Back To The Future Series

Back To The Future

Acts 28:1-31

Chili & Caroling; Next Sunday service.

I'll be preaching a message I've entitled "Back to the Future." Watch this!

That future is now in the past. We reached that movie date a little less than 2 months ago. It was called "Back To The Future Day," October 21, 2015. That date was some 30 years away from the original setting of the film in 1985. What's interesting is in the making of the movie set 30 years in the future, the filmmakers tried to predict what life would be like in 2015. It got some things right, and it also got some things wrong.

It predicted rightly that there would be:

Flat screen TV's hanging over fireplaces, Electronics at the dinner table,

A Baseball Team in Miami, Florida - none of which existed in 1985

What it got wrong: Flying cars, double-ties being fashionable, and the Cubs winning the World Series. None of which have happened!

But then there are some things that over the 30 year-span stayed exactly the same - namely, the personalities and proclivities of the film's main characters - Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and of course the antagonist... Biff.

I've entitled my message this morning, "Back To The Future." We've spent the last 11 months going verse by verse through the entire book of Acts. Acts is a historical account of Jesus' continual work on earth through His church. Acts began at Jesus' ascension around 30 AD, and concludes here in chapter 28 with the apostle Paul under house arrest in the capital of the empire, Rome in 64 AD. Acts covers some over 30 years of history.

But the last chapter of the book of Acts was not the last chapter of the church. The church has continued on for the last 2,000 years, and the church WILL continue on for eternity. But while many things have changed in the world, there are some things that have remained exactly the same.

This morning we're going to consider those things. We'll see God's work in the apostle Paul's life here in chapter 28 - a chapter that is over 30 years after the birth of the church. But what we'll notice is the same values and priorities that existed at Pentecost are still at work in Paul's life. And the application for us is this - as we look back on the early church, we're also looking at the future. For us to be a church on Mission; a church that emulates what the early church did, we must be committed to the same values and priorities that marked this church.

In fact, we can see these three values and priorities of the church in the final words Jesus spoke to the gathered disciples in Jerusalem just before his ascension. Throughout this series I've noted multiple times that Acts 1:8 is the theme verse for the entire book. Let's look at it again: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8

As we go through the entirety of chapter 28 today, we will notice how the three components of Acts 1:8 are lived out in the life and ministry of the apostle Paul. In fact, as I studied this passage I realized Acts 1:8 is really the outline of Acts chapter 28. And by God's grace Acts 1:8 will be the outline for LVBC. So as we go back to the future in our final message in this series, let's consider three components that existed in the first year of the church, the 30th year of the church and should exist in every generation of Christ's church. First of all to be a church on mission, there must be...

I. A Demonstration Of SPIRITUAL POWER

Jesus' promise in Acts 1:8 was... "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...

As we come to chapter 28 we find this is in fact the case. If you were with us last week you remember the harrowing adventure Paul endured with 276 people on the way from Caesarea on the coast of Palestine, across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome. A journey that should have taken 5 weeks by ship ended up being over 4 months long. They got caught in a typhoon, hurled all the ships cargo overboard to save their lives, and drifted at sea for weeks before being grounded on a sand bar just off the coast of Malta. The rough surf crashed upon the stern of the boat and broke it to pieces. Leaving the 276 passengers of the freighter swimming and floating on debris from the ship to the coast of the island of Malta. That's where we pick up the story in verse 1 of chapter 28: