11:13] So it's kind of going to be pivoting around verse 16 and 17 and the title of the sermon today is The Kingdom of God will advance.
[11:26] The Kingdom of God will advance. And I invite you to join me in prayer as we lift our voices up to the Lord and our spirits up to the Lord to help us to be transformed by this work.
[11:40] So let's pray. Father, we thank you for everything you're doing in this church and specifically the work that your word has accomplished in this church and continues to accomplish and will continue long after I'm six feet under as your word continues its work.
[12:04] Father, we pray that we are at this moment left in awe and changed, encouraged and challenged by your word alone.
[12:17] Not my words, not my opinions, but your word alone. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. You guys with me? Amen? Amen.
[12:29] All right. So the first section is we see God's initiative to sustain. Let me find my coffee here. God's initiative to sustain.
[12:40] That's going to take us all the way to verse 16. And so let's travel with Paul as he continues his journey to Rome.
[12:52] And we have to continue to see God's hand. I praise God for Pastor Rick and his ability to just bring the Bible to life and with maps and colors and everything like that.
[13:07] It's amazing. And he's a lot better with technology than me. And he really helped us see God's hand guiding Paul to Rome last week.
[13:21] How did he guide Paul? Wrecking his ship. How about that? How about that for a current century pick-me-up sermon?
[13:32] You want God to lead you? It might be devastating. Right? Well, after the shipwreck that we saw last week, we know one thing's for certain.
[13:48] 276 men walked safely ashore. 276 men. In my crazy head, I see Jack Sparrow kind of just arriving just like, where in the world are we?
[14:06] You know? As he leads the pack. They find themselves in Malta. This little island, Malta, after being pushed to and fro by these waves and getting caught on the reef.
[14:26] And this foreign island soon became the means of God's providential care to continue to carry out God's mission through the natives' hospitality in verse 2.
[14:39] They come up and they're like, oh, visitors, let's make a cake. And they go and rush in hospitality.
[14:50] But as we see God's sovereign providential guiding hand through even the waves in the shipwreck, we know that these natives are also a means of his providential care as well.
[15:01] But that is until they started a fire. In verse 3, some eyebrows were raised as Paul put that one log that housed the snake, threw it in the fire, and that snake did not want to be burnt.
[15:20] That snake jumped out of the flame and fastened on Paul's hand. How dare you throw me into the fire? And I think you could probably watch all their eyes looking over at Paul waiting for this guy to die.
[15:37] Just like, okay, the mouth foam is coming in about five minutes. We saw it with our last fellow thinking that he's some fugitive, right?
[15:47] This gets into pagan Greek mythology. Okay, let's put some things together. This guy is shipwreck, Jack Sparrow, and he's just looking for his rum on the beach.
[15:59] And maybe there's something to this. Have you ever seen Final Destination? Maybe there's something to this. He's escaping death. And death is out to get him, right?
[16:10] And now he gets here and the snake jumps out and fastens to his hand. Well, we're going to watch him, they think. Because obviously the gods are not happy with him.
[16:22] But when no harm comes to Paul, towards the end of this section to verse 6, they conclude that he has to be a god.
[16:34] One of the others, right? You see, Paul is not divine. He would never attest to that. He's a servant. He's a toilet scrubber. He's constantly made that known in his testimonies.
[16:48] But what he is, is a servant of a god with divine power to protect and to guide. God has made that known through the sea, and now he's making it known on the land.
[17:05] And you see, as verse 7 approaches all the way even to verse 11, this makes the fact that God's sovereign hand even led them to the highest ranking official that just so happened to be sick with some intestinal issues.
[17:23] And this guy is the chief official of this island in Malta. This is the guy that you have to schedule an appointment for, like your chiropractor, weeks in advance to get into them.
[17:37] And Paul walks right into his house. And look with me in verse 8, what happens? It happened that the father of Pubilus lay sick with fever and dysentery.
[17:53] And Paul visited him and prayed and putting his hands on him, healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured.
[18:08] They also honored us greatly when we were about to sail. They put on board whatever we needed. What these natives witnessed again, from a stake latching on to Paul, is the power of God working through his apostles.
[18:29] Notice how Paul did not declare it. The power of God cast you out. Evil dysentery.
[18:40] Name it. No, he prayed to God to intervene. Paul knew he was not a God. But God would work uniquely through this apostolic office during this time in redemptive history.
[18:58] And what they witnessed was God who is the giver of life at this time period. Now, we don't know.
[19:10] We ask questions even here. We're like, Luke, are you sure you didn't miss anything? Because we don't get any record of the altar call for these people coming to get healed.
[19:23] We don't get any of the natives' response. But we do know something, that as they came encounter with the God of life, they were the very candidates to receive salvation just as it was for the Gentiles.
[19:38] as the theological theme of Acts may apply to those gray areas. But we don't know. But what we do know is that this stay was three months long.
[19:53] We don't know what was entailed, but we know that all of these 276 men's needs were provided for through the hospitality of these natives.
[20:04] Christians. They gave them a ship and loaded everything that they needed. I believe that Luke is interested in providing the details here.
[20:14] We could probably fill in those details after going through. We've been through 28 chapters of the book of Acts. We could fill in those details. But where Luke is headed in this narrative is to Rome.
[20:27] And so the eyes are still set on Rome. In verse 12, they set sail on a new ship. This ship is fancy. It has twin pagan gods carved into the boat that they received from Malta.
[20:42] I'm sure Paul's like, oh great, this is going to look wonderful. And they sail their way for Syracuse for three days until they arrive at Regium.
[20:54] And then finally, all of our sea scholars after last week's sermon know that we see a south wind finally came and propelled this ship up towards Rome very fast.
[21:15] Rome was on the horizon as they landed in Petulio. And upon arriving, I want you to see this, upon arriving, you might see Jack Sparrow, some might see Jack from Titanic, you know, the king of the world at the front of the Titanic is this pagan ship coming into the harbor, Paul on that ship in chains, maybe trying to spread his arms like this, I'm the king of the world.
[21:46] We don't know what it looks like, but what we do know is what he saw. He saw brothers who greeted him all the way out here.
[22:01] Now, if you've been in tune with this book in Acts, this is a miracle, an absolute miracle that Paul was met by brothers, meaning brothers in the faith, Christians.
[22:15] Christians. they didn't have planes to fly out the message of the gospel.
[22:27] They didn't have Snapchat, they didn't have TikTok, they didn't have social media, email, any of that. And from Jerusalem all the way to this region is about from here to the borderline of California, about over 2,100 miles.
[22:47] And Paul got on the shore of this land and he was greeted by Christians. Isn't that a miracle?
[23:01] The gospel has spread just as Jesus said it would. You see, apparently the wind of God wasn't only carrying this missionary apostle, but God was carrying the gospel as well, as he said he would.
[23:21] Look with me in verse 14. But as soon, oh, that's in chapter 27, here it is. He says, there we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days.
[23:35] Imagine hosting 274 men. I mean, some of us can't even take a single-family guest into our homes. they take 274 men in hospitality for seven days.
[23:50] And so we came to Rome. What happened in Rome? The brothers there, when they heard about us, came as far as all these regions around Rome come in and three taverns to meet them and seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.
[24:08] Look at that. If you're waking up this morning, welcome. We're in verse 15. Look what it says. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.
[24:23] Not only is hospitality ingrained in the heart of unbelievers as it was in Malta, in like the image of God that God created us, but here, hospitality is an observable fruit of every Christian.
[24:39] here we get a glimpse of that as 276 men were invited to say, Petolia, in verse 14 and then again in Rome, in verse 15 as the word spread that Paul has arrived into Rome.
[24:58] And on seeing them, he thanked God and took courage. Church, I don't know if you realize how much God cares for his church through the act of hospitality.
[25:19] Do you see that? Through the acts in Malta by unbelievers, hospitality cared for the church. Looking into Rome now, what's the theme?
[25:32] Hospitality cared. Again, for the church. God cares for his church through hospitality. The God of the wind is also the God of the hand that sustains.
[25:50] For Paul, to have taken courage, to take something, insinuates that he lacked something. He took what was lacking.
[26:03] He took courage. Obviously, you know Paul at this point, chapter 28 of the book, this guy did need encouragement along the journey through acts.
[26:16] He was fearful of what laid ahead. I mean, a snake bite would scare me half to death. I'd think I'm going to die. I'd start writing my obituary. not to mention a shipwreck.
[26:30] Not to mention arriving at some uncharted territory and find out we're in Malta. He took courage and God brought it to him through the hands of the church.
[26:46] Do we realize how much of our edification as Christians, as a church, rises and falls upon the fruit of our expression of hospitality to one another.
[26:59] We don't always know the storms in other people's lives or the details upon their journey, but what we do know is that Paul took courage upon seeing these men, the work of God in other people's lives and the expression of that hospitality back to Paul.
[27:17] And as I'm arguing Luke's main points of this passage, that nothing can shrink nor hinder the work of God's sent word, well, we see certainly here that hospitality played a significant role in God's plan of sustaining all within the church.
[27:40] See, we must not forget how the vital witness of hospitality serves each and every one of us within the body of Jesus Christ.
[27:52] You may think that a house church is just maybe one of the many amenities that are offered through Steel Valley Church. Jump into a house church today.
[28:06] No. That's not what the house churches are for. You may think that summer nights is just a time to hang out house and chit-chat.
[28:20] Well, it is, but it certainly is not just another amenity that is offered by Steel Valley Church. You may think that meeting together one-on-one or visiting somebody in the hospital downtown is just another check on the list.
[28:36] No, church. These are God's sustaining means that he intended and he commanded for his church to do for one another. You want to know how the church has made it all these years through the reign of Nero and the persecution of the church.
[28:54] They came alongside of one another in hospitality, serving one another's needs. Amen. Don't think that all of these things in Steel Valley Church are just amenities to provide, but these are God ordained constructs through his word that we ought to be at and encourage one another towards.
[29:22] And so the group of 276 men arrive into Rome. And what we see in this second section is God's initiative to save in verse 17.
[29:38] Verse 17 leads us to three days after their arrival. And obviously public service announcement, Paul is still bound up.
[29:50] Obviously he's like the center of attention, he's like the celebrity of this day, right? He's Jack on the bow of the ship, spread in his arms, he's the guy that people are looking towards now for navigation of how to stay alive.
[30:05] but he's still in chains. And obviously attending the synagogue makes it a little difficult to attend when you're in chains.
[30:17] And so he calls the Jewish leaders to come to him. So after summoning, he makes this case, and we've heard it about him being a prisoner in Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.
[30:29] when they examined him in verse 18, they wished to set me at liberty because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case. Verse 19, but because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, though I had no charge to bring against my nation.
[30:46] For this reason, I have asked to see you and speak to you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain.
[30:58] you might ask, what's he talking about? You might be a visitor today and being like, wow, I came on a great Sunday, the last chapter of a series.
[31:11] Don't worry. Because what is the hope of Israel? What is the reason for the chains? Well, the dividing line of the whole arrest in the first place has been the basis of the resurrection.
[31:26] resurrection. This is Paul's appeal to Felix back in chapter 24. He says it is with respect to the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you this day.
[31:38] Why I wear these chains. And again, to Agrippa in Acts chapter 26, he says, and now I stand here on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers.
[31:52] The hope of Israel is the hope of a resurrection. And what is that resurrection's fulfillment? It was all fulfilled upon the life, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
[32:06] That by our faith, we will one day rise in resurrection with Jesus Christ. We will rise with Jesus.
[32:17] This is the hope of Israel. The promise long ago to Abraham that has found its fulfillment in Jesus. In other words, the hope we have in Jesus Christ shackles us to God's unfolding promise revealed throughout history.
[32:36] And now they respond to Paul in verse 21-22. They're like, well, we don't know what the heck's going on. We didn't get any letters from Judea about you.
[32:49] But we are interested in hearing about this, they say. Because with regard to this sect, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.
[33:01] For some reason, these Christians, known as the way at this time, are causing a disturbance within the Jewish community. And then in verse 23, when they had appointed a day, look at this, they came to him at his lodging in great numbers, a bunch of people coming to Paul from morning till evening in verse 23.
[33:27] And he expounded to them, he exposited 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.
[33:44] This here is a conviction of every pulpit that has ever existed to proclaim God's word. This is the aim of exposition. This is why I do what I do, why I labor for what I labor for, is to expound, to testify to the kingdom of God, to convince all of us about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and the prophets.
[34:09] And you see mixed emotions here, mixed response, some were convinced of what he says, but others disbelieved and disagreeing among themselves. They departed after Paul and made a statement here.
[34:22] When he says the Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet, and he looks to Isaiah prophecy from long ago, and just as Peter testified in his trial in Jerusalem of Israel's habitual, cyclical rejection of God's will, he says, he applies the prophets to those who reject.
[34:56] He says in verse 26, go to this people and say, you will indeed hear, but never understand. In other words, the organ that God gave you to hear salvation, you're deaf to it.
[35:12] You don't want to hear it. And you will see, but not perceive, the organ that God gave for you to see, the working of God in your life and salvation, you will disregard.
[35:27] For this people's hearts have grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them.
[35:45] In other words, before the rejection of Paul, the nation rejected Elijah. Before the rejection of Elijah, the nation rejected Moses, and so on, and so on.
[36:01] Blind eyes, deaf ears, cold hearts to salvation. salvation. The dividing line of salvation has always been on account of faith, stemming even back to Abraham.
[36:15] And the resulting tragedy of Paul's day-long exposition was what? Rejection. Israel is doing what Israel has done this whole time.
[36:28] This is not anti-Semitic by any stretch of the imagination, because not only will the Jews reject this message, but according to history, Romans had their way with Paul as well.
[36:43] Gentiles had their way in rejection. The problem is belief and unbelief, and it is not separated between people groups and nationalities.
[36:55] There is no segregation for faith. faith. And today we're reminded that we can have, we can attend church from sun up to sun down.
[37:06] We can have perfect church attendance. Listen to that Brent preach all day long, right? I know that would be a lovely endeavor for all of you. You'd definitely be here for that.
[37:18] You'd still suffer, though, from unchanged hearts. It's still possible, because none of those things were intended to change our hearts, other than the power of God working through exposition, which they were hardened to.
[37:35] We can have all the knowledge, but we can miss the meaning. Even the works, going back to Malta, even the works of hospitality don't save the people in Malta.
[37:47] They can give Paul their whole fleet of ships, and they're no closer to having forgiveness for their sins, according to God's standards. God's because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.
[38:04] And if faith comes by hearing, what is hearing? Hearing the words of Christ. And he says, he resolves, Luke resolves in verse 28, therefore let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles.
[38:20] They will listen. for now. And what is God doing? God is uniting a true Israel.
[38:35] He's uniting a true Israel. He's building a kingdom all upon the basis of faith in Jesus Christ.
[38:46] Jew and Gentile. God is not related to heritage. It doesn't mind who mommy and daddy were or grandma and grandpa.
[38:57] It's all account on the basis of your individual faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. That he is establishing this kingdom. Your parents could be great Christians. They could walk on water.
[39:09] But unless you have faith in Jesus Christ, you are destined to hell for eternity. Unless you turn by your faith and believe. in the gospel.
[39:20] Not by works of the law. Not by works of hospitality. But faith alone. In verse 30, Luke concludes his second volume.
[39:32] He says, we lived there two whole years at his own expense and welcomed all who came to him. In verse 31, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.
[39:53] And the book closes. We might be reminded of the prayer meeting that took place long ago in Acts chapter 4 when the believers huddled together, pleading for the Lord as Acts chapter 4, verse 28 says, do whatever your hands and your plan had predestined to take place.
[40:18] Verse 29, and now Lord look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.
[40:30] In verse 30, while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus. We see Luke ending his gospel with a fulfillment of that very prayer that took place in chapter 4.
[40:54] It took a shipwreck. It took imprisonment. It took hunger. It took turns left and right, curveballs, unexpected things, but nothing outside the plans of God.
[41:09] Luke ends with his final summary statements of the ministry of the unstoppable word of God here, which mirrors the emphasis that began it all back in Acts chapter 1, where Jesus Christ talks about his own kingdom of God fitting the beginning and the end together.
[41:28] As Jesus said that he presented himself alive, or he didn't say Luke was recording, he presented himself alive, and Jesus said to them after suffering by many proofs appearing to them during 40 days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
[41:43] Jesus himself in his resurrected state was concerned about the kingdom of God, and what would begin to unfold as Jesus commissions his disciples in verse 8 of chapter 1, he tells his disciples that you will be my witnesses.
[42:00] you will be my witnesses by the power of the Holy Spirit when it comes upon you in Jerusalem, spreading to Samaria and all Judea and to the end of the earth.
[42:15] And I believe that we would naturally expect here at verse 31 to have they lived happily ever after. God's promises, God's predestination, his providence does not always have a happy ending on this side of history.
[42:39] It doesn't. But what we do know is that it will sustain us in this life, come what may. The church marches on, and its advancement is theologically propelled, illogically propelled by rejection.
[43:01] The stronger people come against the gospel, the stronger it is propelled. It goes against all laws of logic because God is in charge.
[43:14] And we've seen that throughout the centuries through various reformations in the church, various awakenings in the church, various revivals. I believe that we're experiencing it here at Steel Valley Church.
[43:27] The last word of this book ends with an adverb, meaning unhinderedly. Try to say that one three times fast. Meaning that the proclaimed gospel of the kingdom is, kingdom of God is unhindered by opposition.
[43:46] It's unhindered by opposition. It spreads and grows in power power despite hardship and despite opposition. While Paul was chained up, the gospel does not have chains.
[44:01] So I'm going to invite the worship team to just come up and get prepared as I kind of land the plane here. And we're going to end a little bit differently than we're accustomed to.
[44:12] to. But I believe that as this second volume ends in this series, I believe that this provides for us a wake-up call. Living in a world consumed by personal business, by upgrading your smartphones and things like that, of trading in your car to get a better car, and all these things that are personal business that the world kind of makes enticing to the church to kind of lose focus.
[44:43] I think that this is a wake-up call for we as a church to be not consumed by our personal business, but by kingdom business. You see, nothing can shrink nor hinder the work of God in sending His Word.
[45:00] Luke is driving this home for us. Let it transform us. This book leaves us with all but one question. Are you a people of God's kingdom?
[45:15] Maybe you're not. Maybe you're not a Christian today and you're just like, man, this sounds exactly what I'm looking for. I thought this church was not only cool on the inside, but man, they actually give me hope.
[45:28] And I would say that your part of this kingdom is a profession, a way of faith to entering in, to be a people of God, to repent and believe in the gospel today and enter His kingdom.
[45:43] But it's also a question for are you a people of God's kingdom for a Christian? Because if you are, how will God utilize you to build His kingdom in Youngstown as it is in heaven?
[45:57] How will He use you in your neighborhood to build His kingdom in Youngstown as it is in heaven? healing.
[46:07] Adding Baeja to Здabui to contrast Him to bear Imagina in Youngstown as alluded for to mine in life. This is Christian today, you're all as a professor, asitzer to fantastic say, before, you're about out bending your mind and Trust attention.
[46:25] Hear to stone.通 see it