Acts 27:1-28:10, Are We There Yet?

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Acts 27:1-28:10 Are We There Yet?

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Acts chapter 27 beginning in verse 1 be reading to chapter 28 verse 10. Hear the word of the
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Lord And when it was decided that we should set sail for Italy they delivered
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Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius and embarking on a ship of Andromedium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia We put to sea accompanied by Aristarchus a
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Macedonian for Thessalonica The next day we put in at Sidon and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for and putting out to sea from there we sailed under the
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Lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us and when we sailed Across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia.
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We came to Myra Lycia there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board we sailed slowly for a number of days and Arrived with difficulty off Snydus and as the wind did not allow us to go farther
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We sailed under the Lee of Crete off Salamone Coasting along it with difficulty.
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We came to a place called Fair Havens near which was the city of Lycia Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over Paul advised them saying
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Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss Not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives but the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what
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Paul said and Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in the majority decided to put out to sea from there on the chance
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That somehow they could reach Phoenix a harbor of Crete Facing both southwest and northwest and spend the winter there
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Now when the south wind blew gently Supposing that they had obtained their purpose they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete close to the shore
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But soon a tempestuous wind called the Northeaster struck down from the land and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind
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We gave way to it and were driven along running under the Lee of a small island called caught up We managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat after hoisting it up They used supports to undergird the ship then fearing that they would run aground on service
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They lowered the gear and thus were driven along since we were violently storm -tossed They began the next day to jettison the cargo and on the third day
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They threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands when neither Sun nor stars appeared for many days and no
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Small tempest lay on us all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned
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Since they had been without food for a long time Paul stood up among them and said men You should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss
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Yet now I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship for this very night there stood before me an angel of the
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God whom I belong and Whom I worship and he said do not be afraid Paul You must stand before Caesar and behold
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God has granted you all those who sail with you So take heart men for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told
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But we must run aground on some island When the 14th night had come as we were being driven across the
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Adriatic Sea about midnight the sailors Suspected that they were nearing land.
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So they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms a little farther On further on they took a sounding again and found 15 fathoms and fearing that we might run on the rocks
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They let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come and as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and Had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow
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Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay in the ship You cannot be saved then the soldiers cut away the ropes of ships boat and let it go
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As day was about to dawn Paul urged them all to take some food saying today is the 14th day that you have continued in suspense
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And without food having taken nothing therefore, I urge you to take some food for it will give you strength for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you and When he had said these things he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat
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Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves We were in all 276 persons in the ship and When they had eaten enough they lighten the ship throwing out the wheat into the sea
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Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land for they noticed a bay But they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned if possible to run the ship ashore
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So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea in the same time At the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach
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But striking a reef they ran the vessel aground the bow struck and remained immovable and the stern was being broken up by the surf
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The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners as any should have swim away and escape
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But the Centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the
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Ship, and so it was that all were brought safely to land and After we were brought safely through we learned that the island was called
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Malta the native people showed us unusual kindness For they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and and was cold when
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Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire a viper came out because of the heat and Fastened on his hand when the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand.
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They said to one another No doubt this man is a murderer though. He has escaped from the sea justice has not allowed him to live
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He however shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead
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But when they waited a long time and saw no more fortune come to him They changed their minds and said that he was a god
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Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island Publius Who received us and pained us hospitably for three days it happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery and Paul visited him and prayed and putting his hands on him healed
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Him and when this had taken place the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured
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They also honored us greatly and when we were about to sail they put on board
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Whatever we needed And the Lord had his blessings to the reading of his holy word
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There's just two shopping days left before Christmas Are you ready? Are you there?
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Are you at the stage of being prepared? We're all the build -up leads for many people has been leading for months now for many people
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Christmas is really the end of a Long process of shopping and decorating and dinners and parties and cards and traveling for some it's at shore
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They kind of procrastinated and dread having to go through it again again this year Maybe they're afraid to get the wrong gift for somebody but for many they relish it they do everything with a special panache
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Seeing some of you here ribbons tied around cards, you know The card just the cards not good enough.
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You got to tie a ribbon around it tasteful gifts to almost everyone around them Maybe into their mailman
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They enjoy every step along the way from the shopping to the to the wrapping to the decking the halls It's all as a means to get to the end of Enjoying Christmas and they begin planning asking people, you know what they want for Christmas.
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Maybe is in October or even earlier They'll do special things like to go to a park with a light show in it
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They got that blue park around here here handles Messiah or the Trans -Siberian Orchestra It was in Greensboro a couple weeks ago and hope that the the church has something special playing like a cantata or pageant or a play
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And if it doesn't the world I go visit another church that does the visit relatives making an annual pilgrimage to see grandparents
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I aunts uncles cousins and invariably the little kids will ask what's the question they ask.
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Everybody knows it Yes, are we there yet Are we at the end of this long journey?
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Are we at the goal? This trip is about Now they're the ones who are most counting down the days until Christmas first They get to get out of school for like a whole two or three weeks and and then they get the gifts
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Most of them are for them that they've been asking for You know when I was a kid, I counted down the days until Christmas and then one
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Christmas Eve I was so eager to get those gifts the next morning. You know, I wanted to get a head start
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I wouldn't even sleep in my bed like five yards away. I I was slept on the top of the stairway So I would be as soon as I wake up.
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I could just I would be right there on the stairway I could run down just get the gifts this Santa had left behind Christmas is a process.
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It's a journey and We're almost there many traditional denominations including some were foreign ones have
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Advent is part of their yearly cycle in which they go through a journey of Recreating the events that lead up to the birth of Christ and they want you to re -experience them again every year
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It is they think a means of the journey to get to the end of Christmas and to understand what it means
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Hopefully other reformed people though like the Puritans rejected that in 1659
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Puritan, Massachusetts banned Christmas. They outlawed Christmas. You think that's the Grinch? No, there's appearance because they didn't couldn't find any authority for a
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Christmas in the Bible right much less a yearly Advent Christmas and then an epiphany season a process to go through every year but also because they didn't
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People should be looking Christians shouldn't be looking back all the time, but that we should be looking at the journey that we're on now
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Where we're at now where God is taking us in the future. Is he afflicting us?
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So that we need to repent we need to have days of fasting now Is that what's going on or is he blessing us?
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And so we need days of Thanksgiving We have a destination We have a goal
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That we're going to now where the Lord is taking us we're on a voyage a pilgrimage hence the great
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Puritan book pilgrims progress We're heading to the Golden Shore Are we there yet?
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Other reformed people like the Dutch Reformed whom we get many of our Psalms for singing We found called the Christian Reformed Church in America CRC which used to be the
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Dutch Reformed Church because they came from the Netherlands and many some Presbyterians would argue that the
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Christmas can be it can be a means it can be a way can be a tool a helpful teaching and worship experience a means to teach about the incarnation that God became a human being to live like us to experience all the suffering and the temptations that we do and Finally to bear our sins
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God and sinners reconciled the Puritan types would answer back Well that we can be reminded of all that just through the regular preaching and teaching of Scripture You don't need a day in the year just for that they just they disagree on the means understand the disagreement
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There's a disagreement on the means not on the end They disagree on the means whether Christmas is a good means to bring us to the right ends
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What they agreed on whether we celebrate Christmas or not is that it should help our
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Pilgrimage that trip we're all on Not just to go to grandmother's house, but to the kingdom of God Celestial city in pilgrims progress to the golden shore
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That we who are alive Haven't arrived yet. And so we if if we do celebrate
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Christmas, it should help us on that voyage Not distract us
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With love of things, you know, but materialism commercialism and so teaching kids, you know
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It's all about them getting whatever toy and gadget they want and so they're so eager for it They spend the night, you know
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Christmas Eve sleeping at the top of the staircase that we get ourselves in so far into debt Because we are determined to have a
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Merry Christmas and we think that means getting stuff and using the credit card that we can't then give
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Like we should in the year ahead that we get so caught up in the build -up to the big day the process of the season that when it's over We don't know what to do what's next
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Except throw away the boxes in the wrapping paper we're on a journey and It won't be over probably on Wednesday We see here the journey that we're on in four parts of the means then the storm
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Then the shipwreck and finally the end For two years
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Paul and his friends Luke and Aristarchus They've been waiting for what's next in Caesarea Israel on the
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Mediterranean coast and now finally they're on their way the destination Is Rome the the means to get to that destination?
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Is sailing sailing across the sea Paul had already been told by the Lord Jesus in Acts chapter 23 verse 11
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Jesus had spoken him said take courage be confident have faith because Just as you
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Paul have testified about what Jesus said said the facts about me So you must?
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You must it is necessary the word there. You must testify also in Rome you must it is
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Absolutely necessary. We so we saw that remember Henry Martin the pioneer missionary as as George Whitfield said that we are all immortal until our work is done
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So the end of Paul's work Which will be the end of the book of Acts? Which which says that the gospel will get to the end of the earth.
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The end of Paul's work is to get to Rome he must get there the end is
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Rome and The means is a ship the first ship will take them to a port which will get them to a second ship
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Which they hope will get them to Rome. It's like a lot like airplane travel today You have to go to a hub and transfer to a flight that's going in to your destination
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So they put Paul and other prisoners under the custody of a centurion named Julius and he'll be in charge
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They sailed in north to Sidon where Julius you is allows
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Paul to go visit some friends the church Allows them to take care of him. There's a church there already for him if you ever map in your
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Bible It's but be a good time to look at it. They sail north Of Cyprus then to Myra on the southern coast of current -day
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Turkey, which was that particular ships Destination Myra they have to get off there.
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It's like airplane travel. We call it a layover, right? You have to get out and wait for your next flight
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They stopped there there Julius finds another ship heading to Italy and puts them on board The second ship is headed due west toward Italy, but the wind was against them
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So it was slow going They stopped at Snydus on the extreme southwest corner of Turkey and then pushing off from there the wind blew them south
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Now they're off course They should be going straight west and then a little north to get to Italy But the wind is blowing them away toward Crete a large island in the middle to the middle of the
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Mediterranean Sea There they slowly get to a port called Fair Haven's on the south side of Crete It's already taken them longer than they expected since the wind has been against them and most of the way
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It's now October and the Mediterranean Sea can get stormy as the winter approaches at Fair Haven's They have to make a decision either to go on despite the danger or spin the winner there and wait for spring
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Paul advises them in verse 10, you know sirs I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives
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He's predicting that if they try to make the journey now There's some of the passengers will be killed.
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It's gonna be some kind of disaster. Some of them are going to die He's not necessarily being pessimistic. He's trying to be prudent
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Let's be serious about this. It's too dangerous You know today prosperity gospel preachers tell people
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They'll use this verse in Proverbs life and death is in the power of the tongue that if you say something
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Your your words have the power to create Whatever it is that you say your confession creates the results that you confess
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They will take that verse from Proverbs life and death is in the power of the tongue Which really means that your words, you know, they affect people
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They affect the way people treat you like one of them a soft answer turns away wrath The use soft words, you know how to deal with people.
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Well, they then they If even if they're start out angry with you, they end up nicely you you can change people your words affect your life
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Then the prosperity gospel preachers though They take that verse and instead interpret it to mean that your words have a supernatural power and it says
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God could call things into being you know, God could say let there be light and light would be
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They say we can do the same Our words create what we say
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They say if we say my cancer is healed or I'm getting the job or I'm making a million dollars or There's gonna be a shipwreck and a lot of us are going to die
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Then it will happen even if we don't follow the doctor's orders or prepare for the job or work hard or Whatever happened, what do we do with a ship?
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It's just our words create our fate and that fits nicely I think that whole that prosperity gospel
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Doctrine that teaching fits nicely with the whole with the culture as a whole where we're told today
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You know, if we tell our kids to be positive or to be a positive ourself with whatever we say we can do
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Whatever we set our minds to right? We hear this kind of advice all the time in our culture If you if whatever your mind can conceive your body can achieve this kind of thing
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We could be champions. We can pass the test. We can be successful at business if we're just positive
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Obviously Paul didn't believe that He's saying, you know fellas we go back to sea.
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We're gonna have a shipwreck and a lot of us are gonna die Don't do it Our words don't have supernatural power
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Because we're not God That's a good thing to remember. Sometimes we need to be reminded of that.
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God is God and you're not We're called to speak to the truth to submit our words to what
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God says to what's true Here Paul is simply a prudent man who knows is dangerous to to sail this time of year
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They've already had a difficult time against the wind it could get worse Paul is saying it will get worse his words will not make the voyage more successful or more dangerous only
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God's decree Can do that? But they don't listen to him the pilot or the captain the owner of the ship.
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They probably told all kinds of stories Come on we've traveled this time of year. We travel in October every year.
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We have no problems. Don't worry about it Anyway, we need to get our cargo to our customers. It should be okay
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Anyway, you know this place called they called it Fair Havens, but it says it's not suitable to winter in In other words, this place is a dump.
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We don't want to hang around here for three or four months So they decided the majority says it says they took a vote the majority
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Decided they took a verse 12. Let's go back to see If they can just get a little further
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Down the coast a little further west down Crete to Phoenix. They'll stay there for the winter
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That's the means the means to get to the end is sailing The problem with sailing of course is that sailing ships can be easily blown off course, especially in a storm
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When we're on a journey Even if the Lord has made clear what the ends are what the destination is and he's promised
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That we will arrive there. We will get to our goal But we will go through a storm you're going to go through storms
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Here we see three truths about voyaging through storms
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Borrowed from Warren Wisby first a Storm cannot harm no storm can harm the people of God At first they had a gentle south wind and it looked like their plan would work
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They would make it to Phoenix and be there for the winter But soon they were caught in a storm a tempestuous wind called the
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Northeaster came upon them blowing it down from the northeast off of the island of Crete Driving them away from their immediate destination away from Phoenix South Going south of a small island called caught up.
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It was so stormy They were barely able to save the ship's lifeboat loop says we managed with difficulty to secure it we managed with difficulty implying that He took part in that he helped salvage it.
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He remembers the calluses on his hands probably when he wrote this I remember dragging that thing up from the water they were caught in the storm on a sailing ship bobbing up and down and like a cork in the water that the ship was so beaten by the waves and so stressed by the going up and down that they were afraid it would just crack in pieces and So they used ropes to hold the ship together
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They were afraid that the ship would be run aground somewhere So they tried to raise it up in the water by throwing all the excess weight that they could overboard
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They jettisoned the cargo in verse 18 The ship's tackle as is most of the gear the ropes and pulleys whatever else they have
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Everything that they could spare was was thrown out into the water in verse 19 They went many many days with it being so overcast
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They couldn't see you know exactly where the Sun is. They couldn't see any stars by night
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They didn't have a compass or radar or GPS in those days You navigated sailors navigated by the
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Sun and the stars now They're sailing blind. They have no idea where they're going.
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They're out of control and and they're desperate in Verse 20 it says finally in the storm all hope of Our being saved was at last abandoned all hope of Saving themselves by their own means by their ship by their seamanship was given up as Dante wrote as the words inscribed over the gates
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Of hell abandoned hope all you who enter here They've abandoned hope
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But Paul knows what he wrote in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 All things work together for good for those who love
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God who are called for his purpose His purpose the purpose for Paul is to testify to Jesus in Rome and he's not there yet So he might have given up hope in the sailors
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But he hasn't given up hope in the Lord. So he says in verse 21 men You know, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and have occurred this injury and loss
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I don't think he's just rubbing their nose in it He's not just saying I told you so but he wanted them to learn that he knew better And so that in the future when he tells them what to do maybe they'll remember and do what he says and they'll remember that he was right before that they should listen to him, so Now he says listen in verse 22.
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I urge you To take heart I was right before that we should never gone this way now,
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I'm right and now I'm saying be encouraged Before in chapter 23 verse 11 the
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Lord Jesus urged Paul to be of good courage You know, there was Jesus telling
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Paul to take heart to not worry You're gonna go to Rome.
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You're gonna make it to Rome now Paul urges them to be confident Not because he makes a good confession. He's not out there confessing
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We're gonna make it, you know, just because he hopes so but because an angel appeared to him Paul says from the
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God whom I belong and to whom I and whom I worship and he said in verse 24 The angel said to Paul do not be afraid
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Paul Paul belongs to the God who controls the storm as they said of Jesus even the wind and the sea obey him and they still do
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The storm cannot harm The people of God the child of God the angel says you must again it is necessary you must
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Necessary stand before Caesar not only that The angel says
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God has granted you all those who sail with you You know before this Paul could have thought well, Jesus said I'm gonna go to Rome I'm not sure about the rest of you.
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You all may go down, but I'm gonna make it. Maybe he's a good swimmer He's thinking but now this time the angel said
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God has granted all those who sail with you. So there will be no loss of life
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We'll lose the ship on the way, but amazingly you will not lose. We will not lose a single hair from our heads even in the worst storm
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Storm to our health to our family to our money our career or business
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Don't worry No storm can harm The people of God so Take heart
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Paul says in verse 25 be encouraged. Sure. We're gonna have some rough portions on our voyage
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We're going to run aground on some islet. There might be some rough times coming some test
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They come back positive some horrible diagnoses some bad news
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But take heart God works All things together for good for those who are called for his purpose
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So take heart Think about that Paul is sure that they're all gonna make it
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That God has ordained the ends that they will all survive. They'll make it to their destination
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If that's the case Then why do anything for them after this? God has promised that everyone will live.
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No one will drown at sea or be killed by the soldiers. Everyone will be safe That's gonna be the end.
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He says he's sure of that and Paul is Encouraging the others you can trust in that don't worry about anything.
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God has determined it so then after that when you think
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Paul just gets out of a Lounge chair on the deck there enjoys the rest of the cruise You know, why do anything to help them survive, you know,
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I have to worry about it, right? I mean if they're all predestined to survive Why does Paul need to help them anymore after this?
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That was what that's what a lot of people say. Tell us about salvation if God is predestined who will be saved
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Why preach the gospel? Why do evangelism? Why do anything for salvation? Why run Jim jr.
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In Jim? Why reach out to people might share the gospel. Why do any of that? Why not just stay at home have
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Christmas services maybe they just entertain ourselves don't worry about anyone else why Because God has
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Ordained he has determined not only the ends the final destination but the means
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How that people will be saved? here literally by the ship by the sailors in salvation
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By the preaching of the gospel God has ordained the ends and the means and we see that here
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First the storm can't harm the people of God Everything works together for their good
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Then the storm can't hide the face of God Now it can hide the
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Sun and the stars so that they can't navigate It can drive them to despair so they give up all hope in any skill or technology or luck they have
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In any religion and any morality they have so that they depend on grace so God grants
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In verse 25 and there's that word grants. It's it's a word that's it's filled with grace
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It's basically a verbal form of the word grace yet. God has graced
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Paul That the other passengers will be saved He's given that to Paul as a gift all these other people with you will be will also live and Paul says about that I have faith in God says to the people be encouraged
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God's given me this promise and I believe that promise I have faith in God that it will be exactly as He has said
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Not as I said before forget what I said before but a lot of us died no storm can hide the face of God No storm can harm the child of God no storm can hide the face of God and finally
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No storm can hinder the will of God God has said in verse 24 that Paul must it's necessary for him to stand before Caesar That's the end for Paul and God ordains it and God has said in verse 26 that that we must the same word as before is
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Necessary to run aground on some island Why is it necessary? We don't really know but it is that that's the means it's
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God's will it seemed like a weird Twisted means to get to that end, you know, you want to go to Rome?
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That's the destination Why go through Malta and a shipwreck? Why couldn't the voyage have been direct and safe, you know straight from Caesarea to Rome?
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Why couldn't Paul have been set free there by Festus or Felix and then gone to Rome as a free Roman citizen?
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Why couldn't he have not been arrested in the first place we're gonna do this what -if stuff, you know, just Gone to Rome because he felt called to priest there.
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Why is the means? through imprisonment and Affliction. Why is it through plots and religious zealots trying to kill him or unprincipled politicians?
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Not doing the right thing. Why is the means through a storm and a shipwreck and all the rest?
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Why is the means? So hard Why is it so often through storms?
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We don't know We don't know But we do know that God decrees the means as well as the ends and He works all those means together for good here we must
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It's necessary run aground But no matter how hard it gets we should know
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That no storm can hinder the will of God. So we say like Paul.
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I Have faith in God Paul has faith that God has decreed the the ends and the means and so he acts
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To do that all that he can do to use the means that God has decreed the means that God has put before him to use
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He sees that God is behind that everything that he has in front of him that he can use God put it there Well, they need the sailors.
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You see why a little bit later while they knew the sailors, right this Casting the the for sale or whatever the
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I don't even know what all these terms mean But to get to Malta they had to steal the ship in the right way They need the sailors
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Now when the sailors find after two soundings of the depth of the ocean that they're getting into shallower waters approaching some shore
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They plot to escape You know, they put on this little ruse with the lifeboat that they're going to use it to set down some anchors
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They're actually trying to escape from the ship It was going to be their means to get off that doomed ship But Paul knew what they were doing and he told
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Julius the centurion unless these men stay on the ship. You cannot be saved
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Think of that in the context of this interesting, isn't it? God has said you will definitely make it to Rome Everyone is going to live and then
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Paul says unless they stay on the ship. You cannot be saved They are the means of saving the ship
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I'm saying but but I thought God had promised the end that they will all be definitely saved So what lines of matter what we do after that?
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Well, yes But he decrees the means that the way the process every step of the journey to get to that end
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Every up and down of the voyage every wave of the sea God decrees the means
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That they will definitely be saved by Through the sailors
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Without them, they won't be saved. So Paul acts to make sure that they keep them
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Then they need their strength You know a lot of them have a big log swim coming up the means of getting to shore will be about swimming or paddling
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They have a long swim and coming and swimming takes a lot of energy. Believe me. They've hardly eaten for two weeks now
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I doubt he literally or three weeks. I doubt he literally means that they haven't eaten anything For weeks like in verse 33, but they haven't eaten a full meal
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Like we might say to someone who's just snacked a little bit, you know, you hardly eat anything You need to eat something substantial
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So he urges them to eat even take some bread And he gives thanks to God for it and he breaks it and he starts to eat it in front of them in order to Provoke their hunger.
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He didn't use his faith in God's promise to be impractical To not take care of everything that he can take care of he believed
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God and he did everything he could including having dinner They they did what they could do then after after their dinner
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They lighten ships and more throwing their weed into the sea and they're encouraged now No longer without hope
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No storm can harm the child of God. No storm can hide the face of God And no storm can hinder the will of God The next is the shipwreck normally a shipwreck you would think well
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That's just the worst disaster that you can think of the worst thing that could happen, especially with you know, there's no life vests
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There's no more lifeboat. They cut that loose, but they but they see some land They don't recognize and they make for it.
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They spot a bay with the beach They're aiming for it casting off the last of their anchors hoisting the sails But they get stuck on a reef or sandbar
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The ship won't move and the waves begin to break apart the stern the rear of the ship the soldiers know
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I can Roman law You know if you prisoners escape the law was that you must have let them escape and so you get the penalty they
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Prisoners would have gotten so the soldiers know that if they escape You know as people are swimming and floating and scurrying ashore that they could be executed for it
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So they plot to kill all the prisoners including Paul But Julius won't allow it because he he wants to say
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Paul Paul has won his admiration and favor and so he'll take a chance that the prisoners don't escape he tells the swimmers to jump in and swim it to a shore and the others just to catch hold of a piece of the ship and Float with it paddle what use it as a flotation device,
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I guess to let allow it to bring them to shore and and so in the end of verse 44 look at that and so By this means this is the way all were brought safely to land
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God God ordains the means a shipwreck swimming floating ashore on flotsam thus
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By that means all were safe by the preaching of the gospel Now the hearing that that preacher
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Picking up that school in a public school library that explained the gospel maybe by a parent
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Praying or sharing with you by a lesson of Jim jr. Our brief message in Jim by the means of the gospel
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All God's people are saved By some means the means God has ordained all of God's people are brought safely
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To the destination he has for them God ordains the ends And the means
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Well, finally, they're at the end at least of this dangerous part of the voyage They're at safety They're on some island which they find is
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Malta Which is just due south of Sicily the local people welcome them kindly a kindle of fire for them for their warmth as 276 survivors come to shores, you know soaking wet and cold weather
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It's raining notice what kind of man Paul is in chapter 28 verse 3 He doesn't just sit around you think
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I'm the Apostle Luke Aristarchus Give me some wood for this fire now He goes he goes about himself picking up firewood gathering up sticks those that near the fire
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And while he's doing that among the bundle of sticks Paul threw in the fire was a poisonous snake
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You can can things get any worse on this trip? I mean really There's a viper it bit into his hand
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Says it fastened on his hand and the locals saw that look at all these people who survived that prisoner
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He got a snake in his hand They see that he's a prisoner and they thought well he escaped
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The just punishment for for murder. He must be a murderer We can tell because he's about to die and so justice is he's killing him like giving him the punishment that he deserves a venomous snake is giving him the
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Execution that he earned by his by his murder and the shipwreck didn't do it
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But justice brought it to pass the Viper was the means of justice The SV capitalized the word justice there meaning that the people thought it was the
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Greek goddess Dike that means the goddess of justice sent the snake to bite him to be the means of him being punished
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Justice is going to get its ends. The end will be his death, but Paul shook off the snake into the fire and a purifying
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He didn't seem even it doesn't even sound like he's too perturbed by it Just shook it off goes back sits down.
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Maybe goes back pick some more sticks He probably remembered the promise from Jesus and then from the angel. He's gonna make it to Rome You know, one is gonna die includes me especially me because I gotta make it to Rome and he said
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I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told And the local people that were watching him thinking the venom must maybe it just hasn't taken effect yet any moment now
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He's gonna start to swell up Then I'll kill over dead But when nothing happened to him they changed their minds
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He's not a murderer after all. He must be a god they thought You know so fickle is the world
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You know on Paul's first journey in chapter 14 When he healed a man that he was at first worshipped as a god and then stoned when he denied it while a
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Malta here He's first called a murderer and then a god The truth, of course is that he's not a god but a child of the
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God and no serpent Can harm the child of God? no serpent
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Can hide the face of God if we don't believe his lies and no serpent can hinder the plan of God Here Paul has been promised that even if the means is a storm and a shipwreck
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Waiting to shore on an island to get promptly bit by a venomous snake, you know, even if it appears that this everything is going wrong
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From the riot to the arrest of the unprincipled politicians to this voyage now this poisonous snake dangling from my hand
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Even when it seems that everything has gone wrong still God works everything for good for those who love him who are called for his purpose
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The end for Paul is to testify to the gospel and Rome so No mob violence.
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No assassination plots. No false accusations. No storm at sea. No shipwreck
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No vipers can separate him from the love of God from the plan from the end that God has for him
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Nothing can harm the child of God Not in the long term now. Oh sure You might be hungry on board a storm -tossed ship
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It's not going to be a always a pleasant voyage You might be cold after waiting a shore in the rain.
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It might sting To be bitten by a snake but nothing
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Not life or death no angels. No rulers or things present or things to come nor powers nor height
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Nor depth nor anything else anything else and all of creation will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your
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Lord Paul got that promise in the middle of the storm and said
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I Have faith in God that it will be exactly as he has told me
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Now some a very few Have taken this passage and mark 16 where it says they will pick up snakes to intentionally
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Handle snakes and to supposedly to show their faith by means of that but like Paul here
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You know We're to do everything that we can do everything that God puts in our way in our capacity to do get the sailors to stay
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On the ship you eat you plan you prepare avoid poisonous snakes if you possibly can and do it
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Do what God has put in your power to do now if out of our control bad things happen
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Like a snake bite we can know that God will not let those things defeat
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His plan it might be out of our control But it's not out of his
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No disaster. No snake bite Nothing outside of our control no means that the devil can unleash
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Can hinder the will of God can keep us from the final end that God has for us
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Here the the sting of the snake bite results in Paul being hailed as a god
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He almost certainly denied it. We don't say it, but you can pretty be sure he said no
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But that but they recognized that there was something special about the man So the head man of the island
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Publius whose estate was nearby where they landed Especially welcome Paul and his friends and entertain them hospitably says for three days
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His father was sick Luke says with fever and dysentery possibly within what is now called the
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Malta fever Caught from microbes in the goats milk of Malta. So Paul hearing that visited him prayed for him laid hands on him and healed him
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And when others in Malta with diseases heard of that news got out They too came to Paul and he healed them in the name of Jesus.
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So though a prisoner he is now acclaimed He's honored on Malta when it comes time to leave.
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They just give him a full stock of stuff everything He needs for the for the final voyage These are the first miracles that we've heard of from Paul Since chapter 20 where that boy remember the boy
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Eutychus falls out of the third story window and then was raised up here Paul Now washed ashore on Malta is healing the sick
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But isn't that odd think about that He's a prisoner washed ashore on Malta.
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He's healing the sick, but if he can do miracles You know, why not? Why not walk on water and avoid that wading through the cold water?
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Why not do that or why not just walk away from Roman custody? That would be nice or or have a like, you know
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Like Elijah just got to be transported away in a tornado chariot of fire come and separate him from Julius and his men and get out like that when
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I have a supernatural power to escape all These sufferings the imprisonment the hunger the storm the shipwreck the snake bite so he doesn't get bit in the first place
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Why not use this miracle working power for that? Why does he suffer so much?
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suffering and miracle working suffering and miracle working
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Seems like a bizarre combination, doesn't it? You do miracles once you get out of suffering
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Suffering and miracle working seems like the oddest combination So does a newborn
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King born in a manger a Messiah laid in an animal's feeding trough with no room in the end so does a crown of thorns a cross
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To be lifted up on the means to draw all kinds of people to himself the way of the cross is the means to glory
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Are we there yet? No Not quite yet We can see it though That that golden shore because Jesus has gone ahead of us and he's already there
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Now we might be in a storm We might have a shipwreck and have chilly waters to have to wade through But we can see because we've been promised that we'll make it if we love
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God if we're called by him So the storms the shipwrecks the snake bites, they're all worked together by God for our good like Paul Do you believe that?
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Do you say in? the middle of your storms I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told