The Gospel for All People- Pastor Tom Loghry
Paul's story ends unfinished because the gospel mission he carried—God bringing salvation to all nations, Jew and Gentile alike—didn't end with him. It continues today through us, as the Holy Spirit empowers Christ's people to boldly carry the good news of forgiveness and new life to the whole world until Christ returns.
Transcript:
The story of America is bigger than any one single person. Of course, it, it's very difficult for us to imagine us getting very far if our president, our first president, wasn't George Washington-- he was a great man of virtue and leadership. But we know that there was others besides him. We think of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and all sorts of other political and military leaders who were the midwives of this nation. But however brilliant and courageous they might be, it could not have gotten very far without the common men and women that are too often forgotten.
Our nation is one that has been built by masses of people whose stories go untold. In those early days, people from so many different Western European nations, African men, women, and children brought to these shores against their will, and Native Americans who wrestled to find their place in an increasingly crowded land. All of them Americans-- Americans who built this country and made it what it is today. And with each decade, with each generation, more and more are added from every corner of the globe, building a nation bound not by blood but by creed-- bound by the belief that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, a nation like ours is a product, is an effect of the Christian faith. There is no America if there is no Jesus Christ. This country is a mere shadow of a better vision yet. In Jesus, we are given a vision of a kingdom filled with people of every nation, tribe, and tongue. Many peoples who are made one in Jesus Christ, a body formed not merely by a common creed, but by his shed blood-- a holy nation set apart for God, rebels redeemed to become the sons and daughters of God. The story of God's saving work, the story of redemption begins with Israel, it begins with the Jewish people, but it goes further yet. All of Paul's ministry, as we've been shown it here in the Book of Acts, has been attesting to this reality and now, in closing, Luke reminds us of God's worldwide saving purpose by giving us an account of Paul's encounter with the Jewish leaders in Rome. Paul is under house arrest, he's awaiting trial before the emperor, but Luke believes this is the final episode that we need to hear before he closes his account.
So we pick up in Acts 28 and verse 17. Luke tells us, "Three days later he called together the local Jewish leaders. When they had assembled, Paul said to them: 'My brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or against the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. They examined me and wanted to release me, because I was not guilty of any crime deserving death. The Jews objected, so I was compelled to make an appeal to Caesar. I certainly did not intend to bring any charge against my own people. For this reason I have asked to see you and talk with you. It is because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with these chains.'
They replied, 'We have not received any letters from Judea concerning you, and none of our people who have come from there have reported, has reported or said anything bad about you. But we want to hear what your views are, for we know that people everywhere are talking against this sect.'"
So in verses 17 through 20, Paul explains to these Jewish leaders that he's innocent, that they haven't been able to make any charges stick against him. But because of continued objections by the Jewish leaders in Israel, he was compelled to appeal to Caesar. Now, his purpose in appealing to Caesar wasn't to bring counter-charges, wasn't in order to make trouble for his own people, 'cause Paul is a Jew himself. It was only so that he could clear his name. It was only so that he would not fall into their hands, 'cause they were designing to actually kill him. Now, in coming together with these Jewish leaders, his purpose is that he wants to kind of clear the air with them. He wants them to understand the reason why he's actually been imprisoned is because of his faith, which is in continuity with the Jewish faith.
Jesus is actually the fulfillment of, of Jewish hope. He says, "Because of the hope of the, it's because of the hope of Israel that I am bound with this chain." Now, when we look to the Old Testament, we could look to a variety of passages, but we see the indication of this being the hope of Israel. In Isaiah 26:19, it is foretold, "But your dead will live, Lord; their bodies will rise." And it says, "The earth will give birth to her dead." And then we see in Isaiah 53:11 how, of the suffering servant, it says that he's gonna suffer, he is gonna die, but it says after he has suffered, he will see the light of life. All this points to Jesus, the one who suffered and died on the cross, and yet saw the light of life, revealing the hope of resurrection to the world.
Now in response, the Jewish leaders say, "Well, we haven't actually heard anything bad about you. We haven't gotten any letters from Judea saying watch out for this guy, nor have any of the people that have come back from Judea to Rome had anything bad to say against you." That being said, they have heard about this sect, this group of Christians, and they know that there's been some, some rumors that they're a bad, they're a bad sort. And so they, they wanna hear more about what Paul has to say for himself and for the Christians. They're open-minded enough to hear what Paul has to say. And so Luke tells us in verse 23, "They arranged to meet Paul on a certain day, and came in even larger numbers to the place where he was staying. He witnessed to them from morning till evening, explaining about the Kingdom of God, and from the Law of Moses and from the prophets he tried to persuade them about Jesus. Some were convinced by what he said, but others would not believe.
They disagreed among themselves and began to leave after Paul had made this final statement: 'The Holy Spirit spoke the truth to your ancestors when he said through Isaiah the prophet: "Go to this people and say, you will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving." For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.' Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen!"
And then in verse 29, you'll find a note in some of your Bibles that some manuscripts include here, "After he had said this, the Jews left, arguing vigorously among themselves." Newer translations leave out this verse because it's not, it, it doesn't appear in the earliest manuscripts. And it says, "For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the Kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ-- with all boldness and without hindrance!"
So going back to verses 23 and 24, the Jewish leaders and more of the Jews come and meet with Paul on a certain day in his house where he's staying, and Paul spends the entire day, morning to evening, explaining the Kingdom of God to them, explaining how Jesus is the Messiah, how he fulfills the promises that have been revealed in the law and the prophets. Imagine spending a whole day going through the scriptures with the Apostle Paul.
He's very desirous that these leaders, that his people would embrace their Messiah. Now we can imagine that, in reasoning with them, that he may have used some of the passages I, I referred to earlier, Isaiah 53, Isaiah 26. But I wanted to walk you through a couple passages that perhaps he would've used so that you're able to kind of understand the case that is set before us based on the Old Testament testimony that Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah, that he is in fact the Son of God sent to us.
And so, many of you got handouts when you came in, but if you didn't get one, you might wanna write down these, these passages so you can kinda have a little stepping stone here. There's many more stones yet that point to Christ, but these are some helpful stepping stones that demonstrate the truth of who Christ is.
So we look at, for instance, let's start in, in Ezekiel 34, verses 11 through 16. This is a passage that tells us of how God himself is going to shepherd the flock. He's gonna shepherd the people himself. It says, "For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. I will bring them out from the nations and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in all the settlements in the land.
I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,' declares the Sovereign Lord. 'I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd the flock with justice.'"
Now, something that you have to appreciate about this language that's being used here of a, of a, of God shepherding his people is that that term shepherd was very often attached to those that were the kings, the rulers, the leaders of, of, of Israel. And so God is saying that in a very personal way, he's going to come and tend to his people. And, and we see this testimony corroborated by what is foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23, verses 3 through 6. But we have some more, some added detail here that points us more to Christ. Notice what it says.
Jeremiah says, speaking the word of the Lord, God says this: "I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord.
"The days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: the Lord our Righteous Savior."
I want you to just wrap your minds around this. God has been saying that He's going to come and tend the flock Himself. He's going to shepherd the people Himself. And then here in Jeremiah, particularly looking at verses five and six, he's saying there is going to be a king who is going to come of the line of David.
And, and you have to understand that David was the ultimate Jewish king. He was the one that received God's promise that his throne would last forever. Now of course, David died, and he has sons thereafter, but they don't walk in the ways of God. And so what God is foretelling here through the Prophet Jeremiah is that there's going to be one that comes from the line of David, a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.
But notice what He's gonna be called. It says, "This is the name by which He will be called: the Lord, our righteous Savior." He's gonna be called God, this one who is a son of David. Notice how the pieces are coming together here, that what is being promised here is not a mere man, but that in fact God Himself is going to come in the flesh to us. Now, we add to this. We go to Zechariah 12:10, and God says there, "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son."
Such a strange thing to contemplate. How is it that God could be possibly pierced? That they're going to look upon, that God himself is gonna be pierced, and they're going to be looking upon him with mourning in their hearts for what has transpired. So you take that passage, and then we look to Isaiah 53, which is a passage that many of you are familiar with, and it's a passage well worth reading in full, but I'm not gonna do so this morning. I'm just gonna read verses five through six and verse 10, just to draw the connection here. This is the passage speaking of the suffering servant. Now, it's interesting because it talks about the Lord and it talks about this suffering servant, and yet we have this connection here that God himself that is, is going to be pierced. So hold all those pieces together in your mind.
It says here, "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. It, it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand."
So it's interesting. This, this one who's the suffering servant, he's going to be, be pierced, he's going to die, and yet he's going to live. And yet it says it's the Lord who's, It's the Lord's will to crush him. And so you have all these passages that seem to indicate that God himself is going to come to us, and yet there seems to be these distinctions between the Lord. You have the Lord, the suffering servant, this one who's going to be king. All this is adding up, and you'd have to add up the rest of the pieces together. It's revealing to us the mystery of God, the triune nature of God, that God is one, there is one God, but that he is three in person, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And what God is doing here is he's promising us that he's going to send us his Son.
Now, Jesus wraps this all, all together in Matthew 22, verses 42 through 46. Referencing Psalm 110, talking to his fellow Jews. He says, "What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?" "The son of David," they replied. And we've heard the prophecy beforehand, that the Messiah's anticipated to be the son of David. He said to them, "How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him Lord? For he says," and this is in Psalm 1:10, "The Lord said to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet.' If then David calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
See, Jesus is kinda cheeky like this. He, he likes to ask questions that are revealing truths about himself, that somehow this one who is a son of David is yet greater than David. He is David's Lord. So this is just, just one short example here of how Paul could have reasoned from them, with them from the Old Testament showing how Jesus is in fact the promised Messiah. And what's more, that He's coming to bring salvation to the world. Just two passages here. He could have taken them to Isaiah 11:10, in which it said, "In that day, the root of Jesse," which is referring to this Davidic line. "In that day the root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious."
It's pointing to this promised Messiah, that all the world, all the nations, is going to rally to him. And then we see Jesus say of himself in John 12:32, "And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to himself." You see, God's purpose all along wasn't just to save the Jewish people, and that's what we might imagine. You know, if, especially if you're just making up this religion. If you're gonna make up your religion, you would say, "God only cares about us, and He's only going to save us, and that's the end of it." But that's not what we see, not only in the New Testament, in the Old Testament, that God's purpose has always been to bring salvation to the entire world.
Now, we see in verses 23 and 24 that some are convinced, but others are not. And we can imagine Paul's frustration here. Why not all? Why don't, why won't you all believe? In verses 25 through, through 28, it brings back to mind to Paul the hardness of hearts that characterized those prior generations of the Jewish people.
That when the prophet Isaiah came to them, they did not repent, and because they did not repent, judgment came upon them, and they ultimately ended up in exile. They heard what was said, but they weren't understanding. They were seeing but never perceiving. And this is the situation that Paul finds himself in. He's like, "I'm laying it right out before you. Why won't you believe?" And so he concludes in verse 28, "Therefore I want you to know that God's salvation has been sent to the Gentiles and they will listen." Paul is following a very familiar pattern to us at this point, where he first goes to the Jews, he explains the gospel to them, reasons with them from the Old Testament. Some of them believe, a good many don't, and then he goes to the Gentiles. Now, what Paul is saying here is not that he's abandoning the Jews. He's not abandoning his own people. But there is a mounting theme here that the church is going to be more Gentile than Jewish, and this is part of God's perfect plan in order to draw all people to himself.
Now, I can't give the attention to detail that these passages really deserve, but I wanna take us into Romans 11 a little bit just so you can understand what Paul's mindset is in all of these things, what he's thinking about as he's encountering this hardness of heart among his own fellow countrymen. We, we go to Romans 11 verse 11, starting verse through, with verses 11 through 14 And we see what Paul has to say about this. He says, "Again I ask: Did they," the Jews, "stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring! I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the, the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them."
So what Paul is saying here is, is that, is that God has allowed the Jews to stumble here as it opens up an opportunity for salvation to be brought to the world, and that in so doing, as Paul is going to the Gentiles, his hope is that God is going to make his, his own people, the Jewish people, envious of all these non-Jews coming and embracing the Messiah, their Messiah, and that they too might realize and wake up and say, "I put my faith in Jesus Christ as the promised one."
So yes, Israel has undergone a hardening here, but there is this overarching redemptive purpose, and there's hope for the Jewish people. There is hope for the people of Israel. Continuing on in verses 25 through 27, he says, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited." So the Gentiles, they hear all this and they might start thinking like, "Oh, like we're really, we're really important. We're way better than them." Paul says, "Uh-uh. Pump the brakes." "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be, will be saved. As it is written: 'The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.'
As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable. Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so too they have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God's mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all."
What Paul is saying here is that God has not abandoned the Jewish people. His promises remain for them. But in order for them to receive those promises, they must turn to Christ. Now, it seems as though Paul has some hope here for his people, that yes, even as a remnant continue to turn to Christ like himself, of course the apostle, the other apostles, there's Jews that are believing in Christ, but he's looking forward to a day where there's going to be a broader response among the Jewish people. At least it seems, seems to be so.
So we're not saying here that all Jewish people are going to be saved, because not all respond with the faith that God calls for. But at least it seems like there's a potential here that there is a day coming when the Jewish people will have a great response to Christ. Perhaps on, on a, a later generation, right on the threshold of, of Christ's return. Now we might ask why, and this is the question, this is the question of faith. It always can, that calls, that leads us to have faith in God is we can always ask why. God, why are you doing things this way? And if we can't trust in God's perfect omniscience, that He knows all things, that He is all-wise, we ourselves will stumble.
And so it's appropriate that in closing this chapter, Paul ends it with a doxology. He ends it with a word of praise. Read what he says in verses 33 through 35. He says, "Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments, and His paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?" For from Him and through Him and for Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen." So we might look at this plan and we'll say, "I don't get it. That might not be the way that I would do it." But Paul says, "Who am I to counsel the Lord? Who am I to tell God this is actually the way that things should be done?" This is God's perfect plan to bring salvation to the, all the world. Now we look at verses 29 through 30. We're back in Acts now. And we have the summarization from, from Luke. Says that, "For two whole years Paul stayed there in Rome in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ-- with all boldness and without hindrance!"
Now, if you're like me, if you're like anyone really, you're kinda like, "Well, what happened to Paul?" Like, we wanna hear the rest of the story, and he kinda leaves it at, at, at this kind of open-ended sort of stage. Well, the Christian tradition indicates to us that Paul apparently was able to eventually leave Rome from here. Now, we read in Romans 15 that Paul had an intention to go to Spain to bring the gospel, so he literally wants to go all around the known world here, to the farthest west, to bring the gospel. Now, we have some testimony to this in 1 Clement. Clement was, it's believed that he was a disciple of, of Peter, and this was written around the AD 95, 96, so not that far removed from these events.
And he says there in 1 Clement 5:5-6, "Through envy, Paul too showed by example the prize that is given to patience: seven times he was cast into chains; he was banished; he was stoned; having become a herald, both in the East and the West, he obtained the noble renown due to his faith;" and then in verse 7 of his book, he says, "And having preached righteousness to the whole world, and having come to the extremity of the West," which would've been Spain, "and having borne witness before rulers, he departed at length out of the world, and went to the holy place, having become the greatest example of patience."
So after going to Spain, it's believed that Paul returned to the East, eventually ended up in Nicopolis, where he, he writes some of his pastoral letters, at this point. And he, it seems at this time, is arrested. This is still during the reign of Nero, and he's brought back to Rome, so this is around 67 AD. And he would've in all likelihood been imprisoned in the infamous prison, the Mamertine Prison, and probably held at some point in what was called the Tullianum, which was this kinda subterranean chamber. They would lower you down there and you just had to stick, you'd either live there for a little while before they executed you, or you would die there.
It's believed that Paul was killed by being beheaded, which would have been befitting him as a Roman citizen. Strange for us to think about being beheaded, sounds like a terrible way to go, but among all the options, it was the, it was the best option. And so, as a Roman citizen, that was his privilege. And so after being executed, it's believed that he was buried on the Ostian Way around the place of the second mile marker. It's believed that he was buried in the tomb of, a family tomb of a Roman woman named Matrona Lucilla. And of course, the, given that tradition, there's a big church there that's built there now, and so you could visit the location.
It's probably not at all what you're visualizing. It's very opulent. But that's, that's the tradition as, as far as how Paul's life ended.
Throughout this time, you know, leading up to his death, Luke tells us that Paul continued to teach about the Kingdom of God, about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Now, Patrick Schreiner, a biblical scholar commenting on this passage says this is, he, he believes this is a testimony to the continued work of the Holy Spirit. That it's by the Spirit that such boldness comes. That it's by the Spirit that walls are broken down. And, and so we see here actually a picture of something larger going on that Paul has only been caught up into. That the, that the Kingdom of God is something that has come upon us, and something that is being revealed, and something that has, Paul has been entailed in, but it's a work that entails so many others. The Holy Spirit has been given not only for Paul's sake, but for our own.
The most wondrous thing is that the Holy Spirit has been sent by the Father and Son so that, among other things, you and I, we might be invited into the work of God, that we might have a share in this same glorious rescue mission. It's incredible to think God chose Paul, a man who was murdering Christians before, hated them, God chose him. He confronted him on the road of Damascus and claimed him for himself. A zealous Jew, transformed into Christ's apostle to the Gentiles, God's messenger to the non-Jewish world. Now again, as we've noted, this isn't because God or Paul abandoned the Jews. Paul again and again would go to the Jews first wherever his journeys took him, but the reason why he's sent to the Gentiles is because God is bringing salvation to all people and to all places.
If you ask why has Jesus not returned yet? Why are we still here? It is because the word of salvation still needs to be shared today. There are more who need to hear who have, who have not heard The end will only come when all are reached. Jesus tells us this, he tells his disciples this in Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."
So we can't come up with a calculation as far as when Jesus is return, is going to return, but we know when he's going to return. It's gonna be when the work is done. So with that mission in mind, when Christ deployed the disciples, when he sent Paul, when he sends us, He has not sent us out alone. If we go back to the beginning of Acts, in Acts 1:7-8, He tells His disciples this, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by His own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
You see, God himself, through the person of the Holy Spirit, inhabits us as his people, and he is carrying out the divine mission through us. Now, what is that mission? What is the gospel all about? I think we often kind of sell it short. Jesus died and rose again, yes, so that we would be delivered from the just condemnation of sin. He paid the penalty, he paid the ransom, and without him we are destined for destruction. That's only about, like, 25% of the message.
The gospel doesn't only speak a good word for the future. It has a word for the present. The future judgment is a serious thing, and I don't make light of it at all. But we know that even now, in this world, we live in a sort of hell. We live in a very broken place. Paul calls it the dominion of darkness. In Colossians 1, verses 13 through 14, he says, "For the Father has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."
The dominion of darkness is not a future thing. It's a present reality that we're dealing with. It's a reality that envelops all of humanity. We're not living life the way that it's supposed to be lived. Things aren't right. We're living in the way of grief and despair that ends in death, a way rooted in the twistedness of our own heart because we ourselves are not who we are supposed to be. We're slaves to sin, captives of the devil. It is from that dominion that Christ delivers us here and now.
One last passage here, Ephesians 2, verses one through five. Paul says, "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our transgressions-- it is by grace you have been saved."
God finds us dead, wasting away in the darkness. But Christ has appeared to bring us back to life-- yes, physically, to be sure, when Jesus Christ returns, the dead are gonna be raised, our bodies will be restored. But he also means to bring us back to life here and now, delivering us from Satan's domain. Christ has come to set you and I free because God loves us. That's it, it's not because of anything that we've done. We're not deserving. God has done all this in Jesus Christ simply because He loves us. And so if we turn to Christ in faith, we can say that it is by grace that we have been saved, not because of anything that we've done. And that salvation, that grace, we receive it today, and in, and that new life begins today for all of us who turn to Christ
There is a present dominion of darkness, but there is now a present and coming kingdom. As you turn to Christ, you join His kingdom, and the best is yet to come when He returns.
In Christ, you and I have a mission to bring the life He gives to everyone around us. Like Paul, with boldness, not your own, but from the Holy Spirit. And like Paul, we too can ultimately say without hindrance, because the Kingdom of God is unstoppable. Jesus in Matthew 16:18, speaking to Peter, tells him, "I tell you that you are Peter, on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it." You see, the church goes marching on and on century after century because it will not be defeated. It will continue until the day of Christ's return.
So yes, Luke ends his narrative here in a rather open-ended sort of way because the story isn't over. The story didn't end with Paul. The story lives on- we are part of the story. The mission continues. This gospel is for us and it deploys us. This gospel is for all and is sent to all. We bring the good news that in Christ there is forgiveness, and that in Christ life can begin again, better than we ever knew it, free from sin, free from the fear of man, free from the fear of death. Because Jesus is Savior and Lord. And so I ask, what will our chapter look like, here at this time? What will heaven's history tell of us? Glory through the midst of trials, darkness overcome by the light, Christ dwelling richly among us, God using the weak to shame the strong, straying sheep drawn to their shepherd's side. Let us pray that all of this and much more will be told, let us plead that the Holy Spirit will accomplish God's purpose in us, through us now.
Let us pray.
Father, we thank you for this awesome privilege.
We stand before you now, not merely as those who have received grace and forgiveness in Christ as we've turned to Him in faith, as those who have received a new life in Him. We stand before you, Father, now as those whom you've called to the field.
Father, we thank you for this great privilege We are not sitting on the sidelines. You have called us into action. And so, Father, we pray that we would go forth in the faith of Paul. Father, we pray that we would go forth not in our own strength, but through the continued work of the person of the Holy Spirit in our times.
Father, we pray that you would use us for your glory, that you would use us to bring life to all people here in Scituate, all across Rhode Island, and further and further out, Father, until the work is accomplished and your Son returns.
Father, remind us of the goodness of this life which you've given us in Christ. That we would not forget and, and seem to think that this is something that we've brought up about by our own strength and power and goodness, Father. It is not ours. It is yours given to us by grace in Christ. And so Father, we pray that you would make us passionate to share that life with others so that they too may be freed from captivity to the brokenness of this world. That they may be freed from sin and freed from the devil and that they too may share in our hope of the resurrection which is to come at the day of Christ's return.
Father, we are your servants. Accomplish your will through us, we pray. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.
Hey there, Pastor Tom here. I hope you enjoyed this sermon I offered to Rockland Community Church. Rockland Community Church is located at 212 Rockland Road in North Scituate, Rhode Island, just around the bend from the Scituate Public High School. We invite you to join us in person or virtually this Sunday as we worship God and hear the preaching of his word. It's our joy to welcome you into our community
Intro/Outro Song
Title: River Meditation
Artist: Jason Shaw
Source:http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Jason_Shaw/Audionautix_Acoustic/RIVER_MEDITATION___________2-58
License:(CC BY 3.0 US)