Don't tell the rest of the four services, but man, you guys are hopping, uh, today. It was awesome dear and worship and we are so glad to see you. Look, if you were here last week, uh, you know that we celebrated one of the most exciting days in the life of Bern Hickory. Last week was kind of a culmination of months of information and talking and vision casting. And last month we announced where we are in our expansion project to build a new worship space and give money to missions and launch new places around the world. And we announced last week that not only did we meet our 25 million goal, um, but we exceeded it by more than 20% as a church last week. And now, now, now, now, listen, listen, listen, last week was awesome. Um, but as of this week, all right, as of this week, I just need to share with you guys that we have officially crossed the $30 million in commitments.
Uh, marks. And man, man, oh man, we are excited about that. It is going to launch us into the future and it is going to provide a space here for generations, uh, to come and worship and fall in love with Jesus. Not only that, last week was our Big Gift Sunday, um, for the 972 families, uh, that made commitment. Last week was our launch towards a three year over and beyond giving campaign. And last Sunday, as well as before that, because some of you just couldn't wait to give, right? Last Sunday, we were able, because of you guys and how faithful you are, last Sunday, you gave $6,243,000. Um, last week, all right, that's just last week. Now look, I know you're like, eh, okay. No, that's big. All right? That's big. All right, that is huge. That launches us into these next months to do everything we need to do for the kingdom.
Now look, if you haven't jumped in, now's your time. You don't wanna look back in 40 years and go, "Ah, we wish we would've." All right? Now's your time to do it. We know this project's gonna be somewhere between 30 to 35 million. Uh, when you say that, you really mean 35 million. Let's just be honest, right? And so now's the time to jump in, all right? Speaking of God moving, um, one thing that's been on my heart, these last couple of weeks is coming up on May the 24th, all right? May the 24th, we are going to have a very specific way for many of you to be obedient in your walk with Jesus. On May the 24th, we're gonna have what we're just calling not ashamed baptism Sunday, all right? Not ashamed day. Now, here's why we're doing this. We know over this last season that many of you have given your life to Jesus.
Many of you have just started walking with us as a church, and many of you have just learned that baptism actually comes after you give your life to Jesus. All right? Now, on May the 24th, what we're gonna do is we're calling you out. We're calling every student, every kid, every adult out that have given their life to Jesus, that have put this decision off to make it right now and go ahead and get registered for that day. All right? We're gonna baptize in all of our services that day. It is gonna be great. We're gonna stream all those services so your families, so grandma can see it, even if she can't be here. Now you're gonna have to show her how to do it, right? But even if she can't be here, all right, we're gonna stream those services so that it can happen.
And man, I'm praying, and I need you to pray with me that God would move in this place. Now, remember this, baptism is not an emotional decision. It's an obedience decision. Baptism is not one of those things. It's like, "Well, my heart is ready." Here's the deal. If you've given your life to Jesus, your heart is ready. You just need to get the courage to do it. All right? All right? So listen, get on, hey, jump on the QR code. Also in the, in the, uh, worship guide today, you can go ahead and get signed up. We've already got some that throughout the day today, they're already trickling in and it's going to be an exciting, exciting day. Actually, can we just go ahead and pray towards that day? 'Cause I think it's important to set it up. Let's do it. Lord Jesus, we're asking you right now, as you have been so faithful looking back over these last couple of months to prepare us for May the 24th, just when we get to see so many people step out in their first act of obedience and be baptized in your name.
Lord, thank you, thank you. Thank you for a church that believes in this community, that believes in the next generations, that believes that we now have a specific role to play. And God, we thank you in advance for many that are gonna stand up on May of the 24th and be baptized. Lord, walk with us as we close out the Book of Acts today. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. All right. Hey, listen, I need you to do something. Go ahead, go ahead today and take out a copy of scripture. And for the last time, for the last time, turn with me to the Book of Acts, all right? Acts chapter 28. It is the last chapter in Dr. Luke's second volume. His first volume was the gospel of Luke, all right? And the second volume is the book of Acts. It's actually a sequel.
It's a beautiful book, like we've said, of history and instruction and inspiration and encouragement. It's a beautiful walk that shows us what we should do with our faith personally and also how we should walk our faith publicly and how as a church we should walk in the name of Jesus all while following the Holy Spirit and leading others to him. Now, over these last couple months, it has been such a cool journey through this book because we've seen like 30 years of church history and, and precedent. We've seen three continents be touched with the gospel, Asia, Europe, and Africa. We've seen these 120 believers go from these scared little believers in the upper room to a mighty force that is now over the whole Roman empire. We've seen like 32 miracles, 95 different people by name. We've seen 20 different cities and regions, 10 specific salvation moments, eight instances where whole households come to know Jesus.
Five massive salvation moments. We've seen Peter and preach and Paul preach and the disciples all lead people to Jesus. It's been so cool to see how this has set us up of how we should live. We saw a guy fall out of the, uh, out of a window while the pastor was preaching, but he was healed. It was okay, right? We saw a handkerchief ministry. We saw an idol factory riot. We saw all kinds of disastrous things happen, but they're all pointed to the name of Jesus. It seems like every single page of this ancient document that we call acts. While yes, it was written to this guy named Theophilis to show him what it looks like to walk out his faith. It's just as powerful, just as relatable, and just as instructive today as it was then. In church today, we finish it, kinda.
All right? Let me give a little, let me say that, all right? We kinda finish it. Now, now, now this is why th- th- this is why I say kind of finish it. On, on one side, we do see Paul finally get to Rome, and you're gonna see that's a really big deal. But I say that we are kind of finishing it today because really and truly, there is no real ending to the book of Acts. There's no real ending. In fact, in fact, if you're an English professor, you can't stand how this book ends because it doesn't have a conclusion. It just kinda leaves you 100% hanging and abruptly hanging. Here's why though, I believe, I believe the Holy Spirit through Luke does this on purpose, because once again, it shows us, it's not just about Peter and Paul preaching. It is about us being led by the Holy Spirit.
It's just not about the church being launched and having this Pentecost moment and spreading. It's about us as the church to continually be launched to reach the world. And it's not just about a man moving into Rome to fulfill his mission. The Book of Acts is about all of us asking God, "Where's our mission?" I think that's why the book ends how it does, because the book was never meant to end. It was meant to pass the baton to generation after generation after generation. And here we are in 2026 today, looking at what it looks like to walk out our faith. Over these last couple weeks, we've seen in these final chapters, this man named the Apostle Paul that, that has now finished up his three missionary journeys, over 10,000 miles of travel. He's finished them up, and a couple of weeks ago, he finally goes back to his Ephesians friends.
He calls in the leaders to basically tell them that this is the last time that we're gonna meet together. He gives them what he would just kinda say his eulogy is. He tells them how he's lived his life, tells them how they should live their life, and he encouraged us in showing us what it looks like to live a legacy of faith. Last week, we saw the Apostle Paul once again, but he has actually moved from the guys and the leaders of the Ephesians church to now he has moved into Jerusalem last week, but he, but he wasn't met with pomp and circumstance. He was actually met with chains. He was arrested. And last week in Acts chapter 21 through Acts chapter 26, we saw Paul five different times in circumstances of trial and of disastrous measure from all things looking in. We saw Paul stand in the trial moments of life.
And we pulled some things out of it for our life and said that we are too to stand in these moments. Well, this week in chapter 28, we're gonna catch up with Paul again, but this time we catch up with him when he's finally in Rome. He's finally there. Now, let me read you into kind of the New Testament view here, and that is that Paul has always wanted to get to Rome. He's always wanted to get there. Why? Well, because Rome was the city of all cities in this ancient context. It's kind of like if you were to combine LA, New York, London, and Tokyo today, all into one big influence, that's what Rome carried in the world in the first century. Paul has always wanted to reach Rome, not only because he's a Roman citizen, but because he wanted to speak the name of Jesus in Rome, because he knew that if he could get it to Rome, then the gospel would reach everywhere on this earth.
Rome already had a bunch of Jews living there. The Bible t- or the, the history tells us there was about 10 to 15 synagogues that were already meeting. There was lots of Jews. They made up about five to 8% of the population, and that was millions that lived in Rome, so that was a bunch of people. Also, we know that by the time Paul reached Rome, there was also believers. There was Christians already living there. You say, "Well, man, how do you know that? " Well, really, we know that in Acts chapter two at the day of Pentecost, there was somebody from every city that was represented that day and, and, and it, and it is easy to assume that they went back to Rome to start this church that was there. We also know that through Paul's ministry that these two families, this husband and wife, Priscilla and Aquila went to Rome after they had traveled with Paul and were companions with Paul.
We know that five years before Paul is about to reach Rome here, he wrote this little letter, maybe you're familiar with it, called Romans, right, to the Christians that are already in Rome. He wrote it to the church in Rome to encourage them to theologically tell them how to live out their faith in a society and culture that doesn't point to Jesus. So Paul wants to get to Rome. And actually, he writes this in Romans 15, speaking of Rome, this is five years before he gets there. He says, uh, Romans 15:23, it says, "I've been longing for many years to visit you. I plan to do so when I go to Spain, and I hope to see you while passing through and to have you assist me on my journey there after I've enjoyed your company for a while." So Paul wanted to get there.
He wanted to get there. He wanted to get there, but, but the Holy Spirit kept leading him to other places. But why Rome? Listen to what he says in Romans 15, verse 19, a few verses before those. He says, "From Jerusalem all the way around to I carry him, I have proclaimed the gospel of Christ." And it has always been, Paul says, "My ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known." Why did Paul want to reach Rome? He wanted to reach Rome because he wanted to reach the unreached and he knew that Jesus brought the gospel, right, from Galilee to Jerusalem. That was the, that was the gospel of Luke. He knew that from the book of Acts beginning that the gospel has now gone from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria Acts one: eight, right? And he knew that if he could just get it to Rome, that he could continue to spread for generations after generations after generations.
So this Roman said it's a named Paul that had never been to Rome is finally on his way there. Last week, we left him after all the trials, right? He had gone through the five different trials last week through the five different groups of, of people last week and, and they chained him to this guard named Julius, right? This Roman official last week. And they put him on a boat and sent him towards Rome. Now, don't think like three hours later he went from Jerusalem to Rome. No, this was quite the journey. Actually, you got to read it this week in Acts 27. This journey didn't end up being an easy journey. Paul ended up being on four different boats. He ended up being in the middle of a 14 day hurricane. Can somebody say drama mean? Amen. He ended up being shipwrecked on an island called Malta.
And if that wasn't bad enough, he was at a fire that evening he got shipwrecked, reached in for some firewood and got bit by a viper. At that point, I'm like, "All right, God, it ain't meant to be, right?" He gets bit by a viper. God protects him and heals him on the spot with no effect. The tribal leader sees, this doesn't do anything to Paul, brings him in to speak to him. The old tribal leader's dad is sick. Paul heals him, heals a lot of the people that were dealing with all kinds of sickness on the island, ends up staying on this island of Malta for three months as a guest to these people. All the while, old Julius, the guard, still chained over there to Paul, right? And he's like, "I got to get rid of this guy." Finally, they get back on a boat in chapter 27.
They begin for, to move from Malta and they finally arrive on the tip of Italy at a place that many of you have gone to before called Naples. They land at the port of Naples. See, that vacation was worth it. You were actually traveling with Paul, right? They land on Naples and immediately, catch this, right as Paul landed, they were greeted by these believers that find Paul and begin to walk this journey from the south of Italy, heading 140 miles on foot toward Rome, which points to me to my first point of application today as we walk through this scripture because Paul is showing us once again, actually for the last time, he is showing us what it looks like to stay on God's mission. Write this down and I'll show you what I mean by it. Number one, Paul would say if you want to stay on God's mission, you've got to live in such a way that a godly reputation goes before you.
A godly reputation goes before you. Now, I almost just put live in such a way a reputation goes before you, but some of us still got some of them. Amen. A godly reputation is different than just a reputation because that's what Paul's showing us here. Paul barely makes landfill in, in Italy. And the believers, what happens? These believers, they start to show up. They start to meet with Paul. There's no announcement. There's no Instagram post. There's no newscast. By the time Paul gets to Rome, he is, he's already known as the man that loves Jesus. Let's think about Paul for a minute. Remember, he gave his life to Jesus today that Jesus knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus, right? Knocked him off his horse on the road to Damascus. That was in AD 34. All right? Little history here. All right.
Paul in AD 434 meets Jesus. Paul right here lands in Naples in AD60. It was about 25 years later, all right? 25 years later. And now, Paul is known as the man that loves Jesus. Why? Because for 25 years, all Paul has done is either learn about Jesus, preach about Jesus, start churches, pointing to Jesus or be in jail for Jesus. That is all he's done for 25 years, all over the Roman empire. And so everywhere Paul went, everywhere he stepped in, everybody looked to him as the man that loves Jesus. In fact, look at it with me right here in Romans 28. He hits the city of Naples, the port. The believers start walking with him and watch what it says. Verse 13. It says, "We reach Petole where we found some brothers and sisters who invited us to spend a week with him and so we came to Rome." The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming and had traveled as far as the forum of Appeos and the three taverns to meet us.
That's a road that went all the way to Rome. Listen to this. At the side of these people, Paul thanked God and was encouraged. You see what happens here? As soon as Paul hits the scene, people began to latch on, people began to look at him. People already know who he is and what he stands for. Let me ask you something. Let me get real personal. When you walk into a room, when you walk into a situation, when you walk into a classroom, when you walk to your family's dinner table, what do people say about you? What do they say about you? What is the first response to who you are? Is it, "Oh man, they're here?" Or is it, man, they love Jesus. That's a person right there that loves Jesus and talks about Jesus. Listen, they knew Paul's reputation. They knew what he had done.
They already knew that he had written to the Roman believers. They knew his Jesus story. Let me ask you something. When you walk into the room, do people already know your Jesus story?
So Paul's almost a Rome, right? So what we're seeing. And when it said here that, that they had come to Rome, they're on the outskirts of Rome at this point. And they're walking together and finally, finally, finally, Paul's dreams are coming true. It's not exactly how he dreamed it up, right? But his dreams are coming true. They finally get to Rome. They, he is handed over to his arraignment moment right there. He's handed over. And, and you know the, the guard that had been watching after him all, all these shipwrecks and all these boats was like, "Take this man. I'm out, right?" Hands him over to him. And then Paul is put under house arrest. Now listen, this is not like some of the house arrest that you guys have been in. There was no ankle bracelets in this time period. That was a nervous laugh, right?
Um, Paul is, Paul is sent to a house and he's chained to a praetorian guard. He's chained to a man 24 hours a day. From this point on, every four hours, there is another guy that is chained to him. Now, if Julius was tired of Paul, you know these brothers that was chained to him every single day was tired of hearing the gospel, right?
Paul gets to the house and you know, can I get a shout out introverts that all he wants to be is left alone, rights? No. That's not Paul. In fact, watch what he does. In verse 20, verse 17 of Acts 28, it says this. He gets into the town. He gets to the house and it says this in verse 17, three days later, he called together the local Jewish leaders. Now we're gonna get to what he does in just a minute, but let me point something out to you because if we're gonna stay on the mission, Paul would say, live in such a way that your godly reputation goes before you. And secondly, he would tell us this, number two, it's in your notes, "Don't miss a single opportunity to point to Jesus." That's what Paul's showing us here, right? Paul is sent into basically a, his own jail cell here into this house.
And he would look at us and go, "Don't miss any opportunity to point to Jesus." Now we saw this last week, right? Where every trial became a pulpit. Every courtroom became a mission, right? But now, Paul, what does he do? He barely gets to town. He's already, he's already, he's already getting the plan together of how he can preach Jesus. He's having to pivot a little bit, right? This is not normal. Now, reason would tell us, logic would tell us, or just human life would tell us to go, "Hey, Paul, why don't you take a break for a little bit, man? Why don't you take it easy? It's been a rough 25 years." But Paul knows. Paul knows his time is short. He doesn't know if it's tomorrow. He doesn't know if it's next week. He doesn't know if it's next year. He has no idea, but he knows what's coming.
He knows his time is short. Listen to me, believers. Do you live like that? Because our time is short. We, we forget this sometimes, don't we? Our time on this earth is short. We don't know when Christ is coming back. We don't know when you breathe your last breath. I know that's like, oh man, that's a little bit heavy. I know it is. We don't know when the last season that you're in is going to be over. That's right. Paul looks at this and says, "Hey, listen, I can't messing around any longer. I've got to proclaim the gospel." Actually, from the same house, Paul wrote the book of Colossians. And listen to what he says to the Colossians in Colossians four: five. He says this, "Be wise in every way you act towards outsiders. Oh, and listen to what he says. What a reminder and make the most of every opportunity." How about you?
Is your gospel radar up? Are you seeing moments? Are you, are you looking at where God is, is doing works and, and moving into them? Paul gets to Rome and he seizes the opportunity. He seizes the moment. He can't wait to share the gospel in Rome. In fact, watch what he does in verse 17 again. It says, three days later, he called together the Jewish leaders. What is he doing? He's going for it. His reputation has got him the platform. He's not missing the opportunity. And third, Paul would say, if you want to stay on the mission, number three, he would say, "Find every open door from God. Find the open doors." Now, this is not an open door so he can run out as a prisoner, although that's probably what I would have been thinking, right? This is an open door that God opens up and shows him a way to speak into people's lives, right?
This is what Paul does here. This is what Paul does all over the place. Now, normally, when Paul went into a city because he's a Pharisee and because he's a Jew, he would have gone into the city, he would have met with the synagogue. It usually didn't go well, right? We know that from all his letters. And then he would have gone to the marketplace, the workplace, the Creekside, the city squares. He would have spoke anywhere, anyhow he can for the gospel. But here, what happened? He can't go anywhere, right? Remember, he's chained to the guy beside him. He can't leave the house. So what does he do? He calls in the Jewish leaders in Rome to come see him. You want to talk about a man who carried a big stick of influence when you can summon people to you? Try that this week, right?
Come to my office, will you? No. Nobody's going to do that. Paul does.
Once again, it would have been easy for him just to ride out this time period in his life to go, "Hey, Jesus, I'll, I'll be your witness once I figure out what's happening with this trial thing. Once I'll figure out what's happening with all of this stuff, I'll get back on board." But that's not what Paul did. It's not what Paul ever does. We've been watching Paul look at most of the doors that earth would tell us are closed and see the crack and step through it. Actually, this is exactly what Paul leans into in one Corinthians chapter nine. Watch what he says in verse 19. He says, "Though I'm a free, though I am free and I belong to no one, I made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible. To the Jews, but I became like a Jew to win the Jews, to those under the law, I became like one under the law, though I myself am not under the law." So as to win those under the law, to those not having the law, I became like one not having the law, though I am not free from God's law, but I'm under Christ's law.
So that's to win those not having the law. Oh, key in here, key in here. I know Paul can get confusing, but watch this. "To the week I became weak, to the win the week, I became all things to all people so that I might by all possible mean save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel that I may share in its blessings. "Now be careful here because Paul is not saying that we compromise our holiness to share the gospel. That's right. But what he is saying is this, we do put ourselves in situations with people that are not like us for one reason and one reason alone, and that is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to them. Oh, parents, are you showing this to your kids or is your circle so small? All you got is your little group of ladies around you.
Oh, dads, are you showing this to your kids or do you live as such an outsider to everybody around you? You never have a dinnertime conversation when you talk about how and door has been open for you. Oh, students never, ever, ever turn away from those sitting around you. Right. Yeah. That's what Paul's showing us. Look for every way, every way to be a part of people's lives. Paul is speaking. Man, but I just wonder, do we do this? I wonder if I would have walked into Rome like Paul. I wonder if I would have just hid out in this house and said," Leave me alone. I got to deal with some stuff. "Or if I would have said it's worth it for the gospel. Paul invites the leaders to come into his house is what we're seeing happen here. And what happens? They, they actually come.
They come. That's what happens when you invite people to do things, right? They've heard of him. They know who he worships. His reputation went before them. God has already laid the tracks in front of them. And now let me read you verses 17 through 24 of the book of Acts. I couldn't break it up. I tried it, but watch this. Here's what it says. It says," Three days later, he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them, My brothers, although I've done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem. I was handed over to the Romans. They examined me. They wanted to release me because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected. So I was compelled to make a appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people.
For this reason, I've asked you to see you and talk to, with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain. "Now get that in your mind, right? He's sitting in the corner. There's people there. The Roman guard is sitting beside them. And you know, Paul, every time he talks about that chain, that guard's like, " Really? We're gonna do this again, right? It's this chain. Watch. "They replied. "We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you. And none of our people who have come from there have reported or said anything bad about you. We want to hear what your views are. Oh, God is setting it up. For we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect. That's what they called Christianity. Back then, they thought it was just a, an outspurt of Judaism, but oh, God blew that up.
Verse 23, they arranged to meet Paul on a certain day. So the meeting went well, the first meeting went well, and watch what happens in the second meeting, and they came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. Here it is, and he witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the kingdom of God and from the law of Moses and the prophets. He tried to persuade them about Jesus. And some were convinced by what he said by others would not believe Paul would say if you wanna stay on mission, let your God, God reputation go before you. Don't miss an opportunity. Look for every single open doors. Let me give you two more. They're back to back because they go congruently. They go right together. Here's number four. You would say if you wanna stay on the mission, always, always, always be ready to give a defense for the gospel.
That's what we just read. That's exactly what Paul is doing. And then write number five down. It'll go quick. Also, it's not just about information. Watch this. He would also say to us, give an invitation, not just information about Jesus. Now, I know that's a little bit herky jerky. You English people, you don't like that sentence. There's some dashes. There's all kinds of things. But here's what it means. Look at me. Information about God is great. It's amazing. You guys know I am an information person, but the mission of God on Paul's life, the mission of God on my life is not just to give information, is to give an invitation for people to connect to the savior of the world. Jesus. A- actually, this is exactly what Paul's doing, right? He doesn't just give him some two minute speech on the gospel. No. He witnessed to them.
How long did it take from morning till evening? Now, I would love to think this was, this is like a long lecture that Paul just gave forever and ever. No, it was an actually like this back and forth. It was an interactive moment. Paul would teach a little bit. They would combat it. Paul would teach a little bit. They would question it. Paul would teach a little bit. They would try to poke holes in it. They would go back and forth in this dialogue moment. Actually, that's why it says this in verse 23. They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day. And they came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying and he witnessed to them from morning till evening. Watch what he did though, explaining about the kingdom of God and from the law of Moses and, and from the prophets.
What did he do? He tried to persuade them about Jesus. What did he do? Yeah, Paul had to know his stuff, right? He had to be prepared for sure because nothing was off limits. The information matters. Truth matters. Being knowledgeable matters. Being able to give a defense for the gospel matters. But also, yes, persuading others to trust Jesus is just imp- as important. I would actually probably go another stepfather and say more important because I've met a whole lot of people who know a whole lot about God that have never trusted Jesus as their savior and Lord. What did Paul do? He starts walking through the Bible with them, right? He talked about the kingdom of God and God's rule and God's rule of life that God's plan for mankind that, that was sinful man was to redeem them. He talked about the prophets. The prophets all warned people and pointed towards the Messiah named King Jesus.
Later on, he spoke of the law, right? That's what you're reading. The moral law, the ceremonial law that points to God's statutes and who Jesus would be in our lives. Paul is doing everything he can. Listen to me closely. To persuade these people about Jesus. Never apologize. Never apologize for persuading someone to follow Jesus. Don't, don't do it. Why? Because it's the condition of walking with God. It's Jesus and repenting. It's Jesus and giving him our life. It's Jesus and him saving us. Listen, listen, listen to church. I think we've lost this and I think we've lost this obedience in modern day Christianity. I think we've lost it. And I think I know why. I think we've lost it because we don't want to offend someone. We don't want to step on anybody's toes. We don't want to draw too hard a line so I may not ever be able to talk to them again.
Can I tell you something? Every single one of those things are not from God. They're from the pit of hell because what the Bible tells us is we're there to present the truth, give them a chance to follow and let God do what he does. Amen. In love. Persuade. Persuade. Man, you're telling me that I need to talk people into knowing Jesus. No. You need to present the facts, give them an invitation and let the Holy Spirit do what he does. Right. That's right. That's what we're seeing, right? Let me ask you, have you ever walked someone to the point of an invitation to follow Jesus moment? Or are you still thinking you're witnessing that people are just saying, God bless you around the holidays? Paul would say, "If not, why? Why? W- w- watch what happens because some believe, some did not. " Look at verse 25 again.
It says, "They disagreed among themselves and began to leave." Little side note, this kind of pressed into me this week. It may not be for you, maybe it was just for me, but, but listen, don't, don't be surprised when you present the gospel to someone and they respond because that's what God does. But on, but on this side, don't be surprised when you present the gospel to someone and they don't respond because it's not on you. Does that make sense? Even with Paul, are you seeing what happened? Even with the best evangelists that has ever walked the planet except for King Jesus himself, some believed, some did not. Some trusted, some did not. Why? Because the response to the gospel is not based on what I need to do. It is based on every person's own faith. It's based on your own faith. It's based on you being responsible for what you do with Jesus.
It's not on us. Paul would say, "Persuade, persuade, persuade. Mankind is always gonna be divided. There are always gonna be some that give their life to Jesus. There are always gonna be something as Jesus would say. We'll always walk the road that leads to destruction." And Jesus says it's a wide road. Man, that's a such a sad statement, but it's the truth, but our role is to persuade. But it's so sad here, right? 'Cause all these Jewish leaders, they come in. Some believed, some didn't. And then in verse 20 through 25, Paul pulls down this quote from the book of Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, the same quote that Jesus used and John used. Paul pulls it down and he's like, "Hey, listen, some of you are turning away from Jesus. Some of you are rejecting Jesus just like your forefathers did, just like they did when Jesus was here.
He looks at him and says, Hey, listen, your hearts have become callous. Your hearts could hardly hear. Your mind could not conceive. And now your eyes are closed. He's looking at these Jews going, you're rejecting Jesus. And that's so scary because he's looking at him going, "You will might not ever have another chance." So what does Paul do? He does everything in his power up until the point to where it's in between that person and the Holy Spirit. And he says, "That's all I can do. " So what does he do? The Jews leave? And then from that point on, normally he would go from, from town to town. He would go from spot to spot. But he can't do that anymore. Why? Because he can't travel anymore, right? So what does he do? He actually shows us the last thing we're to do. It's number six.
It actually closes up the whole book. He would say this. He would say, love Jesus and live sent. He would say this is the crux of the matter, right? That's what the whole book is pointing to. He turned to everyone who would listen at this point. So what's happened now? Paul, this Jewish meeting is over. Now he's just waiting. Paul is waiting. Remember I said that he is under house arrest. He's just waiting. History tells us in Roman culture during the first century, there was a backlog so long, a backlog, so long of people in prison that actually Roman forget about people in prison. And Paul is wondering what day is gonna come, what time is gonna come. They really don't care. And watch what Luke says Paul does with the rest of his time under house arrest, verse 30. The last two verses in the book of Acts says this, "For two whole years, Paul stayed there in his own rented house and he welcomed all who came to see him." Verse 31.
Watch what he does. Such an example. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. You see, it's almost like Rome was like, "Hey, what difference could this one guy make, right? What difference can it make?" And here's the, here's the, here's the hard part about scripture. We really don't know the exact difference that Paul makes in these two years. We don't have a list of names that he reached. We don't have a list of people that a revival moment happened, but we do see that, that I have a feeling his, his example was massive. The power of God moving through him was a massive thing. Why? Because he did what we should do. He welcomed people. He proclaimed the gospel. He taught the gospel with all boldness, with no hindrance. He looked into people's souls and said, "This is who Jesus is.
" We don't know the influence he had in those two years, but we do know this. It was during those two years that he wrote the books of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Phlemen. That's a little bit of influence. We do know during those two years, he met a whole bunch of people. One of them his name was Oneessemus, right? The slave that Philemon, the book of Philemon was written for. He was bold. He was unhindered. Listen, he was definitely hindered from traveling. Listen to you, some of you that are later in life. He was hindered from traveling, but he was not hindered for proclaiming. That's right. He still was able to speak. And the gospel. The gospel went from this little bitty city named Jerusalem that we all kind of think was like the city of all cities, right? 'Cause it is in the Bible.
But in history, the gospel went from this little city called Jerusalem to this mega, mega world renowned place called Rome. Paul fulfilled his mission. And he took the gospel to the center of the world church. Listen, this is our model. It's our model. Because for us, this is what keeps the gospel moving, keeps the gospel spreading, keeps the gospel walking through people like Paul, through people like Peter, through people like the disciples, through people like all these different people that we've been watching all the way through scripture. Listen, they're not superstars. There were people that were just available, that stood in obedience to God and said, "God, use me.
" And I pray that you say, "God, use me. " So what happened to Paul though? 'Cause that's what everybody's asking, right? What happened to Paul? Well, according to the Bible, we don't know. We don't know. But according to history, we do know. Paul went to prison in 8060. For two years, he proclaimed the gospel, like I just said in the text. In 80, 62, we don't know if it was a formal trial. We don't know if his time had run out because of some little obscure law on the Roman books that said if you weren't tried in two years, you could be set free. But in 80, 62, Paul was set free from prison. Now, we don't know if he eventually made it to Spain, although that was his goal. We have no proof of that. I personally believe that he went back and visited a couple of the churches that he had planted on the Eastern side of the Roman Empire.
And for five years, from 80, 62 to 80, 67, Paul remained faithful to the gospel. It was during that time that he wrote the book of one Timothy. It was during that time that he wrote the book of Titus during this set-free time period. But in 80, 67, evidently neuro, the, the emperor, right, changed his mind and rearrested Paul, brought him into the city of Rome, throw him into a dudgeon, dungeon that you can visit today called the maritime prison, fed him through a little hole in the top of it, and eventually Paul stood before Nero to be sentenced to death for preaching the gospel. He was beheaded. That's what happened to Paul. But here's the deal. That's not what the book is about. My question is what will happen to you? Chances are you will never stand on trial for proclaiming your faith to be executed, but will you, like Paul and like Peter, and like all of these first century believers finally decide to stand, to preach Jesus, to persuade others to follow Jesus and to walk in the fullness of the power of the Holy Spirit, because that's the victory in Jesus.