Overview of Acts 21-24

February 25th 2023

Series: The Book of Acts

Sermon Title: Overview of Acts 21-24

Topic: Journey through the book of Acts.

Key Passages: Various

Sermon Blurb: In this message, we will review the highlights of Acts 21-24. We will focus on the key points from these chapters.

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Dedication, Baptism, or Ministry Highlight:

Sermon:

Hello Family Church!!!!!

Family Moment –

Start with something personal from your family life recently to help people get to know you.

Welcome back to week #4 of our review of the book of Acts!

To make sure we are all on the same page today…

Three weeks ago, we laid the groundwork for the Book of Acts.

We talked about who wrote the book.

How the book started.

What was the point of the book?

And so on.

Two weeks ago, we gave you a BIG picture overview of Acts chapter 1 all the way to Acts chapter 10.

We hit the key points from those chapters.

Then, last week, we looked at some highlights from Acts 11-20.

PAUSE

This week will be just like last week…

Today we will give an overview of Acts chapter 21 through Acts 24.

Again, we are doing this because we want everyone on the same page and no one to feel like an outsider or that they are behind…..

So, we are catching everyone up to where we left off in the book of Acts back in September.

PAUSE

Grab your Bibles and open them up to Acts chapter 21.

New Person Bible Connection:

And if you do not have a Bible, that is ok!

After service, we will give you an AMAZING leather-bound study Bible!

Just go to ADD YOUR CAMPUS PLACE and get one for FREE!!!

As you are getting to Acts 21, let me make a suggestion.

As we do a broad overview of these chapters today…..

Let me suggest that you read them completely later today.

One last point in case anyone is BRAND NEW today…..

The book of Acts is about the 1st church EVER that started after Jesus returned to heaven….

And last week, we saw the church was growing like CRAZY….

They were reaching people for Jesus left and right….

They were preaching this message that you needed to REPENT….and accept Jesus…

Which means you need to admit the things you have done wrong in your life.

Ask Jesus to forgive you for that.

And commit to following Jesus in a NEW direction for your life.

And we ended with Paul, one of the early church leaders, saying his ONLY goal in life was to do what Jesus called him to do….

NO matter what it cost him….

And starting today……

You are going to see it cost Paul a lot….

PAUSE

Let’s jump in!!!!

Acts 21 is all about discerning God’s voice.

How to know if God is speaking to you… which is a good thing to know how to discern!

Today we are going to find Paul feeling led to go to Jerusalem, but multiple Christians are telling him NOT TO GO.

It seems God could be speaking through some of those people who are telling him NOT TO GO!

So today, we will learn how a man of God handles that kind of situation…

What does Paul do when he feels God telling him to do one thing….

And EVERYONE else is saying something different.

Is God leading Paul to go to Jerusalem, or is God using other believers to get him to stop!?!

Is Paul wrong and everyone else right or vice versa... or is there something else going on here?

We will also learn how to walk by faith…

How to follow what we feel like God is leading us to do even when OTHERS try to stop us from following God.

We will bounce around a bit today…

So again, read it all on your own later…..

Acts 21 verse 4…

Acts 21:4 We sought out the disciples there and stayed with them seven days. Through the Spirit they urged Paul not to go on to Jerusalem.

This is where our drama starts...

Here, we find this group of believers bringing a message to Paul NOT TO GO on to Jerusalem!

Now, this is interesting, right?

Paul and his crew were on their way to Jerusalem.

Paul obviously felt led to go there.

BUT… Paul had also been receiving warning after warning about the troubles that were awaiting him there...

AND these warnings were FROM THE SPIRIT OF GOD.

But…let me remind you about what Paul said last week….

Acts 20:22-23 “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardship are facing me.”

So, Paul knew that trouble awaited him in Jerusalem...

He had been warned by the Holy Spirit in every city that hardships were coming.

But he still felt compelled by the Spirit to go!

Now he is in Tyre, and the Spirit spoke a similar message through the believers there...

And we will see later that a prophet in Caesarea will also warn Paul about trouble to come if he goes to Jerusalem.

Church, do not miss this….

OVER and OVER, God’s Spirit is telling Paul…. BAD STUFF is coming….

OVER and OVER, church people are telling Paul not to go to Jerusalem because BAD things will happen to him….

So church, what gives?

Is Paul rightly tuned into God and he should go even though thin will get hard for Paul?

Or is God speaking through all kinds of people to STOP Paul…. but Paul is too stubborn to listen?

Or is there something else going on here?

PAUSE

Maybe you’ve even experienced that in your own life.

Maybe you felt God leading you to change jobs, but others around you warned you that it would be a pay cut, so DON’T do it!!!!

Maybe you felt called to be BOLD for your faith at work or school, and others around you warned NOT TO because it could mean you lose your job or friends.

Maybe you felt called by God to give a BIG gift to church, and your spouse said NO WAY!!! We might need that money for something…..

PAUSE

Have you ever wondered...

Is this God trying to stop me or is that just them not wanting me to follow God?

PAUSE

Now, things are about to get interesting... verse 10…..

10 After we had been there a number of days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.

11 Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’”

Here we go again!

Paul’s got to be thinking….“Ok, I get it! It’s going to be hard for me in Jerusalem!”

And it doesn’t stop there!!!!

Verse 12…

12 When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

Did you guys catch that?

“When WE heard this, WE and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go...”

So, up until now, Luke, and Paul’s other ministry companions were standing with Paul in his decision to go to Jerusalem.

No one tried to stop him.

But this was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

After Ahhh-gaaa-Bus gave his warning, even Paul’s own guys joined in and tried to stop him from going!!!!!

Now EVERYONE is telling Paul he is wrong!!!

EVERYONE is telling Paul God is saying DON’T GO!!!!!

And again, I think this is confirmation of what was going on all along.

God brought warning of what was to come in Jerusalem SO THAT PAUL COULD BE PREPARED,

But others, out of love for Paul and a desire to keep him around longer, thought that God must be trying to PREVENT PAUL FROM GOING.

And again, there lies the rub.

But this goes to show that even those closest to us, even those who REALLY BELIEVE in the mission of God…….

Can sometimes interpret what God is saying to us to try to stop us from following God if it doesn’t fit THEIR agenda for OUR lives.

And this makes it hard, doesn’t it?

BUT, we learn from Paul how he knew what God wanted him to do….

God told Paul already….

See the problem for a lot of us is we forget what we feel like God said to us….

See in Acts 20…. We read this…

Acts 20:24, However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

In other words, Paul was saying, “I am surrendered to the Lord’s will in my life!”

I’m going to do what God wants, no matter the outcome!

Therefore, I will listen to God’s Voice over all of the other voices!!!!

Church here is the key…..

We discern God’s voice by knowing God’s plan for our life.

Repeat

That is what Paul said! I know what God created me to do.

I am going to do that…and I know then I am following God’s voice…God’s path for my life!

PAUSE

Church...have you come to that place of surrender in your life where you are willing to do whatever God wants you to do no matter the cost…

We all need to get to that place of absolute surrender where we hear God’s Voice and submit to His will for our lives.

We may not like it!

We may not prefer it!

It may not make sense to us!

We probably never would have chosen it for ourselves...

But because it seems to be the will of God we need to yield to it and step out in faith.

PAUSE

And remember that….

Because Paul’s life is going into a tailspin….

PAUSE

We do not have to read it all….

So, look in your Bibles and let me show you…

In verse 17 you see that Paul arrives in Jerusalem.

By verse 27 you can see things are going SO BADLY that Paul is seized by the crowds….

Then he is arrested!

By verse 32 you can see they are beating Paul to death…..

Let me pose you a question to ponder as we continue…

What could God do through me if I would lay my agenda and replace it with God’s plan?

Repeat

Let me encourage all of you to think about that…

What could you do…

What could you do if you REALLY just followed God…

What could your life look like if your life was not about YOUR plans… But God’s plans…

I wonder….

What would you do?

What would God do through you?

PAUSE

And you might look at your life now and think it is TERRIBLE!

Your life is going NO WHERE!

Your career is going NO WHERE!

Your sports future if going down the tubes!

Your finances are garbage right now!

PAUSE

Paul’s life was pretty much terrible right here!

He is being accused of false things!

People are persecuting him!

People are trying now to kill him!

And to top if off…..

He was arrested because others were beating him….

Sounds pretty terrible to me….

How is God going to turn this around?

PAUSE

Paul chooses to do something I think most of us would find hard to do in a moment of tension like this…

Paul takes the higher road and in chapter 22…

Instead of getting back at those who hurt him.

Instead of going off on those who falsely accuse him.

Instead of trying to get even…

In Chapter 22 Paul asks to speak to those who just did all those horrible things to him…

And I do not have time to read it all today, so please read it later today.

Paul gets up, bloodied and beaten…..

He shares the story of him coming to faith in Jesus.

How he was once like the people who beat him just moments ago.

How he HATED Jesus just like they do!

How he beat people just like they did to him!

How he used to be JUST LIKE THEM!!!!!

BUT….

BUT how he came to know he was wrong…

How he came to know Jesus really was God!

How his entire life changed because of Jesus…

How Jesus forgave Paul for all his sins…

And how Jesus wanted to do the same for them!

PAUSE

Paul used this horrible situation to show people GRACE and FORGIVENESS of Jesus!

Here is the point church…

Write this down….

No matter how broken and sinful you are, Jesus FREELY offers forgiveness to you!

Repeat

Repeat

Paul’s life story is that.

Paul, earlier in his life, led people to beat Christians…

Paul, earlier in his life, led people to murder Christians…

And yet….

Paul is known as one of the most important Christians EVER…

Because….

No matter how broken and sinful you are…

Or Paul was…..

Jesus FREELY offers forgiveness!

Paul accepted that forgiveness, and his life was transformed….

And yours can be as well if you CHOOSE to accept it…

Like Paul did…

PAUSE

That brings us to Acts 23…..

In Acts 23 Paul is put on trail for the crimes he was accused of.

This trial is before the Sanhedrin…

The Sanhedrin was just the fancy name for the ruling group over the Jewish people….

It was like our modern day Senate or House…

It was two groups of people who ruled over the Jewish people but had different views on religious, theological, social, economic and so forth…

And as you read this all later you can see in verses

6-9 this ruling group infought just like our leadership does today….

Let’s read some of this chapter starting in verse 9….

Acts 23: 9-11 and some of the teachers of the law who were Pharisees stood up and argued vigorously.

“We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

10 The dispute became so violent that the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them.

He ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force and bring him into the barracks.

And I love what happens next….

11 The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, “Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

Stop reading there.

God comes alongside Paul.

God stands near Paul.

God decides to come and encourage Paul…

And I love this!

Because Paul had to have been discouraged!

Paul had such a HARD ministry life!

Paul was whipped 40 lashes minus one 5 times!

Paul was shipwrecked 3 times!

Paul was beaten with rods.

Paul was stoned.

Paul was robbed more than once.

Paul was arrested several times…

And if you total up all Paul’s jail time it would be about 5.5 years in jail!

And probably the worst thing was he was bitten by a poisonous viper….Because I HATE snakes!

PAUSE

And what I love about God is this…

Write this down….

God is always there when we need Him.

Repeat

Paul needed some encouragement.

And God was there.

Paul needed to know he was going in the right direction.

And God was there.

Paul needed to know what to do next.

And God was there.

PAUSE

God was there to let Paul know…

Paul, you do NOT need to worry about what will happen right now because Paul you are going to tell people about God in Rome!

That is what God just said!

God said….

Paul….

I am here….

You are doing the right thing.

You are going in the right direction.

You have testified about me in Jerusalem.

And Paul worry not….

You will also testify about me in Rome….

This leads me to another point

We have NOTHING to fear when we are following God’s will for our life.

Repeat

Church if all of you could internalize those two truths alone in your life….

Your life could look so different…

If you could lean into the fact that God is always there when we need Him.

And that

We have NOTHINGto fear when we are following God’s will for our life.

Those two truths could change your life today……

PAUSE

But just because God is there…

It does NOT mean life will not still be scary at times.

It does NOT mean people won’t try to do bad things to you!

Because right on the heals of this GREAT promise from God….we will see the enemy of God trying to stop God’s plan….

Look at verse 12-22 in your Bible….

There are group of people plot to KILL Paul!

But again….God’s plans never fail….

So, God uses this plan to get Paul transferred Caesarea…

And there Paul gets to share Jesus with a governor!

God’s promise to Paul to testify to Roman’s is coming true!

PAUSE

Then we get to Acts 24…..

Acts 24 constitutes two years of Paul’s life.

And it is TWO years of Paul being under house arrest.

We know that because Acts 24:27 says that!

Paul has been in and out of jail consistently since he gave his life to Jesus.

Paul has been slandered by people consistently since he gave his life to Jesus.

Paul was consistently beaten physically by people who did not agree with him….

PAUSE

Church, I know there are a LOT of people who teach what is known as the prosperity gospel but understand this….

Jesus, God, the early church leaders NEVER said, “Hey!!! Just give your life to Jesus and you will have a EASY life!”

They never said, “Give your life to Jesus and you will be LOVED by all people!”

They never said, “Give your life to Jesus and you will be RICH!”

Jesus said the exact opposite of what the prosperity gospel teaches.

The early church leaders’ lives demonstrated the opposite of what the prosperity gospel teaches.

Church…..

We are going to go through hard times.

We are going to have people say bad things about us.

Some of us might get physically hurt by other people.

Some of us might end up losing our job for living for Jesus.

Some of us might end up in jail for telling others about Jesus….I mean that happened to pastors during Covid in America and Canada!

PAUSE

The Bible does NOT promise us an easy life for following God.

What the Bible DOES promise us is that when we follow God that God will ALWAYS be with us!

What the Bible DOES promise us is that anything God promises us will come true….

PAUSE

And let me show you that while this is HARD times for Paul….

That it is part of God’s promise for Paul…

This is all necessary to help Paul accomplish his goal in life!

Here is the point I want to help you all see…

Write this down.

Sometimes the hardships of life lead us to the promise of God.

Repeat

Let me close with showing you how all of this is actually happening to fulfill what God promised Paul BEFORE Paul gave his life to Jesus….

Rewind with me to Acts chapter 9 for a minute.

I want us to go back to right after Paul had an encounter with Jesus.

I want us to go back to when Paul was still known as Saul.

Back to when Saul HATED Jesus!

Back to when Saul was trying to destroy EVERYTHING Jesus had built….

I want us to read something that God said here in chapter 9….

Something that back when we read it in chapter 9 I would bet none of us gave it a second thought….

But something that now here 10 chapters later….

And YEARS later in the life of Paul that is coming true!

Acts 9:1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.

Remember….

Paul….was Saul….same person…

And if you are here today and doubt Jesus, you have something in common with Paul…so did he!

He doubted everything Jesus said and did, and Paul lived during the time of Jesus!

So, if you doubt Jesus, lean in….

Drop down to verse 15…

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

Pause here….

God said Saul would become God’s chosen instrument to proclaim God’s name to Gentiles….

In Acts chapter 18, verse 6….that came true!

What God said came true!

God also said he would proclaim the their kings…their rulers…

That is what is happening in Acts 24!

Because of the hardships in his life….

Paul is NOW in a place talking to two governors or rulers in Rome!

In Chapter 23 he was staying at King Herod’s Palace.

In Chapter 24 he talks with King Agrippa!

Next week….when you come back…..

You will see the governor say he is going to send him to Caesar himself!!!!

To go to the Emperor of the entire Roman Empire!

Because of Paul’s hardships in life, he gets to talk with these rulers and kings!

And Paul does, what we should ALL do….

He takes the cards that life deals with him and uses them as an opportunity to lead people toward Jesus!

So let me close with a question….and it is in your life application today….

Life Application: This week think about how the hardships of life have made you who you are today, and how you could use the hardships in your life to connect with people and then lead them toward Jesus. As a result of today’s message, I will ______________________________.

Prayer:

Make sure to do salvation call!

Offering: