Thankfulness & Courage

Good evening, good evening. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to be with you tonight. This is where every day you and I, we get together, we get into God's Word, and this year, 2022, we'll go from the Book of Acts to the Book of Philemon. I'm so glad to be with you tonight. We are at the last chapter of the Book of Acts. Can you believe it? Next week, We're going to pick up at the book of Romans. I'm really excited to go there with you and start working through the epistles together. But we have two more days in the book of Acts today and tomorrow. That's it.
So why don't we go ahead and pray and we'll get into the Lord's Word. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Father, we thank you for your love and your care. We thank you for the wonderful ways in which you have provided for and loved your people. We pray that as we read your word tonight, that it would be a blessing to our souls. Father, we pray that your Holy Spirit would be teaching us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let me grab my glasses over here, and we'll go to Acts chapter 28, Acts chapter 28, and we're going to read the first 16 verses together tonight. Acts chapter 28, the first 16 verses. Let's get into the Lord's Word together.
Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta, and the natives showed us unusual kindness. For they kindled a fire and made us all welcome, because the rain was falling and because of the cold. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. So when the natives saw that the creature hanging on his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live. But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
In that region, there was an estate of one of the first men of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.
They also honored us in many ways, and when we departed they provided such things as were necessary. After three months we sailed in an Alexandrian ship, whose figurehead was twin brothers, which had wintered at the island, and landing at Syracuse we stayed three days. From there we circled around and reached Regium, and another one day the south wind blew, and the next day we came to Putioli. where we found brethren and were invited to stay with them seven days. And so we went toward Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appia Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. Now when we came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard. But Paul was permitted to dwell by himself with the soldier who guarded him.
Well, like normal, we need to ask ourselves, first, A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse that summarizes? And C, what are we called to do in response to these words? So there's really two parts of this story, right? Verses one through verse 10, and then 11 through 16. So let's talk about one through 10 first.
They're still on the sea there. And Paul, remember, had told them before that nobody was going to die and kept them from killing all the soldiers and the centurions spared their lives. The bow was stuck in the sandbar or in a shoal, something like that. The waves were beating against, but he allowed them to swim to shore. They get to shore.
And there the people of Malta are extremely hospitable to them. They show them astounding or no ordinary, the word here in the New King James Version is kindness, but it's where we get our word for philanthropy from. They show them this love, this kindness, this unusual kindness towards them, even though they're, as Luke calls them in the New King James, it says, natives or barbarians, or they're non-Greek speaking people. And so, what happens right away though?
Well, they're making him a fire and Paul goes and goes to pick up some some sticks. And as he picks up the sticks and is about to put them in the fire, some type of poisonous snake latches onto his hand. And the people on the island go, I see. Justice isn't going to let him live. In their minds, justice is a goddess. In Greek, Dike was the god of justice, and I wrote it down in their religion, was in the Phoenician, the god of justice was Sidiq. I don't know if that's how you pronounce it in Punic or not. It's Sadiq. And so they think, ah, see, the God of justice knows that he shouldn't have escaped the sea.
And so here he's laying on the shore and he's still got to die. He must be a murderer or something. But Paul just looks at the snake and shakes it off his hand, throws it into the fire. But they're still sitting back, you know, like, okay, when is he going to start swelling up and dying? And he doesn't. He doesn't start dying.
They're amazed by this. And they go from, oh, he must be a murderer to automatically, he must be some type of God. And so they show him even more kindness. They bring him to one of the leading people on the island. They take him to the first, the New King James says again, the first, and there's all sorts of, in these parts of Acts, there's all sorts of translational things, and so he's the first man of the island, is a more literal translation. He might be a citizen, he might not be. There's some historical questioning about who this guy is, and we'll get into that as well in verse 15 and 16 in the next part. But anyways, so they take him to this first man of the island.
His name is Publius, and he received us and entertained us courteously for three days. Who's the us? Well, it's at least Paul and Luke. Maybe it's the centurion. Maybe it's the soldiers with him. I doubt it's the 270, but it's possible. You know, they have to keep guard over them. Somehow there's this company that this first man of the city entertains them for three days. And it happens then that Publius' father is sick. He's got a fever and he's got dysentery. And there Paul goes to him. He prays for him. He lays his hand on him. And the man is healed.
This is this reality that the apostles are given these supernatural gifts that are meant to go with them as they're going and sharing the gospel, as they're reaching the ends of the world. So he's going and he lays his hands on this man and he's healed. And the people around are like, whoa, dude, who is this? And so they bring all their sick to him. If he's able to heal Publius' dad, maybe he can heal us.
And that's what Paul does. He heals a whole bunch of people. And when they departed, they provided such things as were necessary. Paul's not above this idea that he is helping the people. And so when the people want to support him, he'll take that support so he can continue his journey.
Remember, the journey at Rome was at the expense of Paul and the centurion would get his payment or his lodging and stuff by essentially a conscription or just going into a home and saying, you need to house us. Not the most friendly welcome by all estate owners, even though they might be citizens or not, you know, they might do this duty grudgingly, but here the people of Malta are giving so they can continue on their journey.
Well, they're there for a number of months. They're there for three months. They only spent three days in Publius' house before this healing happened, but for three months. So they winter the storm. They winter the time in Malta. and there an Alexandrian ship finally comes.
This is one of those interesting things we actually have from Roman writers to tell us when this westward, or the northward and westward winds would become acceptable. And so the Roman historians would tell us that the sailing season began in early February or early March, whenever the prevailing west wind started. And so there's this Alexandrian ship, it's coming and it's carrying grain to Rome. We talked about that a few weeks ago, how important that was for Rome to get grain.
And so this Alexandrian ship comes and it stops at Malta, a normal place to stop. And this ship did the right thing, you know, they actually waited somewhere else and now they're there during the right sailing season. And on it is these twin brothers, these two figureheads, they're Gemini, the patron god of sailors and travelers, you might say, in the Roman world. And so they go and they're sailing and they stop at, verse 12, it says, they stopped at Syracuse. That's the first place they go, which is on the island of Sicily. They stayed there three days, and after that, you know, this, remember, this is a merchant ship.
It's a grain ship, so it's delivering things. This isn't a passenger ship. It's going and it's got to do its normal business. So it's got to offload stuff and onload stuff. So it stops at Syracuse and it's offloading its goods and wares for three days and it's onboarding new things. So it's getting resupplied. And from there, they circled around and reached Regium. By the way, from Malta to Syracuse, that's about 90 miles. And then from Syracuse to Regium, it's about another 70 miles.
And there they need the wind to shift. Now they don't need a westwardly wind. Now they need a southern wind. So they wait for that southern wind. It's very important. They might get shipwrecked along the rocks there. And they actually make really, really good mileage once that south wind comes. It says they go from Regium to Putioli. Once that south wind goes, that's 175 miles. The ancient port in Putioli is a double harbor. And well, the more famous city now is Naples. So it's just on the outside of Naples. And there, what do they find? Well, there they actually find Christians. They find believers.
And what does the text tell us is that when they found those believers, those brethren in Rome, they invited them to stay for seven days. Now, some people might have a problem, like, oh, seven days, that's a long time to stop there. Well, remember we talked about with the Roman soldiers having to pretty much say, hey, we're here and we have to be here. The closer and closer and closer they get to Rome, The more often this happens, and the less likely the people are going to be happy about it. So here there are Christians, here there are brethren, who are willingly taking them in for seven days. Willingly welcoming them into the home.
And they've got a long walk from here on. This is the end of the sea travels. They have to go from Puteoli to Rome, and they have to walk that whole way. And it's going to be a hard walk up and down hills, and so taking a seven-day respite after being on the sea for a couple of days isn't such a bad gig.
And so they stop, and there as they're walking towards Rome, verse 15 tells us, and that from there the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Apiphorum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. So the word has gotten out to them. Other Christians are hearing about this and as they're taking their walk to Rome, people from between 33 miles and 45 miles away in these two different towns walk out and go meet Paul. And it's this idea of them walking together and finishing their trip to Rome. And as Paul sees these brethren, as he sees these Christians, he's encouraged by them.
He thanks God for them. And it's as if the Lord revives his soul. He knows that he's not going to go into Rome alone. And so Julius the centurion, when they finally get to Rome, verse 16, after this long trip that we've been taking for many chapters, it says in verse 16, Now when he came to Rome, the centurion delivered the prisoners to the captain of the guard. Again, this is one of those historical fun things. We have the name of this guy. His name is Sorry, I don't know if I wrote down an M or an N there. Afranius Burrus. There you go, Afranius Burrus. Afranius Burrus, sorry.
So he's the captain of the guard during this time and he shows that he doesn't think Paul is actually that much of an enemy. If he was really considered a threat, he would have put him in the strictest of jail, in the deepest of pits, under the heaviest of guard, but that's not what he does. He actually lets him live in his own house, in his own place. He gives him leniency, and he just has one soldier watching over him. And so that's where we're going to leave Paul for now in his house with one lone guard.
He's finally off the sea, but he has courage and thankfulness in his heart. Well, there's a whole bunch that this is about, right? This is Paul finally arriving to Rome. God has, in his providential care, taken Paul all the way from Jerusalem to Caesarea Maritima, around the island of Cyprus, over and up to southern Turkey, then over by Crete, then getting lost at sea, getting shipwrecked on Malta, then up to Sicily, and then over to Italy, and up into Rome. And now he's finally made it to Rome.
Why? Because God has promised him he must testify before Caesar. Paul is there, and God hasn't left him at any point. What is this passage about? Paul arrives where the Holy Spirit would have him to be. And he has courage and thankfulness as he gets there. What are we called to do? How do we take this travelogue, this story of Paul's travels and apply it to our lives?
I don't know if many of you are ever going to get shipwrecked on an island in the Mediterranean. I don't think any of you are going to go testify to the emperor in Rome because there is no more emperor in Rome. But the question is, what God has called you to do, do you have confidence that in his providence and in his love, he is going to fulfill it?
Do you have thankfulness to God, even in the midst of shipwrecks, even in the midst of pain, even in the midst of trials? Will you rejoice always? Will you be like Paul, who suffered in chains? And even in the midst of his suffering, he could have thankfulness. Even in the midst of his trials, he could take courage. Will you take courage by other Christians who will come alongside and walk with you? Will you take courage knowing that God has never left you and he will never leave you nor forsake you? Take courage, brother. Take courage, sister. Walk in the Lord.
He's working all things out together for our good and His glory, because He has chosen us before the foundation of the world to love us with an everlasting love. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. for your love, for your people, and for the ways in which you work out amazing things in history to accomplish your ends for your glory. Lord, we pray that in the midst of those trials, in the midst of those hardships, in the midst of those hard providences in our lives, that we would trust in you. Please, Lord, watch over us. Please, when we become discouraged, disheartened, or even go through the slog of despair, Lord, that you would, Lord, that you would revive our souls. That we would trust in you and rejoice in you. In Jesus's name, amen. I pray the Lord gives you a great night's sleep tonight. May you rest in the Lord, knowing that he watches over you, even in the hours of the night and in all the highs and lows of your life. I'll see you tomorrow. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.