We started our series in Acts on January 5th, 2020. Acts is the first big book that we’ve covered in its entirety. Today is our 56th sermon in this series, Outward Church. How do you feel? Has anything changed in your life, in our church’s life? The question, as we come to a close, is twofold. 1) What did we learn? 2) And what are we doing about it? The heartbeat of Acts is missions. Jesus outlined the book in our first chapter.

Acts 1:8 (NIV)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We saw Peter preach the gospel at Pentecost in Jerusalem, and then take the gospel to Judea and Samaria and to the Gentiles with Cornelius. Then Paul came and took it one step further, going on three missionary journeys throughout the ancient Roman world. Here at last Paul has brought the gospel to Rome. Jesus was right. The gospel has gone from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth.

What did we learn?

So what are our lessons learned from Acts? Here are some points that stick out to me.

1. God has an unstoppable Spirit-empowered plan.

Let’s go back to the first half of Acts 1:8a, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you…” It wasn’t that all the very best and brightest Christians got together after Jesus’ ascension into heaven, and said, “How are we going to grow Christianity?” Instead, the Holy Spirit came and lead the church into mission, through the mess, through the trials and sufferings.

Look at Paul’s homestretch on his way to Rome. Would any of us, if we planned to take the gospel to Rome, plan to get arrested and taken as a prisoner and shipwrecked? But God is working his own timing. In Acts 28:13, as the author of Acts, Luke, records their journey, he makes notes of a “south wind” that helped them reach Puteoli. That’s like saying, “The wind was in their sails.” They traveled 180 miles in just two days.[1] Why would God allow them to be shipwrecked then fill their sails with wind? I don’t know but God does.

So the question for us is, “Are we in-sync with the Holy Spirit?” Are we seeking God’s plan? Are we asking the Holy Spirit to lead? Are we praying? I have Google Drive synced with my Macbook and it kept disconnecting this week. I don’t know why. But I found it incredibly frustrating, as I couldn’t save files the way they were supposed to save. My computer didn’t work right. When we as a church body don’t seek the Holy Spirit through prayer, we don’t work right. When we do pray, and we ask the Spirit to lead, we get in sync, and the Spirit empowers what God wants to happen.

I hope this series, as we finish, will be an encouragement to spent time in prayer, spend time seeking the Spirit, spend time listening.  God has an unstoppable Spirit-empowered plan.

2. Acts calls us to reexamine what we believe to be true.

Paul arrives in Rome and is allowed to live by himself, but is chained to a Roman guard 24/7. This is one way God took the gospel to the Romans, through the palace guard (Philippians 1:13). Would any of us have planned it that way? Three-days after he arrives he calls the local Jewish leaders; and you can tell he’s worried that they are going to shut him out before having the opportunity to speak. He’s worried that the Jewish leaders in Rome sent word not to trust Paul, but they haven’t yet. They have heard about the Jewish sect called “the Way,” or Christianity, but they haven’t heard of Paul (Acts 28:21-22).

So Paul gathers as many of the local Jews as he can and on one day he preaches about Jesus and the kingdom of God from morning till evening, trying to persuade them to believe in Jesus. That’s one really long sermon; but it’s what they needed to hear. How do they respond?

Acts 28:23-24 (NIV)

23 They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining