Day : 243. Acts 26-28
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26:17-18. Paul took every opportunity to remind his audience that the Gentiles have an equal share in God’s inheritances. This inheritance is the promise and blessing of the covenant that God made with Abraham (Eph 2:19, 1Peter 1:3,4). Paul’s mission was to preach the Good News to the Gentiles.

26:24. Paul was risking his life for a message that was offensive to the Jews and unbelievable to the Gentiles. Jesus received the same response to his message (Mark 3:21, John 10:20). To a worldly, materialistic mind, it seems insane to risk so much to gain what seems to be so little. But as you follow Christ, you soon discover that temporary possessions look so small next to even the smallest eternal reward.

26:26. Paul was appealing to the facts—people were still alive who had heard Jesus and seen his miracles, the empty tomb could still be seen; and the Christian message was turning the world upside down(17:6). The history of Jesus life and the early church are facts that are still open for us
to examine. We still have eyewitness accounts of Jesus’ life recorded in the Bible as well as historical and archeological records of the early chirch to study. Examine the events and facts as verified by many witnesses. Strengthen your faith with the truth of these accounts.

28:7,8 – Paul continued to minister to others, even as a ship wrecked prisoner. On this trip alone, his centurion, the chief official of Malta, and many others were affected. It is no wonder that the gospel spread like wildfire.

28:30. Tradition says that Paul was released after two years of house arrest in Rome and then set off on a fourth missionary journey. Some reasons for this tradition are as follows:

1. Luke does not give us an account of his trial before Caesar, and Luke was a detailed chronicler;
2. The prosecution had two years to bring the case to trial, and time may have run out;
3. In this letter to the Philippians; written during his imprisonment in Rome, Paul implied that he would soon be released and would do further traveling.
4. Paul mentions several places where he intended to take the gospel, but he never visited those places in his first three journeys and
5. Early Christian literature talks plainly about other travels by Paul.

It may be that during Paul’s time of freedom, he continued to travel extensively, even going to Spain and back to churches in Greece.

28:31. Why does it take the book of Acts end here and so abruptly? The book is not about the life of Paul but the spread of the gospel, and it has been clearly presented. God apparently thought it was not necessary for someone to write an additional book describing the continuing history of the early church. Now that the gospel had been preached and established at the centre of trade and government, it would spread across the world.

All the ministry was prompted and held together by the Holy Spirit working in the lives of ordinary people- merchants, travelers, slaves, jailers, church leaders, males, females, Gentiles, Jews, rich, poor. Many unsung heroes of the faith continued the work, through the Holy Spirit, in succeeding generations, changing the world with a changeless message —that Jesus Christ is Saviour and Lord for all who call on him.
Today we can be the unsung heroes in the continuing story of the spread of the gospel. It is that same message that we Christians are to take to our world so that many more may hear and believe.

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Clara Radhakrishna