Latest / HBCWestminster / 11.17.24 Acts 28:1-16 Pastor Danny Gardner

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11.17.24 Acts 28:1-16 Pastor Danny Gardner · HBCWestminster

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  Church, would you pray with me?
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  And Father God, we ask that you would give us your courage and strength to take the gospel
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  where it is not yet believed, to take the glory of your Son where he is not yet named.
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  Lord, would you bless the preaching of your word this morning, and may your energy powerfully
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  work in us.
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  In Jesus' name, amen.
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  Thank you, church.
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  You can be seated.
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  Dr. David Livingston is known for many things.
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  He was a missionary, he was a doctor, he was an abolitionist, and he was an explorer.
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  He's said to have discovered more of the earth's surface than any other man, plunging deep
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  into the heart of Africa.
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  He was the first European to discover the Zambezi River.
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  He was also the first European to discover the Victoria Falls, although he never actually
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  intended to go to Africa as an explorer.
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  He was born in Scotland to a poor family.
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  He began work at a textile mill at the age of 10.
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  He worked for 12-hour days for many years, year upon year upon year, and actually ended
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  up paying his own way through medical school with the goal of becoming a doctor missionary
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  to China.
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  The Opium Wars, however, made that dream impossible.
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  And so in the year 1840, at the age of 27, he decided to go to Africa instead, a continent
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  with impenetrable jungles, ferocious animals, and disease.
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  By canoe, on oxback, but most often on foot, Livingston traveled from the Atlantic Ocean
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  across the continent of Africa to the Indian Ocean, through what would become South Africa,
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  Zimbabwe, Zambia, Zaire, Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
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  Carrying with him his Bible and his medical bag, Livingston battled the jungles, the superstitions,
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  of the native tribesmen, and malaria, faithfully teaching the peoples he encountered the gospel
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  of Jesus Christ, as well as basic medical care and hygiene.
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  On one occasion, a lion had been attacking a tribe's cattle, and Livingston offered to
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  help.
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  After tracking the animal and even shooting it twice, the lion still attacked Livingston,
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  and in his own words, in his own journal, he writes,
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  It shook me like a terrier dog would shake a rat.
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  Livingston, in that encounter, lost the use of his left arm.
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  Unlike many other explorers of his time, Livingston felt compassion and respect
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  for the Africans. They became his friends. He even called them his extended family.
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  When he heard about the horrors of the slave trade being run by the Arabs,
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  he vowed to fight against slavery in every way he could, and he did so for the remainder of his life.
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  In May of 1870, Livingston, a man who had been a slave for a long time, said,
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  Livingston, after having fought bouts with malaria for several years, eventually died in a small
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  African village. His friends knew his family in Britain would want his body back, so they embalmed
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  him, but not before removing his heart and burying it under a nearby tree. His body would be indeed
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  returned to England, but his heart would remain in Africa. Today, that tree is long gone, but in
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  its place is this monument, with a small section of the tree's bark,
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  the bark that actually had the inscription, Livingston's epitaph, fastened to the front
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  of that monument. After his departure to heaven, his friends began a nine-month funeral procession,
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  bearing his body to the coast and singing the hymns which Livingston had taught them.
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  His remains would eventually come to rest in Westminster Abbey in London.
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  I tell you that extended story for two reasons. First, because it's awesome,
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  all right?
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  I would encourage you to take the time to read one of the many biographies written on David
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  Livingston's life, but also because of one statement which Livingston made while facing
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  the jungles and sickness in Africa, while dealing with malaria, a final time. Livingston said this,
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  he said, I will go anywhere, provided it is forward. And as we draw our study of the life
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  and ministry of the Apostle Paul to a close, was that not his attitude?
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  We've just studied this man's life for 20 chapters. We've studied what amounts to about
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  25 years of his life and ministry. And was his attitude not never surrender, never retreat,
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  never backward, never staying still, never wasting time? Consider his own testimony in
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  1 Corinthians chapter 9. He says, for though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant
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  to all, that I might win more of them.
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  To the Jews, I became a Jew in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became as one under the
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  law, though not being under the law myself, that I might win those under the law. To those outside
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  the law, I became as one outside the law, not being outside the law of God, but under the law
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  of Christ, that I might win those outside the law. To the weak, I became weak, that I might win the
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  weak. I have become, what does it say? All things to all people, that by?
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  All.
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  All.
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  means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel that I may share with them
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  in its blessings. Now, Paul was not interested in the status quo. He was not interested in wasting
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  time. He made the most of every opportunity in order to bring the gospel to those who had not
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  yet heard it. He was consumed with gospel work. And honestly, it begs the question,
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  am I? He was consumed with gospel work. Are we as consumed with gospel work?
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  As I was studying and praying and meditating this week, honestly, I was confronted with this
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  question and I wrote it down. How much of what I do every day, every week, every year,
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  makes no gospel impact whatever? How much of what I pursue, how much of the energy I expend
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  is just treading water and going nowhere at all? The question that has been nagging my brain this
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  week is this, am I a pilgrim heading to a destination or am I merely a tourist?
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  Always moving, but never going anywhere. Always busy, but never accomplishing anything.
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  The poem,
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  poet Mark Green writes this, tourists, tourists, that's what we're becoming.
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  We move through life flitting from idea to idea, from novelty to novelty, from new person to new
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  person, never settling, always moving. Selecting the best sites, the highlights, the choice cuts,
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  avoiding the mess on the edge of town, the slums, all the uncomfortable things,
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  the struggle of really knowing people. Never settling, always moving.
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  Lest we hear the hollow clang of our own emptiness. Tourists, that's what we're becoming.
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  Inquisitive, curious, picking up tidbits of other people's depth. Tourists, flicking through our
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  snapshots, the paper-thin trophies of our click and run existence, filing them away, loading the
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  next roll of film, never settling, always moving. Tourists, that's what we're becoming. Tourists.
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  Tourists, that's what we're becoming. Tourists, that's what we're becoming. Tourists,
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  of Paul, becoming all things to all men in order to win some, or are we expecting others to cater
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  to us? That's what it's like when you're a tourist, right? You pay the money, you cut the check,
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  you get on the boat, you get on the plane, you get in the car, you expect others to cater to you.
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  That's what tourists do. Or are we consumed with the souls of others? Are we consumed with
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  ourselves, with our own preferences, with our own desires, our own wants? Are we pilgrims
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  on our way heading to a destination, or are we merely tourists? We discussed in detail last
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  Sunday the mysterious ways of God, that the Lord is working all things together for the good of
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  those who love him and are called according to his purpose, that loss and sickness and
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  imprisonments and arrests and storms and even shipwrecks can be used to promote his greatest
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  glory and our greatest joy.
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  And we may have left you last week with this question. I see the storm and the shipwreck,
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  but where's the glory and the good? And this week we study the glory and the good
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  of the turmoil from last week. We see how God used last week's shipwreck and the week's previous
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  arrest and imprisonment in order to advance the gospel and bring salvation to the lost.
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  More than that even, we see the unwavering commitment of the Apostle Paul
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  to the Lord. And we see how God used last week's shipwreck and the week's previous arrest and
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  continue moving forward no matter what he may encounter, no matter what obstacles lay in his
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  way. When last we met, Paul and 275 others, soldiers, sailors, prisoners, had been tossed
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  to and fro by a violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea. They lost their lifeboat, they lost their
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  ship, they lost all of their cargo, but they didn't lose a single soul. The promise of God,
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  given by angelic decree, had been fulfilled to the letter. And now imagine for a moment that you
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  are one of those survivors. You've just spent the last 11 days, which are, by the way, the longest
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  11 days of your life, adrift at sea. You haven't seen the sun, the moon, the stars in nearly two
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  weeks. You have no idea where you are or upon what ground you have now run ashore. You've barely eaten,
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  you've just swum hundreds of yards in crashing surf, only to be spat out upon a sandy beach.
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  You're skinny, you're exhausted, you're soaking wet, and you're cold. But you're also curious.
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  Because there's this man traveling with you, one of the prisoners, who says his name is Paul,
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  who also says he worships a promise-keeping God. Do you remember that from last Sunday?
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  My God keeps his promises, and here's what he promised. And so trust in the words I'm saying.
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  So far, every one of those promises has proven true. And so you wonder what other promises this
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  God has made that also might affect you. With that in mind, pick up in verse 1.
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  It says, after we were brought safely through, we learned that the island was called Malta.
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  The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire
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  and welcomed us all, because it had begun to rain and was cold. Even if the sailors had previously
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  owned the island of Malta. They're like, yeah, that's a place I know and I've heard of.
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  They would normally have approached the island using the large harbor of Valletta,
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  not the lesser part of the coast where they currently found themselves.
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  Until they were told, they had no idea where they were. But they were told they were on the
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  island of Malta. Malta is an ancient Phoenician name, meaning refuge. And indeed it was.
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  You can imagine that first sailor asking the first tribesman,
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  first native, what's this place called? And he says, it's called refuge. And the guy's saying,
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  it's well named. We are so thankful for this refuge. And notice that Paul, who had been such
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  a practical help on the ship, proved equally useful on land. Pick up in verse 3. When Paul
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  had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire. I'm reminded that Paul considered
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  himself a servant leader, that no job was beneath him. The apostle Paul,
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  Paul was an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. He spoke and did miracles using the authority
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  which Christ himself had given. He was an eyewitness of the resurrected Christ and yet
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  did not think himself above menial tasks. Do you see that? He is shipwrecked and immediately gets
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  to work. How can I help? I know what I'll do. I'll gather sticks. Now, I don't know if your
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  family goes camping, but mine does. Whose job is it typically to gather sticks? It's the kid's
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  job. It's the kid's job. It's the kid's job. It's the kid's job. It's the kid's job. It's the kid's job.
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  Daddy, how can I help? I don't know. Find sticks, right? I mean, that's what we tell him to do. You
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  probably can't get hurt doing that. You know, it's not chopping the sticks. That's daddy's job,
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  right? No ER visits. Go and gather sticks. What about this one? That one's great. Find more,
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  right? And just start gathering sticks. The apostle Paul looks around and honestly,
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  what does he do? He ends up finding the children's job. How can I help? I'll do anything.
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  I love his attitude. We see it again in 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
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  For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord. And then look at how he describes
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  himself. With ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. I'm just a servant of yours. I did
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  not come to tell you what to do. I didn't come to lord my authority over you. Remember, he was an
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  apostle of Jesus Christ, had seen the resurrected Christ, was better educated and trained than just
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  about anybody else on the planet.
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  And yet he's doing the kid's job, gathering sticks. I think there's a good lesson in there.
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  The lesson is wash the dishes, push the vacuum, pull the weeds, change the diapers, wash the feet.
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  Our Lord Jesus was not above those things. After all, all Paul was doing when he wrote
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  2 Corinthians 4 was just reflecting the same attitude of our Lord. Our Lord Jesus said,
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  come to be served, but to what? But to serve and to offer my life as a ransom for many. He was just
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  doing what the Lord had already exampled for us in his own life. I didn't come so that you would
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  serve me. I came so that I could serve you. And so wash the dishes. I was trying to imagine what
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  would happen if this week I came to my lovely wife, who you've just read for us, and said,
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  you know, Hallie, I think I'm done washing dishes.
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  Oh, really? She would say. And why is that? Listen, babe, I don't know if you heard.
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  I finished my doctorate. Maybe you heard. I can show it to you. It's hanging on the wall above
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  our bed. No, I'm just kidding. It's not. It's not. It's not. It's not. All right. It's honestly,
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  it's just, it's sitting to the side somewhere, probably stuff stacked on it. I don't know if
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  you heard. I'm kind of a big deal. So I think I'm done. All right. It's all for you now.
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  No, it probably would not go well in my house. I'm married to the most gracious,
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  compassionate, hardworking woman on the planet. I really mean that. I'm genuine when I say those
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  things. And yet she would say, no, you still get to wash some dishes. All right. Good for you.
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  I'm glad. You finished. Good job. And now get back to work. Pull the weeds, push the vacuum,
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  change the diapers. Because as we serve others, we're actually serving the Lord.
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  The apostle Paul wasn't picking up sticks to serve them. He was picking up sticks to serve the Lord.
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  And if the Lord Jesus wasn't above it, surely we are not either.
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  It was while collecting firewood that Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake. The text will
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  actually say a viper, a snake, which was so well known to the locals that they assumed he would die.
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  Pick up again in verse three. He put them on the fire and a viper came out because of the heat
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  and fastened on his hand. Clearly it had bitten him right on the hand as he was reaching for wood.
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  This poisonous snake grabs onto his hand. Verse four, when the native people saw the creature
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  hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer. Now listen,
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  they hadn't heard his testimony. Was he a murderer? According to his own testimony, he was.
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  He stood by while the apostle, while the deacon Stephen was being murdered. Do you remember that?
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  Martyrs. Not a big difference in that one. Okay. Maybe he was. Surely this man is a murderer.
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  Look what they say. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.
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  The native pagans,
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  as well as the pagan soldiers, sailors, and prisoners would have assumed this was retribution
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  for some sin in Paul's past. They would have thought the waves didn't get him, but the snake
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  did. Justice has been served. You know, it's interesting. The pagans were not the only ones
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  who thought this way. In John chapter nine, Jesus is walking through another village and it says,
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  as he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. Do you remember this story? And his disciples,
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  asked him, Rabbi, who sinned? It's a great question. This man or his parents, that he was
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  born blind. The only possible explanation for him being blind from birth is that either he sinned
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  in utero somehow, or in their minds, honestly, probably more likely that his parents sinned.
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  And this is now God's kind of petty judgment upon his parents.
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  Do you remember what Jesus said? It was interesting. That's the only possible explanation. This man
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  being born blind. Now, the question is, who sinned, this man or his parents? The actual biblical
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  answer is what? All of them did. Like, wait, who sinned? All of us. All have sinned and fall short
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  of the glory of God. Do you remember that one? So, the actual answer is, well, they all sinned.
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  But Jesus very quickly disconnects the answer from the question. He says, you're not thinking
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  about this, right? You're not thinking about this. You're not thinking about this. You're not thinking
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  about this. Because if sinners give birth to blind babies, then what? We would have all been born
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  blind, right? All of us. We would have been born blind. We would all of us have blind kids if that's
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  how it worked. Jesus says, you don't understand actually what's going on. In the next verse,
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  it says, Jesus answered. It wasn't that this man sinned. It's interesting. He doesn't say,
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  this man didn't sin.
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  It's not what he says. He says, it wasn't that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works
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  of God might be displayed in him. Why was he born blind? For this very moment, so that I could show
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  you the works and the glory of God. And you remember what he did? He spit on the ground.
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  He made mud. He wiped it on the guy's face. Like, this is a weird miracle. You know, I know.
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  And he says, go down to the pool and wash. And so, all of these people are watching him go down to
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  the pool. He washes the mud off. And he says, go down to the pool and wash. And so, all of these
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  people are watching him go down to the pool. He washes the mud off. And he can see. And it is where,
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  John chapter 9, it's where we get amazing grace. I once was blind, but now I see. They begin to
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  question him. Who did this for you? What's his name? How did he do it? They question his parents.
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  I mean, this is full interrogation. They're afraid they're going to get thrown out of the synagogue
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  because their son has just been healed. They're like, you know what? He's an adult. Go ask him
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  yourself. And so, they go and ask him, who did this for you? I don't know. He didn't tell me his name.
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  All he said was, go down to the pool and wash. And I did it. And I once was blind, but now I see.
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  That's what I know. That's my testimony. Right? And they began, they finally catch up with Jesus.
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  And it's so great. And I love John chapter 9. Anytime you're reading the Word of God, don't
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  forget these are real people. They're real people. These are not fairy tales. I love using that kind
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  of sanctified imagination. Imagine what that conversation was like. They go to Jesus, asking
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  him all of these questions. They eventually go to the guy, and they say, they start threatening,
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  we're going to put you out of the synagogue. Right? Don't you know it's the Sabbath? You can't be
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  healed on the Sabbath and all. You've sinned. You've broken the laws. You've done all these
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  things. We're coming for you. Can you imagine his response? You're never going to catch me. I can
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  see you now. Right? I would love that. Like, Lord, I hope that's how it happened. I don't know if it
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  did. John 9 doesn't include it. You can't sneak up on me anymore. What a great story.
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  You know, we should not assume that the calamities which befall us are always a result of our own
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  failures. It's not always this for that. That's not how it works. Nor should we assume that they
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  are always intended for ill. Did you know that sometimes the calamities which befall us are
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  actually gifted to us by God in order to accomplish that which would not have been accomplished
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  otherwise? The difficulties that we face in this life, the struggles,
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  the turmoil, even the sufferings are sometimes a gift given to us by God in order to accomplish
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  that which would not have been accomplished otherwise. Let me illustrate it using the
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  Word of God again. 1 Peter chapter 5. After you have suffered a little while. That suffering is
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  legitimate. He says, after you've suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called
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  you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
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  Can you imagine that promise from God? I am going to restore you, confirm you, strengthen you,
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  and establish you. Anybody want that for your life? I want to be confirmed, restored, and established
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  by God, strengthened by God. He says, I will do all of those things, but only after you've suffered
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  a little while. The suffering is what's going to bring those things. Romans chapter 5. We rejoice
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  in our sufferings. What? What fool rejoices in his sufferings? One who knows
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  what the sufferings will produce. We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
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  endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us
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  to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been
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  given to us. Suffering produces all of these things, and if you want character and endurance
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  and hope, you got to suffer in order to get them. Here's the big one. James chapter 1.
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  Count it all joy, my brothers.
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  When you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces
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  steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete. It's
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  the same word as mature, that you may be mature, complete, lacking in nothing. I don't know about
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  you, but I want all of those things. I want steadfastness. I want to be mature and complete
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  and lacking in nothing. What James would say, then you got to suffer. In Romans chapter
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  8 and verse 18, I love this promise, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time,
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  whatever you're going through, however difficult it is, whatever that is, that is not worth comparing
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  with the glory that is to be revealed to us. There will be a day, friends, where we stand before the
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  Lord in glory. That is a real day on the real horizon. It is not some vague and cloudy promise
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  that might come true but might not.
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  It is a real promise to those who are in Christ. You will be together with him in paradise forever.
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  You will see him face to face. You will thank him in his own ear for the salvation that you've
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  enjoyed in this life. And on that day, he's saying, you will not look back at this day's
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  sufferings and say, you know what? It wasn't worth it. It wasn't worth it. That was too hard,
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  and this isn't good enough. Can you imagine standing there on that day?
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  What that will feel like, what that will be like, what it will look like? Try to imagine it.
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  And then you looking at all of that and saying,
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  eh, it's nice. I mean, it's no Holiday Inn, you know? They have a free breakfast. Like, what?
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  You will never be on that day looking back at this day and saying, nah,
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  this day was too hard. Do you see what he's saying? It's not even worth comparing.
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  We won't even remember the suffering. We won't even remember what happened. We won't even remember
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  sufferings that we've gone through. In other words, and if I could sum it up in one statement,
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  it would be this. The juice is worth the squeeze. The juice is worth the squeeze. You may watch
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  what's happening to that orange and think, man, that looks awful. But then you taste the orange
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  juice, right? You're like, hey, that's all right. Sorry, orange. But it's going to happen to all
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  your friends too. The juice is worth the squeeze, and you may feel like the circumstances of your
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  life are squeezing you. That is real. The squeeze is real. I'm not trying to diminish it in any way,
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  but what our suffering produces in us and in others is worth it. In the case of the Apostle
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  Paul, that unintended shipwreck was used intentionally by God to bring the gospel to Malta.
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  It would not have been taken there otherwise.
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  The unintended shipwreck was used intentionally by God to bring the gospel to Malta.
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  The unintended viper bite was used intentionally by God to provide Paul with an audience.
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  I had lunch this week with a brand new father from our church.
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  One-month-old baby girl. It's their first. Because of the toll that pregnancy was taking
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  on his wife, he just shared this with me at lunch on Thursday. He said, Pastor Danny, I was praying
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  earnestly that the baby would be delivered early. He said, every night. I prayed that this would be
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  the night that she goes into labor. I prayed that this would be the night that she goes into labor.
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  And he said, night after night, and even it turned into week after week.
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  It seemed as though the Lord was not hearing my prayer.
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  He said, until our next doctor's appointment. He said, they did an ultrasound and discovered
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  that my baby daughter was breech. He said, it occurred to me in that moment that if the Lord
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  had answered my prayer, we could have lost her. Because he did not answer my prayer, she was born
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  healthy. Mom is healthy.
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  They're both recovering. They're both doing well. He said this. It was just four days ago. He said,
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  God's unanswered prayer produced in me a newfound trust in God. I was sitting there in that doctor's
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  office. I looked at the ultrasound and I realized, you know what? I can actually trust him.
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  Even when it seems like he's not even listening to me. He's ignoring me. He said, for weeks,
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  I was praying, Lord, please, tonight. Let tonight be the night. And he said,
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  Lord, thank you. Thank you. And he's got this newfound trust in his heart. These were his own
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  words. That even in our struggles, God is producing in us something good and something
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  praiseworthy. That God indeed knows what he's doing. We pick up in verse five.
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  All the natives now are standing around waiting for him to drop dead. He, however, it says,
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  shook up his heart. He said, Lord, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
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  He took off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. And they were waiting for
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  him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they'd waited a long time and saw
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  no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and decided he was a God. All right.
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  Perhaps you remember the story from world history. Octavian defeats the combined forces of Mark
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  Antony and Cleopatra. And both of them, Mark Antony and Cleopatra, decide to commit suicide.
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  Now, Mark Antony was doing it out of desperation, assuming that Cleopatra, whom he loved,
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  had been killed.
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  Cleopatra was doing it in order to avoid being paraded as Octavian's trophy of victory.
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  The story goes that Cleopatra found an asp, an extremely poisonous snake, and allowed it to bite
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  her. William Shakespeare, not one to miss an opportunity for drama, described it this way.
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  He said, trembling, she stood and on the sudden dropped. The Maltese natives awaited the same,
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  but it never came. And they didn't know what to assume. This had never happened before. Every
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  single other person who was ever bitten by that type of snake swelled up and, like Cleopatra,
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  on the sudden dropped. Therefore, they thought Paul must be a God. And of course, he was not a
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  God. He proved it, actually, by doing miracles, by entreating the name of his God. And so he very
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  quickly redirected his attention to the name of his God. And so he very quickly redirected his
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  attention to the name of his God. And so he very quickly redirected their focus to the one and true
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  living God. Look at verse 7. It says,
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  In the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island,
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  named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that
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  the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed,
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  putting his hands on him, healed him. When this had taken place, the rest of the people
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  on the island who had diseases all came and they were cured. And so they all came and they were
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  greatly. When we were about to set sail, they put on board whatever we needed.
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  Don't miss the details which Dr. Luke provides. Remember, the author was a doctor. He doesn't
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  just say that Publius' father was sick. He says he had fever and dysentery. He actually diagnoses him.
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  There is even today what is known as Maltese fever. You can contract it from the consumption
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  of the microbes which live in goat's milk. It could have been the same thing.
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  You can imagine the Apostle Paul laying hands on, praying over the sick people,
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  healing them, and then passing them off to his doctor friend. Dr. Luke provides them with medical
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  knowledge to keep them from becoming sick again. You can't just eat it straight out of the goat,
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  right? And he's going through whatever process in order to filter and strain and to make sure
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  that they wouldn't get sick again. What a team they were.
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  And so word spreads across the island quickly, just as it would here.
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  Every sick person suddenly shows up to receive care. And again, the Apostle and Dr. Luke take
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  time to heal them all. Islanders were so appreciative. They resupplied Paul's traveling
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  party with provisions, supplies. They made sure they would get them on their way. Again,
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  always moving forward. Notice verse 11. After three months, we set sail in a ship that had
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  wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria. Take mental note. We're going to come back to that.
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  It's important.
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  A ship from Alexandria with the twin gods as a figurehead. These twin gods are Castor and Pollux.
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  Their astrological sign is Gemini. Their constellation is Gemini. Castor and Pollux
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  were considered by ancient sailors to be the patron gods of navigation.
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  That constellation only appeared in the wintertime. And so anytime they could look up,
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  right? Imagine as a sailor, we've just read about this shipwreck. Anytime standing on the deck of
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  your ship in the winter,
• 31:44
  you can look up and see Gemini. That's good news because that means there's no storm, right? And so
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  because of that, they kind of took them on. They adopted Gemini as a sign of good fortune.
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  I pick up in verse 12. Putting in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days. From there,
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  we made a circuit and arrived at Regium. After one day, a south wind sprang up. And on the second day,
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  we came to Puteoli. There we found brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days.
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  And so we came to Rome. Our brothers there,
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  when they heard about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and three taverns to meet us.
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  On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage. I'm going to show you guys a quick map. Here is
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  the coastline of Italy, even as it exists today, but with some of the ancient locations on it.
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  Up here, all the way in the top, you see Rome. There it is. Here is Puteoli, where the sailors
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  put in, it says. You can see that natural harbor there. That's where they put in, Puteoli. Right
• 32:44
  here is the Appian Way. Okay, so if you were an ancient traveler in Rome and were going to approach
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  Rome from the south, you would take that Appian Way. In fact, even if you were a tourist today
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  in Rome and you were going to approach Rome from the south, you would still take the Appian Way.
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  It's now been paved, but your bus will take you on the same route that the Apostle Paul walked.
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  From Puteoli, right there, on the Appian Way, all the way up to Rome is 140 miles.
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  That's how far he had to walk. And so you may wonder,
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  wonder, why Puteoli all the way down here and not Ostia? Today, that's called Ostia Antica,
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  the antique or ancient Ostia. There was another harbor there. It was a great harbor,
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  used all the time. In fact, our tour group just visited Ostia Antica about a month ago. A month
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  ago, right about today, we were in Ostia Antica. It would have worked as a harbor. Why not put in
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  up there instead of down there? And the key is back in verse 11. Remember I said, keep a mental
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  note. A ship from
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  Alexandria. Do you see that? Alexandrian ships were transporting grain from Egypt
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  to Puteoli. They always put in there. That's where the Alexandrian ships docked. They never
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  went all the way up to Ostia, and they would certainly not do it if a prisoner was requesting
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  it. Imagine the Apostle Paul goes and says, hey, listen, is there any way I could convince you
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  guys to drop me off all the way up there at Ostia? Who are you? I'm a prisoner.
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  Get off the boat. What are you talking about? No. Do you see that? That makes sense. And so
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  instead of going up to Ostia, he's put in here at Puteoli to make that 140-mile journey up to Rome.
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  Now, keep in mind, this is about 62 AD. That's the date of Acts 28, 62 AD, okay?
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  The book of Romans was written in 57 AD. 57, which means that the Apostles,
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  Apostle Paul was not the missionary who brought the gospel to Rome. The gospel had already gotten
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  there. You say, well, how did the gospel get there? I think there's a number of different theories. I
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  think likely what happened, if you go all the way back to Acts chapter 2, all the way back to last
• 35:00
  January, Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit descends upon the church. The church is born. That is
• 35:06
  Pentecost. You guys remember that? Pentecost. That Acts chapter 2 describes people from all over the
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  world. Jews had come on the cross. They were born on the cross. They were born on the cross. They were
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  born on pilgrimage to Passover and to Pentecost in Jerusalem from all over the world. And it says
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  that there were Romans there. Roman Jews had found their way to Jerusalem. They heard this gospel
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  message from the Apostle Peter, the one that has been crucified. I'm here to proclaim to you today
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  and look, and right, remember the tongues of fire and all the different languages and all of that
• 35:34
  stuff. The gospel broke out of Rome being carried by pilgrims going back home. And I think that's
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  probably where the gospel found its way to Rome.
• 35:43
  It's carried by those early Acts chapter 2 pilgrims all the way back. And for something like 30 plus
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  years, it has been marinating and stewing and growing and spilling over its boundaries into
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  other people's lives. And so now there has been a church established at Rome. The Apostle Paul
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  always wanted to go there. From the beginning of his ministry, the Apostle Paul had prayed to the
• 36:06
  Lord that he would allow for him to go to Rome. Rome was the biggest city in the world. It was the
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  most metropolitan city in the world. Powerful city. It was the biggest city in the world. It was the
• 36:13
  most powerful and influential. There are people there from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Lord,
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  allow me to go to Rome. And so far he has been kept from going. Instead, he decides to send a
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  letter to the Roman church, which they had received. They know about Paul. They know about
• 36:30
  his ministry. They know about his desire to come to Rome. And now word is spreading that the Apostle
• 36:36
  Paul has just docked at Puteoli. Right there. There's where he is.
• 36:43
  Word is spreading on the prayer chain. The Apostle Paul is there. And so look what the believers do.
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  Verse 15. The brothers there. There they are. They're already there. Believers. When they heard
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  about us, came as far as the Forum of Appius and three taverns. There is the Forum of Appius. There
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  is the three taverns. If these were Roman Christians, they made their way down to the three
• 37:05
  taverns. That's 33 miles. Another 10 miles is the Forum of Appius. They start stationing, kind of
• 37:11
  like the Pony Express.
• 37:13
  Okay. They start stationing all of these believers along that 140 mile journey to make
• 37:18
  sure that Paul arrives safely. To make sure that he has what he needs. Okay. And so he starts running
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  into all of these people. They had received his letter. Now they were receiving him. You ever
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  taken a long road trip with a young child? You ever done that? What question do they ask every 20
• 37:40
  minutes? Are we there yet? And maybe you've been feeling a little bit of that. Maybe you've been
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  feeling that way as we've trudged along with Paul toward Rome. The answer is yes. Finally. We're
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  there. Look at verse 16. It says, and we came into Rome. We finally get to Rome. There it is. There's
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  the verse that Paul has been praying for for 35 years. That's the verse. When we came into Rome,
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  Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who
• 38:14
  guarded him. What he had longed and prayed for for so long had finally materialized. And
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  perhaps you, like the Apostle Paul, are feeling the pressures of this life.
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  And perhaps things have not always gone your way or at least differently than you've imagined. Now,
• 38:33
  a tourist will be tempted to question the wisdom of God and allowing you to endure such trials.
• 38:41
  Like, wait, I'm supposed to be catered to.
• 38:44
  I see no reason for this. This was not in the brochure.
• 38:49
  A pilgrim, however, will say, you know what, Lord, the juice is worth the squeeze.
• 38:55
  Like diamonds buried deep in the earth, God is producing something in you which can only be
• 39:01
  gotten by adding pressure. And so, if you're in that situation, just keep putting one foot in
• 39:06
  front of the other. Keep moving forward, trusting that God will bear you through and he will lead
• 39:12
  you to where he has promised you will be.
• 39:15
  And Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for its truth. And God, thank you for the promise of
• 39:22
  scripture that you really do know what you're doing. Thank you for the testimony of that young
• 39:25
  father from our church with a one-month-old baby daughter who now looks back at those prayers from
• 39:32
  just six weeks ago and says, praise God, he didn't answer my prayer. You really do know what you're
• 39:40
  doing, Lord, and so we can trust you. And even when there are strife,
• 39:44
  struggles, and even when there are sufferings, Lord, we rejoice in suffering because we know
• 39:48
  what it produces. Lord, we want character. We want endurance. We want to be complete and lacking in
• 39:53
  nothing. We want to be made perfect in Christ. And so, Lord, give us joy even when life is hard
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  because you promise to make us more like your son, Jesus Christ. And it's in his name we pray. Amen.