Community Baptist Church
October 11, 2026 | Week 14 (Acts 19–28) | Steve

      • Psalm 107:28–32HCSB

  • Heaven Came Down
  • Sing To The King

      • John 10:1–18HCSB

  • Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
  • I Speak Jesus

      • Matthew 21:33–43HCSB

  • The Unfailing Power of the Gospel

    On the whole, I do not find Christians, outside of the catacombs, sufficiently sensible of conditions. Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we so blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping god may wake someday and take offense, or the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.
    Annie Dillard, Teaching a Stone To Talk: Expeditions and Encounters (p. 49)
    As we finish our quest to discover all that God is up to we have learned that He is ALWAYS up to something.
    Jesus declared God’s ultimate purpose in
    Acts 1:8 LSB
    but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the end of the earth.”
    The 120 or so gathered with Him that day were not all that different from you and me. We have developed a mythology that those gathered with Jesus on that day were super-saints, men and women who were more spiritually equipped than anyone else in the world, that these men and women were either independently wealthy or profoundly naive. The facts are quite different. We don’t have a list of all who were present, but we can identify some of them:
    Peter, who denied Jesus during the night of Jesus’ arrest and trials; Thomas, who said ‘Unless I see I won’t believe’; some women who questioned Jesus when their brother died…’If only you had been here….’; and many unnamed people who were frightened, excited, scared, away from their homeland, having traveled many miles to observe Passover only to find their lives turned totally upside down asd they responded to the good news: Repentance of sin restores a right relationship with God through the gift of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection!
    We’ve learned that these people could be quite petty - our widows don’t get as much food as their widows…. These people grew very comfortable in Jerusalem. It took an outbreak of persecution to get them out of Jerusalem and into the world (see Acts 8).
    We’ve learned that these people were afraid - some dared only to speak of Jesus to their own kind, to Jews alone; others risked their reputation and their very lives to speak to (gasp) non-Jewish pagan idolaters who had no connection with God (Acts 11).
    We’ve learned that people argue about important and unimportant issued. Does one have to be Jewish in order to follow Jesus? Does the failure of John Mark mean he is of no use to the kingdom any longer (Acts 15-16)?
    As we follow Paul and his travelling companions on their journey to Rome we can see clearly how the unhindered gospel overcomes any and all strategies the adversary can muster. We don’t have time to do an in depth study of these chapters, but we can see how there are no obstacles the gospel cannot overcome.

    THE GOSPEL OVERCOMES ADVERSITY

    One often overlooked obstacle to the gospel: false and/or incomplete teaching.
    As Paul traveled one more time from Antioch (Acts 18:22-23), Paul comes to Ephesus:
    Acts 19:1–2 LSB
    Now it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper regions and came to Ephesus and found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard if the Holy Spirit is being received.”
    Scholars are still uncertain of how these men and their families heard of Jesus, but it is certain that they were unaware of the victory Jesus captured through His death and resurrection, and the gfit of the Holy Spirit!
    Paul quickly instructs these twelve men and ends up staying in Ephesus for quite some time (about 3 years total).
    An Obstacle to the gospel: the presence of the adversary
    Ephesus was known throughout the Roman world for being the home of the goddess Artemis. Her temple was larger than the Parthenon in Athens. Hundreds if not thousands of worshipers gathered in Ephesus every spring to celebrate the festival of Artimisia. She was worshiped as the goddess of fertility and nurturing.
    Every faithful Jew was thoroughly convinced that idols like Artemis and countless others were creations of demonic powers related to the devil. Satan is extremely creative when it comes to using his legion of demons to decieve and destroy.
    Paul, with his Jewish background and his unfailing commitment to Jesus as the fulness of God revealed in human form saw Artemis for what it was: demonic.
    As Paul preached in Ephesus so many people were responding to the gospel that the local business people saw their businesses decline because of the surge of new believers -
    Acts 19:18–20 LSB
    Also, many of those who had believed kept coming, confessing and disclosing their practices. And many of those who practiced magic brought their books together and were burning them in the sight of everyone; and they counted up the price of them and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord was growing mightily and prevailing.
    A riot ensued, and Paul left Ephesus with Jerusalem as his intended destination - Acts 20:22–24 ““And now, behold, bound by the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that chains and afflictions await me. “But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.”
    The gospel enables believers to face an uncertain future with confidence
    Paul’s trip was dependent on weather and shipping. To travel from one part of the empire to another was not something you could plan, it just sort of happened. After leaving Ephesus and meandering south and west, we read of Paul in Caesarea (not the Caesarea of Galille but a city much further north). There Philip (from Acts 7-8) hosted Paul and during their stay a prophet named Agabus came:
    Acts 21:11–14 LSB
    And coming to us, he took Paul’s belt and bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews at Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” And when we had heard this, we as well as the local residents began begging him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, crying and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” And since he would not be persuaded, we fell silent, saying, “The will of the Lord be done!”

    PAUL: FROM JERUSALEM TO CAESAREA TO ROME

    Arriving in Jerusalem, knowing what would happen Paul sought to worship according to the habit of Jesus (entering synagogues, entering the Temple). As he was worshiping at the temple,
    Acts 21:26–28 LSB
    Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them. Now when the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon noticing him in the temple, began to throw all the crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches to everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
    This ‘uprising’ brought out the Roman army, then the Sanhedrin. These disputes solved nothing, but there is an important event:
    Acts 23:10–11 LSB
    And as a great dissension was developing, because the commander was afraid Paul would be torn to pieces by them, he ordered the troops to go down and take him away from them by force, and bring him into the barracks. But on that very night, the Lord stood at his side and said, “Take courage; for as you have solemnly borne witness to My cause at Jerusalem, so you must bear witness at Rome also.”
    CAESAREA
    This was Herod’s capitol. He reigned solely at the pleasure of Rome, and was simply a puppet of the emporer. Several trials occured with one important result:
    Acts 25:9–11 LSB
    But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and to be tried before me on these matters?” But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as you also very well know. “If, then, I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything worthy of death, I do not refuse to die; but if none of those things is true of which these men accuse me, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar.”
    THE TRIP TO ROME
    Acts 27 records the perilous journey to Rome - including weather delays, a massive storm, and a shipwreck.
    After days in the storm, Paul shares this with those on board:
    Acts 27:23–26 LSB
    “For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ “Therefore, be cheerful, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. “But we must run aground on some island.”
    The ship is destroyed, but as God’s promise: all survived.
    Landing on an island, Malta, the inhabitants care for the survivors. As a fire roared to dry and warm these survivors
    Acts 28:3–6 LSB
    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 itself on his hand. And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. But they were waiting for him to soon swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, changing their minds, they began to say that he was a god.
    Paul was able to share the gospel with the leading family of the isalnd, and when the weather became favorable, they sailed for Rome.
    The Unhindered Gospel in Rome
    Acts 28 shares the events that unfolded as Paul entered Rome. He met with the Jewish leaders in Rome (Acts 28:23-ff), with an unsettled result: Acts 28:24 “And some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others were not believing.”
    The last words of Luke’s record of Paul’s journey are important:
    Acts 28:30–31 LSB
    And he stayed two full years in his own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, unhindered.

    RELFECT AND RESPOND

    WHAT IS GOD UP TO?

    The simple and uncomplicated answer:

    TO MAKE CHRIST KNOWN AMONG THE PEOPLES OF THE WORLD

    What is God doing through YOU to further His purposes?

    The families who sacrificed their time and money to plant this church - most of whom have passed into the great cloud of witnesses that surround us - did son because they were fully persuaded that the people God would gather here will always be faithful to making Christ known among the peoples of the world.
    I confess that there have been seasons in my life that have caused me to doubt the power of the gospel. The enemy has attacked, circumstances have created anxiety and fear, and the gos pel had become muted, though never silenced.
    What God is up to is simple. What God is asking of us is simple.
    Will you, with Paul, who sacrificed more than any or all of us combined state loudly andunequivocally:
    Romans 1:16–17 LSB
    For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous will live by faith.”
    If we do not stand against the adversary, if we don’t stand firm while experiencing the radical uncertainty of life, if we allow our personal preferences and our comfort level to subdue or even slience the gospel, who will stand to proclaim it?
    I know as well as you that we are an older congregation. We all are experiencing the loss of energy that comes with getting old; we all are facing familly, personal, and community challenges we never trained for or expected, but here is where I stand:
    Acts 20:24 LSB
    “But I do not make my life of any account nor dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.

      • Acts 1:8HCSB

      • Acts 19:1–2HCSB

      • Acts 19:18–20HCSB

      • Acts 21:11–14HCSB

      • Acts 21:26–28HCSB

      • Acts 23:10–11HCSB

      • Acts 25:9–11HCSB

      • Acts 27:23–26HCSB

      • Acts 28:3–6HCSB

      • Acts 28:30–31HCSB

      • Romans 1:16–17HCSB

      • Acts 20:24HCSB

Community Baptist Church
sschenewerk@gmail.com
5416799569
http://www.winstoncommunitybaptist.com
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