Hey. You're listening to Cut for Time, a podcast from Faith Church located on the North Side Of Indianapolis. My name is Claire Kingsley. And I'm Dan Breitwieser. Each week, one of us will sit down with the person who gave Sunday's sermon to discuss their message.

Cut for Time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation, and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from the sermon on Sunday. Thanks for listening. We have made it. It is the July, and it is the end of our act series. Little over two plus years, pastor Jeff.

It's, man. And my arms are tired. Oh, sorry. That was that's the the punchline of the other joke about I just flew in from wherever. Yeah.

Alright. Well, I it's, if in some ways, it has been two plus years, but in some ways, it feels like we've just scratched the surface. It, you know, it it has gone by, really, really fast. So let's just kinda, you know, as we, you know, finish this, last one up, you know, gets kinda give a overall view of what your sermon was, on Sunday and and maybe some final thoughts, here about the the overall series. Yeah.

So, Sunday, we just we looked at the last two verses of Acts 28, this summary statement that Luke gives us about, okay, Paul has made it to Rome. So what happens? And and, you know, the whole kinda thrust of this was, well, he appealed to Caesar. We don't hear about that. We don't hear about what happened to Paul other than this.

He lived two years there, welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom, teaching about the lord Jesus with all boldness and without hindrance. And, so, yeah, we we sort of looked at it as it's sort of like a cliffhanger ending, like, on feels a little unresolved, and I think that's intentional on Luke's part, for a couple of reasons. It could be that Luke just finished the book after those two years, and maybe Paul was released. There's some, church history slash legend, we don't know for sure, that says Paul was released and went to Spain and then was arrested again and later executed in Rome. So it could be that Luke just, you know, finished this after he was released from his imprisonment.

But I think the bigger part is Luke is trying to reinforce that Paul is not the main point. Paul is not the point of the story. Peter wasn't the point of the story. John, James, Stephen, none of them were the point of the story. Jesus is the point of the story.

And so I think he's intending to leave us with a picture of the church at work, whether it's Paul or whomever, and in a sense, handing off this story to us because it is the story of the church and the spirit through the church. So it's our story. And we looked at so what have we learned from these last couple of verses? And it was a picture of what Paul is doing, in a sense, what the church is doing as we're continuing to follow Jesus. We're welcoming people.

We're we're hospitable. We're preaching and teaching people. We're proclaiming the good news of Jesus. We are, pointing people, towards Christ and his salvation, inviting them into the kingdom. And we in that process, we are confident.

We are trusting people. Paul is bold and preaching without hindrance. And the the, the point there is just, you know, there's no obstacles. There's nothing that's happening or happened or will happen that's outside of God's control. He's been working through all of these circumstances.

He's working in our circumstances. And so we have confidence that the spirit is going ahead of us to prepare the ground, to open people's hearts, to guide us, to direct us, and, to lead us in whatever Jesus has for us. So it it feels a little unfinished, and I I think that's kind of intentional. And, and I think Luke means to leave us kinda with the questions, like, what am I gonna do with this, and what is my part in this story? I remember two you know, a little over two years ago, we were looking back and saying it was the May 2023 when we started.

I remember, like, cutting the grass and hearing cut for time and and pastor Joey talking about, you know, this is, like, a theological history of the church. And for me, hearing that, it was like, I've never thought of acts like that. I've never thought for me, it was much more of a historical book and his you know? And, you know, I have a degree in history, so I enjoy this kind of stuff. Yeah.

Thinking of it from a theological perspective of why things were included and why things were not included has, really, you know, just shaped my vision of of this book overall and and certainly with with each sermon going, I wonder why Luke included that. Or maybe sometimes it's a little more obvious, but sometimes it's like, this seems kind of interesting why, he would write Yeah. This part to dear Theophilus. You know, it it, but it's been a really helpful, series for me to, you know, really think of it as a theological history rather than just a narrative history. Yes.

Yeah. Let's talk about you you we talked about this last week, and then you apparently, this is what you cut from your time, is Uh-huh. You were teasing us. Well, how long is this book? I mean Yeah.

How long are the events that this book covers? Right. Right. And I dare not guess, but, that did not take into your sermon, pastor Jeff. So Go go for it.

What what's your guess? I mean, when you read, you know, 28 chapters, you think it's about, you know, five years, but I know that's not the case. I'm gonna guess twenty years? Yeah. You're you're close.

You're getting there. It's actually about thirty years or more. Wow. Right. It's just when I started looking back over it, that was one of the things that I I'd intended to kind of include just to try and give us a sense of the scope of what we've looked at.

But from, Jesus' resurrection in, let's say, roughly thirty AD to Paul getting in Rome is probably about sixty two AD. And it we, you know, just went over pretty quickly some of these verses, but smattered throughout the book are these just, like, really quick summary verses. Like, oh, and Paul lived in Ephesus for two years teaching them. And, you know, Paul was in prison in Caesarea for two years. And, you you start putting all those together, and, yeah, you can go online and find a, you know, websites that lay out kind of Paul's first journey, Paul's second journey, Paul's third journey, Peter's, you know, convert Peter's, you know, preaching to Cornelius and and all those events.

And, part of the reason I think that's interesting but also significant is, yeah, I think my just sort of guesstimate sense of how big a scope is in this book was maybe fifteen, twenty years, something like you were saying. But there is a lot I I think it matters for our sense of maybe even our own lives because, like you said, Luke and the other biblical writers under the inspiration of the spirit are selecting what they're including for the purpose of communicating a particular story and highlighting, you know, particular themes. But there's just a lot that happens in ordinary day to day life of a follower of Jesus that never gets recorded. Right? Like, we we learn in one of Paul's later epistles that he was in Arabia for three years, and that I don't think that even shows up in the book of Acts.

And, you know, Paul teaching in Ephesus for two years, and we're like, wait a minute. Like, what did he teach them? I mean, I would love to sit in on that and hear that. And what did those two years in prison in Caesarea look like? And, I I think, again, Luke is, like all the biblical authors, selecting his material for a particular purpose, and it's not just a strict narrative history.

Right? It's a theological history. So that shapes how the book comes out. And behind the scenes, when you think about it that way, it it to me, it brings to mind that, if if somebody were writing, you know, like, the history of my life or your life or our lives, like, what would they include? What would they exclude?

And how much of it would just be ordinary, one day from another, putting one foot in front of another, getting up, getting dressed, taking care of kids, going to work. And that's where most of our faith is getting lived out. You know, we we we see these, like, really big moments in the gospels or in the book of Acts, and it feels like those are the really like, that's what following Jesus is like. Right? Like, miracles and exciting adventures, but that's the minority of the time, really, over those thirty years.

There's a lot of just ordinary life that's punctuated by unique, significant events, but a lot of just faithfully living out one day after the other, continuing to try to follow Jesus, continuing to try to reflect him, in the reality of our ordinary lives. And, that's obviously not a main theme of the book of Acts, but when you start looking at the whole scope of the book, you realize that has to be part of what we take away from this book too is, there's just, a lot that happens in our lives that aren't gonna be spectacular, but it doesn't mean they're less important either because the spirits at work in all those things. Yeah. I've and I think of if you think about, like, that thirty year thing I mean, I think about, you know, if you were to have written the history of The United States thirty years after 1776, what would you keep in? What would you keep out?

Or if you were to write your own spiritual history of that thirty years, you know, there would be some core things. You know, for me, it'd be be a mission trip or two. It'd be some experiences at college. I mean, there there'd be a few things that would be like, you really wanna spend some time talking about the importance of that, but, obviously, you would there would be gaps of of large Yeah. Periods of life that hopefully are faithfully following Jesus.

But as for the lack of better, you know, term, you know, core memory type things, and that's maybe kinda what also, you know, Luke is trying to do with this. Yeah. When I think about these two years of of those last two verses, I think of, like, that's probably when Luke was he had time, you know, and once the business left, you know, he could, you know, scribble some notes and figure out what goes in, what goes out, and, you know, do that. So, yeah, in thirty years, that's that is that is incredible. I also I just will, you know, wanna dig in just a smidge on the welcoming people.

I think of Mhmm. Really is something where I think, we stand out as Christians, by being, a welcoming people because that isn't I think that isn't the norm. And that's not to say that people who, aren't Christians can't be welcoming. But Right. That is, like, that is unusual.

That is really different. I mean, we just moved this week, and Yeah. I will say there was one person who came over and said hi to our in laws at one point. And I've met one other neighbor because I walked over there and Yeah. Yeah.

And again, it's not a it's not anything against them. It's obviously 95 degrees outside. But, so there's some good reasons for that. I'm not you know, and and so, like, yeah, we haven't even gone over either because it's so hot. You know?

Yeah. But I just think of, you know, for you and your neighborhood, for you and your workplace, you know, for you and your friends, whether they're whether they're, Christ followers or not, being welcoming really is an unusual thing in today's day and age, you know, with with technology, with cell phones. You know, we close our doors and we don't go outside. I mean, we we we drive into the garage and and we never walk outside. You know, we just get in there, we drive away.

And so Yeah. That's that's a that's a huge way to stand out, from the rest of the world. That's great, Dan. Yeah. I like that.

I will also say, I think, you know, whenever you talk about Frodo and, you know, it's a great way to start with Lord of the Wings. So if you can keep doing, you know, more of those things. But Yeah. Well, I got I gotta watch it because I know it's not everyone's, not everyone's cup of tea. Shame on that.

So well, no no judgment. Okay. Well, finish off with just this again, the theological history idea. What do you think, I mean, especially in that beginning, you know, and throughout has been this is the theological history of the church from the early church, and we as faith church have things to learn from them and take from them. So after, you know, two years of of being in this book and and preaching much of it, pastor Jeff, what would what do you think?

What stood out for you theologically? What what can faith take from this? Whether it's whether you're on staff, whether you're an elder, whether you're a member, whether you're just listening to cut for time, that was someone who's a regular attender. What what are the the the core things that stick out to you on these things? Wow.

Yeah. That's I mean, that's a great question. That's really big. And I I wanna I wanna hear your take on this too, Dan. I think we we've talked a little bit about it recently because of the passages we've been in, but the obvious faithfulness of Jesus to fulfill all of his promises and purposes.

I mean, the book starts with this promise of Jesus that you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. And I will send out the spirit, and he will go with you and go ahead of you and prepare the way and empower you. And, man, we have just seen that over and over and over and over and over again in the book of Acts, not just the faithfulness of Jesus, which, of course, is really significant, but recognizing several things related to that. One, that the church was often expanding through or because of a lot of suffering and difficulty. You know, the the persecution arises in Jerusalem, and that's what scatters the church out other than the apostles.

I think that was back in Acts eight, when Herod, when one of the Herods puts James to death and throws Peter in prison and a great persecution breaks out, and and that's that sends like, that impels the church outward. And Paul's missionary journeys. Right? Like, how many times is this guy in trouble going around preaching the gospel? Like, he's always getting in trouble, and yet the church just keeps expanding because or in the middle of that.

And the the trust and faithfulness of God's people to believe that, okay, this isn't objectively maybe a good thing, but God can use it, and God is using it, and God can bring good out of it. And, then I think another related thought with that is we know the story largely, and we kinda know in a sense how it turns out. Right? The the progression of the gospel. But along the way, I think, you know, this the the way it ends up happening and the people that get reached would have just been so surprising and shocking to Luke's readers.

Like, an Ethiopian eunuch, a Philippian jailer? I mean, this this woman who you know, this businesswoman in, in Greece who's the first European convert and, on and on and on, the amazing, surprising, astounding ways that God is moving and working in people's hearts. And I think, you know, putting those together, we would say things like, we should have incredible confidence in Jesus' promise and his faithfulness, his goodness in the middle of suffering and difficulty as he's working through us to open up doors and to lead us into mission, to not sort of, scale down our expectations of whom Jesus can reach through us as as we're faithfully trying to follow him and, letting the spirit guide us and work through us, I yeah. That's, those are couple things that that stand out. And as we just said a few minutes ago that, you know, it's just I mean, it's obvious when we say it, but it's a great reminder that none of us are the hero of the story, and Jesus is the hero.

And it's not Peter. It's not Paul. It's not Steven. It's not, John. It's not James.

They all matter. And what those people do matters, and what we do matters. Right? Like, the the gospel advances through God's people. But we're not the the thing.

Right? Like, we're simply trying to live faithfully following Jesus and try to point people to him and introduce people to him. And, in a sense, like, that also is profoundly encouraging as we think about our own witness and outreach. Like, I'm I don't I mean, I look at myself and, like, I don't think I'm very impressive or significant, and I'm thankful that I don't need to go out and make myself into something or, you know, be some extraordinary special, you know, impressive person. Jesus is impressive.

Jesus is awesome. And he works through everyone that, you know, calls on him, whether we're super gifted or not. We're we all have the spirit, and we all know the story of what God's done in our lives. And God will work through us to reach people, and that gives us, I think, like, an amazing confidence, in trying to live for Jesus and witness for him that we're just trying to tell people about how awesome Jesus is. And that's incredibly freeing in a sense, if if that makes sense.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think you hit on a lot of things that I would also say. I think, I was asked the question.

I think, first of all, seeing how God works regardless of his people. I mean, they're they're to be faithful witnesses. Mhmm. And, it it isn't about them, I think, is really good. I think, also, that really ties in well with the stuff we've done, you know, life to life and and really, you know, you know, giving the you know, doing we are definitely called to do our part, but we're not called to have results.

Yeah. So Yeah. That takes a lot of the pressure off, you know, from that. And so I think, that goes really well together. And I I think, you know, similar, I know we've, you know, had some different initiatives.

We've talked about, you know, doing a capital campaign. I'm excited for some of those because it is different ways that I think Faith Church can reach different people that might not otherwise be reached, in our own neighborhood. And so I think that's a, I mean, that's that's one of the, I think, the big things, from the book of Acts. And the other thing I thought, actually kinda ties with what you said on Sunday in terms of, thinking through Paul saying Jesus is Lord in the capital city where Caesar is Lord. I mean, that is you know, we don't use those that type of terminology and that kind of phrase, to talk about our political leaders.

You know, that that just that is not something that is culturally a connection point, and so we don't think of the arrogance that that would be, you know, to to and the turn of phrase that that was, you know, to, that peep that the culture and the people of that time. But I also think that, in this current climate that we could do a better job of really, seeing Christ as king and not our president, political leaders, you know, things that have idolized that. And then parties, systems. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. You know, if someone who is a political scientist, I'm gonna always go politics. You know, that's, you know, that's something that I, you know, and I just think is really a disservice, to us in the world. You know, when when we put put people or things or institutions or beliefs on the same level as, you know, Jesus is Lord and everything comes from that, that's a really dangerous place. And I think that really turns our neighbors and our friends, and our coworkers, you know, away from our witness.

And so I think to to have that same, you know, viewpoint of Paul of I will do anything, to witness to you. And, you know, I will, you know, you know, be Jewish to the Jews, and I will be, you know, live like a Gentile Yeah. Gentiles. And I will do whatever it takes, because Christ is my lord. Christ is king, and nothing else, is on that same plane.

That's, again, that's kind of a radical difference from a lot of people too that put other things on that. And so I think those are the two things I think in, that I would say, hopefully, that is, you know, in this climate and, again, it's and it's amazing, like, how it's changed since 2023, you know, in in two years. That's a very a big difference. Yeah. You know, coming off COVID, and now we're just in a very different different world.

And so, Yeah. That's where I would go if you ask me that question. It's good, Dan. Thanks. Yeah.

So alright. Well, any final thoughts for Axe? And then, of course, I'm not sure when this is gonna get posted, but we'll have one worship and and no cut for time for that. And then Yeah. Be looking ahead to see.

I don't wanna get too far into it. I don't wanna I don't like, we'll Yeah. We'll talk about that next week. Looking forward or in two weeks, looking looking forward to what people's questions have about that. But, any other final thoughts for Axe?

Yeah. Yeah. I, I just I like the way you wrapped it up. That was that was really good. We have a lord and a savior worth worshiping, worth knowing, worth following, and worth telling people about.

I mean, that's and he's at work. He he didn't, you know, he didn't stop working in the Middle E in the Mediterranean region two thousand years ago. Right? Like, the fact that we are here talking about Jesus and talking about him as the one who was really true and alive and at work in our lives, I mean, he's obviously still at work by his spirit. And that's, I mean, that's just sometimes it's just great to step back and remind ourselves of that, and not just for our sake, but for the sake of the mission that Jesus has us on too.

Right? Like, the same spirit who was doing all this work that we've been reading about for the last 28 chapters is living in us and active and alive in work in our neighborhoods, in our community, in our world. And it's just it's good to be reminded of that and encouraged, as a way of remembering why we're here and what we're about and what our lives are focused on. Yeah. It's, I'm I've really enjoyed this the this time in the book of Acts.

And I'm really excited to get into Ephesians too after one worship. But I'm also even more looking forward to one worship this weekend and grow weekend. That'd be great. Yeah. Looking forward to it.

Yeah. So, you know, thank you, Luke. Thank you, Theophilus. Thank you, Holy Spirit. And I think if you're also thinking and just thinking about I think what, if you're looking for more things to listen to, faith stories, I think, is an amazing opportunity to see how God and the Holy Spirit is working, in the lives of people at Faith Church in very different ways.

There's been some really good ones this year already. There's more to come, and you can always go back in the archives if you're wondering. How is how is the holy spirit working? I mean, I think it's a really encouraging way to be reminded that, you know, maybe in a time that might be dry for you. Oh, you know, like, again, if they can do it, then I can do that or just be encouraged or be reminded, and be refreshed, through the stories of our fellow pilgrims on this way.

That is an awesome connection, Dan. Thank you for thank you for saying that. Yeah. There have just been some fantastic stories of God's work. And, yeah, I get encouraged hearing those stories even if I can see ways that God's working around me just to be reminded, and to celebrate him for what he's doing in other people's lives and to just be amazed again, at how he continues to be at work.

Yeah. Alright. Well, the acts of the spirit to the ends of the earth. I guess we're wrapping it up. So thanks so much for listening, and we'll, look forward to seeing you at, one worship on Sunday in Ephesians the week after that.

Worship at 10:30 this Sunday. And, we're gonna have some baptisms and a wonderful celebration together, picnic afterwards, and some, fun surprises at the picnic. Yeah. And I love when we get to worship altogether, and so it's Yeah. It's an opportunity, an amazing opportunity.

So look forward to seeing you there. Yep. Thank you, guys. Thanks for listening to this week's episode of Cut for Time. If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following Sunday's sermon, you can email them to podcast@faithchurchindy.com.

Or text them in to our Faith Church texting number, and we'll do our best to cover them in next week's episode. If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you to share it with others. We'll be back again next week.