The 2026-27 Chapel Theme

Unstoppable: The Story Isn’t Over

The Acts of the Apostles is a bit of a misnomer. The focus of the book is not primarily on the work of Jesus’ followers, but on the unstoppable advance of the gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit. Luke points this out again and again: every attempt to silence, imprison, scatter, and destroy the early church only results in expanding the gospel further. From a small group of disciples in an upper room in Jerusalem (1:15) to Paul preaching openly in the middle of Rome (28:16-31), Acts traces a relentless movement in which God’s Kingdom reaches far beyond the humble hillsides of Galilee.

Central to that movement is the person and work of the Holy Spirit, who is the main character of the whole story: the Spirit falls at Pentecost (2:1-4), empowers bold preaching (4:31), unites believers across fraught cultural divisions (6:1-6), directs and redirects Jesus’ followers (8:29, 16:6), opens multicultural implications of the gospel (10:19), commissions missionaries (13:2), opens hearts to receive the gospel (16:13-14), and warns of coming tribulation (20:23). What this means for us is equally humbling and liberating: the unstoppable gospel does not rise or fall on human effort, success, or failure. Instead, the catalyst of this movement is the same Power that raised Jesus from the dead, filled the upper room, and carried the message from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and with our participation today, to the ends of the earth (1:8).

And this is why Acts ends so peculiarly. We find Paul preaching without hindrance in Rome (28:31), and the implication is that the gospel will now go to the ends of the earth. But this is not a conclusion; it is an invitation. The story is still being written, and we aren’t simply watching from the sidelines. We are called into this ongoing movement as Kingdom partners to continue what was enacted at Pentecost (2:1-4) and become the unstoppable force in what God has been working out since his covenant with Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3). The gospel has not been stopped because it can’t be stopped, not until every tribe, tongue, and nation has heard (Rev. 7:9)."