56 "Getting the Word to the Ends of the Earth" Acts 25:1-27 | Sunday, July 26, 2026

You can take your Bibles and turn to the

book of Acts, chapter 25.

Acts 25 · chapter mention

Acts, chapter 25. As we continue in our

Acts 25 · chapter mention

series, verse by verse through the book

of Acts, we've accelerated here toward

the end as we cover Paul's defenses

nearly chapter by chapter here for the

last portion of the book. And we've seen

Paul testify before the Roman governor,

Felix. And though Felix found Paul to be

innocent of the charges, he left him

bound for two years to do the Jews a

pleasure as it says in chapter 24 27.

We're going to read the entirety of

chapter 25 once again. I know it's a

lengthier reading, but I'll encourage

you to tune in to God's word and let it

minister your heart. Follow the flow of

thought here as we cover this narrative.

Acts chap 25 verse 1.

Now when Fesus was come into the

province, after three days he ascended

from Cesaria to Jerusalem, then the high

priest and the chief of the Jews

informed him against Paul and besought

him and desired favor against him that

he would send for him to Jerusalem,

laying in weight in the way to kill him.

But Fesus answered, that Paul should be

kept at Cesaria, and that he himself

should depart shortly thither. Let them

therefore, said, he which are [snorts]

among you are able, go down with me, and

accuse this man, if there be any

wickedness in him. And when he had

carried among them more than 10 days, he

went down unto Cesaria. And the next

day, sitting on the judgment seat,

commanded Paul to be brought. And when

he was come, the Jews which came down

from Jerusalem stood round about and

laid many in grievous complaints against

Paul, which they could not prove. While

he answered for himself, Neither against

the law of the Jews, neither against the

temple, nor yet against Caesar have I

offended anything at all. But Fesus,

willing to do the Jews a pleasure,

answered Paul and said, "Wilt thou go up

to Jerusalem, and there be judged of

these things before me?" Then said Paul,

I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where

I ought to be judged. To the Jews have I

done no wrong, as thou very well

knowest. For if I be an offender, or

have committed anything worthy of death,

I refuse not to die. But if there be

none of these things whereof they

accused me, no man may deliver me unto

them. I appeal unto Caesar. Then Fesus,

when he had conferred with the council,

answered, Hast thou appealed unto

Caesar? Unto Caesar shalt thou go? And

after certain days, King Agria and

Bernese came unto Cesaria to salute

Fesus. And when he had been there many

days, Fesus declared Paul's cause unto

the king, saying, "There's a certain man

left in bonds by Felix, about whom, when

I was at Jerusalem, the chief priests

and the elders of the Jews informed me,

desiring to have judgment against him,

to whom I answered, it is not the manner

of the Romans to deliver any man to die,

before that he which is accused have the

accusers face to face, and have license

to answer for himself concerning the

crime laid against him. Therefore, when

they were come hither without any delay

on the marorrow, I sat on the judgment

seat and commanded the man to be brought

forth, against whom, when the accusers

stood up, they brought none accusations

of such thing as I supposed, but had

certain questions against him, of their

own superstition, and of one Jesus,

which was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be

alive. And because I doubted of such of

the manner of questions, I asked him

whether he would go to Jerusalem and

there be judged of these matters. But

when Paul had appealed to be reserved

under the hearing of Augustus, I

commanded him to be kept till I might

send him to Caesar. Then Agrippa said

unto Fesus, "I would also hear the man

myself tomorrow said he, thou shalt hear

him." And on the marorrow when a grippa

was come and bernese with great pomp and

was entered into the place of hearing

with the chief captains and principal

men of the city at Fesus commandment

Paul was brought forth and Fesus said

king Agria and all men which are here

present with us. Ye see this man about

whom all the multitude of the Jews have

dealt with me both at Jerusalem and also

here crying that he ought not to live

any longer. But [snorts] when I found

that he had committed nothing worthy of

death, and that he himself hath appealed

to Augustus, I have determined to send

him, of whom I have no certain thing to

write unto my lord. Wherefore I have

brought him forth before you, and

especially before thee, O king Agrippa,

that after examination had, I might have

somewhat to write. For it seemth to me

unreasonable to send a prisoner, and not

with all to signify the crimes laid

against him. We'll stop our reading

there though. His testimony to Agria

continues into ver into into chapter 26.

But for this portion of this narrative

account, I want to preach this morning a

message entitled Getting the Word to the

Ends of the Earth. Getting the word to

the ends of the earth. You might be

wondering right now how we get that out

of this text, but I promise by the end

of it, it'll make clear sense. Let's

pray and ask God to help us understand

his word. Our father, we come to you in

humble dependence, recognizing our need

of the Holy Spirit to illuminate our

minds and our hearts to your truth. I

ask you to speak to us. I ask your

spirit to convict us that we might

believe and walk in the truth of your

word. And so we ask for your grace to

enable us to do just that in Jesus name.

Amen. Thank you for standing. You can be

seated.

>> [snorts]

>> Whenever you're trying to get somewhere,

delays can be quite frustrating. When

you're on your way to work and you're

approaching that railroad and as soon as

you pull up and the lights start

flashing and the bells start dinging and

the guard rails come down and you're

like, "I was so close." Or perhaps when

you're on your way to church on a Sunday

morning and you come across one of our

infamous races that blocks off half of

town. And I remember last year when they

had the big race going on here that that

it we didn't get here to the church

until like 9:45 and then had all the

setup and we ended up starting late at

10:30 and and everybody's like, "How do

I get to church?" The only way was to go

to Arapjo and Broadway to here. That was

the only way to get here. And sometimes

when you arrive at church after those

kind of delays, you can just be a little

frustrated.

Sometimes when you face delays, you can

wonder if you'll even make it there.

When we flew out to Maine for Caleb and

Nicole's wedding, we had several

connecting flights and every one of them

was delayed. In fact, we spent the night

in Philadelphia because we couldn't get

there in time to get our rental car. So,

we had to wait till the next day to get

there. But we made it for the wedding

just in time. But then on the way back,

we had delays again. We had delays in

Bangor. We had delays in Washington. We

had delays in Charlotte. And when we got

to Charlotte and we were sitting there

on the tarmac, they said, "We don't have

a gate available for us." And our

connecting flight was in 15 minutes. And

so now we're sitting there. Come on. God

open up something. We got a pilot

sitting next to us and he's looking at

his iPad trying to figure out if the

other one's going to take off or not.

And and it seemed like all hope was

lost. We finally got to our gate. We're

well past the takeoff time for the other

one. And then came the dead sprint to

the next terminal and as we get there,

the gate is closed. And the real problem

with this was we had church the next

morning. This was on a Saturday night.

And so we're looking at flight schedules

this whole time trying to figure out

it's like I think we can get this flight

that'll get us to DIA at 8:30 and then

someone else can set up and we'll just

rush here and get to church. So we're

going through all these scenarios as you

can imagine. I was having very great

difficulty restraining the flesh and

maintaining a right spirit. But as soon

as I walked to go to the counter and try

to reschedule our flight, an agent came

out and was able to sneak us on the

plane and we barely made it home. But

I'm going to tell you that because of

that delay, I really didn't know if we

were going to get there. I want you to

imagine for a moment that you're reading

Acts for the first time that this

narrative is building of Paul's journey

back to Jerusalem and his desire to get

to Rome. And you're not sure how it's

going to work out. And what it seems

like is that Paul is desiring to go to

Rome. Jesus wants him to go to Rome, but

all along the way, he's facing constant

delays. And the delays can make you

wonder, is Paul going to get to Rome? Is

he going to get to the place where Jesus

told him to go? Because remember back

when Paul was in Ephesus, he said that

he was going to return to Jerusalem,

deliver this collection for the saints,

and then if the Lord willed, he was

going to go back to Rome. That's

affirmed to us in the book of Romans

Romans 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15 as well that that was his

intent. But the caveat was if the Lord

wills. And so we have this tension set

up. Is it the Lord's will for him to go

to Rome or is it the Lord's will for him

to die at Jerusalem as the spirit had

been implying? And what we find is as

Paul is arrested, he's nearly killed by

a mob and only saved by the chief

captain. And [snorts] while he was in

holding, the Lord showed up and said,

"As you have testified of me here, you

will also testify of me at Rome." Christ

made it clear, "My will is for you to

get to Rome." But the very next day, a

plot was hatched to kill Paul in

transport from the castle to the

courtroom.

But God uncovered that through Paul's

nephew. Paul was sent to Cesaria, which

geographically is a step closer to Rome.

It's the port city, the coastal city

where where ships are constantly going

from Cesaria back toward Rome. And it

looks like that is where Paul is going

to get his journey to Rome going

forward.

He testifies before Felix. But what we

find is Felix though finding Paul

innocent, desiring to do the Jews a

pleasure. It says left him bound for two

years.

I wonder if as Paul is sitting and

holding there in Herod's palace or

Herod's judgment hall, if he's wondering

throughout the course of two years, I

know the Lord said, "I was going to

Rome, but it doesn't seem like that's

going to happen anytime soon."

Because if you're reading this for the

first time, that's what you're thinking,

too. He comes before governor after

governor and official after official and

every testimony just leaves him bound,

leaves him chained and nowhere closer to

where Christ wanted him to go. And that

delay can make us wonder if he'll make

it there.

But what we know is that God's word

always gets where he wants. It always

gets where he wants.

In fact, that's what the book of Acts is

about. how God sent his witnesses from

Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the

earth, declaring the gospel of Jesus

Christ. That there is a savior from sin

and a savior from condemnation and

judgment to come and his name is Jesus

Christ. Gave his life on the cross for

you. Rose again conquering the grave and

giving life to all who will believe on

him. They went everywhere declaring the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

And what we know is Paul's going to make

it to Rome.

And what we gather from it is that God's

word gets where he wants because no

earthly power can stop his heavenly

plans. No earthly power can stop his

heavenly plans. It was true then and

it's true today.

I want you to observe from this text

with me how God works through earthly

powers to fulfill his heavenly plans to

get his witness to Rome to preach the

gospel of Jesus Christ.

First, we're going to notice that there

is a request that is denied, but then

there's an appeal that's granted and

then there's help wanted. That's what we

see here in our text. I want to see

first of all that the Roman governor

Fesus denies the request of the Jewish

leadership to bring Paul back to

Jerusalem. See, Jerusalem is the

opposite direction. If Jesus said,

"We're going to Rome," Jerusalem is not

his plan then. And so, we're looking at

this and what happens is you've got two

years after Felix binds Paul, Fesus

comes into the the seat of the

governor's office here of the Judeian

province. And Fesus was known to be much

more measured, just, and efficient in

his approach to leadership than his

predecessor was. And we see that

demonstrated throughout this chapter.

He's he doesn't just leave Paul bound.

He takes the issue and with a matter of

of of probably just a week or maybe two

of getting to Cesaria, Paul ends up

going to Rome. And so, he's very

efficient in the way that he handles

things. Only 3 days into his arrival, it

tells us in verse one that he ascended

from Cesaria to Jerusalem. And while

Paul was imprisoned in Cesaria for 2

years, he was not soon forgotten back in

Jerusalem. Because although Herod has

Agrippa has appointed a new high priest

there, most say by the name of Ishmael,

that this new high priest brings the

elders of the Jews to the Roman

governor. It says in verse three, they

desired a favor of him. A favor of him.

What's that about? Well, anytime a re a

new Roman governor comes into the

province, he seeks, of course, to

establish uh good relationships with the

local leadership of that province. And

so, one of the ways that they would do

that is by granting favors and and doing

some things early on that that gets them

in good standing with the Jewish

leadership here. And they know how this

Roman system works. And so they come and

they say, "We have a favor of you." And

out of everything they could have asked

him for, what did they ask? Bring Paul

back to Jerusalem that we may judge him.

But what we notice at the end of verse

three is their intent was not to try

Paul. Their intent was to kill Paul. It

says there at the end of verse three,

"Laying weight in the way to kill him."

Yet another ambush has been planned that

in transport from Cesaria to Jerusalem,

they'll just go ahead and take him out.

Why? They know they can't try him. They

know they can't judge him. They know

they can't put him to death by normal

means.

And yet

we have God using an earthly power to

protect his witness, to make sure he

gets to Rome. Because in verse four,

Luke tells us that Fesus answered that

Paul should be kept at Cesaria due to

his Roman citizenship by the way and

that he himself should depart shortly

thither. And so he says in verse 5, let

them therefore said he uh which are

among you are able go down with me to

accuse this man if there be any

wickedness in him. And so he's not

willing to bring Paul to Jerusalem, but

he is willing to do them the favor of

giving them a hearing in Cesaria.

And so what we find here is that even

when Paul was delayed here in Cesaria,

while he is sitting there in Herod's

judgment hall, God is at work behind the

scenes protecting him in ways that were

unknown to him at this time.

And so even when Paul was delayed, God

ensures his witness is going to get to

Rome.

After high school, I was working at a

shop on a farm outside of Longmont and

there was a very windy day and the

tumble weeds are blowing everywhere and

and you've got the the dust swirling all

around and and the flags are waving

relentlessly. I mean, incredibly windy

day. And as I was heading home, you have

to exit through this, you know, I don't

know how to describe it, a farm gate,

you know, with all the bars and

everything. And so you got to swing this

thing open, drive through it, go and

close it. And so I I approach the gate

and I get out and I go and open the

gate. And by the time I get back in my

car, the gate is shut on me again. And

so I get out and I go open the gate and

and then I go back, get in my car, and

[snorts] it's shut again. And this

happened like three or four times. There

was nothing to chain it off to or

anything. And so I just had to keep

racing the gate. And and finally, after

about two or three minutes, I was able

to get it to stay open just long enough.

I thought it was going to shut on my

car, but I squeezed through and burned

out and everything, but made it. Well,

then I start heading out on the road,

and as I'm driving down the road, I

noticed that there's a massive tree that

has fallen all the way across the road

because of this wind. And it was so the

trunk was so thick. It was about here, I

couldn't even see over it to the other

side. And but what I did notice is

underneath that tree was a burgundy

Chevy Silverado smashed under it. And at

this point, I really didn't know what I

was going to find when I came up to that

tree. And so I got out and I was walking

up to it. And as I could peek over the

top, I saw this man and his teenage

daughter sitting off to the side. I

don't know to this day how they made it

out of that, but by the grace of God,

they did. And I'm standing there and

just taking it in. I asked him, "You

guys okay?" And he said, "Yeah, we got

out in time." And I said, "How long ago

did this happen?" and he said like 2

minutes ago. And I got back, made sure

they were good, got back in my car,

started driving the other way, and I

couldn't help but think in the back of

my mind what would have happened if I

wasn't there frustrated, wrestling with

that gate for two or three minutes. I

can't tell you today that I would have

that I would have fallen underneath that

tree. I can't tell you that I would have

crashed into that tree unexpectedly.

But I can look back and just see God's

safety and God's protection even in

something that was frustrating to me,

something that was delayed to me. And

yet, as I look back on life now, I can

think through that God may have stopped

something there to ensure that our

family got to Boulder, to be able to

start this church, to be able to preach

the gospel here to this city that

desperately needs it. I can't know that

for sure. But what this text reveals to

us is even the times when we're sitting

around feeling like God's will is going

nowhere, feeling like uh everything is

delayed and off our timetable, that God

works behind the scenes to stop things

that we don't even know about to advance

his mission in ways that we can't even

see with our finite eyes. And so even

when earthly powers seem to delay God's

plan, I want to assure you he's still at

work behind the scenes.

Sometimes his work is not seen in what

he does, but in what he stops.

There are times in your life when it may

not seem like God is working, but we

have no idea what he's doing behind the

scenes.

>> We don't always see the ways that his

heavenly powers are overruling earthly

powers. whether we're talking about

kings and governors or if we're talking

about plots against us or if we're

talking about natural disasters. We

don't know what God is doing behind the

scenes. But we can trust that he reigns

sovereignly over the skies. We can trust

in that he governs from his heavenly

throne over all the affairs of men. When

God has a plan, there's no earthly power

that can stop it.

In fact, God can set up the right

governor at the right time to ensure a

request like this one is denied so that

his witness gets to where he wants.

God's able to work that way. But I want

you to see that God not only used an

earthly power to deny the Jews request,

he uses the same earthly power to grant

Paul's appeal.

It tells us in verse number six that he

had terried there around 10 days and and

then he goes back down to Cesaria and

the very next day he sits on his

judgment hall. He a seat and he calls

Paul to come and his accusers come and

they begin to bring the same old

accusations that not only we but Luke

has grown tired of rehashing

that he speaks against the Jews that he

pollutes the temple and he speaks

against Moses. They bring all of those

things, but there's evidence here that

they bring another more serious

accusation that he's committed treason

against Caesar, more than likely by

preaching that Jesus is king. That's

their accusation.

And so, uh, he he brings these account

these accusations against him in verse

number eight, but notice at the end of

verse number seven, it says, which they

could not prove. So, they're still empty

of evidence against Paul. In verse

eight, he answers for himself. He says,

"Neither against the law of the Jews,

neither against the temple, nor yet

against Caesar have I offended anything

at all." And so what we're going to find

here later in this chapter is that Fesus

finds him at this point innocent,

not worthy of death, not even of bonds.

that Fesus Paul's their their

accusations being unable to stick to

Paul and Paul's answer for himself. It

leaves Fesus at the conclusion that this

man has done nothing.

And yet it says in verse 9 that he too

was willing to do the Jews a pleasure.

And so he answered Paul and said, "Wilt

thou go up to Jerusalem and there be

judged of these things before me?" And

so now he's willing to bring Paul back.

Why? all to establish good relationships

with the Jews.

Even a as people describe him, people

like Josephus, people like Pho, even as

they describe Fesus as a just man, you

can still see the corruption going on

here that he's willing to send an

innocent man back to Jerusalem just to

please his constituents.

But yet, God used even his wicked

corruption to facilitate his plan going

forward. Because what we see in the

[snorts] very next verse in verse number

10, then said Paul, I stand at Caesar's

judgment seat where I ought to be

judged. To the Jews have I done no

wrong, as thou very well knowest. For if

I be an offender, or have committed

anything worthy of death, I refuse not

to die. But if there be none of these

things whereof they accuse me, no man

may deliver me unto them, I appeal unto

Caesar. I want to point out the word

where Paul says, "No man may deliver me

unto them." It was very interesting

studying this word deliver. It's not the

traditional word that you would see for

save or or deliver, hand over. It's a

play on words that we see when it talks

about how Felix wanted to do the Jews a

pleasure when they when the Jews asked

him a favor. And when Felix says or

Fesus says here again that he's willing

to do them a pleasure. The way that Paul

says deliver me, it's it's no man shall

deliver me for pleasure is what it

means. He says what you're doing is not

right. I stand at Caesar's judgment

seat. That's where I should go. And so

he says I appeal to Caesar. Verse 12

says, "Then Fesus, when he had conferred

with the council, answered, Hast thou

appealed unto Caesar? Unto Caesar shalt

thou go?" In this moment, Paul took a

bold stance and a bold action to advance

himself toward the Lord's will. And you

know what God did? He used even a

corrupt governor to send him to Rome.

Unto Caesar you have appealed. Unto

Caesar you will go. And now we can see

it's coming together how Paul's going to

get to Rome. It's not going to be

through his freedom. It's going to be

through an appeal.

See, there are times when the Lord paves

the pathway for us. But then there are

also times when he works through our own

actions and our own appeals to advance

the gospel. It could be an appeal to a

department here in the the city of

Boulder to be able to do some kind of of

ministry like Hannah's working with the

parks and recck department right now to

try to set up a prayer booth at one of

our parks and to hand out cookies and

and lemonade and things like that. And

this has been a lengthy process and

there's been some delays to it and

there's been some transition of

leadership at the parks department and

so she's been tossed around to a few

people but you know what God could do

through that. It may take a long time.

It might not even get to it this summer.

We may have to wait till next summer.

But God can work in such a way to turn

their hearts and open the door where

they might even ask us to be involved in

some kind of city event down the road

that leads to further gospel

opportunity. God can work that way even

when we appeal to government scenarios.

It could be that our current attempt to

apply for a table at CU's welcome week.

Uh, now let me just say I honestly don't

know if this is going to happen. I've

reached out to a couple organizations.

I've reached out to the university. We

have to be sponsored and so I've got to

get in contact with some uh student

sponsored groups there and I have not

heard back from any at this point. And

so I don't know if we're going to be

able to do that here in a few weeks. But

it doesn't mean that we stop trying. It

means that we turn our appeal somewhere

else and we just keep saying I appeal to

this person and I appeal to this person

and we trust that what God can do is he

can open a door in his timing and in his

way so that it might even enable us to

start a Bible study at the campus beyond

just doing a welcome table during

welcome week. We don't know how God will

use that. our connections that we've

built over these five years with the

police department. It may seem like this

takes a a long time to really develop

and cultivate relationships there to get

your name out in the community, but we

never know if we stay faithful to

continuing to minister to our police

department and our fire department. How

it could open the door for future

chapency or how it could open the door

for a future jail ministry through our

church. We want God to do those things.

And sometimes he will just blow the door

open. But at other times, he works

through governors. He works through uh

legislation. He works through our

personal appeals, desiring to advance

the gospel. And what we can know is that

at times when our appeals to earthly

powers seem delayed or seem ignored, God

can work through them to fulfill his

heavenly plans of the gospel. He can

work in that way. When Paul was delayed,

when powers were against him, they could

not stop the Lord from getting him to

Rome.

>> They couldn't stop it. In fact, this

Roman governor is about to set the plan

in motion.

We've seen the request denied. We've

seen the appeal granted. Now, finally,

let's look at the help wanted. In verse

number 13,

it tells us after certain days, King

Agrippa and Bernice, his sister, came to

Cesaria to salute Fesus. This is Agria

II. He's the son of the Agrippa that

that beheaded James and imprisoned Peter

back in Acts 12. The same agrippa who

was who was eaten by the worms when he

failed to give glory to God. That's this

man's father. This man came to power at

the age of 17 and he had powerful

influence there. He frequently visited

the Roman governors and gave them

guidance because of his Jewish

background and heritage that he knew the

law. He knew the prophets and so he

could serve as like the perfect uh

bridge between Fesus and his Jewish

constituents.

He's a powerful man. He was the one who

appointed the new high priest as well.

And so he carried authority from Rome.

His sister bene Bernice also carried

political weight as well. She would

eventually marry uh General Titus who

destroyed Jerusalem in AD.70 and rose to

the the power of emperor even. She was

set up to be the empress but because of

pressure regarding her Jewish heritage

he went back on his promise to her and

ended up splitting with her. But what it

tells us is that just as Fesus is a

powerful man, now enters another earthly

power and another earthly power. And it

tells us in verse number 14 that when

they'd been there many days, Fesus

declared Paul's cause to the king,

saying, "There's a certain man left in

bonds by Felix about whom when I was at

Jerusalem, the chief and the priests and

the elders of the Jews informed me

desiring to have judgment against him."

And notice what he says. to whom I

answered. It is not the manner of the

Romans to deliver any man to die before

that he which is accused have faced the

accusers face to face and have license

to answer for himself concerning the

crime laid against him. But notice in

verse 17, therefore when they were come

hither without any delay on the

marorrow, I sat on the judgment seat and

commanded the man to be brought forth

against whom, watch this, when the

accusers stood up, they brought none

accusations of such thing as I supposed.

but had certain questions against him of

their own superstition, their own

religious matters, and of one Jesus

which was dead whom Paul affirmed to be

alive. Fesus had probably heard about

this man Jesus who was crucified on a

Roman cross and it and it had sent

Christians all around the world telling

that he had risen again. And now he has

heard from Paul once again that Paul

affirmed vehemently he's alive.

Jesus is risen.

But notice what he says in verse 20.

Because I doubted the such manner of

questions.

Here's here's literally what that means.

I was at a loss for what to do about

these questions.

He said, I there was he's done nothing

worthy of death. I thought they were

going to bring him up on accusations of

insurrection or or something like that.

and it was all about their religion and

their laws about which I know absolutely

nothing. So I was at a loss to do. So he

he says, "You know what I did? I said,

"Hey Paul, you want to go down to

Jerusalem and deal with us there?" But

he appealed to Caesar. And now I don't

know what to do. And what we find if

you'll look at uh verse number 26, he

says, "Of whom I have no certain thing

to write unto my lord. Therefore, I have

brought it before you, and especially

before thee, O king Agrippa, that after

examination had, I might have somewhat

to write. For it seemth unreasonable uh

to me to send a prisoner, and not with

all to signify the crimes laid against

him. He said, I'm in this predicament.

I've got this prisoner, Roman citizen.

He's innocent. Nothing worthy of bonds,

nothing worthy of death. And he's

appealed to Caesar. And now I've got to

send him to the emperor and I have no

idea what the crimes are.

And his implication here is he needs

Herod's help. He needs a Grippa's help

because a grippa is familiar with the

Jewish customs, familiar with the Jewish

laws. And so you could read it yourself.

He calls together uh some of the chief

captains there in Cesaria here in the

Roman capital of Judea. He calls some of

those chief captains together and other

of the chief men of the city and and he

he brings out Paul before them and and

he says, "I want you men and I want you

a grippa to hear what this man has to

say because I need to send a letter

about what charges are against him." And

I have no idea. But what I want to draw

your attention to

is why he's asking for help. Would you

look at the end of verse 25?

It says he himself hath appealed to

Augustus and I have determined to send

him.

Fesus is going to follow Paul's request.

And by Paul's appeal to stand before

Caesar, Fesus is now agreeing to that.

And he is determined to send him. And

all he needs to know is what letter to

send with him.

And so what we realize here is that God

is working through various earthly

powers to fulfill his heavenly plans.

[snorts]

That that God is that God is going to do

what he said he was going to do.

And these earthly powers, though they

are getting in his way, though they want

to get him back to Jerusalem, though the

Jews want to kill him along the way, God

ensures that doesn't happen. And God

works through the Roman system and the

Roman governors and the Roman

citizenship of Paul to ensure that his

witness is protected until he arrives

where God wants. And thus, God always

gets his word where he wants. Why? No

earthly power can stop his heavenly

plans.

And I say to you today that down through

the centuries,

earthly governments and institutions

have tried to stop God's word. They've

burned stacks of Bibles. They've killed

Christians and trampled rights. Even in

our day and time, there are are

institutions that seek to silence

Christianity in the public square. Well,

they've already successfully banned

Bibles and and prayer from our public

school system. And now they're going

after coaches who try to pray with

whoever wants to come and pray with them

before a game. I mean, it's not coerced.

It's voluntary. But that's not good

enough. We don't want prayer on our

public football fields.

We've even seen an uptick of violence

here in America against houses of

worship, whether it be shootings at

churches or driving cars into churches

or protesting right in the middle of a

worship service. Can you imagine that

all of the sudden an angry mob comes in

our front doors here and makes their way

down right in the middle of of my sermon

and they're holding up signs and

creating havoc and filming and just

trying to get anybody to do something

stupid.

That's happened here in America.

People are trying to get in the way.

They're trying to stop God's word. In

other countries around the world, it's

been made illegal for you to share your

faith with someone in attempt to convert

them. In Muslim countries, Christians

are imprisoned, if not beheaded for

their faith in Jesus Christ. And

sometimes when earthly powers are rising

up against God's witnesses, we can

wonder whether or not the word will

prevail, whether or not the word will

get everywhere that God wants. But a

text like this reaffirms to us that

God's word always gets where he wants.

And there's no power on earth that can

stop it from getting where he wants. And

what that means for you and me is we

need to be like Paul and just keep doing

what we can to fulfill God's plan. That

we can trust him to work whether it's

through legislation, whether it's

through earthly powers, whether it's

through our testimony, or whether it's

through our appeals here in our city. We

can trust that if we will do what God

has called us to do, God will work in

one way or another to ensure that his

word gets to the heart of every person

in this city who will believe on Jesus

Christ. It'll get everywhere he wants it

to go. Even to those who reject it,

>> right?

>> Even to those who reject it. That's how

much God loves the world. He not only

gave his son to die for their sin, but

he sends his witnesses and works

unstoppably to ensure that people hear

that gospel message. God will continue

to work. Sometimes our evangelistic

plans may be delayed or our desires to

get a building or to plant another

church or to send a missionary that may

not come as quickly as we desire. And

sometimes our plan to start that new

ministry at at CU or at the jail, it it

may fall through for the time being, but

it doesn't mean we just sit idly by and

wait for God to do an absolute miracle.

We continue to trust him. We continue to

depend on him, but we continue to labor

in the harvest for him to reach the

world for Christ.

Sometimes God works in behind the scenes

in ways that we don't know. Sometimes he

works through the actions we take. And

sometimes he uses earthly powers to

advance his word. But we must simply

keep doing what we can to fulfill God's

plan. It means we keep passing out

gospel tracks in our city no matter how

many times it's rejected. It means we

continue to go on all church outreach

and get door hangers to every door here

in Boulder. Even if over five years

we've only had a few come. Why do we

keep doing that? Because God's going to

get his word wherever he wants it to be.

And he chooses to use us as the agents

to do so. God works through us to reach

people for Christ. We need to keep

engaging in the public square at the

university, the police department, and

wherever God would speak to your heart.

Let me encourage you that every ministry

of this church doesn't have to be a

ministry that the pastor starts or the

pastor's wife organizes. No, you can go

and not and and and tell a parks and

recck department that that you go to a

church and you just want to be a help

and a blessing to people and you just

want to set up a prayer booth and you

want to make cookies and give water out

to people and where you take the

initiative and say, "God's called me. He

sent me here to be a witness to this

city and therefore I'm going to do

whatever I can. We just got to keep

casting a wide net. Church, I grew up

fishing with my dad. We'd go up to

Brainer Lake when I was a kid and cast

some lines out there and catch hardly

anything.

But I remember as a kid, my dad would

sometimes tie another hook onto his

line. And I remember asking him as I

don't know 8, nine years old, "Dad, why

are you putting another hook on there?

You've already got one." And he said

something simple along these lines,

"More lines, more hooks, more fish." I

just thought, "That's crazy," you know,

but then it happened [laughter] in a way

I never thought possible. My dad hooks

one and he's fighting this beast and I

can see his pole is just bending over

and he's reeling it in and and as the

line comes up, he's got two fish, one on

each hook. And he was proven right. More

lines, more hooks, more fish.

church. We just need to keep casting

lines,

casting more hooks, doing everything we

can to stay on mission, to continue to

develop evangelistic ministries, to

continue to find ways to to get into our

community, to meet people. I mean, I I

don't know what all God's going to do.

When we were at camp this week, God was

just working on my heart and telling me,

"Mark, you're not just trusting me

enough to do something." And I don't

know what exactly that is. And I'm

asking the Lord to show me what that is.

But I have the sense that he wants us to

move our family to Boulder. And I don't

know how in the world we would ever be

able to do that. I He's talking to me

about sending an email to people with a

building for sale and just seeing what

happens and sending emails to multiple

organizations that see you and just

seeing until something sticks. And and

this message was prepared before camp.

And then I go to camp and this is in my

mind and I've already written this

illustration. Just keep casting lines.

And it's like God is saying that's what

this church needs to do.

It doesn't matter what we try to do, but

we've got to do something to reach this

city for Christ.

It takes us witnessing.

In America, we've gotten things

backwards

where we tell everybody to come into

church and hear the gospel here.

But what do we see throughout Acts?

Paul's going to the streets proclaiming

Christ.

He's going to the synagogue where people

meet for instruction, proclaiming

Christ. He's meeting at a school of

Tyrannis in Ephesus and he's preaching

Christ. And we see that the gospel goes

everywhere and people witness. And then

out of those people who get saved, they

assemble a a church who begins to meet

and begins to worship the Lord. And I

just wonder if America is losing ground

in Christianity because churches are

content to put on a big production and

just say, "Come in and join us instead

of going out like we've been called to

do, casting the line and being fishers

of men."

Never seen a fisherman sit in a boat and

say, "Come on, fish.

Hop in."

Never seen that. They cast nets. They

cast lines. They pull down nets. They

put their arm in. You know what's that

called? Noodling. They put their arm in

with a hot dog and grab those things.

But we've been called to be fishers of

men. And you never see fishers of men,

not fishing.

It's what we've been called to do,

>> right?

>> And we should have great confidence to

do so. Why? No earthly power can stop

God's heavenly plan.

>> So, if we just cast the line,

we can trust God to reel them in.

I encourage you, church. Let's be

faithful

as we have ministries developed and we

do our best. I'm I'm going to do my best

over these next few weeks to see if we

can get that table set up. And if not,

we're just going to keep trying and keep

figuring out ways to do it. And when

someone finally bites and we get a hook,

I want to encourage you get involved.

>> I want to encourage you to get involved.

Should the parks department come through

and Hannah's able to do that, I want to

encourage you ladies, get involved. If

you got kids, get your kids there and

get them involved and play with little

kids and speak with the the wives and

the dads that are there and and when the

opportunity comes, share the gospel with

them. Get involved

to reach the city. It's going to take

more than a few. And it's going to take

more than a complacent pastor as well.

We need to witness. We need to do what

Christ has called us to do, trusting his

power can overrule every other power.

If you're not a Christian here this

morning,

I hope that you see this.

God has worked unstoppably

to get the word to you.

It began before the foundation of the

world when God knew Adam and Eve would

sin. And he knew that every single one

of us, if given the choice with sin, he

already had a plan to rescue and save

you from your sin, to save you from the

wrath to come. And that plan from the

foundation of the world was his son,

Jesus Christ.

>> No ordinary human being could save your

soul. No angel could save your soul.

Only the innocent blood of Jesus Christ

shed on the cross could atone for your

sin. Only his blood could satisfy God's

wrath against you. God has made

provision for your salvation.

And he has worked in ways that we have

no idea to stop some things and to move

other things so you could hear the word

today.

God offers you salvation

and forgiveness. Now, if you'll believe

that his son paid the price for you, if

you believe that he rose from the dead,

if you believe only he is the source of

salvation,

then my Bible says, "Whosoever shall

call upon the name of the Lord shall be

saved."

You just cry out, "God, I know I'm a

sinner.

And I know my sin leaves me condemned

before you, but I believe your son gave

his life for me. I believe that you

raised him from the dead. And I believe

you'll save me now. And I'm calling on

you. Forgive my sin. Save me. Give me

life." You may not even know the words

to say, but what I know this is God

knows your heart.

>> And he's willing to save whosoever will

if you will come to him. No earthly

power can stop his heavenly plan. So,

let's just keep getting that word out,

trusting God always gets his word where

he wants. Heavenly Father, we do come

before you today

acknowledging that we can face

intimidation.

We can face fear.

Delays can be frustrating.

But we also cling to the truth of your

word as you've demonstrated to us, not

just in this text, but throughout your

word, that when you want to do

something, nothing's going to stand in

your way. And so, may we be faithful

to proclaim the gospel wherever we go.

May we cast a wide net

that we might have greater opportunity

to share Christ that others might

believe and be saved and that Christ may

be glorified for the sacrifice that he

made on that cross. Oh God, fill our

hearts with passion and boldness to be

the witnesses you've called us to be.

And I pray if there's someone here who's

never trusted Christ as their savior,

that they would believe and call on him

today and be forever changed, forever

forgiven, and atoned for by Jesus

Christ. ask in his name.