Participants: Tony Moore
Series Code: IFP
Program Code: IFP000018
|
01:36 Luke describe how as Paul walked 30 miles
01:40 from Troas down to Assos. 01:42 Luke and the others caught a boat and sailed down to this 01:47 picturesque harbor where they met the apostle Paul. 01:50 Then together they sailed down past the court of Ephesus 01:54 to that great port city, with a wonderful theater, 01:58 of Miletus where Paul meets with the Ephesian elders and 02:03 shares with them his heart concern. 02:06 Telling them that they will never see their face again. 02:11 Paul sailed past Ephesus, he wants to reach Jerusalem for 02:16 the feast of Pentecost. 02:18 Paul still celebrates the festivals as a born-again Jew. 02:24 He comes to this great city, and while he is here, 02:28 the spirit moves upon his heart to send for the elders 02:32 of the city of Ephesus. 03:08 Paul says you know how I've minister to you, for three 03:12 years I've shared my life with you. 03:14 I've shared the counsel of God with you both in the 03:18 synagogue, in the halls of Tyrannus, and also from 03:22 house to house we broke bread, we have fellowship. 03:25 I have not hesitated to share anything that was 03:28 beneficial for your spiritual growth. 03:30 But Paul has a concern, he knows that this will be the 03:34 last time he will see these brothers, and he shares 03:38 his deep concern with them. 04:06 Yes the Spirit was urging Paul, warning him that in every 04:10 place he faced dangers and trials. 04:13 Paul says I count my life as nothing, I have given it all 04:17 to Jesus for He gave His all for me. 04:20 I only want to run the race and finish the course that 04:24 God has set out for me. 04:26 Paul continues. 04:37 From a Miletus his heart was set go to Jerusalem, 04:40 even though he was being warned about going. 04:43 So he sailed across the Mediterranean, and after several 04:47 stops he came back to the Port of Caesarea once again. 04:51 Here he met with the church for some time. 04:54 While he was here a prophet named Agabus came over to 04:58 the house of Philip, the evangelist who had been one 05:02 of the seven deacons in Jerusalem, there he revealed 05:06 what the Lord had told him, 05:08 that Saul would be arrested in Jerusalem. 05:10 He took Saul's belt and wrapped it around his hands and 05:14 said the Holy Spirit told me that the one who owns this 05:18 belt will be arrested and will be tied up in Jerusalem. 05:23 Saul still had up on his heart to go to Jerusalem. 05:26 He said it was okay, what ever happens is fine. 05:30 So he left and Caesarea, the last time he would walk here 05:35 as a free man and would again walk the 50 miles up to 05:39 Mount Zion, to the city of Jerusalem. 05:46 Paul had come up to Jerusalem and was asked by the 05:49 leaders of the church to fulfill a vow with 05:51 several other men. 06:46 While he was in the temple, on the seventh day, several 06:50 Asian Jews spotted him and accused him of bringing 06:55 uncircumcised Greeks into the area reserved only for 07:00 circumcised Jews and men of Israel to be. 07:04 This created a tremendous riot inside the temple courts. 07:10 People were shouting one thing, and another thing. 07:13 They came upon Paul and grab him and 07:16 attempted to kill him. 07:17 While all of this was going on, the news reached the 07:20 commander of the troops in the tower of Anatolia. 07:23 From his fortress, troops reported that something was 07:26 going on, they rushed down the stairs and into the 07:29 court and rescued Paul. 07:32 When they arrived the men stopped and moved back because 07:37 of the Roman soldiers. 07:38 The soldiers took Paul into the tower of Anatolia that 07:43 protected and guarded the temple. 07:45 There he ordered him to be put into chains. 07:48 Paul asked for permission to speak and he addressed 07:52 the commander in Greek. 07:54 He was surprised, you speak Greek? 07:56 I thought you were that Egyptian arrested in 07:57 the desert leading a revolt. 08:00 No, I am a man of Tarsus, a citizen of no ordinary city. 08:05 Then Paul asked for permission to address the brothers. 08:10 From the courts, in the tower of Anatolia, 08:12 he addressed them in Aramaic. 08:14 While Paul was being held his nephew got wind of a plot 08:19 that several Jews had taken. 08:21 They intent is to take Paul's life, to assassinate him. 08:25 He sent his nephew with the information to the commander 08:29 of the soldiers here in Jerusalem. 08:31 The commander decided immediately that he must send 08:34 Paul to Caesarea and so he called for two centurions. 08:39 He said, prepare 200 horsemen, 70 Spear men and 200 08:43 soldiers and take Paul immediately, under the cover 08:47 of darkness, to Caesarea. 08:49 So Paul once more escaped with his life from the Devil's 08:55 wiles to kill him. 08:56 for God had ordained that he should go and witness 09:00 before Caesar in the city of Rome. 09:03 So Paul leaves Jerusalem for the last time. 09:07 It must have broken his heart as he left the holy city in chains. 09:11 Being taken under the cover of darkness, 09:14 his own countrymen threatening to kill him 09:17 for his faith in the Messiah. 09:20 Paul would be taken down to Caesarea where he will be 09:24 held for trial, here he was kept at the Palace of Herod 09:29 for over two years. 09:31 Standing trial before Felix, and then Festus, 09:36 and then King Agrippa. 09:38 From here Paul would appeal to Caesar. 09:40 King Agrippa and Bernice said there was no reason to keep 09:44 this man any longer, but since he has appealed to Caesar, 09:47 to Caesar he must go. 09:49 After many opportunities of witnessing before the various 09:53 Roman officials who were stationed here is Caesarea, 09:56 the time came for Paul to sail off to the city of Rome. 10:00 They would sail past the island of Malta and he would be 10:04 shipwrecked there, a tremendous miracle would happen as 10:07 he was gathering wood on the island, a snake came out 10:10 and bid him on the arm. 10:12 The people said that he must have been a terrible man 10:15 because he was shipwrecked and they thought things would 10:17 be okay because he was saved. 10:19 But after being saved, the turn of events moved again 10:22 with the snake to bite him, and yet Paul did not die. 10:25 People began to believe and accept the Lord because of 10:29 the mighty power they had seen manifested in his life. 10:33 The centurion that was guarding Paul made arrangements 10:37 for them to catch an Alexandrian grain ship to sail from 10:41 Malta over to the great port of Rome on the northern edge 10:46 of the bay of Naples, Pots-Wally. 10:48 They sailed on a ship that had figureheads of Castor and 10:52 Pollux, the twin sons of Zeus who were said to 10:57 be the patrons of Mariners. 10:59 But Paul knew that it was not Castor and Pollux that had 11:02 preserved him from the sea. 11:03 Paul knew that it was not Castor and Pollux, the son of 11:07 Zeus, who have preserved 276 people from this shipwreck. 11:11 Paul knew that it was Jesus Christ, because Jesus had 11:14 arranged for him to proclaim the Gospel here in 11:17 the very capital of the empire. 11:20 Paul was taken on board the ship that sailed to 11:25 Pots-Wally and when he got off the ship, Luke described 11:28 a group of believers from Pots-Wally who came out to meet 11:31 Paul and welcomed with him, and stayed with him for a week. 11:37 We have followed Paul's foot steps for nearly 13,000 miles. 11:42 We have walked on some of Rome's greatest roads. 11:45 We went up to the Via Secunda from the coast of 11:49 Pamphylia the region of Galatia and Pisidia. 11:52 We traveled that fabulous road up from Paul's home town 11:56 of Tarsus into the Anatolian Plateau to the Cilician 12:00 gates and we traveled this road. 12:03 The via Egnazia that connected the port of Neopolis with 12:07 the Roman colony of Philippi. 12:09 Perhaps the most important road of all for Rome was 12:13 this road, for this is the Appian Way. 12:17 This is the road that connected Pots-Wally, 12:20 the major port of Rome, down on the Bay of Naples 12:23 with the capital city. 12:25 Today's large sections of this road have been replaced by 12:29 small stones to make it easier for automobile traffic 12:33 and motorcycles and bicycles. 12:35 You can still see the large paving stones in this 12:38 section, the original stones from the Roman period. 12:41 You can see the grooves that have been worn through 12:44 centuries of waken and chariot traffic. 12:47 Paul would have walked along this road as he approached 12:51 the capital city, and he had a prayer in his heart. 12:55 God help me to be Your faithful witness, help me to 12:59 testify about Your goodness before the Imperial family. 13:02 And God heard his prayer. 13:05 Some of Caesar's very household were converted 13:09 because of Paul's testimony that Jesus was the 13:12 Christ and Lord of all. 13:14 The Bible tells us. 13:33 Yes when they came into the city of Rome, Paul was taken 13:37 before the Imperial guard, before the captain of the 13:41 imperial guard, Afranius Burrus. 13:44 He was taken before this man who had been a tutor of 13:47 Nero, he was a just man. 13:49 And as he listened to Paul's case, a centurion said he was 13:53 a good man and gave the report about Claudius Lysias, 13:56 the commander from Jerusalem, who said he had done 13:59 nothing worthy of imprisonment and how both Felix and 14:02 Festus, the Roman governors of Palestine, 14:05 had said the same. 14:06 And even King Agrippa, the Jewish King reigning from 14:09 Galilee, had said he had done nothing worthy of 14:13 imprisonment or of death. 14:15 So General Burrus allowed Paul to live under house 14:19 arrest, he was to live in his own rented house with a 14:23 soldier from the Imperial guard, to watch over him, 14:27 and to keep them safe in the city. 14:30 Luke goes on to describe how that three days after 14:34 arriving in the great city of Rome, 14:37 that he made arrangements for the leaders of the 14:39 Jewish community to come. 14:41 He wanted to share with them his situation and why he 14:44 had come, he was not coming because he had a grievance 14:47 against his people, but because they had made a charge 14:51 against him, a charge that was without foundation. 14:54 We read on Acts 28:17. 15:35 Paul said I want to be very clear, I have done nothing 15:38 against the customs of our ancestors 15:41 or against our religion. 15:43 Isn't it amazing that the uninformed often accused Paul 15:48 of doing away with Judaism? 15:50 How could he with a clean conscience stand before the 15:54 leaders of the synagogue, here in the city of Rome, 15:57 and say I have done nothing against the customs of the 16:00 Elders, or against the traditions of our fathers, 16:03 that I am in chains for the hope of Israel? 16:08 Paul still maintained the great teachings 16:11 of the Old Testament. 16:13 The only difference was he had accepted Jesus as his 16:17 Messiah, Jesus as his Christ. 16:20 Paul said I have done nothing against the customs or 16:22 the traditions of our fathers, or our people. 16:26 I am not here because of a grudge against our people, 16:30 I am here because they had a grudge against me. 16:34 Paul arranged for the leaders to come together with 16:37 additional Elders of the synagogues, 16:40 here in the city of Rome. 16:41 It is estimated that there were over 30,000 Jews living 16:44 in the city of Rome at this time. 16:46 We read on. 17:48 Again we see that Paul comes before the Jewish leaders 17:50 of the city of Rome and he appeals to them about 17:53 Jesus, being the Messiah. 17:55 He appeals to them about the kingdom of God and notice 17:59 what he uses as the base of his authority, Scripture. 18:02 The law of Moses and the prophets. 18:05 Yes Paul was a Jew, he believed in the hope of Israel. 18:09 He was proclaiming these teachings to the believers here. 18:13 If, as some assume, Paul was now worshiping on the 18:16 first day of the week, how could he say that 18:18 with a clear conscience? 18:20 It was an absurd idea. 18:22 Yes we know for sure that here in the city of Rome, 18:25 the first day of the week did not arise from Paul or 18:29 from the leaders of the early church, but arose in the 18:33 second century, it had to do with the controversy over 18:37 the resurrection of Jesus. 18:40 It had to do the Easter controversy. 18:43 You see after the destruction of Jerusalem by Hadrian and 18:47 135 A.D., Hadrian made a decree that Jews could not come 18:51 within 50 miles of Jerusalem. 18:53 That meant that Christians could not come within 50 miles 18:56 either, for they were still largely considered 18:58 a sect of the Jews. 19:00 Both groups were banned from the city. 19:03 Christians in Rome try to distinguish themselves, 19:06 to distance themselves, from Jews. 19:08 So at a time when both religions were celebrating the 19:13 resurrection of Jesus on the 16th day of the first Jewish 19:18 month, Passover and the offering of a wave sheaf, 19:22 or the first fruits, Christians at Rome tried to move away 19:26 from the 14th, 15th, and 16th days of the first Jewish 19:30 month, and move their celebration of the crucifixion 19:33 and resurrection of Jesus, to the festival of Ishtar. 19:37 Ishtar, the Babylonian god that supposedly was 19:42 resurrected on the first Sunday, after the full moon, 19:46 after the spring equinox. 19:48 This word has been Anglicized and we know it today as Easter. 19:54 That's right Jesus was crucified on Friday, and rose 19:58 from the grave on the first day of the week. 20:00 But this was also on the 14th and 16th day of the first 20:05 Jewish month, it was tied to Passover. 20:07 He died as a Passover Lamb at three in the afternoon 20:10 on the 14th day of the first Jewish month. 20:13 And then there was an annual Sabbath, there are seven 20:15 annual Sabbath's, not tied to a day of the week, but to 20:18 a day of the month, much like your birthday. 20:21 Then on the 16th day was the offering of the wave sheaf 20:24 the first ripening grains of barley were coming to 20:27 maturity, and they went out and collected those first 20:30 ripening grains, and brought them into the temple and 20:33 waved them before God as an offering of the first fruits 20:37 of the barley harvest. 20:39 Jesus was resurrected as the offering of the first fruits 20:43 of them that would be raised from the dead. 20:46 Yes he completely fulfilled the wonderful festivals of 20:51 Passover, of the Passover Lamb dying, and also of the 20:56 offering of the wave sheaf. 20:58 The church moved the celebration of Jesus' resurrection 21:02 from the dead, from the 16th day of the first Jewish 21:06 month tied to the Passover, to the first Sunday after 21:10 the full moon, after the spring equinox, tied instead to 21:14 the festival of Ishtar. 21:17 Paul had longed to witness in Rome and now he was here. 21:21 By God's providence, he now had his own rented place 21:24 and he was able to entertain people who would 21:27 come to hear the gospel. 21:30 The fact that he was in chains did not bother Paul. 21:33 Paul believed that all things work together for good 21:35 to those that love God. 21:37 And so Paul faithfully witnessed before the Jews, 21:40 sharing with them from the Scriptures that Jesus was 21:43 the Christ, and he assured them that he had done nothing 21:46 against the traditions and the teachings of Moses and 21:49 the prophets, and the teachings of the ancestors. 21:52 Paul said with a clear conscience, I only come to 21:55 exalt the hope of Israel. 21:58 The belief in the resurrection of the dead and how it 22:00 was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. 22:02 Yes Paul had faithfully followed wherever Jesus had led. 22:06 Now Jesus had led him here to the great city of Rome 22:10 and he learned to be content under all circumstances. 22:14 Whether he had much or whether he had little. 22:16 So the fact that he was in chains did not bother Paul. 22:19 He was here was going to faithfully witness for his 22:22 Lord in this great city. 22:24 You know there is a very strange brand of Christianity 22:27 going around, it is actually foreign to the New 22:30 Testament, foreign to Scripture. 22:32 I call it the gospel of wealth, health, and prosperity. 22:36 Preachers come along and say, if you only believe, 22:40 everything will be just fine and dandy. 22:42 Everything will be just rosy and chirpy. 22:44 If you give money to my ministry, if you sow 22:46 that seed of promise, you will reap a tremendous material 22:51 blessing of prosperity. 22:53 Our man Paul comes to the city in chains. 22:57 He has been unjustly accused by the Asian Jews. 23:00 He has had his own countrymen to take a vow that they 23:05 would not eat food until they killed him. 23:07 They were so motivated with hatred. 23:09 We see how he was unjustly held him in prison for two years 23:14 in Caesarea while the government was waiting for a bribe. 23:19 We have seen Paul mistreated, he shared with the 23:23 Corinthian believers an entire list of the mistreatment 23:27 he had experienced while following Christ, while reaping 23:30 the harvest of faith that he had sown. 24:51 Yes we see that Paul's life was not a bed of roses. 24:54 We see all the different experiences through which he 24:56 passed, he was sowing the seeds of faith. 24:59 And yet he was reaping what appeared to be a tremendous 25:03 adversity, but we know that God had not forsaken him. 25:07 We know that Jesus had not turned its back on him. 25:10 We know that Jesus was leading him forward, yes he was 25:13 a great apostle filled with faith. 25:15 Under all these difficulties that came into his life, 25:19 he did not let it get him down. 25:21 He continued on praising his God. 25:24 He continued on following in the footsteps of Jesus. 25:26 Oh my friends, I do not know what difficulties you 25:29 might have gone through. 25:30 I don't know what shadows might have crossed your path. 25:35 I don't know what challenges you might face, but I know 25:40 that we cannot determine God's love for us based on the 25:44 experiences that happen around us. 25:47 Paul says that these momentary problems are going to pass 25:50 away, that we have to look beyond that to the reality 25:54 beyond, to the real world, to the world where Jesus is now. 26:00 Our great Priest, encouraging us to hang in there. 26:03 Encouraging us to continue to faithfully follow. 26:06 Yes we followed Paul's journey from his home in Tarsus 26:11 to Jerusalem, to Damascus, throughout the ancient world. 26:15 Now from Jerusalem here to the great city of Rome where 26:20 he is in chains to be tried before the Emperor. 26:22 Yet Paul is not complaining, he is not bitter, he is not 26:27 angry and disappointed, he is hopeful. 26:30 He is hopeful that even these chains will prove to be the 26:33 salvation of someone here in this great city. 26:37 O friend of mine, do you need hope like that? 26:42 Jesus says to come, Paul heard Jesus say, Paul, 26:47 My strength will be made perfect in your weakness. 26:52 Sometimes we feel so weak, sometimes we feel like 26:56 complaining and giving up when things happen that we 26:59 did not anticipate, or plan for. 27:02 Perhaps a sickness comes into our home, perhaps an 27:05 illness to one of our family members, or a good friend. 27:07 Perhaps it happens to us and we wonder 27:10 God, where are You? 27:11 Perhaps it is a financial or personal loss of job. 27:15 We don't turn away from Jesus during times like this, 27:19 we turn to Him, knowing that if God be for us 27:22 who can be against us. 27:25 That's what Paul's life teaches us. 27:28 As he faithfully followed Him, here to the great city of 27:32 Rome, where he comes in chains to witness for his Lord. 27:36 Let's pray together. 27:37 Eternal God, what an incredible journey it has been 27:40 following Paul from the city of Jerusalem down to 27:44 Caesarea and the ocean journey that took him to dangerous 27:48 places along the island of Crete and finally to be 27:51 shipwrecked off Malta what a miracle that he landed on the 27:55 island and that You preserved him because You had a 27:57 purpose for his life here in the city of Rome. 28:00 We thank you to see how he came into the city and 28:02 witnessed before the Jews and shared his faith 28:04 with the hope of Israel. 28:06 We thank You for this faithful follower and that in 28:09 the midst of such incredible odds he still had a radiant 28:13 Faith in You and I want each one of us were Jesus to have 28:16 that same hope and confidence in You, knowing that all 28:20 things work together for good to those who love God and 28:23 are called by His purpose, that is my prayer from here in the 28:27 city of Rome, in Jesus name Amen! 28:29 Don't miss the next thrilling teaching in our series, 28:33 as Paul witnesses before Caesar in the great city of Rome. |
Revised 2014-12-17