Review / Introduction:
- Final word for Christ-Followers: Work as hard as you can, and Trust as hard as you can. (Acts 28:23-24)
- Final word for Christ-Rejecters: Count the cost of Following Christ, then count the cost of Not Following Christ. (Acts 28:25-28)
Review: Isaiah 6:9-10
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:49
Acts 28, are you there?
00:51-00:56
Now we started three years ago a series on the book of Acts.
00:56-00:58
How many were with us in the very beginning?
00:59-01:00
Okay, many of you were.
01:00-01:01
You don't get a prize or anything for that.
01:02-01:09
But I guess the prize that you do get is we have had the privilege of walking through the book of Acts together.
01:10-01:16
And this is the last sermon from the book of Acts in our series.
01:17-01:25
The message of today's message is, "God is with me, so I will not fear." Acts 28.17.
01:26-01:31
This whole sermon series started, the book of Acts started with a commission.
01:31-01:55
And the commission is found in Acts 1.8 when Jesus said, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea, and Samaria, and the ends of the earth." Jesus was telling His disciples, and through God's Word, by extension, He's telling us, we have the power of the Holy Spirit for a very specific reason.
01:56-01:59
We have the power so that we would be His witnesses.
02:01-02:04
Well, in Acts, we saw Peter preached at Pentecost.
02:04-02:07
The Holy Spirit came and the church was born.
02:08-02:09
The church grew.
02:09-02:15
And we saw the unstoppable church persevere through severe bouts of persecution.
02:17-02:33
The worst persecutor of them all was a guy named Saul, who received Christ, name changed to Paul, went out preaching Christ, planting churches, and the top thing on his list, he wanted to get to Rome to preach the gospel there.
02:33-02:42
We see it in his epistle to the Romans, we saw it earlier in the book of Acts, that was the top of his list and he made it but not exactly how he was expecting.
02:43-02:48
He went as a prisoner, falsely accused by the Jews.
02:51-02:56
Many years ago, I get a package in the mail, it was actually a padded envelope.
02:57-03:03
And when I opened it up, inside was a DVD of the movie Rudy.
03:03-03:05
How many people have seen this movie?
03:05-03:05
Rudy.
03:07-03:09
Oh, that's a nice DVD.
03:09-03:11
And there was a letter inside.
03:13-03:14
Actually more of a note, but handwritten.
03:16-03:22
And it says, "Jeff, you once told me how much you loved this movie.
03:23-03:26
You also once taught me to stand firm in my hardships.
03:27-03:28
I've had plenty of them.
03:29-03:36
And your influence has been a part of the peace that's kept me firm." That's all it says.
03:37-03:40
I have no idea who sent this to this day.
03:43-03:46
I looked up the address online, it was a California address.
03:48-03:49
Dead end there.
03:50-04:02
And I've spent a few times over the years, I'd go back and try to Google the address or pull this note out and see if I could identify the handwriting and I have no idea who sent this.
04:02-04:04
And quite honestly, I don't think I've ever even seen this movie.
04:05-04:06
This one's still in the wrapper.
04:07-04:10
I mean, I know what it's about, but I don't ever remember seeing it.
04:12-04:18
But you know, I look at this note and I'm just like, why didn't you sign it?
04:18-04:23
Or can you tell me how I helped you or where we met?
04:23-04:27
Or I'm just like, what is the rest of the story with this thing, right?
04:27-04:28
And I've thought that for years.
04:28-04:30
This has been sitting on my shelf.
04:31-04:33
And I'm like, what's the rest of the story?
04:35-04:38
Because I feel like I'm missing something here.
04:40-04:42
Because this letter, it just ends.
04:44-04:48
Been a part of the peace that's kept me firm.
04:49-04:49
That's it?
04:51-04:53
What is the rest of the story?
04:55-04:57
It's been so many years I'll probably never know.
04:59-05:05
And as we look at this last section of the book of Acts, you know, Acts is kind of like this at the end.
05:07-05:11
You're going to see here in a minute, Acts just has an extremely abrupt ending.
05:12-05:17
You're like right in the middle of all this action, you know, with shipwrecks and snake bites and all this stuff happening.
05:19-05:20
What happened?
05:21-05:25
Acts ends with Paul in the middle of Rome, the greatest mission field of the day.
05:25-05:27
Let's pick up where we left off last week.
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Look at verse 17.
05:28-05:37
It says, "After three days, he, Paul, called together the local leaders of the Jews." Those would have been the synagogue leaders.
05:37-05:39
And you know, Paul always did that when he showed up into a town.
05:39-05:58
"Let's get the Jews together so I can tell them about Jesus Christ." It says, "And when they had gathered, he said to them, 'Brothers, though I've done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem.
05:58-06:00
into the hands of the Romans.
06:01-06:06
When they examined me, they wished to set me at liberty, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.
06:07-06:19
But because the Jews objected, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar, though I had no charge to bring against my nation." Stop there for a second.
06:19-06:26
Again, Paul calls for the synagogue leaders, and understand, first of all, he had to explain to them why he was a prisoner, right?
06:26-06:59
kind of a hard sell to just show up as a prisoner, like in chains with the guards like, "Hey, can I tell you about Jesus? Like there's an obvious elephant in the room here, like, okay preacher boy, why are you in chains? You know, if you're a if you're a prisoner, what platform do you possibly have to tell me about religious matters, so to speak?" And Paul says, "Look, I didn't do anything against I didn't do anything against the temple, and I'm actually not even bringing charges against my own people.
07:01-07:16
Verse 20, "For this reason, therefore, I've asked to see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am wearing this chain." The hope of Israel, that refers to the coming of the Messiah.
07:17-07:32
What that means is, you know, all through Old Testament times, Israel was waiting and and hoping for the Messiah over and over from Genesis to, you know, the law given through Moses through the prophets, through the Psalms, over and over and over in the Old Testament.
07:32-07:34
The Messiah is coming, the Messiah is coming, the Messiah is coming.
07:35-07:36
And Paul's like, "He was here.
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His name is Jesus of Nazareth.
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He is the Christ and he brought everything God promised that he was going to bring.
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He brought forgiveness of sin.
07:45-07:51
He brought salvation and He brought the reality of the resurrection of the dead.
07:53-08:05
Verse 21, "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.
08:07-08:11
But we desire to hear from You what Your views are.
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Or with regard to this sect, meaning Christianity, we know that everywhere it is spoken against.
08:20-08:23
These Jews knew nothing about Paul's trial at this point.
08:24-08:27
Keep in mind, this was a day before Facebook.
08:28-08:33
Like, oh, let's just check his Facebook page and see what, they didn't have that.
08:33-08:34
They couldn't Google.
08:36-08:42
So at this point, they said, we actually have no idea what the story is.
08:42-08:48
But we know this Christ, this Jesus Christ that you are talking about.
08:48-08:50
We know this sect.
08:52-08:54
And here's what we know about it. It's spoken against everywhere.
08:56-08:57
Is that still true, do you think?
08:59-09:00
Have you turned on a TV?
09:01-09:03
Have you turned on a radio? Have you been on the internet?
09:04-09:06
Have you listened to anything coming from Hollywood?
09:08-09:11
But Acts ends on a triumphant note.
09:12-09:23
And simply today, as we look at the rest of this passage, there's one word here that I want to share to those of you who are followers of Jesus Christ.
09:23-09:31
If you're sitting here today, you're listening on the internet, you're downloading the podcast, and you're a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, there's a word here for you.
09:32-09:50
But, if you're sitting here and you don't know Christ, Maybe you've been thinking about receiving Him, been thinking about identifying with Him in baptism, and thinking about embracing this gift of salvation He's given to Christ, but you just haven't done it yet.
09:52-09:54
There's a word here for you as well.
09:54-09:55
And that's how Acts ends.
09:56-09:58
So first of all, if you're taking notes, jot this down.
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Final word for Christ followers.
10:03-10:08
Work as hard as you can, and trust as hard as you can.
10:09-10:13
You work as hard as you can, and you trust as hard as you can.
10:13-10:18
Look at verses 23 and 24, where you're going to see Paul doing both.
10:19-10:28
It says, "When they had appointed a day for him," okay, the Jews are like, "We want to hear more about Christianity." "When they had appointed a day for him, they came to him in his lodging in greater numbers.
10:29-10:43
"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.
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"And some were convinced by what he said, "but others disbelieved." So see, Paul preached the gospel a.m. to p.m., morning and night.
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You think the sermons are long here.
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Paul preached to them literally hours and hours and hours and hours.
11:00-11:02
Notice he didn't just share.
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He didn't just give them some little devotional.
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Your Bible says that he tried to convince them.
11:13-11:15
See the passion there?
11:16-11:19
Paul wasn't like, "You know, Jesus is the Messiah.
11:19-11:28
You can receive Him or not, whatever, turn or burn, get right or get left, whatever." He was passionately trying to convince them for hours.
11:28-11:36
Listen, when you look at the Scriptures, they point to the fact that Jesus has to be the Christ, where He was born, and how He died.
11:36-11:39
Look at this, the resurrection from the dead, Psalm 16.10.
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He was going through all of this stuff, all of the Old Testament Scriptures for hours, passionately trying to convince them.
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And the Bible says they were divided.
11:50-11:51
Nothing new there, right?
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We saw in Acts 14, 17, 18, and 19, the gospels proclaimed people were divided.
11:57-12:01
We've done many messages on that through our journey in Acts.
12:03-12:04
That also hasn't changed by the way, right?
12:05-12:08
People are either for Jesus or they're against Him.
12:09-12:12
But here's what I want to look at today from this passage.
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A word for those of you who are followers of Christ.
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A question to examine.
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When it comes to giving the gospel, and when it comes to people receiving the gospel, let me ask you a question.
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Is it about God's sovereignty in salvation?
12:32-12:37
Or is it about man's ability in receiving salvation?
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Which is it?
12:40-13:08
Somebody right now is like, "Oh, he went there." often debate this, and honestly I have been sucked into so many pointless debates over this subject. And I get asked this a lot. Are you a Calvinist? Are you an Armenian? And I'm like, I think I'm German, I think. American? Yeah, I'm American! That's what I am, I'm American!
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Every debate that I've been brought into has been absolutely pointless.
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But people love to debate the whole, you know, just for, we're speaking in very general terms here, okay?
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Do I have permission to do that? Very general terms.
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The Calvinism-Arminianism debate. Calvinism, the hyper-Calvinists, it's all about God's sovereignty.
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And I guess the hyper-Arminian side of it is, it's all about man's ability.
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And I know that's an oversimplified generalization.
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I totally get that.
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But people love to argue that.
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Because each side disregards truths from the other side.
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Again, the hyper-Calvinist might say, and I've had some say this to me, "Only God can save.
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Your work doesn't matter." But only the first part of that statement is true.
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Only God can save.
14:12-14:15
Then on the other side of the debate, I feel a real tension here.
14:17-14:17
We're going to get through this.
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On the other side of the debate, you have people saying, "Well, you have to work hard because it's up to you to get people saved." And you know what?
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Only the first part of that statement is correct as well.
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The biblical truth is this.
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Only God can save, and we are called to work hard.
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Both of those are true biblically.
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Only God can save, and at the same time, we are called to work hard.
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We are called to preach, and witness, and share, and evangelize.
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We're called to do that with effort as if it was dependent upon us.
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But we know that it's not.
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The results aren't up to us.
15:16-15:17
But the passion and the method is.
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Because this is the ordained way that God has chosen to save people.
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God has chosen to save people through fired up followers of Christ that are passionately sharing the Word of Christ with people.
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That's how God has chosen to work, through hard work from His people that He empowers.
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And I just jotted this down in my notes.
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an awesome thing that the Lord would use us. That is awesome for me, that the Lord would choose. You know, God could do it any way He wants. God could write His gospel in the sky. God could have the gospel instantly tattooed on every single person's arm, that they have to see it and they have to reckon with it.
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God can do it any way he wants.
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He could broadcast it audibly on every corner of the world.
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But do you know how God has chosen to get his gospel out?
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He's chosen to get his gospel out through people like you.
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People like you loving people and caring for people and taking the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people.
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That's how God has chosen to work.
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And I think that is an awesome privilege that God would even think about including me in this thing that he's doing.
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So Christ followers, I want to encourage you today, whether you're Calvinist or Arminian or whatever, the ironic thing, my Calvinist friends think I'm an Arminian, and my Arminian friends think I'm a Calvinist.
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I don't care what you define yourself as, I really don't care.
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Because biblically, I just want to challenge you, work as hard as you can and trust as hard as you can at the same time.
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At the same time, you can't refute either of those biblically.
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That's a word for those of you who are following Christ.
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But there's a final word for Christ rejecters.
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So listen really close.
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If you're sitting here today, and you're listening to this, and you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord You've been putting it off, you've been thinking about it, but you just haven't done it.
17:52-17:56
I have a word for you here from Acts as well, and that is this.
17:56-18:11
"Count the cost of following Christ, then count the cost of not following Christ." Let's look at verses 25-28.
18:12-18:17
It says, "And disagreeing among themselves, they departed after Paul had made one statement.
18:19-18:25
The Holy Spirit was right in saying to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet,
18:27-18:28
(now he's quoting from Isaiah)
18:29-18:32
"Go to this people and say, 'You will indeed hear, but never understand.
18:34-19:03
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." Then Paul says, "Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles." They will listen.
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Final word for Christ-rejecters.
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There's countercost of following Christ and countercost of not following Christ.
19:11-19:16
Israel has a really sad history of disbelieving God.
19:17-19:18
Just read your Old Testament.
19:20-19:23
But the day is coming of mass revival for Israel.
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Romans 11.26 talks about it.
19:25-19:27
In the Old Testament, Zechariah 12.10.
19:27-19:32
A day is coming that there is going to be this mass revival in Israel.
19:32-19:39
And meanwhile, the Bible says that Gentiles, non-Jews, were grafted in.
19:40-19:44
That God's plan for salvation included all people, including non-Jews.
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And that is good news.
19:48-19:59
But there's a spiritual element to receiving Christ that can't be manufactured, no matter how polished the presentation, no matter how eloquent the sermon.
20:00-20:02
Now I want you to think about this.
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Paul, the greatest missionary of all time, had these Jews who were already familiar with the Scriptures, and he preached to them for literally hours.
20:16-20:19
On a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome do you think that sermon was?
20:19-20:20
Yeah, right?
20:21-20:23
Like this was the greatest missionary of all time.
20:24-20:28
But notice despite that, the Bible says some believed and some didn't believe.
20:30-20:47
And that's encouraging/discouraging for me at the same time, because I'm like, "Wait a minute, if Paul couldn't convince everybody, what chance do I think I have?" But you see, it's not about the messenger, it's about the message, right? It's about the message.
20:48-21:15
That's why when Paul preached, yes, some believed, some didn't. That's why when I get up and preach, some believe, some don't. John Piper, John MacArthur, Francis Chan, insert the name of You're like, "Dude, you're not even in the top ten." But you see, in Paul's case, people heard the message, but not everybody heard the message.
21:17-21:25
Some people saw what he was saying, but not everybody could see what he was saying.
21:25-21:30
It's a difference between a physical perception and a spiritual perception.
21:32-21:36
Paul quotes in this passage, he quotes Isaiah 6, verses 9 and 10.
21:37-21:41
You know something extremely interesting about that that should make us really listen?
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All four gospel writers record Jesus quoting that verse.
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All four of them.
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It's in Matthew 13, Mark 4, Luke 8, and John 12.
21:53-21:54
You know what that tells me?
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That tells me that this is a very serious passage of Scripture that we need to think about.
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If all four Gospel writers record Jesus using it, and Paul, as Acts is coming to a close, Paul quotes it, this must be a pretty intense passage of Scripture.
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And I want to share with you very seriously why this is such an important passage.
22:16-22:24
Because the same phenomenon that happened to Paul's hearers, And this day happens everywhere.
22:25-22:28
It happens everywhere the Word of God is preached.
22:30-22:32
There's a spiritual thing that takes place.
22:34-22:39
Where some people, the eyes of their heart are open, and they see it.
22:40-22:44
"Yes, yes, I see what God's done. I see what God's done for me.
22:44-22:58
I see how much He loves me through Christ. I see what Jesus has done." And at the same time, there are people that hear the same message and "whoosh" right over their heads.
23:01-23:05
The same phenomenon happens in this church, it's happening across the street at Northway.
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It's happening everywhere the Word is proclaimed.
23:11-23:14
Do you see the passage quoted here from Isaiah?
23:14-23:18
He says, "Your heart is grown dull. You can barely hear.
23:18-23:19
Your eyes are closed.
23:20-23:27
He's saying, and this is a word for those of you that have not received Jesus, you need to pay really close attention to this word.
23:29-23:37
Because every single time you choose to not receive Jesus Christ, you are blinding yourself.
23:37-23:39
You're closing your eyes.
23:40-23:42
You're putting your hands over your ears.
23:44-23:49
The other common term the Bible uses for this is you're hardening your heart.
23:51-24:10
You are, listen to this, you are making yourself, those of you who haven't received Jesus, when you say no, every little time you say no, or every little time you say wait, or maybe later, or maybe next phase of life, every single time you do that, you are making yourself so that you can't receive Christ.
24:10-24:12
You are hardening your heart.
24:12-24:15
And the Bible says that is the most dangerous thing you can do.
24:17-24:26
Do you know how many times the scripture warns today if you hear his voice, "Do not harden your hearts." And that's what some people do.
24:26-24:31
They sit there, "Oh, you know, this getting right with God stuff sounds pretty serious.
24:31-24:40
And you know, maybe when I'm done with this phase of life or maybe next week or maybe next year or..." That is a horrible thing to do.
24:40-25:10
hardening your heart. Like for those of you who exercise, I have these calluses on my hands that were actually much harder back when I exercised more regularly. But there was a time that my hands were like rhino skin. You couldn't take a pen, you couldn't take a pocket knife and stab through parts of my hand because the skin was so thick. But you know that didn't happen after after the first time I went to the gym.
25:12-25:12
Right?
25:12-25:15
That didn't happen the second time I went to the gym.
25:16-25:21
That happened after repeated times of stress on the hands.
25:21-25:22
Right?
25:22-25:23
You build calluses.
25:23-25:26
And listen, the Bible says that's what you're doing to your heart.
25:27-25:34
Every time you say no to Jesus, you're making it a little harder, you're making it a little harder, you're making it a little harder, you're making it a little harder.
25:39-25:43
Not because there's a problem with the Word of God, it's because there's a problem with your heart.
25:45-25:56
You have put yourself in the position where saying no has become easier because the Word of God can't penetrate your heart because you've calloused yourself.
25:58-26:00
Why would anybody put it off?
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Why would anyone say no to Jesus?
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You know, it blows my mind.
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Why can you look at this gift of salvation, this gift of eternal life, this gift of literally everything and say, "Nah, that's not for me." You know why people do that?
26:20-26:21
I know the answer.
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And believe me, I lived in such ignorance at a time and I'm baffled at my own stupidity.
26:29-26:31
But the reason that happens is because of sin.
26:32-26:32
That's it.
26:32-26:33
That's the bottom line.
26:34-26:36
It's sin. You've got a little throne on your heart.
26:36-26:39
And by nature, I sit on the throne of my heart, nobody tells me what to do.
26:40-26:44
I don't want to change. I don't want to give up my way.
26:44-26:48
I don't want Jesus Christ to be the Lord of my life.
26:50-26:53
So yes, you have to count the cost. The Bible is so clear on that.
26:53-26:54
You have to count the cost, right?
26:55-27:02
You have to count the cost, because following Christ, it costs you nothing, but on the other hand, it costs you everything, doesn't it?
27:03-27:07
You have to be willing to give up everything to follow Jesus.
27:07-27:11
Your sin, your way of living, your very life.
27:11-27:14
That's the whole reason baptism is done by immersion.
27:14-27:26
When you go under the water, what you're saying is, "I am dead." When you come up out of the water, you're saying, "Now I live in the newness of life in Jesus Christ." Following Christ requires you give up everything.
27:28-27:30
It's not a decision to be made lightly.
27:31-27:33
Like, what color tie am I going to wear today?
27:34-27:35
Or what shoes should I wear to church?
27:37-27:39
Or what flavor of Cheerios am I going to have for breakfast?
27:39-27:41
It's not a decision like that.
27:42-27:53
It's a decision that you have to really go after with everything in you to say, "Am I ready to make this step of following Christ?
27:53-27:56
Am I willing to give up everything to be his disciple?
27:57-28:00
Am I willing to give up everything I have for everything He has?
28:02-28:05
You have to count the cost following Jesus.
28:07-28:13
But at the same time, you have to count the cost of not following Jesus.
28:15-28:16
Look at verse 27 again.
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He says, "lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn..." Look at this next phrase, "And I would heal them." "And I would heal them." God wants to heal you.
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Now, when we think healing, automatically we think of physical healing, and believe me, sometimes that happens, but that's not really the healing that he's talking about here.
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He's talking about spiritual healing.
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Sin forgiven, promise of heaven, God's Holy Spirit changing you.
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Saying no to Jesus means you're forfeiting the very reason that you were created.
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God created you to have a loving relationship with Him.
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To know Him.
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To experience His goodness and mercy and provision, even in the worst of times.
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God has created you to be satisfied in Him.
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You're forfeiting the reason you were created when you say no to Jesus, and you're also forfeiting eternity in Heaven.
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Is there someone so foolish to say, "No thanks God, I don't want to be healed.
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I realize I've got problems. I realize we all have problems.
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And I realize God, you've extended this free gift of salvation that results in a total, complete and thorough healing.
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Everything that I need. I see that God, but you know what? No thanks.
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I don't want healed." Is that a price you're willing to pay?
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If you haven't made that decision, the Bible says today, today, today if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
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I just want you to bow your heads with me.
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Father in heaven, I by no means can even try to manufacture or think that I'm coercing.
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God, I can't save anyone in here, God, but I know that You can save anyone.
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God, just now we pause in the middle of this message to lift up the person here who doesn't know you.
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The Father, today would be the day they wouldn't leave here.
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You wouldn't let them rest until they do business with you.
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Amen.
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Finally, church, let's look at these last couple of verses.
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Verses 30 and 31.
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This is how it ends.
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"He, Paul, lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him." Okay, so Paul was basically on house arrest.
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He had this rented place, the church's supporters.
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Paul had his own little apartment, and he was on house arrest.
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He couldn't leave.
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But it says, "Welcome to all who came to him." Anybody could come, hang out.
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What do you think people talked about when they showed up at Paul's apartment?
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What do you think they talked about?
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If you said Jesus, you are correct.
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(Laughs)
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"Proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ." Oh, there it is.
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Look at this last, "with all boldness and without hindrance." Two years on house arrest, this again, acts like this, right? The abrupt ending.
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The abrupt ending that left a lot of questions. Here's a question, why the abrupt ending? You know, some people have actually said it's because Luke ran out of paper. That Luke was like, so Paul's in his rented place and he told people about Jesus. Oh, and then he did this other Another awesome thing, anybody got a sheet of paper?
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No, nope, nope.
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All right, the end.
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I don't think Luke ran out of paper.
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Do you think that, Jay?
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No, I don't think Luke ran out of paper.
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What did Paul do during that time?
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The Bible says he evangelized where he was, Philippians 1.13.
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He also wrote four letters, you've probably heard of them.
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Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon, he wrote those letters during these two years, letters that are still transforming lives written by God's Holy Spirit to the churches. Here's a question, what about his trial? Right? Wasn't he in Rome for a trial? What happened to his trial? Well, likely his accusers never came. And if that was the case, the case was dropped. Nobody was there to press charges. Like, well, wait a second. Why did the Jews cause all these problems and then not show up at the trial to press charges. The reason is because the Jews got what they wanted, right? They wanted Paul out of their hair and they got Paul out of their hair for two years. So as far as they were concerned, mission accomplished, right? Like, okay, well then what's the delay? Why was there a delay? Why two whole years? Well, some people say, well, maybe the documents were lost in the shipwreck. Some people say maybe Paul was there just awaiting the accusers two years, right? They didn't have airplanes and, you know, vast means of travel. Here's the bottom line. We don't know. We just don't know. But here's what we do know. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Mission was not accomplished, the mission was started. Because you see, we might not know the end of the story, but when it comes to Acts, we are the rest of the story. It's an abrupt end, but it's not an incomplete end. Because Acts 28 ends, it's not the finish line, it's the starting blocks. The Holy Spirit is alive and active through God's people.
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The gospel still changes lives.
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Jesus Christ is still at work in His church and is coming back.
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So the adventure continues through you.
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Be bold.
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Watch the Word of God go forth unhindered and be the rest of the story of Acts.
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Will you pray with me?
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Father in Heaven, we thank You so much that You have recorded for us everything we need to know in Your Word.
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And I pray, Father, as the story of Paul's mission in Acts ends, that it would be the starting blocks for our story, that You would send us forth wherever that is, whether it is to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Rome, Sarver, Blonox, wherever you send us, God, we want to be faithful ambassadors for Jesus Christ.
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May your Word continue to go forth unhindered.
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May your servants be bold.
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May your Holy Spirit continue to do the work that only He can do.
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May your name be glorified above all things.
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And God's people stood and said, "All right, let's worship."
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 28:17-31
Why do you think Acts ends abruptly as it does?
Why do you think Paul went after the Jews in Rome first, if he knew "the Gentiles will listen" (Acts 28:28)?
As a group, determine: in sharing the Gospel, what are the "main points" you must include?
What was your big "take-away" from this passage / message?
Breakout Questions:
Pray for one another.