It’s hard to believe, but last night was our last “normal” class night! I can’t believe this year nearly over. Next week will be our sharing night, which gives all of my class’ participants an opportunity to share what they’ve learned this year, first within their small groups then to the whole group of attendees. I’ll save my thoughts on the year for one final post next Tuesday.
This week we finished the book of Acts. There are a lot of details in these final chapters of Acts, so I hope I can keep it all straight!
We pick up Paul’s story in Acts 21:16, where he agrees to perform a Jewish ceremony to keep harmony among the Jewish believers. He didn’t have to do this because it wasn’t a doctrinal issue. But he showed that he personally adhered to Jewish practices.
During this, Paul’s enemies incite the crowd and help create an assassination plot against him. God protects Paul by allowing a Roman commander to arrest him, giving time for formal charges to be determined. Paul is brought before the Sanhedrin to determine the charges. He declares his innocence. In the meantime, Paul’s nephew overhears the assassination plot and warns Paul. Paul is taken to Caesarea to see the Roman Governor Felix.
Paul defends himself before Felix and points out there are no witnesses or proof of the charges (that he is turning Jews away from Jewish practices). Paul uses the gospel as the center of his defense. He should have been released, but instead he was held in prison for two years. During these two years, Felix and his wife hear about Christ multiple times. But they refuse to believe.
The new Roman governor, Festus, arrives in Jerusalem where the Jewish leaders ask him to bring Paul back to face charges in the city. They used this as a ploy to kill him. Festus refuses. The Jewish leaders present more false charges, and Paul declares his innocence again. He appeals to Caesar, so Festus agrees to transfer Paul to Rome.
King Agrippa arrives in Caesarea and wants to hear Paul. Paul again fearlessly speaks the gospel, and again the leaders don’t respond positively (in fact, Agrippa arrogantly rejects the gospel). But imagine how many other people overheard Paul’s speech while in the king’s presence! We never know who is watching us or listening to us.
Paul and other prisoners head to Rome by ship. They meet extremely rough seas, and all except Paul give up hope of being saved. Paul is a calm leader, but then the ship wrecks on the island of Malta. There Paul is bit by a snake, and God miraculously heals him. Paul uses this opportunity to evangelize to the islanders.
After spending three months in Malta, Paul finally arrives in Rome. He spends two years there. He has some freedom, but a Roman guard always is present. While in Rome, Paul invites anyone to come to his home and talk to him about the gospel, including Jewish leaders. After the two years, Paul is released. He travels to visit churches but is arrested a second time. During this harsh imprisonment, Paul wrote the letters of I Peter, II Peter, II Timothy and Titus. In 67 or 68 AD, Paul is beheaded under Nero’s reign.
It may seem like the book of Acts is unfinished. Well, it is! Christians today are writing the 29th chapter. This book isn’t about the lives of the apostles but is about the work of the Holy Spirit. As my teaching leader said in her lecture, “These men weren’t concerned with their own safety or sufferings but were consumed with obeying God.”
There are so many applications from these final chapters of Acts:
- What is God asking me to do? How am I responding to Him?
- Am I walking on the path God has planned for me?
- Where do I need to willingly share the gospel?
- Do I ask God for boldness and wisdom to speak to others about Him?
- How am I helping spread Christianity around the world?
- When we get to heaven, what will be recorded in “Acts 29” about my life and service to God?