You know, one of the characters in a fiction novel, but that is an actual historical figure, and that he was most probably one of the greatest missionaries of all time. If not, I think Christ is the greatest missionary of all time. Even though he only worked with 12 disciples, ended up 120, The fact that we are all saved today and we are saved today and so many all over the world tells us that the greatest missionary of all time that fulfilled his mission is Christ. And he's busy fulfilling his mission because he said this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. So Christ will fulfill his mission. He will do what he set out to do no matter what. because of who he is. Now, Stefan touched on the fact that we looked at God's sovereignty last week. We specifically looked at God's sovereignty, whether we believe it or not. God will be sovereign, whether we believe it or whether we do not believe it. That is the facts that is revealed to us in scripture. And it's up to us to believe what the scripture says or reject. It's up to us. We've got liberty of conscience. We can receive or we can reject. That's up to us. But God is sovereign whether we believe it or not. And today what I would like to do is to continue on the subject of God's sovereignty. and specifically look at God's sovereignty in missions. And I think that Stefan laid a wonderful foundation with regards to God's sovereignty in missions, because when I prepared, I believed that the only or the best way for us to look at God's sovereignty in missions is to take a journey through history, to see what God has done. so that we can see whether he is truly sovereign with regards to missions and the importance of missions. Before we continue, though, let's have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, it's such a privilege to come to you this morning, and it's even a greater privilege to call on you as the living almighty God, our Father. that we can come boldly to your throne of grace, come before you as the living almighty God, sovereign creator of heaven and earth, who controls all things. And Father, to call on you, as we have already and even now, and speak to you, sing your praises, pray to you, and have fellowship with one another, what a privilege, Father. And what a privilege it is for us to open up your Word and to study your Word and to look at your sovereignty, the fact that you are sovereign. Please, Father, I pray, will you open up our hearts to receive the truth of your Word and open up our minds to understand? And as I've prayed so many times before, enable me as your servant to teach your people, so that your name may be glorified in and through each one of us. And this we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now if we go into history, specifically the history of mankind, of human beings, of people, I think you will notice that we'll have to start at the beginning. And the beginning is creation. When God created two people, Adam and Eve, As you know, I am not an evolutionist. I don't believe in evolution. I don't believe in the Big Bang Theory. I don't believe in what is portrayed in the world today. I believe in creation. I'm a creationist. I believe that what God said in Genesis is 100% true because he was the only one that was there. And this is the way He decided to reveal it to us, that He created in six days, and on the seventh day He rested. And the pivotal point of His creation was human beings, people. The height of creation. And when God created human beings, He said it was very good. It was amazing when He created man and woman in His own image, in His likeness. That's where we need to start. But then, unfortunately, as you progress through the book of Genesis, quickly, we find the serpent come on the scene. And we know from the book of Revelation that the serpent is the devil, Satan. He comes on the scene. He tempts Eve. Eve talks to her husband, and they both become disobedient to God and that causes death to come into this world and separation between God and human beings. What a day that was. Dreadful day, but God is not caught by surprise because remember God is in control God is sovereign and the New Testament teaches us very clearly that before the foundation of the earth God already decided that God the Son the second person of the Trinity would come to save people and he starts off in Genesis 3 verse 15 and he actually tells us that that's exactly what's going to happen so God is not caught off guard and God is sovereignly in control of all things. It doesn't mean that God is the one who made Adam and Eve sin. Because there is no sin in God. God does not sin. But we read in Genesis 3 verse 15 that I will put enmity between you and the woman. That's between the serpent, Satan, Lucifer, and the woman. Between your seed and her seed he shall bruise your head and you shall crush or bruise His heel and we know that refers to the mother promise that there was going to come a day when the seed of the woman the seed of Mary would come and destroy the works of the devil and that happened on the cross of Calvary the New Testament teaches us when Jesus hung on that cross and He was victorious over sin, death, and the devil. An amazing prophecy that God gives right there in the beginning of Genesis. We've looked at that before. This is just a reminder because we are going through history. We're taking a journey through history. We know from history that God called Abraham. From the Gentiles, Ur of the Chaldeans, a gentle man, he calls him, takes him to the promised land and said, from you, the nations of the earth will be blessed. Everybody will be blessed because of you. And we know that God then through Abraham and his lineage, God's chosen people would come onto the scene. Israel, God's chosen people. And God's plan was for Messiah to be born from those people. He would be born from a virgin at the right time, at the right place, and the correct role players would all be in place when the Messiah is born. And if you read through the Old Testament, you just need a little bit of time and you will see, wow, how many times God was, how can I say, how Satan tried to prevent God from fulfilling what he wanted to do in the redemption of mankind, how he tried to stop the Messiah from being born. Even when Jesus Christ was a little baby, Satan tried to kill him. But we can go through history and just see how God sovereignly, because remember, If it wasn't true that God was in control, that God was sovereign, then things couldn't have worked out the way it did. Because God is sovereign, everything worked out to the T. To the day, and the hour, and the minute, and the second, as God purposed it. That takes a sovereign God to do that. You see, it takes someone full of power and authority and wisdom to put all the smallest of details in place. It wasn't by coincidence. It didn't just happen. God knew what He was doing because He predestined it before the foundation of the earth. Before creation came, God already knew because He is God. God knows all things. He doesn't just know what's happening now, and He doesn't just know about tomorrow, He knows about the past, He knows about the future, because God has no beginning and He has no end. Because He is God. We know from history that the Messiah came at the right time, within the correct or right circumstances, not by chance, but by design. Messiah came, and we know that Messiah was crucified. The Lamb of God led to the slaughter. He was buried, and then He rose again from the dead. And after the resurrection, we read in the Gospels that Jesus, the Messiah, spoke to His disciples, and He said to His disciples, And I'm just going to read, we find it in all four of the Gospels, by the way, where Jesus gives the Great Commission. We find it in all four of the Gospels, but in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 to 20, this is what Jesus says. If you want to turn there, please. Matthew 28, verse 18 to 20. This is called the Great Commission. And it's not called the Great Commission for nothing, because this is where Jesus commissions his disciples. And he says to them, Jesus came and spoke to them, this is Matthew 28 verse 18, and Jesus came and spoke to them saying, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Jesus Christ was speaking to his disciples and telling them he is eternal. Can you see that? Even to the end of the age, Christ will be there. People say, no, Jesus is dead. He's in the grave. No, Christ is alive because he would be with his disciples to the end of the age. Beloved, the interesting thing is when we look at the Great Commission, when we look at what Christ is saying here, we are the results of the obedience of the disciples to the call of Christ. If the disciples did what many Christians do today and keep their little mouth shut, you and I would not have been here. We would not have been saved. We would have not experienced the grace of God. We would have not had a clear conscience from the sin that people are trying to run away from. We would still be left in our sin. We would be without hope in this world. We would be lost. But because the disciples were obedient, and after them many other disciples, because that's what they did. They went and made disciples. Now the question that comes up is, how is it possible? How is it possible for believers to faithfully obey the command of Christ to go and to make disciples? How could they do that? And I believe the answer is here in Matthew chapter 28, verse 18 and 19, where it says, Jesus said, all authority. I want you to hear the word, all. Not some authority, all of it. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore. Because I have all authority in heaven and on earth, therefore, because I have it, you now go. If I did not have all the authority, this is the implication here, if I did not have all the authority in heaven and on earth, you would not be able to go and accomplish what I'm calling you to go and accomplish. But because I have the authority, Jesus is saying to them, therefore you can now go and make disciples of all nations, because it will happen. Guaranteed, because the authority lies with Christ and not with the disciples. The authority does not lie with you and I, the authority lies with Christ. We are just obedient to what he says. When the apostle Paul was preaching the gospel, he was preaching it on the authority of Christ, and that's why it worked. not because of his own obedience. You see, Jesus has all the authority. Therefore, he could send the disciples based on his authority because he was going to make sure that the mission would be accomplished. He would be the one, not them. They just need to do and move in obedience, but he would be the one who accomplishes it. Now the Greek word translated authority in the New King James Bible is the word exousia. And here in Matthew chapter 28 verse 18 the word exousia basically means that Jesus has the ability, the power, and the strength to do whatever he commanded his disciples to do. That's what that word means. He has the ability to fulfill the Great Commission and the way he was going to do it was through them. He could do it by himself. Because he has got all the authority, he's got all the power he can do it. But he decided he was going to do it through them. Normal people like you and I. You see, Jesus has the power to overcome every obstacle that tries to prevent the Great Commission from being fulfilled. He could overcome every obstacle on their behalf because he would be the one working behind the scenes doing miracle upon miracle upon miracle while they were busy fulfilling the mission. He has the strength not only to overcome every obstacle, but he has the strength to move them out of the way on their behalf. So if there's an obstacle that would come in the way of the disciples that would prevent them from preaching the gospel where Christ wanted them to preach the gospel, if there's an obstacle, Christ can remove it. Let me tell you, there are many testimonies of obstacles that has been removed where Christ did it. Why could he do it? because he has all the authority. He is sovereign. He is in control. Not the devil, not the world, not you and I. He is in control. That's the amazing thing. Jesus has power. He has control over persons. He has control and power over things. He has dominion. He has authority. He has rule over all things in heaven and on earth. That means all the angels, even the fallen ones, and everyone on earth, Jesus has authority over them. That's amazing. That's amazing. And because he has all the authority, he is sending his disciples to go into the world and make disciples. That's why the sovereign Lord sending normal people like you and I to fulfill his mission. Now, just a word quickly. Last Sunday, in the devotion, we just quickly touched on the fact that Christ said, go and make disciples, not converts. In today's kind of evangelism, people are making converts, which means, no, just invite Jesus into your heart, and then that's it. No, Jesus said, make disciples. Now, a disciple is someone who has been converted. That's the first step. That's where it starts. Somebody has been forgiven of their sin, but then it's also someone who follows in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. You are not a disciple if you can tell me that, oh, there was a day that I did the little sinner's prayer, And that's it. Then you're not a disciple. A disciple is someone who follows in the footsteps of Christ. That's a disciple. Somebody that learns who Jesus is, learns what Jesus wants them to do, and then obey Christ. That's a disciple. A disciple is someone who loves righteousness and hates sin. It's someone who hates evil. And if you have a date of conversion, so-called, but you're not following in the footsteps of Christ, being obedient to Christ, living for Christ, then that day of your so-called conversion means nothing. It's just words. Anybody can do that. Jesus said, make disciples, teaching them to obey all things that I've commanded you. Because that's what a disciple does. A disciple is obedient to Christ. And let me tell you, if I look at many believers, many people professing to be believers, if I look at their lives, they are not obedient to Christ. Yet, they have this date. I did the sinner's prayer. I invited Jesus into my heart. I committed my life to Jesus. But their lives? Looks just like the world. There's no difference. See, a disciple is obedient to Christ. And the first disciples in obedience to Christ, what they did was they went into the known world of their day. Remember, they couldn't take an airplane and fly to South Africa. because there were no planes. Okay? So they went where they could go. That's why we can go where we can go. If I can't get onto a plane, I can still minister to the people around me. I can still preach the gospel to people that I meet. But the disciples went to the known world of their time. And they made disciples. And those disciples that they made continued to spread the gospel and made disciples and made disciples and made disciples. And here we are in Newcastle, southern part, most southern part of Africa. Well, we're not the most southern part. That's the western Cape Town and Cape Town. But we are in the southern most part of Africa, saved by God's grace through the obedience of disciples who made disciples. And I think we are representative of all nations, of many nations, many ethnic groups, because that's what nations mean in the Greek now. The scripture says, make disciples of all the ethnic groups. Go and do it. It's so beautiful to be in a church where we see all the different ethnic groups gathered together. Now, I think if we want to have a good idea of missions, I think the best place to go is the Book of Acts. Because the Book of Acts, also called the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, also called the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, different names for the Book of Acts. But I believe the Book of Acts is a historical record, not in detail, but a historical record of what happened to the early church, of the disciples that went out and preached the gospel and what happened. And what I would like to do is just to take a few moments. to just run through the book of Acts quickly. Just kind of have a bird's eye view, looking at the book of Acts and looking at how God did what he did, how Christ fulfilled his mission and is still fulfilling his mission even today. We read in the book of Acts how the gospel was first preached in Jerusalem. the city where God's name is, the city where God's house was, not the temple when it was built, a city over which God's name was called out, a city that God chose from all the cities in the world, God chose Jerusalem as the city where his name would be. That's where the gospel started. So we see that Jesus's mission to accomplish, his mission starts in Jerusalem where he dies, where he is buried, and where he rises from the dead, and that's where he starts off his mission. And he says to his disciples, just before he ascended into heaven, he said to them, you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses, where? Jerusalem. Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the earth. Or the ends of the earth, depends on which translation you use. And we know in the day of Pentecost, if you go to chapter two, you see on the day of Pentecost, many Jews from all different nations of the earth or different countries of the earth gathered in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, and 3,000 people come to salvation in Christ on that specific day. Wow, amazing, through one sermon, 3,000 Jews comes to faith in Christ. How is that possible? How is it possible that 3,000 people through the preaching of one simple sermon can come to faith in Jesus Christ? Oh, remember, Jesus has all authority. He has the power to save. And that's why so many people came to salvation at the same time. But that's not all. Many Jews who heard John and Peter preach in the gospel in the temple, they also believed. And all of a sudden, the church grew to 5,000 men. That's excluding the women and the children. In chapters four to six, We read about serious persecution of the church, but the church continued to grow. Even though they were persecuted for their faith, by who? The Jews. The Jews in Jerusalem. I mean, men and women in Jerusalem were being saved. Even priests, Jewish priests, were saved. Religious men. That's amazing. Who did the preaching? Who did Jesus call to preach the gospel? It was the disciples. Who did the saving? It was Jesus. Because we can't save people, we can just preach the gospel. Because the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. How is it possible? Only possible because Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is sovereign. Only he can save the lost. And then we read in the book of Acts that the gospel spreads to Judea and Samaria. We read about Stephen. And Stephan was named after Stephen in the Bible. We just gave him an Afrikaans name. We could have called him Stephen, but we called him Stephan in Afrikaans. And we read about Stephen preaching the gospel, faithfully, full of the Holy Spirit and full of power, until he gets executed by the Jews. But before he dies, He had an amazing ministry, preaching the gospel, many people coming to salvation. Still, terrible persecution of the church continued and continued, and it spread. And what happened was, it caused the gospel to also spread. Christ Jesus sovereignly used persecution to spread the disciples, and they started preaching the gospel in Judea and Samaria. And this was fulfillment of what Jesus said in Acts chapter one verse eight. Remember, Acts chapter one verse eight is a prophetic word from Christ that says you will receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Did that happen? Yes, it happened in Acts chapter two. And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem. Did that happen? Yes. Judea, Samaria, to the outermost parts of the earth, that was prophetic, because it didn't happen yet. Jesus said this was going to happen. And when the gospel spread to Judea and Samaria, and we read about it in chapter eight, verse one, we see that Jesus' mission, the first stage of it, was complete. And how? He has all authority. That's why. You see, what Jesus said would be fulfilled. Why? Because he is sovereign. He is in control. He knew the gospel was going to be spread because he said it. Remember that Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. Paul then commissioned Paul, by the way, sorry, the great persecutor of the church. Sorry, I've skipped a few things here. We also read about Philip, who preached in Samaria. And many believe the gospel. Even Simon, the magician, or magician, Simon the magician, and it's not the magicians that we know, this is a sorcerer. This is somebody that was involved in witchcraft, somebody that was involved in the occult. He also came to salvation in Christ. And why did he come to salvation in Christ? Because Jesus has authority where? In heaven and on earth. All authority. Which means he has authority over the demons and he has authority over the world of the occult. Jesus has all authority that even sorcerers, people that are so deeply into the occult would come to salvation in Jesus Christ. Because he is sovereignly in control of it all. Amazing. That's not all. Philip ministered to an Ethiopian eunuch. You remember that? Philip saw this man reading from Isaiah, went and sat with him and explained to him the gospel. This man got saved, got baptized, and after he got baptized, Philip wasn't in war. Of course, the spirit moved him somewhere else in an instant. What a miracle. And who did it? Jesus. Jesus did. How could he do it? Because he has all authority. He is sovereign. He can do it. And by the way, this Ethiopian man went back home. That's how the gospel, the first witness of the gospel, came to North Africa. through an Ethiopian eunuch right in the beginning of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 8. The gospel came to Ethiopia because I believe if he was a true disciple of Jesus Christ, which I believe he was, what would he have done when he got home? He would have preached the gospel. And he would have made disciples and those disciples would make other disciples. And so it would go on and on and on. Then we read about Saul. Now we call him Paul, but his Hebrew name is Saul. His Gentile name is Paul. We read about Saul and what happens to Saul. He's the persecutor of the church. He actually persecutes God's people. but he has a meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus. He becomes saved. Miraculously. Amazing things happens around, and I'm not gonna spend time on that, but what happens is this Paul that Stephan was speaking about later on becomes the greatest missionary of all time. The persecutor of the church becomes a missionary that preaches the Jesus whom he wanted to destroy. Wow. Who did it? It was Christ. It was the sovereign Lord who changed the heart of the persecutor of the church and made him a saint. And later on, one of the greatest missionaries of all time, And what Paul did was he immediately started preaching in the synagogues in Damascus, and the church multiplied, and there was newfound peace in Judea and Galatia, or Galilee, sorry, and in Samaria. And Jesus actually fulfilled the second part of his prophetic word. Then the book of Acts tells us that the gospel also not only stayed there, but it actually spread to the Gentiles. We read about the paralyzed man called Aeneas, and he was healed by the ministry of Peter. And what was the result when he got healed? Many in Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord. And why did it happen? Why was he healed? Because Jesus has authority to save and to heal. And when he heals, he heals people for a purpose. And in Ineos' case, the purpose was so that people would come to salvation in him. Likewise, later on we read about Tabitha. Do you know about Tabitha? She was raised from the dead. And what happened was many in Joppa trusted in Jesus Christ. How is that possible? Maybe it's because Jesus has all the authority in heaven and on earth to save and to heal and to raise the dead. If that is what it takes to fulfill his mission, you will do it. Because he is sovereignly in control of his mission. Remember, it is his mission, not ours. It's his mission, we're just obedient in fulfilling the part that he gives us in his mission. We also read about the Gentile Cornelius and his household, when Peter had this dream, and men came to him, and in this dream he sees this blanket comes from heaven, and on this blanket are all these animals that are unclean. And Peter said, I can't eat that, I'm a Jew. God tells him, no, no, you can go to the unclean. Then those men knock on the door, and it's people that come from Cornelius, so that Peter can come and preach the gospel at Cornelius' place. Wow. And Cornelius came to faith in Jesus Christ, and remember, Cornelius was a Gentile. That's the way that Jesus decided to take the gospel to the Gentiles. through a dream he gave to Peter, because Peter was reluctant to go to the Gentiles, but Jesus showed him, no, you can go. And he went, and Cornelius and his household got saved. And the doors opened up for missions to the Gentiles. You see, Jesus is sovereign to save, to raise the dead, to heal, and to use whatever means. to fulfill his mission. Because at the end, it is his mission. That's not all. Right through the book of Acts, you read about persecution. Persecution takes place. But in spite of the persecution, the gospel just spreads. Jews as far as Phoenician, Cyprus, and Antioch come to faith in Jesus Christ. But also the Gentiles in Antioch come to faith in Jesus Christ. And Antioch becomes like a base from where the Apostle Paul starts his three missionary journeys to Asia Minor and Macedonia and Greece. Amazing stuff. And we see the persecutor of the church becomes a missionary. Not only can Jesus save, He can also heal. He can raise the dead. He is the one who can use whatever means for people to come to faith in Jesus Christ, or people to be sent to go preach the gospel, and He can take the greatest of sinners, make them a saint, and make them a missionary for His glory. Let me tell you, I am convinced of the sovereignty of God in missions. by just reading the book of Acts. And I'm just doing a bird's eye view of it. I'm not going into detail. Just a bird's eye view of it. The book of Acts tells us, while the gospel is spreading to the Gentiles, back in Jerusalem, the word of God increased and multiplied, despite the imprisonment of Peter. And remember, they executed James. But the gospel just continues to spread, even though people are dying for their faith. The Book of Acts also tells us about the gospel that went to Asia, specifically Asia Minor. Because Paul and Barnabas sailed to Antioch in Syria, from, sorry, from Antioch in Syria. They went to Cyprus, then to Pisidia and Galatia. They visit the cities of Antioch and Iconium and Lystra and Derbe in Asia Minor. They faced a lot of opposition. And let me tell you, a lot of opposition. And that's where Paul was stoned and left for dead. During that time, where the gospel went into Asia Minor, and they thought, well, we killed him. The missionary is dead. And the world would go, yeah. But the sovereign Lord said, nope. It's not time yet. Paul, you're not gonna die now. And Christ raised him up so that he could continue with his mission because his mission wasn't finished yet. Then we read in the book of Acts that in spite of all the opposition, the Roman leader, many Gentiles believed the gospel and the gospel just progressed. Even though there was so much opposition, the gospel just continued and continued because the people were obedient to Christ, the disciples were obedient to Christ, and Christ was in control of sending out missions or missionaries, disciples, to make other disciples. Because the Sovereign Lord has always been behind missions. Then we read beautifully in chapter 13 and 14 that the gospel spread throughout the whole region. Amazing. Beautiful. But that's not all. The church was also faced with eternal issues. Remember the council in Jerusalem where they were telling the Gentiles to get circumcised? The Jews were doing that to them. And in unity they came to a conclusion that it wasn't necessary. problems within the church. Internally there was problems, but in unity they could sort out these issues. There was this dispute between Paul and Barnabas because of John Mark. But we see that even the dispute, Christ uses it because now instead of Paul and Barnabas going out together and preaching the gospel, now two of them are going in separate directions and preaching the gospel in two different areas. Later on, they get reconciled, they get reconciled to John Mark, and wow, amazing, the gospel just spreads. The number of believers continued to grow according to chapter 16, verse 5. It's just absolutely amazing, and then we see the gospel go to Europe. Of course, Paul and Silas preached the gospel in Macedonia. That was in Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea. They were imprisoned, they were beaten, they were lynched, you remember, when they were singing in the prison? But even though all these things happen, many sinners came to faith in Jesus Christ. We read about Lydia and her household, the Philippian jailer and his family, a few Jews, many devout Greeks, and several leading women. You see, the imprisonment of the Apostle Paul and Silas did not stop the spreading of the gospel. Why? Because this was Jesus' mission. The sovereign Lord was busy fulfilling His mission, because He said He would. And let me tell you, if you want to be part of God's mission, of Christ's mission, just be obedient to Him. It's amazing. Amazing when you are obedient to his mission and you buy into his mission, how he will use you. Remember in Athens, that's Greece, he's in Europe now, the Apostle Paul was mocked for believing the resurrection. But still, even though they were mocking him about his preaching about the resurrection, men and women joined him, trusted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Amazing. And in Corinth, there was this massive strong opposition from the Jews. But even though the Jews were in opposition to the Apostle Paul, Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, the leader of the synagogue, came to faith in Jesus Christ, him and his whole household. And they were baptized. Why? Because if Christ saves someone, he saves someone, whether you are the leader of the synagogue or not, you can be the leader of a false religion. When God decides to save you, he will save you. He is sovereign. But that's not all. Paul spends two years in Ephesus. And we read in Acts chapter 19, you'll see we're very close to the end. Acts chapter 19, verse 10, we read, so that all the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks. The apostle Paul preached the gospel to such an extent that everybody around him would hear the gospel. That was his mission. Not to make tens, we know he made tens. Not to be a religious leader, not to do anything but to preach the gospel to every single person who had an ear to hear. Because Paul knew that the gospel was the power of God unto salvation. Do you remember that Paul performed extraordinary healings and exorcisms in the name of Jesus Christ? Fear came upon the people and many repented of their evil practices in Ephesus. And then in verse 20 of Acts chapter 19 we read, so the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevailing mightily. But this is also kind of where we get to the end of the book of Acts. We read that the apostle Paul traveled through Macedonia and Greece. He encouraged the believers and he said goodbye to them because he knew he was on his way to Jerusalem. He was taking, how can I say, he was starting the final stretch of his journey as a missionary. But there was still something that the Apostle Paul had to do. Remember Jesus said in Acts chapter nine that he would come before kings? Remember that? Up to this point, Paul hasn't been before a king yet. He hasn't preached the gospel to a king yet. or to the leaders of the Roman Empire. But the book of Acts kind of ends with the gospel going to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, where Caesar was. And what happened was Paul adamant to go to Jerusalem. When he got to Jerusalem, there was great hostility against him. He was arrested, was imprisoned. There was even an assassination plot against him. But Paul, in Jerusalem, still preached the gospel to the Jews that were gathered in Jerusalem. He preached to the Jewish council, and he preached to Roman soldiers. That's it all. He came before two Roman governors, Felix and Festus. Right, you must remember, this is now at the end of Paul's ministry. But in Acts chapter nine, Jesus said, you'll come before kings and you're gonna preach to the Gentiles and you're gonna preach to the Jews. But you're gonna preach to kings, you're gonna stand before kings, Paul. So Paul could not have died when he was stoned. Because if he did, that word would not have been fulfilled, the word that Jesus spoke. Remember, Jesus is in control of mission and he will not tell Paul something that would not happen because he is sovereignly in control. And then we read in Acts chapter 9 verse 15 and 16 that Paul had the privilege of preaching to Agrippa, the king of Judea. And he fulfilled, and that was the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus in Acts chapter 9 verse 15 and 16. Wow. Beloved, can you see who is in control all along? I hope it becomes clear. I hope as we have a bird's eye view of the book of Acts that you can see who is in control here. It's not Paul. It's not the disciples. It's not God's people. It is Christ. The Sovereign Lord, He is in control because He has all authority in heaven and on earth. And His disciples just acted upon His word that they need to go. And they went. And all these things happened. Amazing. We read that This is at the end of the Book of Acts. We read that the Apostle Paul went to Rome. He was on a ship. While he was on the ship, the ship was shipwrecked on Malta. Later on, when he got to Rome, he was imprisoned under house arrest. And even though Paul went through all these things in Rome, or on his way to Rome, and even in Rome, he could preach to the sailors, he could testify, share the gospel with the sailors on the ship, he could preach to Roman soldiers, he could preach to the Maltese people, as well as to the Jews and the Gentiles in Rome. The story of one missionary with a huge impact because the sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ, told him to go. Absolutely amazing. The book of Acts ends with the words that Paul was preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him. He preached the gospel. He preached the word, told them about the kingdom of God, and spoke to them about Jesus Christ. And then, depends on which translation you've got, if you've got the NIV and other translations, you go through the New Testament, it doesn't do that. But if you have the New King James, the King James Bible, some of the other translations, you'll see that every single book of the New Testament ends with the word Amen. That means, so be it. It's final. That's it. Except one book. The Book of Acts doesn't have an amen. You know why? Because the Apostle Paul's life in Rome was not the end of the gospel being preached. No. The gospel had to reach you and me. The gospel needs to reach the furthest ends of the earth. The gospel of the kingdom has to be preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations. Then the end will come and Christ's mission will be fulfilled. Therefore, he leaves the book of Acts open-ended because the mission would continue until it's fulfilled. And beloved, you and I, we're sitting in this auditorium listening to this message online. You and I are still part of the mission. We haven't stopped. We're still part of the mission. And because we are part of the mission, you and I are called by Christ to go and make disciples of all nations. Anybody created in the image and likeness of God, or the image of God, needs to hear the gospel. The only way it's possible, when we listen to the book of Acts, or read the book of Acts, is because the sovereign Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, has authority, all authority in heaven and on earth. And based on that authority, and because it is His mission, you and I can go with His blessing. And He will do what He has to do. We just need to go out in obedience to Him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that we can be part of the mission to preach the gospel, the gospel of the kingdom, of your reign and your rule. Because that's what it means, that you reign sovereign, that you are in control, that this gospel can be preached. The gospel of the kingdom can be preached in all the world as a testimony to all the nations. And then we know the end will come. Father, we pray, please, enable us as your children as your disciples, those who have become disciples through other disciples, to make disciples, to teach them to obey all things which you have commanded, so that this mission that we are on in this world can be completed. We know it will, because Jesus said it, and he proved himself to be true. Thank you that we can be part of it. frail sinners like us who have been saved by grace, normal people like us, that we can be part of this amazing mission of the Lord Jesus Christ. Use us during this week, Father. In Jesus' name we pray this, amen.