October 18, 2015

Acts 28

Sunday Sermons

In chapter 28 of the book of Acts, the apostle Paul had been tossed around in a typhoon at sea for a couple of weeks and finally shipwrecked on the island of Malta. On the shore, Paul gets bitten by a poisonous snake and the inhabitants of the island conclude Paul must be some kind of murderer who has gotten what he deserved. Nobody, including Paul, would have chosen to go through the storm, the shipwreck, or to be bitten by that snake. Where was God in all of these trials and tribulations? Why was this happening to Paul? Does Paul ever reach Rome? Join Pastor Jim as he walks us through the final chapter of Acts and reviews the major themes of the book, then invites us to consider how God might want to use us to write the next chapters of Acts.

Speaker

Jim Thomas

Series

Acts of the Apostles

Go to Series

Scripture

Acts 28

Topics
History & Biography Spiritual Disciplines Worldview & Culture

Sermon Notes

Timeline of Paul’s life and ministry:

  • AD 34: Conversion
  • AD 37: 1st visit to Jerusalem
  • AD 37-45: returns to Tarsus
  • AD 45-46: Syrian Antioch with Barnabas
  • AD 47: revisits Jerusalem
  • AD 48-49: 1st missionary journey with Barnabas
  • AD 49: returns to Antioch, writes Galatians
  • AD 50: Jerusalem Council
  • AD 50-52: 2nd missionary journey, Silas, Timothy, Luke, Europe
  • AD 50-52: writes 1 & 2 Thessalonians while in Corinth
  • AD 52-57: 3rd missionary journey, 3 year stay in Ephesus, writes 1 Corinthians
  • AD 55-56: revisits Corinth and Macedonia, writes 2 Corinthians
  • AD 56-57: Corinth, writes Romans
  • AD 57: Jerusalem, arrested
  • AD 57-59: Caesarean imprisonment
  • AD 59-60: Malta shipwreck
  • AD 60-62: house arrest in Rome, writes Collossians, Philemon, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus
  • AD 63: possibly released, visited Spain?
  • AD 64: rearrest and death under Nero

Since becoming a Christian the apostle Paul has been… beaten, jailed, run out of town, left for dead, faced angry mobs, escaped assassination twice, brought up on trial under false charges, held in prison for 2 years, tossed about in a hurricane onboard a ship for 2 weeks, blown off course, shipwrecked…

Acts

1. The power of the Holy Spirit

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Acts 1:8

“Authentic Christianity – the Christianity of Christ and his apostles – is supernatural Christianity. It is not a tame and harmless ethic, consisting of a few moral platitudes, spiced with a dash of religion. It is rather a resurrection religion, a life lived by the power of God.”
John Stott

2. The fellowship of the saints

“They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Acts 2:42-47

3. The faithfulness of God

“The even place on which our foot stands is the sure, covenant faithfulness of the Lord of Hosts; there is no fear of falling from this solid basis, or of its being removed from under us.”
C. H. Spurgeon

4. The hope of the Gospel

“The Bible tells us that God did not originally make the world to have disease, hunger, and death in it. Jesus has come to redeem where it is wrong and heal the world where it is broken. His miracles are not just proofs that he has power but also wonderful foretastes of what he is going to do with that power. Jesus’ miracles are not just a challenge to our minds, but a promise to our hearts, that the world we all want is coming.”
Tim Keller
The Reason for God

Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.

Some believed but others had dull hearts, deaf ears, and darkened eyes.

Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe.

Some believed but others had dull hearts, deaf ears, and darkened eyes.

How about you?