Luke’s message ends up being something like this, “This book is finished, but the mission Jesus assigned to the church is not.” This means we get to participate in the next chapters of Acts. We get to join the story of proclaiming the gospel to the ends of the earth. Until we see the King, let us keep fighting, keep running the race, and keep enduring.

In the last leg of their trip, we see how the Lord was faithful in keeping His Word as Paul finally made it to Rome after two and a half years. In our text we see Paul’s faithfulness to the mission of Jesus Christ. Where Paul kept his heart focused on sharing Christ rather than allowing his circumstances to shut him down. Making the most of His time, by making Christ known effectively.

Paul is on his way to Rome and under the best conditions, sailing straight to Rome from Caesarea would take five weeks. Yet when this trip was over, the journey will have taken them well over sixteen weeks. From the drama that unfolds along the way, we see a wonderful picture of God’s providence and faithfulness in keeping his Word.

Paul would spend two years in prison, before finally giving his last two defense speeches before Festus and King Agrippa II. In his last defense speech before King Agrippa, it was not technically a legal defense, but rather involved his personal story of meeting Jesus and the commissioning he received from Jesus. In our text we see that Paul brings up the universal need for the wonderful privileges of the gospel and how both Festus and Agrippa responded.

Paul is on trial as Lysias the Roman commander is trying to get to the bottom of who Paul is and what Paul did to cause all this commotion. During these trials, we see how Paul reacted and then at the end he receives reassurance from our Lord Jesus Christ.

When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, things got interesting. A formal meeting took place where he was welcomed by the church in Jerusalem, celebrating all that God had done in his ministry. In hostility he was falsely accused by the Jewish crowd that lead to his arrest. Paul makes his defense in humility and love, telling people about his encounter with Jesus Christ that changed his life forever.

In Acts 21 we see the apostle Paul’s life illustrates the painful pleasure of following Jesus. Paul is a man on a mission, headed to Jerusalem. His friends think he is crazy for going, however Paul is resolved and compelled by the Spirit. Paul’s trip to Jerusalem is full of hellos and good-byes and in our text Luke wants us to see the strength and importance of Christian community and the cost of discipleship.

Despite Paul’s hurry to make it to Jerusalem before Pentecost, he still made the time to invest in elders, demonstrating his care for the Ephesian church and its leaders. In Miletus, Paul gives them this powerful charge which we have in summary form. In Paul’s farewell address to the Ephesian elders, he highlights the nature and importance of the church and the role of its overseers.

Acts 20:1-12 illustrates how we can give and receive Christ-exalting, Spirit-empowered encouragement. We need to commit ourselves to encouraging one another as we gather to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection, experience the Lord’s Supper, and hear the Lord’s Word.

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus was described as a major disturbance about the Way (Acts 19:23). Indeed, Christ’s work through Paul was causing a major disturbance. From their point of view, there was a major disturbance, but from our point of view what happened in Ephesus is better called “a great awakening.”

By the time we have reached Acts 18, Paul has already been through a long list of challenges and trials. Paul traveled approximately 2000 miles by foot and 1000 miles by boat. When he reached Corinth, something happened to Paul. Despite remarkable success in gospel ministry in Corinth, Paul’s confidence seemed to evaporate. He seemed to be overcome with fear and tempted to remain silent. Yet when he seemed ready to quit, the Lord gives him an assuring word and fulfills a promise to him.

While Paul was waiting for Silas and Timothy to join him in Athens, he was deeply distressed when he saw that the city was smothered in idols. Rather than allowing his feelings to lead him to angrily take a sledgehammer to the idols, he – in holy love – engaged the people. Paul was brought to the Areopagus to explain his message of the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.

Luke briefly records Paul’s stops in Thessalonica and Berea, and both stories draw our attention to the attitude of the Scriptures, both by the teacher and the hearers. We see the centrality of the Word of God in the mission of God in the book of Acts. Paul and his companions turned the world upside down by turning the Word of God loose.

As Paul and his companions reached Philippi, Luke records three conversions. These three conversions should encourage us as we behold Jesus’ power and grace in transforming people. These three conversions should also instruct us as we consider how three different types of people, from three different walks of life, were converted and transformed in three different ways, by the one and only Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul and Barnabas’ second missionary journey started with a good idea to revisit the churches established on the first missionary journey. However, the trip did not go as planned. It started with a relational conflict that led to separation, adding companions and the Triune God preventing them from entering into certain regions. Despite these wandering days, the Lord sovereignly guided them to advance the gospel.

As the church flourished and the people rejoiced in the gospel work despite opposition from the outside, we now come to a point where the church was facing opposition from the inside. As the gospel of grace was disputed, the leaders of the church came together, defended the gospel of grace and encouraged grace to be displayed among the people to lovingly preserve the unity of the body.

The completion of the first missionary journey of Paul and Barnabas provides us with an instructive and inspiring model of Christian perseverance. We learn that when we are truly captivated by the gospel, when the truth of who Jesus is and what He did for us becomes the most important thing in our lives, we gladly sacrifice comfort, safety and selfish desires to make sure we help others know Him.

As the mission continued, Paul has been preaching already, but this is the first sermon of Paul Luke records. This sermon has a lot in common with Peter’s Pentecost sermon and Stephen’s sermon. Although Stephen emphasized Israel’s rebellion, Paul emphasized God’s grace to Israel. In this Christ-exalting sermon, we learn that the promise of forgiveness and justification is for those who trust in Christ alone.

As Christians were scattered because of persecution, they carried the gospel with them and by God’s grace made many new disciples. However, in our passage we witness something different, a church on mission. We learn that worship and praying fueled the mission. The Spirit and the church affirmed the mission.

King Herod launches a public assault on the leaders of the church in Jerusalem, killing James and imprisoning Peter, but he ultimately cannot stop the advancement of Christ’s kingdom. Christians from every age will face conflict if seeking to advance the gospel. However, we can face such conflict with unshakable assurance that Christ will win.

The church in Antioch – not the mother church in Jerusalem – changed the world. The Jerusalem church was wonderful, and it should be appreciated for its uniqueness and power, but it had its challenges when it came to evangelizing non-Jews. Antioch, by contrast, was an international church. Luke describes in a small summary how the church in Antioch flourished.

Faithful gospel ministry results in both blessing and opposition. As the apostles continue to minister to the people in word and deed, it was enriching the poor in spirit and enraging the prideful. Persecution intensified and their opponents moved from threats, to floggings and eventually it will escalate to death. However, this energized the church as they rejoiced and continued proclaiming the gospel.