 Good morning. Today will most likely be our last class for the course of Acts of the Apostles and the life of Paul. So far we've seen how Paul irrigated. We watched how under two governors, he had to give a defense for himself. So he was sent from Jerusalem to Caesarea and over there he was under Felix and then he came under Festus. Felix heard the Gospel but he did not make a decision. He just said that at a convenient time he would hear Paul out again. And when Festus was there, in order to find a case against Paul, he heard him out in the presence of King Agrippa. King Agrippa and his partner Bernice, they were visiting Caesarea at that time. And we know that Paul defended himself. He talks about his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus and how he has been called in order to turn people from darkness into light. And we saw how he repented before God and he committed himself to the heavenly vision. And what a great inspiration for us to see a man give his whole life for that vision and assignment. And he was driven. He was completely taken up by that heavenly vision. And we saw how he stated all these things. However, Agrippa, he makes a statement without confirming his belief in the Lord Jesus. He just states in verse 28, you almost persuaded me to become a Christian and we saw how almost being a Christian is not being a Christian. You know, almost being a believer is not being a believer. You either are or you're not. So there's a very clear demarcation and salvation is a very clear thing that we must receive from Christ with our receiving of what Jesus has done on the cross. And unfortunately, in the recorded scriptures here, we don't see King Agrippa making that decision and he lets go of a great opportunity. Now, one more thing that we saw happen is Paul makes an appeal to Caesar because he realizes that people are not making quick decisions and that he would end up being here under their custody for no reason. And because he makes an appeal to Caesar, he needs to be sent to Caesar. After hearing out Paul, both Festus and Agrippa realized that there's no proper charge that they can make against him. But since he has asked to go to Caesar, there's no other way now. They cannot let him free. They have to send him to Caesar. So that's where we were and now starts the voyage to Rome. So that's where he needs to go in order to talk about his sort of, you know, defend himself and clarify that he's done nothing wrong against the law with regard to the faith or with regard to the land. So that's where he said it now. So Chapter 27 and Chapter 28 are about that. We'll see how the journey actually happens. So you would find, you know, names of places mentioned here and also the incident that takes place when he reaches the island of Malta where there will be a crashing of the ship. So these are things that we will observe. Some people talk about Paul's fourth missionary journey. This is because Paul going from Caesarea to Rome is kind of considered another missionary journey. However, we know that there are three prominent missionary journeys which we talked of earlier, which describe the most part of Apostle Paul's ministry. So this fourth missionary journey, you may find people may talk about it, you could consider it as a missionary journey or, you know, even if you don't, that's up to you. So why do people call it a missionary journey? Because he never stopped ministering even when he was on that voyage, you know, his testimony. And when he goes to Rome, he's imprisoned there, his, you know, manner of ministering to people. That is part of the missionary aspect of Paul. And that's why maybe this is considered as the fourth missionary journey. And regarding the death of Apostle Paul, we don't really have a clear record. There is much speculation in AD 64. He was martyred. That's what that's what extra biblical reports state and that he was beheaded in Rome. How exactly on what charges, at least in the book of Acts, we don't have clarity regarding that matter. And also you would notice that chapter 27, chapter 28, it is, it is not a final conclusion, because Luke is still writing about the things that are going on and very abruptly in Acts 28, the book will close. Okay. And it seems like something more was to come, but maybe Luke couldn't write it or what really happened. We don't know. But it ends very abruptly and we don't really read about the end of Paul's life here in this book. So that's a summary. I just gave us a summary. We can quickly look at what happens in chapter 27 here. As I stated, there's a journey happening. So let me show you a map to make things clearer. Okay, I think I have kind of mixed up the map here. But yeah, let me see if we can get something. Yeah, there are lots of maps. We can look at this one. Okay, apologies everyone that map doesn't seem to come up. Maybe I can just show us from. Okay, we have one share the screen. Yes, I hope you can see this. This is the best I could do. Yeah. Okay, so this makes things so much easier for us. What I'll do is I will go on talking about the journey as the map is up. So, you know, that way you'll have a lot of clarity. So we find that Paul sets sail. He needs to sail to Italy where Rome is. And he goes along with some prisoners. All right. He is overseen by a centurion by the name of from the Augustine Regiment. And this is these are the circumstances under which he's actually traveling. He goes by a ship and he sails along the course of Asia. There are other people who are accompanying him as well. We have a name called as Aristarchus. He's a Macedonian from Thessalonica. And you know, if you remember Aristarchus second is we've spoken about them earlier and Aristarchus is a name. He is from by the name what commentator says he's probably from a very rich family. And second is we would find another name who was also one of Paul's supporters or coworkers. Second is is more like a slaves name. So Paul had people from different sections of society actually working together with him in a team. So this time there's a mention of Aristarchus who was also with Paul. So now we will see the journey goes via Sidon. Okay. So if you can see they are moving from here. Ciciria. Right. This is where he was imprisoned for two years without any proper outcome. He moves to Sidon as you can see here alongside. He does not go there but alongside. And then we will lead off a couple of other names. So he goes on from there to Cyprus. I hope you're all able to notice it. Yeah. Okay. So I'll just go on. So Cyprus. And over there what they notice is, you know, when the journey takes place, we know that when someone is sailing via the ship, the winds make the biggest difference. So as long as the winds are just right, they can have a comfortable journey. But in this case, by the time they come to Cyprus, they find that the winds are quite contrary or that there are very strong winds. And so they've really got to make a decision if something goes wrong. Anyway, they continue on their journey and they sail on off of Sicilia, Pamphylia. They come to this place called Myra. There is a city by the name of Lycia. They come there and they then find another ship because they need to move on from there. So they find an Alexandrian ship to Italy. They board that ship. Now, they slowly began to sail and arrived in Nidus. So I hope you can picture that place. Are you able to see all these places? Here we are. Okay. Nidus. So this is where we are. They came via Myra. Myra is here. Then they got into an Alexandrian ship. They move on to this place known as Nidus. So now what happens? So the winds did not permit them to sail on. As we said, things were not looking all that good. So they took whatever route, they took some shelter, sailed under the shelter of Crete. And finally they came to a place known as Fair Heavens. You don't have to remember all these names. I'm just telling you because that's how he sailed. Anyway, so they went on from there and at this point, Paul realizes that something is off with the weather and he actually shares his view. So I'll read from verse 9 to verse 12 on the warning that Paul brings to the people on the ship. So it says, now when much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them. Saying, men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss. Not only of the cargo and ship but also our lives. Nevertheless, the Centurion was more persuaded by the helmsmen and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also. If by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, opening toward the southwest and northwest and winter them. So this is stating that Paul had a prophetic word, prophetic knowledge about what would be the end result. So he's telling them, it's not going to be good. We know that the ship also will be destroyed, so will some people. So take heed to the warning. However, they went more by the facts and logic than Paul's instruction. And then the next portion describes how they continued from new heavens and they got into trouble. There was a tempest. And there's that whole description of what exactly happened on that ship and how they tried to maneuver the ship. So I'm not going to get into the details of the shipwreck, but maybe you could go back and read it up line by line. But one thing that we notice that happened on the ship is there is an encouragement from God. Paul realizes that this will end in disaster. But God gives him another word where he says that, okay, don't worry, nothing will happen that you will end up landing safely in an island. And that island is Malta. So I didn't go over the ship scenario. I would just leave it for us to read it. It's a lot of details of what exactly they did to survive in the tempest. Okay, so now let's just move on to Acts chapter 28. Okay, so here in our map, we can see that they came to Lassia, Fair Heavens. And as they went from here towards Italy is when there was a tempest. So they were supposed to go to Italy directly, but the winds were contrary and they had to make a crash landing at Malta. So that's what happened there. And over there they stayed for about three months. Even in those three months, Paul was ready to minister. God worked mightily through him. So we see in Malta, just come to chapter 28. When they come over, you know, they've crash landed, right? And they want to find some food, they want to find some warmth. And you know, there is a fire which is made where these people sit down to rest. But at that point, a wiper comes out of that fire and it sort of, okay, where are we? Chapter 28, yeah, verse 3. So they gathered the sticks. There was a wiper that fastened on the hands of Paul. So when the natives, the people of Malta saw it, you know, this also talks about how people make conclusions about who is godly, who's not godly. We saw this back in Lystra as well when there was the healing of a man who was lame for a very long time. They looked at Paul and Barnabas and they said, oh, these are some Greek gods. But when they did not yield to the worship of the people, they started, you know, getting angry with Paul and Barnabas and we know how he was stoned and brought out of the city. So the opinions of people were changing, right? Similarly, even here in the island of Malta, when the wiper fastened to Paul's hand, they said, this must be a murderer. And that is the reason, even though he escaped the shipwreck here on the island, again death is following him. So that was the way they viewed what happened. But then Paul in verse 5, he shakes off that wiper and nothing happens to him. But when they see that he is fine, they suddenly start saying they changed their minds. Verse 6 says, and they are saying that seems like this is a god. Okay, so, you know, how unstable people's opinions are about anyone and over here with regard to Paul. But thank God, you know, Paul's identity and his security was not based on what people thought of him, but it was based on who God said he was and what God wanted him to do. So anyway, he didn't let that matter to him. He was there, he was safe. Even after this incident of that poisonous wiper and following this, we noticed that there was a man by the name of Publius. He was a leading citizen of the island of Malta and his father was sick. Now Paul, what he does is he goes to this person and he prays and he rebukes the fever and the fever leaves him. So when Paul does this, you know, there is some sense of joy, some sense of, you know, like people are experiencing deliverance. Now we know that Paul went to places like Ephesus and Philippi and intentionally did ministry. But when we notice what happened to Paul, he is on the island of Malta. You could say accidentally, isn't it? But then even in that place where it's seemingly an accident, Paul is still moving in the power of God and when there is a healing that takes place of fever, the island, the people of the island, they encounter the power of God. So it is like, you know, a discipling at every place that Paul went. So there was no vacation that he took even when he was not officially on a missionary journey. So people were ministered to and we notice that many others came to him to be ministered. So it became a ministry opportunity for Paul and he was honored for the way in which he demonstrated God's glory. Now the island of Malta proved to be a good place for him because it all turned out well. But we know that his intention was to go to Italy, Rome. So from the island of Malta, he now moves further to Rome. Now they come to Rome and in Rome, they are stationed, they are put there. However, Paul is put in a prison, prison like setup. It's actually supposed to be a prison but he's under home arrest. So it was one of those concepts where, you know, they would keep the prisoners or the accused but not because he's not yet condemned, fully condemned. So he was kept under house arrest with restrictions and some soldiers to watch him. But at the same time he was allowed to have people come over to his house. Now we are told that Paul was there for a fairly long time and he utilized this time to minister to people who came to his, this rented house. Or, you know, this place where he was under home arrest. So for two years, two years he was there. When we look at verse 30, that's what it states. So Paul dwelt two years in his own rented house and received all who came to him. Verse 31 says, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. So the good part of being under this home imprisonment was, he continued to minister. We, as you read into this passage, you will notice that he was teaching the people morning till evening. Verse 23 will tell us that. So people were coming, you know, they were visiting him and he was teaching them from the scriptures. He was teaching the doctrine, establishing people in the word of God, even under home arrest. So can you imagine? We said in the school of tyrannous, he taught for long hours and he equipped people there here in Rome from morning till evening. So how much of content he would have actually taught? Okay. So he was a man who was for ministry. He was a man who was sold out. That's another word we can use for ministry and his life is completely marked with ministry. And as I said earlier, Acts 28 ends so abruptly. We only know that Paul was under house arrest, continuing to teach people. And what happened after that? We don't have any clue why it stopped at chapter 28. But one thing that we always say regarding the Book of Acts is, yes, it's about the life of Paul. Yes, it's about the life of the early church. But it is about God and the way he orchestrated the revelation of his power and glory through his church. So though it is the Acts of the Apostles and the life of Paul, it's about God. It's about God's glory. It's about God's power. It's about the Holy Spirit and how he directed things, you know, especially after the baptism in the Holy Spirit. So there are a lot of commentators who say that the Holy Spirit has not stopped working. And the Book of Acts ending abruptly. It may also be God's way of saying that, yes, Paul did his part. The leaders did their part. But the work of the Spirit continues. And even today in our lives, right? Something like what happened in the Book of Acts, the way people were filled with the Spirit. They heard from God. They went to different places. They ministered into people's lives and they established churches. These are all things that are continuing. And maybe that's one of the reasons why Luke never finished it. Okay. We are Acts 29. There are commentators who say that we are Acts 29. And the Holy Spirit continues to do his work in us and through us right now. So that's in gist about the occurrences of the Book of Acts, especially in closing a post Paul's journey from Caesarea. I didn't go into the details of the shipwreck, but I request us to kindly take some time to go ahead and read it up. So now what I'll do is I'll take us through a timeline. Okay. Of the Book of Acts and the life of Apostle Paul. So let me share the screen with us. That will be more helpful. Here we go. So just summarized for our understanding the timelines of how things happened. So we said earlier, Acts chapter 2 to Acts chapter 8 is for a duration of about eight years. So 8030 to 8038. And we talked about the birth of the church, the emergence of leaders, the growth of the church and people beginning to step out, move out to other places to plant churches. So we could sum that up and say that the church was in revival. Right. Now after this phase, we find that the next couple of years, this is from 8038 to 8047 about a decade. The life of Paul receives the highlight or the focus. So we find that Paul encounters, Saul encounters Jesus on the road to Damascus. And then he's talked about as Paul in the coming passages, he becomes this mighty warrior for Christ. And he initially begins serving in the church of Antioch. In Acts chapter 13, when the leaders of the church are ministering to the Holy Spirit in prayer, Paul and Barnabas are called for a missionary ministry. So that is still Acts chapter 13. And we see how they went and ministered to Sergius Paulus and a very influential person. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, there's a sorcerer, Elimus, who's actually stopping Sergius Paulus from receiving from God. But Paul ministers in the power of the Spirit. That's another important part to note. He was ministering in the power of the Spirit. So these are some occurrences in the next decade. So now we've gone past roughly 18 years. Some people say two decades. So that's as much as has happened. Now moving on to Acts chapter 13. To Acts chapter 28 would be the next 20 years. So the total of the time span of the Book of Acts is roughly about 40 years. That's the duration. And even Paul's ministry, we could say about 30 years is the time that he had to minister. People also state that he would have been of the age of 33 years when he encountered Christ. And then another 30 years of ministry. So by the time he was beheaded in Rome, he would be somewhere around 60 to 64 years. That's the estimation. But he made the most use of his time to serve the Lord in those 30 years of his ministry. So from Acts 13, the focus goes back to the life of Paul and his missionary journeys. So we talked about the first missionary journey where he went into the Galatia region and he established small churches and he comes back strengthening the churches. That's about 2 years. He spends 2 years in the first missionary journey. So that is somewhere between AD 44 and AD 46. Now Paul's second missionary journey is for about 3 years. AD 49 to AD 52. And Paul's third missionary journey is from AD 53 to AD 58 about 4 years. So this is like the timelines. In Paul's second missionary journey, we see that he goes into the Macedonian region. He wants to go to Asia but he's called into the Macedonian region. He goes there and there is a mighty impact in places like Philippi, Thessalonica, Beria. And then he kind of goes 18 months, he ministers in Corinth. He makes a brief stop at Ephesus. Doesn't minister there but followed by that he goes back to his base church. Now in the third missionary journey, he comes back to this place known as Ephesus and we know how he established the school of tyrannous there. Powerful ministry took place. So the two major places that we have to remember is in the second missionary journey, Corinth is that great city where he ministered. The third missionary journey Ephesus is that great place where he ministered. So there he taught in the school of tyrannous and then he moves on to other places. So there are some epistles also which Paul wrote which have also been enlisted here. So in the second missionary journey, Paul is said to have written to the Thessalonians. Why? Because he left in a hurry. You remember there was persecution and he had to move quickly. And so there were matters that he wanted to convey to them and the best way he did that was by writing letters to them. So from Corinth, he wrote back to the Thessalonians. So those are his first epistles, first and second Thessalonians. Now the next set of letters that he wrote was during his third missionary journey from Ephesus. He writes back to the Galatians. Remember the Galatia region. So he writes to the Galatians. He also writes to the Corinthians because in the second missionary journey that's where he was for 18 months. So he writes to the Corinthians. Now again, as he is in the third missionary journey, he writes the second letter to the Corinthians. So first and second Corinthians is written and from Greece he writes a letter to the Romans. He's never been to Rome. We all are quite clear on that because he was still continuing to do his church planting. But there were believers in Rome he had heard of. He writes to them. He has not physically gone to Rome. It's only for that interrogation that he will actually move to Rome later on. So these are some of the epistles which Paul writes in his third missionary journey. After that we know Paul he completed the third missionary journey, went to Jerusalem and he was arrested for false accusations. From there he was sent to Caesarea. There his case didn't move. Two years he was there in Caesarea. So AD 58 to AD 60 is when he was caught up. And we find that he appealed to Caesar. He moves out of Caesarea. The ship journey happens with the shipwreck and everything. But he reaches Rome and in Rome he's again imprisoned. So how long was he there in Rome? It is said again for about three years he was there. And there he writes letters. During his imprisonment to the Colossians. He writes philemen, Ephesians and Philippians. So that's where he's at. And it is said that after this imprisonment he still had another four years. There was a period of release which was given to him. And during that period of release he wrote 1 Timothy and Titus. And there is a speculation that he could have written the book of Hebrews but the writer of the book of Hebrews does not identify himself. And so it becomes very difficult. There are people who say that maybe Barnabas wrote it, Apollos wrote it or Priscilla wrote it. So there are many speculations about the book of Hebrews. But most likely Paul wrote it. Now why didn't he identify himself? We don't know. It is written in a different way. Usually he'll say Paul and Apostle of Jesus Christ but he doesn't introduce himself in the book of Hebrews. So we don't know who wrote it but maybe Paul wrote it. And this was during the period of his release. And finally there is the second Roman imprisonment of Paul where that is kind of the end. His martyrdom comes after that. But during the second imprisonment is where he writes his second epistle to Timothy. Second Timothy and that is his last epistle. You know how in that epistle he writes, I have fought a good fight of faith. I have finished the race. Why is he stating things like this? Because Paul sensed that his end was very near. So that second epistle to Timothy was the last one which he wrote and you know after which he was beheaded. So in total Paul wrote 13 letters to the different churches. He wrote two letters during his second missionary journey. He wrote five letters during his third missionary journey. He wrote four letters when he was imprisoned in Rome during his first imprisonment. During his release he wrote two or maybe three epistles if Hebrews is included. And finally last imprisonment he wrote one epistle to Timothy, his spiritual son. The final one, second Timothy after which is the martyrdom of Apostle Paul. So his life it is said that AD 68 was roughly around the time when you know Paul's life journey comes to an end. So I'm hoping that this summary makes things clear for all of us. We will post this document for the online students as well as the e-learning students. So you will have a copy of this which will give you incredible clarity on how things actually panned out. So with this we will wrap up the course on the book of Acts and the assignment has already been posted. So you could complete that which will lead you to completing this course for the semester. So if there is anything that you want to ask or share we can do that before we pray and complete this session. I just want to say the class was very detailed. Oh is it okay? And I'm so thankful for it because I've read Acts so many times but I've learned so many new things and the way you structured it was good. Like the places we were able to understand the whole picture. Thank you. Please go ahead. Yeah, thank you so much, Jafina. I'm encouraged to hear that. Don't get lost in the details. The details are just because we are studying the book but in application we don't really need it. But it brings the story. It makes it alive. That's why we did that. Any other takeaways from this? That's good to know. Yes. Thank you, Pastor, for the lectures and all along from where we started from and with the book of Acts. It has been a pleasure. It was an angel journey so keep it up and I think my colleagues and I should not only be hear us of the word but also do us. Yes. Yes. Thank you, Lubega. Thank you. I'm so glad to hear from you. Praise God. Thank you, John. Thank you that you've learned from this course. But please do revisit the book of Acts. It's very interesting. And I would encourage you to also go back and read David Kuzik's commentary and your word. It's extremely detailed. I tried not to bring in more details because you know you're already overloaded with several things but if you can make time for that, please go through his commentary. It's excellent. That will also bring this whole scene, all the scenes alive for us. Please do go watch that movie that I told you, The Acts of the Apostles. It's as per the scriptures. So not the depiction so much but it goes in line verse by verse. So they've tried to write it as Luke has written in the book of Acts. So that also will help you to understand Acts well. Yes. Thank you, Subashish. I see your comment. God bless you. So God bless you all and may the Lord use you as a firebrand like Apostle Paul. Each one of you is chosen by the Lord appointed to bear much fruit for his glory. And God is preparing you by equipping you with his word in a detailed way. So I'm excited for each of your lives, each of your ministries. So let me just pray over all of us and we'll close off. Heavenly Father, we thank you Lord for the account of the book of Acts. Lord, we are amazed to see what you can do. We're amazed to see what people of God can do filled with the Holy Spirit. Lord, we are amazed to see how you speak Lord to your people and your leading of God. And Father God, we thank you Lord. We thank you that people, communities, regions, nations come alive with the proclamation of the gospel. Father, we thank you for the wisdom that the apostles and ministers of God carried to proclaim your word Father God in different settings. Father, in different contexts. And Father, we just are so moved to see the response of people from all walks of life. Thank you Lord, thank you that Lord, anyone who believed Father God could become part of your family. And today Lord, we are stewarding the same gospel. We are empowered by the same Holy Spirit. Lord, we pray Lord as we shared Acts 29. Father God, we are part of what the Holy Spirit is doing in our time, in our age. Through each of our lives Father God, we pray that your kingdom extend through each of our life Father. That the power of your Spirit Lord be demonstrated in a very real way. We pray God that many souls will be brought into your kingdom Lord and Father that your name will be glorified. Thank you Lord for every student, the churches they represent, the families they represent God. Father God, continue to build them up in you. Thank you Lord that each one is a firebrand for the glory of your name. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. God bless you all. Do great things for God. Do great things with the power of the Holy Spirit. All the best for your assignment. God bless. Thank you Master. Thank you. Thank you. Bye.