INTRODUCTION
• Last week how Acts 15 and the decision that kept us free in Jesus - grace.
• We often speak of destiny at Water of Life. You are not an accident, but the truth is most of us don’t know how destiny unfolds.
• I want to walk you through how Paul’s destiny was fulfilled.
• The first 20 chapters of the book of Acts covered 25 years the last eight chapters covers 2.5-5 years.
• Those eight chapters cover the closing years in the life of Paul.
• Some of Chapters 21-28 covers just a handful of days.
• We are going to cover eight to nine chapters of Acts today.
• All covering Paul’s sense of destiny in Rome.
• Paul wanted to get to the place that could change the world.
• He says that three times in Romans 15:22-24, “For this reason I have often been prevented from coming to you…I have had for many years a longing to come to you. Whenever I go to Spain—for I hope to see you in passing…”
Romans 15:28, “Therefore, when I have finished this, and have put my seal on this fruit of theirs, I will go on by way of you to Spain.”
Romans 15:32, “…so that I may come to you in joy by the will of God and find refreshing rest in your company.”
Romans 1:10,15, “…by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you… so, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.”
• The will of God in your life today involves your part and His part.
• Paul understood destiny involved partnership with God.
• It was a two way street.
Philippians 3:12-13, “...I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus…one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
• Getting to Rome was critical in the strategy of God to touch nations.
• God wants to use you to touch people...
• That would be born out in the next 300 years as the church swept through the Roman culture even as they fed believers to lions.
• Acts chapter 21 we pick up Paul’s journey.
• He didn’t realize he would end up getting an all-expense paid trip as a prisoner of Rome but he did.
I. WALKING INTO A DISASTER AND DESTINY
Acts 21:8, “On the next day we left and came to Caesarea, and entering the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, we stayed with him.”
Acts 21:10-11, “…a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. 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.”’
• Pretty wild thing. Kind of tough to get.
• Vss. 12-14 - Paul goes to Jerusalem in spite of the Holy Spirit warning him what was to come.
“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, weeping 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, remarking, ‘The will of the Lord be done!’”
• Was this clearly prophetic? Yes, but Paul knew he made his call according to his conscience.
• Was he rebellious? No, he was mature and understood what prophecy was for.
• Prophecy is not intended to prevent human choice, but to give insight into it.
I Corinthians 13:9, “We know in part and prophesy in part.” Prophecy is partial.
• Romans is clear, the Spirit had spoken to Paul’s heart. Like He will speak to your heart!
• God has set destiny (eternity) in your hearts.
• It prepared him for the trial ahead. God’s in it even when it is tough!
Acts 20:22-24, “And now, behold, bound in 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 bonds and afflictions await me…so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord…”
• Took Paul 13 years to be released. Don’t give up. Don’t give up, stay in!
• This is a guy willing to do whatever it takes to touch others for Jesus!
• This is God. We don’t desire this without Him.
• So he comes to Jerusalem and goes into the temple.
Acts 21:30, “Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander… that all Jerusalem was in confusion. At once he took along… soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.”
• This is demonic, dark spiritual battle, but God is in it!
• Some of you feel this, beat up in the journey.
• Acts 22:22-24 - Paul asks for and defends himself with the Jews, but it gets worse!
Acts 22:25, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a Roman?...I am a Roman citizen.” I am American!
• Carries huge weight.
• So he is arrested and taken before the Jewish leaders in Chapter 23.
Acts 23:12-16 - A plot is hatched to murder him, but God intervenes and Paul’s nephew hears it and Paul asks the Romans for help.
• Please get this - Paul always moved with those God put in his life and with the Holy Spirit. He understood God uses people!
• People only control you as much as you think they do.
• He fully understood he was part of working out this divine plan.
• Acts 23:23-24 - Paul moved to Caesarea where kings lived! So God uses these guys’ plan to get Paul where He wants him to be.
Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good...”
II. THE WILD WAY GOD WORKS OUT HIS WILL
• We often think we know how God will work or move in a situation or circumstance.
• Often you cannot. He moves secretly, but He is moving.
• If you don’t get anything else out of the message today get this.
• God is wild and uses humans and human institutions to get His will done. The boss, an authority in your life, a circumstance…
• He did that over and over with Paul. Using Romans and Jews, kings and leaders to get it done.
• So Paul gets to meet kings and leaders, because he is in Caesarea.
• Acts 24:13 - Charges are brought by Jews against Paul.
• Acts 24:23 - Felix governor holds him two years.
Acts 25:9-12, Paul uses his citizenship to his advantage. “After Paul arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing…serious charges against him, while Paul said in his own defense, ‘I have committed no offense either against the law of the Jews…or against Caesar.’ But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, answered Paul and said, ‘Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and stand trial before me on these charges?’ 10But Paul said, ‘I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried...’”
• No way not back to Jerusalem, but Rome!
Acts 25:11-12, Send me to Rome! “...I appeal to Caesar.” Then when Festus had conferred with his council, he answered, ‘You have appealed to Caesar, to Caesar you shall go.”
• Paul only did this because he knew his destiny. Never took his eye off the goal - don’t get sidetracked.
• Vss. 13 - King Agrippa shows up.
• Acts 26:1-4,6,9-11-15,24-29 - Paul defends himself with King Agrippa and almost leads him to Jesus.
• Three times Paul tells his story. Do you have a story?
• Can you use your story to touch people?
III. IN THE HAND OF MEN OR GOD?
Acts 23:11, When Paul is first arrested God shows up and speaks. ”But on the night immediately following, the Lord stood at his side and said, ‘Take courage; for as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so you must witness at Rome also.’”
• Three men, all Romans and all used by God. Felix Roman Procurator, like Pilot, Festus takes over from him and then King Agrippa.
• Two years he spent waiting in Caesarea.
• Then two more years in Rome. Four years of his life.
• But he knew who held him and his destiny.
Philemon 1:1, “Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus...”
• Not of Rome or Caesar or Festus or King Agrippa.
• Held by Jesus. Who holds you in crisis?
• His clarity of purpose allowed him to press through struggles. We all need that.
• Paul keeps doing the same thing no matter what is going on.
• Chapter 27 the trip to Rome.
o Vss. 1, 6-13 - The trip goes bad storm lasts two weeks.
o Vss. 14-20 - “All hope was lost.”
o All but Paul.
o Vss. 21-44 - All swam for their lives and made it.
CLOSE
• Paul received supernatural insight throughout his journey, but he also knew God was working with the leaders and men in his life…guards, to protect him, kings who would send him.
• He honors divinely appointed authority, even authority that is not godly.
• He knew that his destiny was not a place on a map, but a purpose born in God’s heart.
• This is what made Paul so effective no matter whether he was on trial or a prisoner or on an outreach trip.
