Acts 28:1-16 - Three Thoughts for Moving Forward After the Storm

I want to invite you to Acts chapter 28 is where we're going to be together today. Acts chapter 28. As we're getting to the conclusion of the book of Acts, we're on the final chapter. Next week we'll conclude this book. And this is a very critical book for the history of Christianity, because it's really sharing with us how the Spirit of God moved in the people of God to accomplish the will of God around the world. And we're learning how the church that started in Jerusalem spread throughout the Roman Empire, how the gospel went forth in just 30 years. It spread throughout the known world. And we would look at that and think, man, how did the early church do that? When God's people are passionate about the Lord, it's incredible the way that God can work in their lives, even in the midst of adversity. Right? We're really seeing, as you read the book of Acts, how the church was birthed through persecution, and it was the challenges that they faced that really caused God's people to, to move throughout the world and continue to proclaim the gospel. And it's important for us to consider in our own faith journey that adversity. It doesn't prevent God from accomplishing accomplishing his will in this world, and we get to walk alongside him and experience the the power of God made known even in some of the most difficult circumstances, which is why we say, even as a church, we exist for a purpose greater than ourselves, that God not only wants to do an incredible work in you, he wants to do an incredible work through you in the way that his glory is made known in the book of Acts is used as as an encouragement to us as believers.

And realizing the same God who worked in the first century is the same God who works in the 21st century. So what does it look like for me to follow Jesus where I'm at? And of all the time periods you could have lived and all the places in the world, I happen to think you live in the best spot to honor Jesus. You know, some people say things like, well, if I if I lived in the first century when Jesus lived and I got to see Jesus do miracles, of course I would have followed him with greater passion. But I like to remind people like they didn't have the Bible in the first century. The first century church did some incredible things with maybe just like a book of the Bible, if they were even fortunate enough to have a new New Testament copy of like an epistle or something like that. But you have all of God's Word together today, and you see how the grander story has been fulfilled by the Lord, and now you have the opportunity to honor him. And especially in the place where it's needed, you get to be a gospel light here in this valley.

And no doubt when you do that, sometimes you're going to be faced with some adversity. But we want to do that well. And so what does it look like for us to to honor God in the midst of challenges of life? We're especially seeing what that looks like at the end of the book of Acts, because here in this particular chapter, we recognize that Paul has faced some adversity, right? He's concluded his his three missionary journeys. He's gone back to Jerusalem. He was arrested in Jerusalem. He was put on trial. He found himself imprisoned for a couple of years. The animosity towards him did not change. And so Paul appealed to Caesar to try to get a fair trial, or at least a trial that was going to get him released. I don't know if a fair trial is possible for Paul, but he's put up on a ship and he and they set sail for Rome. He's accompanied with other prisoners as well as sailors and soldiers on board the ship. There's over 200. And the Bible tells us 276 people on board on this ship. And Paul warns them, because of the season in which they're traveling, that it's not going to go well for them. They're traveling during the winter months, and Paul is trying to encourage the sailors and the soldiers that were going to be shipwrecked. If we if we go on sea during this time period, they wouldn't listen to him.

And sure enough, there shipwrecked. And at the end of Acts chapter 27, that's what we discover is that everyone has to jump off the ship that's ran aground on a reef. Some of them swim to shore, others are grabbing a hold of some of the debris from the ship that's broken loose, and they're pedaling themselves ashore. But everyone is spared. And so all of them end up on shore. And now they're left with a question of like, how are they going to move forward? What do they do now? And that's exactly what we're going to talk about, is how do we move forward after the storm today? No doubt, some of us have been in those circumstances in life where life has risen up and just busted us in the mouth. And we're we're somewhat disoriented from the place where we are. And we're, we're left with some pieces. And we're just wondering to ourselves, how in the world can I move forward? And this is exactly where the story begins for us in Acts chapter 28, when it tells you in that first verse, once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. And at the very end of Acts chapter 27 and verse 39, it tells us that they had been in such a storm for such a long period of time, that they had no idea where they were. And in the middle of that storm, they finally had to abandon ship.

And they, they swim ashore to the closest place they can discover. And it tells us they still had no idea where they were, that they had to just orient themselves to the place in which they. Found they had to learn. Okay. Where am I? And for all of us in life, when we go through difficult times, in order for us to kind of set a new course, a new direction, a new goal, we've got to first begin with where in the world am I? Before we even know what step we might have to take. And so we're, we're, we're trying to orient ourselves to that circumstance of life that we've now discovered ourselves in order to be able to move forward. And this is where Paul finds himself. How do we move forward in the midst of the storm? Let me let me give you point number one. We'll read some further in this verse. Point number one is this God's promises always outlast the storm. God's promises always outlast the storm. When we go through difficulty in life, that's what we need to discover. What foundation will be consistent when the rest of life seems so inconsistent around me. Where can I put my hope? Where can I find my identity? Where can I get my footing to be able to move forward? And so for Paul, in Acts 28, they identified that there on the island of Malta.

And then it tells us this in verse two, the people of the island were very kind to us. Luke says this because it's unusual. I mean, Malta, the way it really translates is barbarian. So this is a barbarian type island. At least it is. It's received that sort of an identity. And the fact that people were kind to them when they landed on shore was exceptional. One, because there are a group of prisoners, but two, during the first century, if you're going to take advantage of anybody, it's when when they were in this particular position of vulnerability, they would have come ashore with some sort of possessions and maybe very little because of the storm. But whatever they would have come ashore with, it would have been an easy time to pillage them and take advantage of them. But it tells you the people here in more of a kind of response, they're treating them well. And it says it was cold and rainy. Remember, it's the it's the winter months. And so hypothermia would have been a possibility. But the people in the island, they built a fire on the shore to welcome us. And in verse three, as Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake driven by the heat bit him on the hand, and the people of the island saw it hanging from his hand, and said to each other, A murderer, no doubt, though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.

I think what a moment for the Apostle Paul to be in. And this this particular moment. If any of us had found ourselves in this type of circumstance, we might find ourselves crying out, are you kidding me? Right? Like when you look at Paul's life up to this point, he spent two years in prison. He then finds himself in the middle of a hurricane at sea, ultimately to be shipwrecked and then finally barely surviving. He gets to shore and you might think to yourself, okay, finally, finally, I'm back on land. Finally things can look up for me. And it tells us in the story while while they're being served by the people of the island, Paul joins in on that. He no doubt is cold. He no doubt is worn out from all they've gone through. But he rises up one more time and just says, let me join them in blessing the people. I'm going to gather some wood to better care for the people around me. And so Paul gets up and he does that. And what does he find but that he's snake bitten by what many believe would be a viper. You know, being a cold blooded animal, this animal likely is hibernating in a log. And then in the warmth of the fire, the snake comes alive and jumps out and and latches itself onto the apostle Paul. And the apostle Paul in this particular circumstance might be thinking, all I want to do is move forward with my life, right? Like, why do these bad things keep happening to me? And he gets frustrated now, or he.

Well, he doesn't get frustrated, but we we would likely get frustrated. Paul handles himself well. We'll look at it why in just a moment. But we would likely get irritated by this. We might have some sort of unmet expectations, some some sort of thought that, well, things can't get worse. They've only got to get better. And come to find out that they continue to to spiral in one sense, for the apostle Paul, because he finds himself in an adverse circumstance. Now, having said all that, I would like to move forward in talking about Paul, but I feel like there's a need to hit a pause button for a minute just to explain something to you. I find from time to time some people read passages of the Bible and do some of the stupidest things with it. And this, this particular verse is one of those verses where there are people in the United States who have read this verse and have done some terribly ignorant things. It's not just this verse. It's also in the book of Mark chapter 16, verse 18. And what I mean by that is there sometimes people read verses of the Bible that are narrative. They're just telling you a story and then they think from that particular verse, they need to make the application to their life and do the same practices.

And there are certain people that have read verses in the Bible who thought to themselves and reading verses about being bit by snakes, that that means, as God's people, we should allow ourselves to be bit by snakes because it proves that we have genuine faith in Jesus. And if you want to know where those people live, they live in Kentucky. Okay. Like that's, that's where people go to get snake bit. And, you know, I I have lived close to Kentucky in my life. I've never actually lived in Kentucky. But there was one time where Stacy and I, I remember we were driving through Kentucky, had just been married. And somehow for some reason I ran out of gas. I have no idea why. Probably because I was just married and had no money, I can't remember we missed the gas station, I don't know. Wasn't paying attention. For whatever reason, we ran out of gas. I walk into the gas. This gas station that's in the middle of nowhere. I could never find it again if I had to. And I just asked, do you have a gas can? And one of the weirdest things happened to me, where the guy who runs the register at a gas station looks at me like this is the first time in his life he's ever been asked this question. And like, I find it bewildering that someone's looking at me so bewildered that I would be in a gas station asking for a gas can.

But he stares at me for a little bit. He doesn't say anything, and then he just says, follow me, and he takes me into a room. When I get into this room, it is lined from floor to ceiling all along the wall with gas cans. And I thought, this is strange. You know, I've never I, you know, I think a gas station should have gas cans, but never hundreds of gas cans. And I walk over and I grab one and I realize this gas can is full. And then I discover, oh, that's the secret code for moonshine in this part of Kentucky. If you walk into this gas station and ask for a gas can, that's code word for give me moonshine, please, because I don't think they really ever expected someone's going to run out of gas in this place in Kentucky, because this is where you go to get shot, right? So like, I walk in and I ask that and I guess he thought new customer, I don't know. Or maybe it's better gasoline to start your car with than the actual gas in the town. I'm not sure what happened, but is at that moment I realized like Kentucky, there's there's just a couple choices here moonshine or the Messiah, like, what are you going to, what are you going to put your trust in? And to the point? Maybe they drink a little too much of that because they might believe that we need to be bit by snakes.

Now, I want you to know that just because there's two Bible verses that talk about people getting bit by snakes and living doesn't mean you should be bit by a snake, right? That's not what the Bible is teaching you. In fact, the Bible shares all sorts of narrative stories. That isn't necessarily prescriptive for your life. It's just telling you what happened. Now, I know that that's probably highly unlikely, that anyone's going to walk out of here and say to themselves, we should probably start a snake handling church. But but I do want you to know, we all have this kind of tendency sometimes to project onto the Lord things that we want, things that we try to name and claim, but it's not necessarily things that God wants for us. And we can even try to twist the Bible in order to get it. And let me just tell you like this. God doesn't owe you anything in life. And the things that you get from the Lord are surely by the grace of God, all good things come from the Lord. God owed us, owes us nothing but the fact that we get to enjoy the goodness of life at all is is solely by the grace of God. And can I tell you we're all in danger of going down the path of a of a snake handling belief and not, not literally snake handling, but we're all in the danger of going down the path of losing our identity that way rather than in Jesus.

When we try to prize anything else above knowing Christ. Can I just tell you this morning, I hope God does lots of wonderful things in your life, and I hope some of the prayers and and some of the desires that you have that the the Lord is gracious to you. And and he responds, but there are some things that we long for, some things that we pray for that we ought not have as people because it's not healthy for us. And sometimes we might even proclaim that God wants it for us when it's not even God's desire. Can I, can I tell you, the healthiest place to be in the life of the believer is not to pursue God because of the things you get from him, But to pursue God because he is the prize itself. It is a gift to know the Lord. It is a gift to be saved by Christ. It is a gift to have your past forgiven and your future secure. The greatest gift we have as God's people is Christ Himself. And it's not until he is our prize that the challenges of life will deprive us in such a way that we will fail to see the richness that we possess in Jesus.

And. And for the Apostle Paul, this is where he's at in this moment, right? He he could easily complain like, are you not kidding me? God? Is this not enough? Like, I've been in prison. I've gone through a hurricane. Now in this boat, we've been shipwrecked. I've barely gotten to shore. And now when I think the storm is passing, here comes another challenge. And the question we're really asking ourselves today is Today. How? How does someone get through that? And you see, while while the people are responding in one day, one way, like Paul got bit. He's of the devil, right? Like he's going to die. This is that's their response in verse four. But then you see Paul's response in verse five. It says, But Paul shook it off. He's the original Taylor Swift. That's what you learn. Paul shook it off the snake into fire and was unharmed. I said this that same thing in first service. And I think they were too old to get that. So I was like, I don't know. No one's no one responded, but he shook it off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. And the people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn't harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god. It's interesting the the position of the people, just how quickly the pendulum swings. You're a devil.

You're a god, you're a devil, you're a god. Just back and forth they go. But but in this particular moment, here's Paul, who just responds in a in a meek servant way, like he he was picking up wood to serve people. He got bit by a snake. He just shakes it off and he continues to serve people. And we would look at that and just say, how in the world does does Paul respond in such a way where all he does is just simply shake off this, this snake bite and, and move forward? And I, I think the answer is very simple. It's because Paul already knew what God said to him, which was in Acts chapter 23, verse 11. And again in Acts chapter 27, the same promise was given to Paul twice that he's going to testify before the leaders in the city of Rome on behalf of the Lord. He would be a witness before the leadership of the Roman Empire and the capital of Rome. And so Paul knew no matter what challenges, we're going to face him, that his life could rest in the promises of God. And so the the circumstances of this world wasn't dictating his response, but rather his God was. Now, Paul's response here is interesting. In light of what Luke shares with us a little bit later in verse 11. I'm not. We'll put this on the screen in a minute, but if you have your Bible open, you can look at it in verse 11.

Luke just gives this kind of off handed statement that just seems unusual. Like, why would why would Luke share this? But I think the reason Luke gives us verse 11 is because of the way Paul's responding here in verse five and six and in Acts chapter 20, excuse me, 28 and verse 11, it tells us that they were able to board an Alexandrian ship. So this was three months later. Here they are on the island of Malta. Paul had to stay on this island throughout the winter, and three months later they were finally able to board a ship. An Alexandrian ship. And it tells you on the front of the ship there. There were two gods dedicated on this ship. Now, it doesn't tell you like doesn't necessarily name the gods. And it doesn't tell you how the the gods were put on the ship, whether it was a statue, whether they're carved out on the front of the ship. Maybe someone just painted it on the front of the ship. It doesn't really tell you that, but it just tells you these two gods are there. And these particular gods are the sons of Zeus. And these, these specific gods are intended to be for the protection of your life while you're at sea. And this is Luke's way of saying, how interesting, isn't it, that that here they are, this group of people that were shipwrecked and out of all the things they could put their hope in, they found themselves lost at sea momentarily before they finally came upon this island.

But the one that carried them through wasn't the false gods of this world, but rather the one true God who saw them, who loved them, who offered his grace to them. And I think Luke is just kind of juxtaposing these positions, that we all have this tendency of going through the storms of life, having put our hope in certain things, only to find out that those things will never carry us through. But there is one thing that sustains above all things, and that's God himself. And I believe this is Luke's way of just saying to us as people like, what is it we're putting our trust in? That we all have this tendency of buying into the lie that something else will deliver me if I just get this one more thing, or I'm able to do this one more thing, then finally I will have arrived. And then finally, I'll, I'll, I'll be satisfied. And so the temptation of this world becomes a lure to us and inviting us to put our hope in it, thinking that if I just get this one extra step right, then I'll be satisfied because, well, I deserve it and well, I need needed. And so I've got to have it. And we'll justify any behavior, even if it's contrary to the Lord, and belief that finally my soul will feel fulfilled in pursuing this thing.

And Luke is just saying, look at this. The way that the world continues to respond. They're going after a ship to sail on with all the promises that will never deliver. But there is one bedrock for all of us. God's promises will always outlast the storm. And this is what Paul has learned again and again. And in fact, in Philippians chapter four, which he's going to write this, this particular letter, when he finally gets to Rome, he says it like this, not that I have. I was ever in need for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ who gives me strength. Paul is saying that there's. There's a truth we can teach that yes, God does sustain us, but there's also the experiential need to learn this, that he meets me in my brokenness, and he also meets me when I have plenty and he sustains me. You know, when I when I read a passage like this, I got to be honest in saying, I find it easier to depend on the Lord when I feel like I have little, when life feels like it's falling apart, when I find some adversity, I find it easier for my soul to be driven to Jesus.

I find it's harder for people to come to the Lord when they feel like they have all they need. And Paul is saying it's important to learn in both of those circumstances. You know, we have this this tendency in America when when we think about the idea of poverty, we, we typically think that, that, that means someone who, who doesn't have a lot of money monetarily. And so when we think in terms of poverty, we think in terms of wealth or a lack of wealth. And there you've got poor people. And then and then you've got the rich people. But but when the Bible talks about poverty, sometimes it talks in terms of monetary whether you have plenty or you lack some. Sometimes the Bible refers to it that way. But but when Jesus gave his sermon on the Mount, one of the one of the first things that he said to us in Matthew chapter five is, blessed are the poor in spirit. Meaning it's possible to have a lot of monetary things in life, but to still be so broken and empty on the inside. And sometimes the sustenance of life has this way of dulling our minds to the brokenness in our own souls. We kind of temporarily appease ourselves with the things that we have, and we fail to recognize just how needy we are for the Lord. And Paul is saying, to be honest, it's critical to see your need for God in all of those things, whether you have little or you have a lot.

There's not a soul in this room that doesn't need Jesus. And understanding the bedrock of who he is that sustains above all things is is what carries us through in every season of life, whether it be a storm or not. And Paul acknowledges it this for us, that we would find contentment not in the things of this world, but in who he is, because Jesus alone is the prize of life. In fact, in talking about the adversity that he went through, Paul said this in Philippians chapter one. He said, and I want you to know, my dear brothers and sisters, that everything that has happened to me has helped to spread the good news. You know, they might be looking at the challenges of life and saying, how is Paul able to do this? And he's saying, God's using it. God's using it, right? Verse 13, for everyone here, including the whole palace guard, he's writing from Caesar's household. Being imprisoned, he says, knows that I am in chains because of Christ. So Paul's saying, I'm getting to share the gospel with those that don't know him. Even even the the soldiers around me in the palace guard and in verse 14. And because of my imprisonment, most of the believers here have gained confidence and boldly speak God's message without fear. He's saying because.

Because they're seeing how Jesus is sustaining me in every circumstance of life. It's getting giving boldness to other believers because they realize that they follow the same God who's going to sustain them too. So how do we pick up the pieces after the storm? Number one, God's promises always outlast the storm. It's to remember who we follow. The the greatest prize of our faith is is Christ Himself. And then number two is this second point of your notes. God's purposes are often discovered in life's disruptions. God's purposes are often discovered in life's disruptions. Contrary to our beliefs as people, life's detours are not diversions from God's plan. You know, sometimes we'll set out this this course direction for our lives and get frustrated when it doesn't happen. And sometimes when I even proclaim, man, God wants this. Therefore I've got to have it. And we get irritated when our expectations aren't met and when our expectations aren't lived out, we get disappointed. We get frustrated. Sometimes we despair, sometimes we get angry. However, we forget the primary goal. It's not about a destination. God doesn't need me to do the things that are in this world that he's. He's called us to. It's not it's not like everything's dependent upon it. Like God can replace me at any moment. It's not about the destination, but rather it's about the transformation on the journey. What God's more interested in is not, not ultimately about the goals we're trying to accomplish, but rather what he desires to do in in your heart and therefore through your life.

More than anything, what God desires to do is to be glorified and primarily in your life and mine. And the way that happens is not about accomplishing things, but about fully surrendering my life to the one who desires to transform me. Certainly, along the way, things will be accomplished. But the greatest work God's going to do is in your heart and mind. We we get so caught up in our objectives and trying to achieve that. We forget. The real miracle is what God wants to do in our lives. And Paul could have grown frustrated, right? He could have said, man, I should have been in Rome by now. Doesn't God know I'm just in here in this winter, wasting away on this island for three months now? We should have already been there. He even wrote a letter to to the Romans, called the letter to the Romans. And at the end of that letter the. His epistle he. He talks about his desire to. To visit the church in Rome and ultimately go to Spain. And here he finds himself shipwrecked and not just shipwrecked. He's also now been bitten by a snake. And how frustrated Paul could have been. But but Paul is is learning in his life becomes an example to us that God uses ordinary faithfulness To do extraordinary things. In fact, in verse seven we see how God works this out.

It says, near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. As it happened, Publius father was ill with fever and dysentery, which apparently they played the Oregon Trail during this time. Right. Paul. Paul went in and it's an 80s joke, kids. Paul went in and prayed for him and laying his hands on him, he healed him. Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. As a result, we were showered with with honors. And when the time came to sail, Paul supplied us or excuse me, the people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip. So here, here they are in the midst of this challenge, and Paul even even getting bit bit on the hand and and he could have been angry by it, right. He could have had these expectations that led to this disappointment. And he could have said things like, why didn't it happen the way that I wanted? You know, why? Why do we have to get shipwrecked? Look at all the things we lost. Why didn't God work? Work this particular way? Doesn't he know that we wanted to serve him in Rome? Doesn't God know how unfair, how frustrating? And this disappointment could have just shrunken Paul's vision to the opportunities that were in front of him. We all have that tendency.

Getting so angry about some of the cards that we were dealt that we set in that frustration, rather than looking at the opportunity God has before us to honor him. But because Paul walked faithfully, I mean, look at what happens in the island of Malta. The leadership of Malta, the people of Malta have the opportunity to to hear of Christ and and turn their lives over to him. You know, when you read the story about the apostle Paul, you realize Paul. Paul never reached Rome by the route that he planned, but he certainly reached Rome by the route that God had planned. And, and for, for Paul, because Paul kept honoring the Lord in the detours of his life, God made every mile of his journey count. Because we think about in our lives the the frustrations that we might have and the desires that we may have wanted and the things that we desired to happen. And that embittered attitude closed our hearts to to the gift it is to serve God in every season of life, and to see how the hand of the Lord can work in even the most difficult of circumstances. And one of the things I learned long ago in in ministry is that whatever God desires to do in my life, I just want to do it to the fullest and I want to do it with an open hand. And what I mean by that is, you know, I love serving the Lord in Utah, and I love serving the Lord here at Alpine Bible Church.

And I hope I get to do it all of my life, however long of life God gives me. But one of the things I recognize about the church here is that it's not my church. It's his church. And so whatever God desires to do with his church, I just want to be faithful to honor the Lord where I'm at. And so I just want to treat it with an open hand rather than a closed fist and just say, Jesus, however you desire to be glorified here. Lord, may we be faithful. And you think about, you know, I carry the hat of a pastor, but we're all ministers of the Lord, and God's got us in places to honor him in the way that we carry ourselves. Today's Father's Day. So dads in the home, the way you choose to, to bless the Lord and and in the lives of your children, and how you navigate that through every season of life. And certainly parenting has seasons of life, right? So what does it look like? And, and the years of fatigue when you've got children that never sleep, you know, in those infant stages where, where your brain turns to mush and you can't even think, let alone, let alone do things like, what does it look like to, to honor the Lord? And then they become toddlers. And, and it seems like the only thing that they, they get great at, at toddlers is just finding dangerous situations.

So you're always on the edge of your seat trying to, to balance between paying attention to things you need to get done, but also your, your kid that doesn't hasn't learned the extremes of, of danger yet. And so watching over their, their little toddler hearts and they start to mature and eventually they become, you know, the, the idea of teenagers where they know more than you do as parents. And what does it look like in those teenage years to, to help them begin to mature to, to grow into adulthood as you, you give them some freedoms to, to, to, to learn to live their life and, and honor God and bless others. You know, and every one of those seasons as a parent, you learn what it means to get on your knees and beg Jesus for help. Or even in marriage, the idea of covenant relationship different than the contracts of this world where, you know, in our world we talk about 5050. We sign contracts and you devote some, they devote some, you're obligated to one another. But in marriage, we understand as God's people, it is a covenant relationship where you give all of yourself for the well-being of someone else to become all that God has called them to be, and the ups and downs of those relationships. What does it mean to trust God to bless, to see the hand of God work in every season of your life, knowing we're going to have disappointments, unmet expectations, but to keep an open hand before the Lord to say, God, there is my path, but God there is your path.

Lord, whatever you desire to accomplish, may. May your will be done, and may my vision be open to what it is you desire to do in every season of life. So that rather than set with my arms folded and complain, God, I can see where your hand would be moving and I would join you in that. I'm going to give you this last point so we can close. So God, God's purpose purposes are discovered in life's disruption. Number three is this God encourages his servants through his people. God encourages his servants through his people. And one of the greatest ministries we can have in the body of Christ is is helping weary saints find courage. And this is what happens with Paul at the end of the story. I love this he's he's certainly going through several storms. And verse 11, it was three months after the shipwreck that we set sail on another ship that was wintered at the island in Alexandrian ship, with the twin gods as its figurehead. Our first stops were Syracuse, where we stayed three days. From there we sailed across the regime and a day later a south wind began blowing. So the following day we sailed up to the.

To the coast, to. Petiolate. Petiole. There you go, petiole. There we we we found some believers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to to Rome. Verse 15, the brothers and sisters in Rome had heard we were coming and. And they came to meet us at the forum on the Appian Way. Others joined us at the Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged. And thank God. When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier. I think what an incredible moment for Paul. He's gone through a lot. He's he's longed to see the church in Rome. And they blessed his his heart so much that they even walked dozens of miles to greet the Apostle Paul, to journey with him to the city. And how uplifting this must have been for him, and how important it is for us as God's people in every season of life, even when we're going through adversity, to be able to take the opportunity to encourage one another, to stay faithful to him. And I know our body. I get the opportunity from throughout the week getting phone calls, chatting with people to know the circumstances they're facing, facing, and and I got to tell you, knowing some members in our church, if I was just being honest, like if they were to describe their circumstances, they might just say, and I am hanging by a thread.

And some of us may not even know who those people are among us. And that's okay. But, but I think it is important to matter who we encounter in a day like today that we take the opportunity to encourage each other. Sometimes I even have the unfortunate moment of during a week I'll get phone calls from people who are going through it. People that I would say don't even belong to our church, but they're in a place of desperation and they don't even know where else to turn. And guys, can I just tell you, if you wait till everything hits the fan, you've waited too long. That the importance of a community is not only critical for being able to move forward in the mission that God has called us to. Like we get to storm down the gates of hell. Jesus told us. But also, when we're storming down those gates, they're going to come times where life is going to become a challenge, and we need those to come around us to encourage us in those seasons. I'll close with this one individual that reminds me of that is a man by the name of John Bunyan. John Bunyan wrote a book called Pilgrim's Progress some 300 years ago And John Bunyan, when he wrote this book, he actually wrote it from prison. And his imprisonment wasn't an easy imprisonment. It came in a very challenging time for his family.

His first wife had recently passed. He was remarried. His new wife, Elizabeth, was pregnant with child and he also. As soon as they were married, he. Shortly after was thrown in prison and John had four children from his first marriage that were all young kids. And now all of a sudden, Elizabeth, who was pregnant with child, is taking care of these four young kids while her husband has been thrown in imprisonment for over a decade. But it was during this time that John Bunyan wrote Pilgrim's Progress. Rather than sit on his hands and complain, he wrote a work of literature that encouraged Christians for centuries to come. Many people even point to this book as the reason they came to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Here. For the longest time in history, it was the second most published book in all of literature next to the Bible. Incredibly influential. A man who could have taken his circumstance and just said, God, where are you? I have this expectation and this is not it. But but rather than become disappointed, he used the opportunity God had given him to write. And in so doing, encourage those around him. Because I don't know what's going on in your life, in every detail and every every storm you might be facing. But I do know in every season of life there is opportunity to glorify God. And it's through those seasons. God does some miraculous things. If we would trust in the one who sustains us.

This message has been brought to you by Alpine Bible Church in Lehi, Utah. If you'd like more information, please visit us online at Alpine bible.com.