Praying through Acts- Acts 28

Daniel R Tidmore

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Intro:

Acts 28:30–31 NKJV

30 Then Paul dwelt two whole years in his own rented house, and received all who came to him, 31 preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him.

This evening we will continue our study in the life of [Paul: Personal Salvation, Worldwide Transformation], the title of my message is [It Ends Where It Starts].

I am not a fan of endings, whether it is a good book, movie or TV show. In fact, I may drive Bekah nuts, but we have finished entire TV series before and when they were done, I will say, let’s start it over and watch it again. There are a few entire TV series that I have watched three to four times.

Tonight as we close the book of Acts, we will see that it ends where it starts. The church began in the power of the Holy Spirit, praying fervently

Now the book concludes with Paul, who was prayerfully led to Rome awaiting His trial, but still working in the power of the Spirit.

Prayer should remain constant in our lives. Our days should begin and end with prayer.

Acts 1 - promise of power

Acts 2 - received power

Acts 3- exercised power

Acts 4 - prayed for more power

Acts 5- people lied and God displayed His power

Acts 6- conflict arose and God used people of power to help the church

Acts 7- Stephen reminded them of God’s power in history

Acts 8- walked in power to spread Gospel in Samaria

Acts 9- Saul was converted through an encounter with God’s power

Acts 10- the power of God fell on the Gentiles as Peter preached

Acts 11- Peter defended Gentiles receiving power

Acts 12- the church prayed and Peter was released from prison

Acts 13- God sent Barnabas and Paul as a result of prayer

Acts 14- Paul and Barnabas took the gospel to new regions proclaiming God’s message with power

Acts 15- they prayed and God gave powerful discernment

Acts 16- Paul and Silas prayed and praised in prison, and God set them free

Acts 17- Paul stayed consistent in the face of hardships because of his prayer life

Acts 18- Paul prayed and God helped him reach the city of Corinth.

Acts 19- Paul put what he prayed for and believed into practice and God answered

Acts 20- Paul prayed as he headed to Jerusalem, knowing difficulties laid ahead

Acts 21- Paul Told everyone he was ready to go to Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit led him there

Acts 22- Paul took time to witness to those who hated him

Acts 23 closes with Paul waiting for his accusers and for the governor, Felix to determine his fate.

Acts 24- Paul shared the truth of the Gospel with His accusers and enemies

Acts 25- Paul awaits an audience with King Agrippa after speaking to Festus

Acts 26— He speaks to Felix and shares about God’s goodness

Tonight we will see how Luke’s writings close in the life of Paul, from Malta to Rome where he was under house arrest.

I have three points concerning, it ends where it starts, [Witnessing for God], [Working for God] and [Waiting on God].

Let’s begin

1. Witnessing for God

Acts 28:1–6 NKJV

1 Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. 2 And the natives showed us unusual kindness; for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold. 3 But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.” 5 But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

When the ship wrecked on the Island of Malta, the 276 people including Paul didn’t know what to expect from the natives. It is possible that they feared that these people would kill them, but instead they showed unusual kindness.

They lit a fire for those with Paul, which was a welcome from the cold seawaters they just swam through to get to shore.

Something I love about Paul is that though he is a leader, an apostle, he is still a servant. If someone is to truly be a leader, they will come to serve and not be served. True leaders will be the ones to come early and stay late to help with whatever is needed.

Paul exemplifies this as he went over to the pile of wood to get some sticks to throw on the fire. When this happens, a viper/snake bites him. Those on the island thought Paul must have been a murderer and it was the “gods” way of punishing him.

They expected that he would soon die, but he shook off the viper and after a while he was still living, they all thought he was a god.

Luke doesn’t explicitly say this, but from Paul’s history, we know that he refuted their praise and pointed it all to Jesus. This account confirms Jesus promise in Mark 16:18, they will take up serpents… Paul was unharmed.

The governor of the Malta, Publius, who invited Paul to his home and they kept Paul for three days. During this time, the governors father was sick and Paul laid his hands on him and he was healed.

Word was spread around the Island about what happened. Malta is 18x8 miles so it was easy to imagine how quickly word spread. It was so quick that Paul prayed for the whole island and ALL of them were healed.

The Holy Spirit will help us when we encounter new people. We have to remain prayerful.

Nevertheless, through all that Paul faced, he never lost the power of the Holy Spirit to be a WITNESS!

2. Working for God

Acts 28:23–24 NKJV

23 So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening. 24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.

Paul was on the island of Malta for three months and when he left, they gave him a farewell celebration and they boarded a ship for Rome. When Paul arrived in Rome, he was permitted to stay in a house with a Roman soldier who guarded him.

Paul had TWO imprisonments in Rome. The first is what we are reading. It was more of a house arrest than it was a dungeon. The second imprisonment happened about five years later when Paul was about to be beheaded.

Paul was permitted to rent a large home while he awaited his Roman trial.

Rome had a large Jewish population, likely 40,000 in all. Paul would have loved to go to their synagogue and reason the scripture with them, except he had one problem, he was under house arrest.

Acts 28:28 NKJV

28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!”

Paul scheduled a day when they would have this conversation and when they did, some believed and others did not.

This did not detour Paul, for it was not his first run in with unbelieving Jews, for he himself was an unbelieving Jew at one time. He was under house arrest, he didn’t have anywhere to go.

So they discussed it among themselves and they were ready to leave, but Paul had to have the last word…

If those who were upset at Paul wanted to leave before, they sure wanted to get out of there when he promised them that Gentiles could be saved instead of them.

This dispute caused the Jews to leave, but Paul did his job by speaking to them about salvation.

Regardless of people’s response, we have to live for Jesus and stay ready to tell others about Him.

As Luke closes Paul’s story in Acts we see his witness, his work and now…

3. Waiting on God

Acts 28:30–31 NKJV

From there, Paul had to wait. But as he waited, I love the fact that he didn’t bemoan his situation. Waiting on God is often difficult as a Christian.

When I heard people speak about waiting on the Lord, it used to evoke thoughts of wonderful encounters with the Holy Spirit, the tears, the joy, the peace the revelation would come.

And though these are the end results, the waiting part is the hard part. Before the answer comes, we have to wait. Likewise, Paul had to wait, for two whole years he waited.

What did Paul do when he waited? He preached the Kingdom of God and taught those who came to visit him about the Lord. When people left Paul they were encouraged, not discouraged.

When people visited Paul and asked how he was, he didn’t say, well these Romans keep me in this house. I am ready to leave, but I am stuck and nothing seems to get better.

NO, Paul was ready to share with them the revelation God gave him. He wanted to talk about his prayer times. He wanted to discuss the bible. He wanted to pray for people to be saved, filled with the Spirit and healed.

During this two years of waiting, Paul wrote four books known as the prison epistles, Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon.

While Paul waited, he was still on a mission to fulfill God’s plan for His life. And with Luke concludes chapter twenty-eight.

Regardless of our circumstance, God can use difficulties to draw us closer to Him.

Close:

There is so much more the Early Church did I would like to know about.

But I know this much,

The same Jesus that saved them wants to save us!

The same Jesus that baptized them in the Holy Spirit, wants to fill us with the Holy Spirit.

The same Jesus that spoke to them wants to speak to us!

The same Jesus who healed and delivered them wants to heal and deliver us!

And as we have studied the beginnings of the church of Jesus Christ, we must remember that the book of Acts is not over. God still answers the prayer of His people.