 Okay, good morning and welcome to this last session on the acts of fossils and the life ball We will begin with a word of prayer asked Rupa. Would you be able to lead us in prayer? Sherman yes Father we thank you. Bless your holy name this morning. God. Thank you for being with us in this journey of learning acts and seeing your Manifestation of your power and your glory and the way you're empowered your Servants to carry on the gospel Lord. We thank and praise you Thank you for bringing to us the life of Paul and Giving us the grace to learn so many Important lessons from his life and his missionaries journey slot. Thank you for father Ma'am Nancy Ma'am for being with her and empowering her to teach us Lord God be with us in this last class as we Meditate on your word learn from your word father open our hearts and minds to receive your word in the name of Jesus I bet thank you. Thank you sister So as we've been reading about the trial of Apostle Paul we note that he stood before two governors in Syria and One of them did not really make a decision He made a decision in the favor of the Jews Which is why he kept Paul implicit that we govern Felix and then he handed on the responsibility to festus Festus being More you could say righteous in terms of wanting to make a fast decision He did whatever he could to get a reason To you know take this case forward however Paul appealed go to Caesar and which is why Festus could not really make decision on this But he was ready to send all to However, he did need to produce at least a letter which had some content in it to describe You know the the condition and the prospects and Something about Paul and the reason why he is under custody And so what festus thought is he thought that he would have this case examined or at least heard out by King Agrippa and So King Agrippa and you know his Wife or person that he was living at that time So she comes in they have this entire ceremony with pomp and duty and Paul presents His defense Narrates his life story and what exactly happened and how he has Obedient to the call that God has given now beyond this we will see what exactly happens So instead of reading the entire narrative, you know, we could read the entire narrative but I thought for the lack of time in a sense and also the fact that the the chapter that proceeds is more of a Journey so it is quite alright, you know if we Skip all the minor details there But then I would like to show you a map which sort of captures The entire journey now as I told us earlier Paul was in Caesarea for two years and then he is sent across to Rome to go and Meet Caesar that is when you know, he makes his journey so festus sense him along with a centurion And it is likely that he traveled on Ship that took many other prisoners, you know On route to to a room and you know, wherever else they needed to go. So This was from acts from seven, you know, the entire chapter facts 27 is a Journey a ship money that we would be looking at so You see that Initially they proceed in favorable weather But then Paul Predicts that it think they're not going to turn out all that well for the crew which is traveling and Rightly, so they encounter a rough feather and they they end up, you know, trying to Maneuver the ship and so acts 27 is a description of This unfavorable weather and how they actually set sail amidst this kind of and Posing environment. So here's the map for us. And I really hope you are able to see it Is is it visible? Yes, ma'am. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Thank you sister. So as we can see here I've tried to enlarge the image as much as possible Okay, so we are we said that you know In acts 21 when Paul was caught in Jerusalem, you know, the whole Conspiracy against him and the opposition arose and then for his safety via Antipatris, he was transported to Syria. He sat there for two years under the insistence of Felix and then of course Festus came and the appeal to go to Caesar and finally Paul is on his way to Rome. So here is the route which acts 27 covers He moves from Caesarea to Sidon And from there, you know around Cyprus He travels to Myra. So when we are saying he travels, he is still under the care of Centurion. Let's not forget that. So, you know, he's being taken as a person who is To be he he's under trial basically, so he has a people who are guarding him. So he goes to Myra From there. You see the route Around night is and they finally come here to Salmon then, you know Crete so Fair Heavens is a place from where they Bored another ship. It's an Alexandrian ship which they Bored and from there begin to move towards Rome as they move towards Rome see so far Everything seemed okay. It's kind of going the way they liked it. But here after Fair Heavens is where a storm affects the ship so Storms cause ship to lose control and want to see for two weeks. So a good 14 days They're on the ship. They are afraid and in fact, you know, as we read Paul Told us that Paul already predicted that this is not going to end in a good manner and there are 200 odd people on the ship Who are traveling and so in fear To 14 days people did not eat on the ship. So the situation was that bad, you know facing all these Tommy wins and you know, it acts 27 You could read the description of how they exactly tried to manoeuvre. So Why the situation was bad, you know again God Encounters Paul and he assures them that people are your that the life will not be lost You know on the ship. So that's again a prophetic assurance, which God gives Paul The way he has been doing to Paul earlier. Remember in Corinth He said there are the people who are whom I have in place just like you so there was an encouragement to again God spoke Paul and he said look I am with you. Don't be afraid. So God's reassurance to Paul Once again is that people are not going to lose their lives that this Though the ship will be wrecked people's lives are going to be saved. So When the soldiers, you know the soldiers they kind of They begin to panic. They have several prisoners with them I told you that there are many prisoners on this particular ship. So looking at the fact that this may Actually get destroyed You know at some point people start jumping off the ship Paul advances them and he tells them like Don't do that. You don't have to do that Just stay on the ship because none of the lives are going to be lost and so they listen to Paul and Somehow, you know, they the people who are doing this They are able to you say crash land right crash land in a sort of a safe way So the ship did not survive but the people survived. So land on this particular island as Malta So they end up being here for a long while and then read The fact that they they've they visited the the place of a leader of this town called Malta where They ministered, you know Paul minister to somebody who was sick. So what exactly happens on this island of Malta to? Incidents read one is This is at 28 so we'll eat that as soon as go on to this island they you know, they Make a fire just to host, you know, Paul and any other people who have just a crash landed from the ship And so they make this fire, but unfortunately, you know, there is a wiper that comes out of this This The stack of wood there and it Bites whites or things what do you say for snakes? So it Bites the ball and apparently on Whoever was bitten by snake Dying right so it's such a poisonous wiper Somehow you know Paul is able to shake it off shake off the wiper and nothing happens to him, right? When we see this incident, it's amazing for us, it's amazing But it's even more amazing for the people of Malta because they know what can transpire if a Wiper, you know touches you let alone does anything more that so they notice that nothing happened to Paul so initially they come in about Paul being a Guilty man, which is why even though in their understanding destiny had A Pin favorable destiny had smiled on Paul that though Storm really had to destroy Paul's life. He somehow escaped the storm Okay, so they were saying that look God has been gracious to you Paul, you know The goodness of whatever the universe or destiny That's that's showed up on But you are certainly guilty because Excuse me After having escaped, you know such a edge of destruction You are now And countering a wiper, okay, so destiny has it that you need to die Excuse me. I'll just Yes That's how they are viewing it that this man has really got to be guilty for in their understanding the gods to get him a second time and so they would have Fearfully but They would have known in their minds that surely this man is going to die So they fearfully waited for this man to fall dead before their eyes But he didn't once he shook off the wiper Nothing happened to Paul, right? Absolutely nothing happened to Paul and so this Incident made them realize that Paul is probably a Very good man. He's a very noble man. He's a man who has incredible favor With God and wonder he escaped Poisonous wife, so you look at the Observation of people and the way people respond like public opinion We call it and we've seen this earlier as well in the life of Paul and Listera when Once people were saying, you know, you are the gods the big gods Hormis sensors, but eventually when they find that Paul and Barnabas are not You know, they don't want to Condone the kind of worship that's taking place in Listera Come up with all kinds of accusations and there is a mob uprising Against for Barnabas Listera So people and shift their opinions public opinion about us can change at any given point in time So we must not rely on that and even here in Malta when this whole vibe situation happened That is what happened but at God for Paul's In who he was in Christ and so he was not shaped by the Opinions of the people and so this was one incident that took place on the island of Malta and the other incident that place as I mentioned earlier, they went to the house of Publius or blouse. How do you want to pronounce this? But now so he was one of the leaders in that island and His father was big so when Paul went there he Buked the fever and the fever actually left this map and so again Paul was held high regard in this island of Malta So the beauty is that wherever Paul goes Wondered because of the Paul of God this life the other thing is that because of his own Passion to share the love of Christ his own passion to Demonstrate the power of the glory of God you find him doing work of the mystery Everywhere everywhere. So, you know crash being on the sea He is being a prophetic Minister guiding a ship which is going to wreck. How do you man over such a ship? He's hearing from God. He's guiding the people even after The whole ship incident on Malta. There is more ministry for Paul's praise Prisoner as a prisoner There was so much for Paul to actually do so that is how You know acts of 27 Ends and then you begin to see that's 28 that Paul eventually reaches Reaches the room and with there he comes under the charge of the Roman authorities and They say, okay, Paul, you know, we need you to Provide a defense. We've heard so much about you But we need to find out what the matter of this case is in fact, you know, I didn't mention to us earlier that Agrippa, you know, one of the things that Agrippa says after having heard Paul's defense is that This man could have been set free. Okay, this man could have been set free Had he not appealed to Caesar, so let me see if I can find that Worst for us so Paul's incense is Proved over and over again. Okay, so this acts 26 and was 32 where Agrippa mentioned these two fests said This man Might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar. So, you know, he's there. His essence was very clear however knowing that Paul Was called to serve the Lord and that people who were Against him. He had gone through so many things through his life in his life and He faced opposition and he faced Even natural challenges like saw the tempest that took place in acts 27 and his whole time in the island of Malta and many things But, you know, his struggle continued in Rome. So in acts 28 after the arrival of Paul in Rome, what we notice is They want to hear from Paul What really he wanted to say about this entire situation So in the meantime, what they do is they put him up in a particular place So this kind of imprisonment which he had in Rome the first imprisonment was a You could say something like a home imprisonment where there were soldiers Okay, there were soldiers and apparently the way the soldiers used to Watch a Paul was they were even tied to Paul. So, you know, there was one Pankov on Paul and the other was on the soul. So he was guarded in that fashion. He was under You know complete view of soldiers But they gave him freedom. So in this home imprisonment, they allowed anyone and everyone to actually visit Paul and they said, okay, anyone can visit you. Anyone can Come and meet you. You can do whatever you want just that Under our custody. So He read that he continued his ministry in Rome. Okay, Rome was one place that he wanted to visit a Long time ago, but he was not able to visit and he already knew that there was a beautiful thriving believing communication was in Rome and it was his heart's desire to actually meet them but this time around, you know, though Under unfortunate circumstances He made to Rome He had the freedom to minister to people. So in God's own way and in God's grace Paul again continued the work of the ministry in The beautiful thing that, you know, it speaks to me is the fact that Paul thought Okay, let me just Come to that Yeah, so verse 23 of Acts 28 Okay, if you're there, would I even want to be able to read Acts 28 and verse 23? So this is Paul under home imprisonment in Rome Either Abhishek or maybe Christopher, you're okay to read it One verse 20 verse 28 and 28 Yeah, verse 23 Okay So when they appointed him a day many came to him at his lodging to whom he explained and solemnly Testified of the kingdom of God and persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophet from morning till evening Yes, thank you Abhishek So it really makes one wonder I stated that wherever he went, you know, he was a carrier of God's presence He was passionate about sharing the gospel Sometimes we have a mindset where we step into ministry, we spout of ministry But what do you do when somebody is living for the cause at all times, you know And Paul is one such individual where there's no stepping in, stepping out Every moment is an opportunity and he makes use of it So we've seen that being under the governors was an opportunity to minister to the high authorities of his days And talk about Jesus with them Now we don't know how many people he spoke to while on the ship while on this voyage from Caesarea to Rome Which some people call as the fourth missionary journey But I'm sure he would have, you know, shared the gospel He would have equipped people in the teachings of the kingdom of God We don't know how many disciples came out of that ship, how many people planted churches, we don't know But the reality is that the ministry went on and on and on Even on Island of Malta, then he come to Rome And here we are reading in Acts 28 verse 23 So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging Whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God That is understandable So he was there, since permission was given for people to visit him He continued, you know, explaining things to them, teaching them about the kingdom of God Testifying about it, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and the prophets But notice, it also says, from morning till evening Okay, do we recall where else he did something like this? Long summit He did this in the... There was a tire where Eutychus, he fell, didn't it? He fell and he actually died So I hope I'm getting the name of the place right Yeah, there was a place where a gentleman even fell Because Paul had so much to share Now when one is under imprisonment and they are teaching from morning till evening Think about it How full one heart must be with the word of God to be able to impart it In this continual manner Even in Ephesus, two years he was in Ephesus, school of tyrannous He ministered to every given opportunity How much he could teach the people, how much he equipped the people He was pouring into the lives of others And it is really so beautiful to see that one can be passionate This is like revival That's why sometimes we look at the lack of Paul and look at Paul and say He was a carrier of revival Wherever he went, there was this fire burning in him Which never mellowed down in any way He was on fire, he did his work with great zeal and zest Even under imprisonment in Rome It's quite scary to think what might happen to Paul if he were to get convicted But putting those thoughts aside, he looked at the given circumstances as an opportunity He is teaching the people from morning till evening So incredible, incredible to know that someone soared into the kingdom the way Paul did And many lessons to learn from the life of Paul And over here, verse 30, can I request either Abhishek or Christopher, please read verse 30 Yes, okay Then Paul went to whole years in his own rented house and received all who came to him Okay, so it helps us know our timeline So how long did he stay in this house? It says house but we know that it was basically a house imprisonment He couldn't travel out of Rome So for two years, he was in Zaria for two years and now he is in Rome for two years So far we have seen the birth of the church We have seen the impact of the church We have seen the raising up of leaders We have seen the raising up of a very notable leader In the life of the church by the name of Apostle Paul And the journey he makes from the time he encounters the Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus All the way till he actually reaches Rome And from Damascus to Rome as shared in the book of Acts Paul covers the encounter and then he covers He doesn't talk too much about the preparatory years of Paul's life But he does begin to talk about his ministry in Antioch You know, once Barnabas brings him to Antioch And then three missionary journeys Three missionary, wonderful missionary journeys Filled great enthusiasm to serve the Lord Filled with much hard work We know wherever Paul could do his technique He did that wherever he could just focus and do his teaching He did that, he imparted everything he knew as essential for the believers So he went from one place to the other Then three missionary journeys He got several people to the Lord And many churches were also planted And not only that, as part of the missionary journeys We saw him going back to some of those old church plans And strengthening them once again All this with a sense of accountability to other leaders of the church You see, Paul didn't do things in a very, you know, I great And I know it all sort of manner But he was answerable to his own leaders back in Antioch He was reporting matters to his leaders in Antioch He was in touch with, you know, the leaders of Jerusalem When I say in touch, we know that he did not really have many days to spend in Jerusalem But he had a sense of honor for the leaders of Jerusalem And wherever required, you know, he did interact or take counsel We know about Acts 15 where the matter was escalated to the leadership of Jerusalem So, you know, he did things with a sense of accountability A sense of friendship and kingdom mentality with the leaders Not just the leaders, when we read the Epistles of Paul We see how he credits so many different leaders But, you know, as far as Paul's ministry in their lives is concerned He nurtured them from a place of being a believer to a leader How beautiful! Then he had privilege to call them leaders and credit them as leaders So, such was the ministry of Apostle Paul So he raised up churches with incredible fire The same kind of fire and seal which he carried was imparted to these churches And even up until the last portion of the Book of Acts Which is his travel to Rome or the voyage to Rome Sometimes considered as the fourth missionary journey and his first imprisonment They're saying first imprisonment because history has it that he underwent the second imprisonment as well And he was likely muttered somewhere around 64 AD or so And, you know, it said that he or, you know, not 64 There is again a time when the exact time people speculated So, 68 AD 68 AD as far as our time which we have put down is concerned We say 68 AD is around the time and he was at the second Roman imprisonment and died How did Paul die? Was he finally convicted? So, we don't have details from the Gospels or, sorry, I mean to say New Testament books to say that it was conviction That caused Paul's execution, he was beheaded It is likely that under the rule of Emperor Nero Persecution of Christians, right? It was quite rampant Or Christians, if anyone believed in Christ, they were being persecuted So it's likely that Paul kept that persecution And not necessarily as, oh, he spoke against the Jews Or he spoke against the Roman Empire and killed him It may not have happened like that So not through a conviction But more like it was a season of persecution The many were being killed and so Paul was also killed And it is said that he was beheaded He was not necessarily tortured many other ways Which other Christians of his time faced simply because he was Roman So being a Roman citizen had its privileges And they could not be ill-treated in several other ways He would have just been executed through beheading And this is right after the Second Imprisonment So that's about the life of Paul I know that's a lot for us to actually take in But then let me quickly summarize a few more timelines Just so we clear about how the Book of Acts and Paul's life is As far as the years are concerned So let me also show for us a map here Or a document which you're doing okay Was it like too much information or variable in one session? I would have loved for this to take a couple of sessions But I just squeezed it in Is that fine? Yes, first Alright, thank you So I hope you can see So I've just put this together for clarity Because I know different dates We mentioned a lot of these details First missionary journey, Second missionary journey All that Just so we can capture it in a proper manner I'll read out no timelines And you can also see it So that way it will register with you And there will be clarity Compile this from our ABC publication Revivals, Visitations and Moves of God We saw the initial years of the birth of the church So Acts chapter 2 to Acts chapter 8 From the moment that the Holy Spirit is poured out On the 120 believers in the upper room To the time where Philip goes and ministers in Samaria So that is about 8 years So 30 to 38 AD And what we see is the question that I asked us in the assignment Where we talk about the birth of the early church And the impact of the early church We could even say that it is a scene Or a picture of a church revival Because people were coming to know Jesus In large numbers Supernatural works of God were taking place Revival fires were spreading across So just the way that Jesus had said in Jerusalem In Samaria to the ends of the earth So the fire had started spreading out Now Acts 13 or Acts 9 Is the next set of years So it is about 9 years again So over here what we see happening is the encounter of Paul On the road to Damascus And the birth of the Antioch Church Which is a very special church for us In this context And how God calls out Barnabas and Paul For the work of the ministry So all this happens So at the time when Paul was called God He would have been somewhere between the ages of 29 to 33 years So beyond Acts 13 Where the missionary journeys actually start From there to the end of the book Looking at a period of about 20 years So what is going on in these 20 years We see that Paul makes his first missionary journey So Acts 844 to 846 Would be the first missionary journey That's about 2 years The second missionary journey is 1849 To 1852 That is 3 years Actually we also sometimes say 3 to 4 years It could have been So that's roughly about the time And over here The second missionary journey We looked at many points of emphasis But one key thing that we can remember Is he probably wrote the epistles First and second Thessalonians Epistles is letters of Paul Epistles So first and second Thessalonians So he wrote it in the second missionary journey Third missionary journey of Paul Between 53 to 58 A.D. Over 4 years Here again We know that he spent 3 years in Ephesus He wrote Galatians And first Corinthians From Macedonia He wrote 2nd Corinthians From Greece He wrote the letter to the Romans Remember I mentioned that He really wanted to go to the Romans But he couldn't So he had written a letter earlier Before he actually physically visited Rome So these are the epistles which he wrote During his missionary journey I just correct myself I think I am confused Second missionary journey is 3 years Over 4 years is the third missionary journey That's where he is in Ephesus And he does his teaching So you go by what you are seeing here In the timelines And I will also post this on your stream page So then you can hold on to the timelines here Alright So the third missionary journey Then imprisonment In Caesarea Over 2 years A.D. 58 to 60 Then he journeys to Rome And he is under Roman imprisonment So Roman imprisonment He writes the letters Colossians, Philemen, Ephesians And Philippians So these letters are known as prison epistles Prison epistles So you can make note of that And finally We know that after this prison In prison with Rome He was released for a period of time Where he wrote the first Timothy and Titus Now we don't know We are not sure whether Paul wrote The book of Hebrews or not But there is speculation that may be Who he wrote that book So if you include the book of Hebrews It would be a total of 14 epistles to Paul Attitude to Paul But since we are not sure There is a whole lot of debate about who wrote Hebrews We generally say 13 Is what is confirmed to be written by Paul So he wrote first Timothy and Titus During his period of release after this First imprisonment And then during the second imprisonment He wrote second Timothy He wrote second Timothy Sorry that's where you have that I fought the good fight I kept faith And so he had done his job He had done his best He knew that this time was coming And suddenly so Paul was executed in 1868 And we had a beautiful Let's say 24 years of ministry That he served so passionately And he is a great and a wonderful testimony Many of us don't believe us Not that we want to put him on a pedestal But just to applaud any child of God Who has really stuck their core And carried the revival fire That God put on the inside of him So we see that Paul would have travelled At least 49 cities People say he travelled more than 49 cities But at least 49 cities during his journey He met thousands of people Hundreds of leaders We don't even know how many thriving churches Were there during his time Obviously with hundreds of leaders There must have been hundreds of churches Directly or indirectly raised up by Apostle Paul Which was his ministry Which was his impact So the Book of Acts Sheds great light On the way one can follow up On the calling of God On their lives And as I stated In our very introductory class About the Book of Acts I want to mention That it ends re-abruptly As I told us The first imprisonment is What is recorded And we don't know why It looked incomplete Content regarding the release of Paul Content regarding the second imprisonment of Paul He never really published that But though there is an abrupt ending To the Book of Acts One thing we don't know The revival fire of God carries on Paul has come and gone Many of the men and women of God We see the Book of Acts They have come to God But the work of God continues The work of his Holy Spirit Continues and it continues in our lives So we must keep the fire burning We must keep carrying these revival fires Wherever the Lord sends us So with that I would like to call this a wrap For the Book of Acts And really want to thank you for your patience And thank you for journeying along If there are portions where Maybe I have been a little unclear I hope posting out this particular timeline sheet Will help you Thank you so much Thank you I really appreciate each one of you For your desire to learn And your perseverance Because I know this is the third year batch now So all of you on this course The, not the ELAN students But because I know some of you Are just taking the Acts course But the students who are part of The online batch I know that all of you are in your third year And I really appreciate you For staying on course And coming so far And truly this journey Is going to be a blessing to you And you will be a blessing to many people So God bless you Anything to share If there is peaceful free We will pray right after that And close off Thank you for your comments I see it there Thank you God bless you all too So just pray Let me pray As we enter this course Heavenly Father we thank you Lord For the grace that you've given us To read, understand God and receive The book of Acts We pray that Whatever we have learned For God Whatever has been imparted to us Lord that it will strengthen us In our spiritual walk with you Father God we pray that Lord you will help us Fan into flame Father God That same passion That same desire For God that we see In the book of Acts Father God We know the work that you Have done through one person And people who were called Oh God in the early church Lord you have not stopped doing it Today Lord So Father we just offer our lives Lord as A sacrifice to you Lord Father we just offer our lives God as a Submitted offering to you Lord We consecrate ourselves Lord And Father it is our cry That Lord you would continue To help us Be in those carriers Of revival called Lord We believe even as we have Meditated on the book of Acts Lord that fire Of the Holy Spirit And that Lord We will be able to release The work of the Spirit Lord Into the lives of many many people And not I just speak a blessing Over every student Who has gone through this Of course who has gone through even A session or a part of the session Lord we pray that Lord The presence and the power Of the Holy Spirit will touch And transform their lives God We praise you we worship and honour You Lord for who you are And the way you work Lord In the lives of your people We give you glory we give you Thanks in Jesus name we pray Amen Amen Thank you for connecting on this class God bless you We won't be having an additional session So carry on You might have assignments to do So thank you Thank you Bhaskar Thank you Thank you Thank you so much sister Thank you bye