God Will Get You There | Acts 28:1-16

Well, I d- I was thinking of, uh…

Well, yesterday, uh, let me just say this.

Yesterday, so one of the places Mindy and I like to go is to Crystal

Cove, which is in Newport Beach.

Uh, it's obviously a beach.

And it's our favorite beach.

Um, but it takes a while to get there if you've ever been there.

It takes, like, a good hour depending on traffic.

But we're always thinking, "Oh, we can't wait till we get there 'cause it's gonna

be worth it," uh, regardless of traffic.

And if, if you've never been there before, it's not like a beach that you could just

park, like, at, like, Bolsa Chica, like, where we had the, um, baptism where you

park, you just walk, you're on the beach.

If you're gonna go to Crystal Cove, uh, it's a hike depending where you go.

Uh, there's one area that we go, we have to…

We're up on a cliff.

You actually have to hike down on stairs or depending on which way you go.

It's, it's a, it's some work.

But it's, when we're, when we're doing it, we're like, "At least

it's gonna be worth it," right?

It's 'cause it's beautiful down there.

You have the ocean, and it's someti- it's a lot more secluded

than most beaches probably because it's some work to get there.

Uh, and over the past few times we've went, we've gone a different area

where you have to walk through this tunnel to get through the beach.

But because of the storms lately, the tunnel has been flooded.

So, like, I think two weeks ago when we went, we had to, like, dredge

through the, through the water.

It was like up to our knees, probably not very long, maybe from

here to the back of the church.

But we do it because we know that it's, it's worth it, right?

And so as I was thinking of that and thinking of this, uh, this section

of scripture That's what we see, that in the Christian life, we go

through the pain and the sorrow as believers, and even sometimes the,

the roadblocks, the stumbling blocks.

Because why?

'Cause we know it's gonna be worth it in the end, whatever that end may be.

I remember this, uh, painting I saw a long time ago, and I've

mentioned this a number of times.

It's a, it's a silhouette of Jesus, and he said, "I never said it would be

easy, only that it would be worth it."

And that really characterizes the Christian life, and it characterizes what

the Apostle Paul's been going through on his journey from prison to Rome.

And so we're gonna pick up, uh, the section where, if you remember last

week, they had a crash-landed on, up against rocks, and were told to, "Those

of you that can swim, swim to the beach, and those of you that can't, grab a

piece of the boat and float to shore."

And so we're gonna pick up, uh, their voyage from that point.

And so let's read verse, uh…

or chapter 28 It says, "And when they had brought, they had been brought

safely through, then we found out that the island was called Malta.

And the natives showed us extraordinary kindness, for because of the rain that

had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire and received us all."

So let's stop right here for a moment.

So here the voyagers, it's interesting, it says they've been brought safely.

And even though they crash landed and swam to shore, they were brought safely.

Remember the Lord told the Apostle Paul, "You are all going to

get there safely to an island."

And it says, hey, that island happens to be the island of Malta.

And even today, if you were to go to Malta, there's a bay called St.

Paul's Bay where it's believed that that's where they had landed.

I was telling Mindy, "Hey, we need to, like, do a trip to…

That would be so cool to visit some of the places and see

where the Apostle Paul was."

And w- we'll talk about that a little bit more this morning and some

of the other places that he went.

So they land on shore safely, and we see that they encounter some natives.

And these are just re- it's just, uh, probably, uh, it's a word

that just means residents, right?

Don't think of, like, Native Americans like that.

It's, you know, the residents, the people that live there on Malta.

Uh, they, it says, showed extraordinary kindness.

They took the- uh, kindness.

They took them in, right?

Here are these, this group of, if you remember, was it, like, 207, uh,

76 people wash ashore, and, and the residents there take them in because

it says it was raining, and it was…

They were probably, like, looked destitute.

And they show kindness and hospitality to, uh, all the voyagers And if

you're a voyager, you're thinking, "Look, we just got out of this

voyage, so we hopped out of the, the frying pan and into the fire now.

It's raining.

We have nothing.

It's cold."

It's believed at that time commentators say it would've been

about 50 degrees in the rain.

They're soaking wet.

And so, uh, somehow the, the residents kindle fires for them,

probably covered fires, obviously.

And Luke writes, "They received us all."

They took care of them.

It's a reminder that even in the midst of the travel, like I mentioned, there's

gonna be some bumps along the road, and we're reminded here that God does

not leave His people alone, right?

He uses the hospitality of the residents of Malta to provide for Paul, as Luke

says, by showing extraordinary kindness.

They could've just, uh, leave, leave the, all those people alone out there.

They could've said, "Oh, they probably deserved it," as we'll see in a few

moments their, their quote, unquote, uh, "philosophy of life," right?

God is punishing them.

They deserve to be left out in the cold.

But no, God, in His providence, puts Paul and the voyagers in the

right place at the right time.

God uses, again, the residents of Malta to take care of them.

And it made me think, this happens to us all the time, the little things in

our lives where God, in His providence, uses the kindness of others to comfort

and provide for us in our own lives.

I mean, can you think of a time that maybe that happened in your life

where things were orchestrated and a favorable decision went your way

that you thought wasn't, wasn't…

God's hand was behind that, no doubt.

Or maybe when someone helped you when you were in a time of need.

Again, God uses ordinary things to help us along the way.

That's how God operates in this world.

He doesn't always perform great miracles.

Sometimes He uses tiny little miracles in life, and it's incumbent on us to

recognize God's providence, which is a first point for today's, um, application.

We as believers need to recognize God's providence in the big

things and in the little things.

God is over them all.

Well, how do we, how do we recognize God's providence, right?

It's being aware of what's going on in the world, right?

God's hand's all over things.

I think sometimes we can easily forget about God, right?

Unless it's a massive, miraculous thing, we may think that God

is not involved, but He is.

So how could we demonstrate our appreciation to God for all the

things that He does in our life

Well, I would like us to turn to the Book of Psalms, and I would just say

keep your, uh, a bookmark there or your finger there because we're gonna

refer back to this section often this morning in at least the Book of Psalms.

In Psalms 100, one of the ways that the psalmist talks about recognizing

God's providence is through worship.

Right?

That's what worship is.

We're recognizing what God does.

Look at what the psalmist writes.

He says, "Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.

Serve the Lord with gladness.

Come before him with joyful singing.

Know that the Lord himself is God and it is he," this is where

the recognition comes, "it is he who made us and not ourselves.

We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name."

Here the psalmist is recognizing God's in control of my life.

He is the one who made us, right?

Not ourselves.

We didn't make ourselves.

He is my shepherd.

I'm just a sheep.

So it's recognizing God through worship.

And so that's one of the ways that we can res- recognize God is by worshiping him.

The other way to recognize God's providence is to remind yourself of all

of the benefits that God has given you.

Turn just a few psalms over to Psalm 103 and we'll see this.

Again, remind yourself of all of God's benefits.

The psalmist writes this, just I'm gonna read the first two verses.

He says, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within

me, bless his holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul," and look at this, "and forget none of his benefits."

The reason he's blessing the Lord is like because, hey, you need to remind

yourself of all that God has done for you.

Sometimes it would be helpful for us to take time to remember

all that God has done for us.

That's one way we recognize God's providence in our life.

You know, a lot of people make lists like the pros and cons and, and try

to journal maybe, uh, something in their life when they make a decision.

But just think of this, if we journaled on a daily basis all

of God's benefits for today.

I know in our prayer group this morning as we were praying before service, we

were just thanking God for getting us here, thanking him for watching over us.

I mean, think of all the little things that God providentially

orchestrated in your life this morning to get you here safely.

Again, God here is orchestrating things in such a way in Paul's life

to get him to his ultimate goal.

So let's go back to our text this morning and, and read, uh, we're

gonna read verses three through six and see what happens now.

So now there's been some hospitality shown to Paul and the voyagers,

and let's see what happens next.

"So but when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on

the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand.

And when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they,

they began saying to one another, 'Undoubtedly this man is a murderer.

And though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.'

However, he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead.

But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen

to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he is a god."

This is, uh, imagine just being the Apostle Paul.

I, I survived the voyage.

Now we're on this beach and it's raining.

And now people help us.

And now I'm helping and a, a snake bites me, right?

Nothing but trial and trial and trial happening to the Apostle Paul.

But here again, we see another opportunity for God to preserve his

servant, and that's exactly what he does.

But in the process, you notice the, the, even the residents were like, "Hey,

he must have done something wrong."

You know, even though he escaped the sea, now a viper's been sent to kill him.

And so they're just waiting to see the poison to kick in and

ultimately take the life of Paul.

Again, 'cause the residents, they know.

They've seen that viper before.

They know what happens.

But here, if you think about it, God miraculously saves

the Apostle Paul this time.

The question about why did he save him?

Well, again, God's told the Apostle Paul, "I need you to be my witness in Rome."

There's a purpose behind his preservation.

God is preserving the Apostle Paul for something else.

He's not done yet with the Apostle Paul.

Regardless of the storms, of the weather, of nature, creatures, God

is preserving the Apostle Paul.

Which reminds us that we too can trust in God's preservation in our own lives.

If we think about it, God preserves us, even providentially, as I

mentioned earlier, on a daily basis.

If, again, think about it, think how many times God has miraculously

intervened in our lives for some reason to save us, day by day,

minute by minute, second by second.

God is the one who holds our life in His hands.

He preserves and protects us.

The thing that we need to understand, though, is He preserves

and protects us for His purpose.

And that's the thing that's tough for us to understand sometimes, right?

Because as believers, and even people in general, as we even see as the

residents of Malta, they believe that if something bad happens to

you, it's because you deserved it.

It's justice.

Right?

We as believers sometimes can have a false theology that says, "Well, God will keep

bad things from happening in my life."

Right?

There are even preachers who would preach that, that if something bad has happened

in your life, that you're probably in sin.

You probably did something wrong.

And we know that's not true.

We don't see that being played out in the Apostle Paul's life.

What did he do wrong?

Again, he's gone trial after trial after trial after trial, and really has done

nothing wrong except proclaim the gospel.

So having a, a good biblical understanding of God's protection, God's preservation,

can really help us to trust Him no matter what happens in our life,

no matter the tragedies that come.

Because Scripture teaches over and over again that God preserves His people

because He has a purpose for them.

Turn with me, uh, hopefully you kept your finger in the Book of Psalm.

Look at Psalm 138-

And we'll see here that very point being proclaimed by the psalmist.

Psalm 138:7-8

Psalms 138:7–8

He says this, "Though I walk in the midst of trouble," so he's acknowledging it.

Look at what he says, "Thou wilt revive me.

Thou wilt stretch forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies,

and thy right hand will save me."

And this is the reason why, "The Lord will accomplish what concerns me.

Thy loving kindness, O Lord, is everlasting.

Do not forsake the work of thy hands."

He recognizes that God's gonna be with him no matter what he goes through

Until whatever God is doing in his life is accomplished.

And it could be just a situation, and it could be ultimately

our entire life, right?

Until God's through with us, he's gonna preserve us, no matter what happens.

And obviously, the question is, well, I don't…

Well, we don't know when it, when that day is gonna come, right?

But it, it's causes us to trust him.

We need to trust that God's gonna preserve us as his people

That preservation, as we've been seeing, doesn't necessarily mean he's gonna

protect us from bad things, right?

We've seen that in Paul's life.

Again, Paul is preserved by God for God's purpose, but part of that plan

is he's gonna go through some things as God gets him to the ultimate goal

Paul testifies this point in the, his letter to Timothy.

In Timothy chapter 2, uh, excuse me, 2 Timothy 4:18, he writes this, as he's

2 Timothy 4:18

aware, as he's coming to the end of his life, he writes this, "The Lord will

deliver me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom.

To Him be the glory forever and ever.

Amen."

Paul recognizes God's gonna deliver me from every evil, ultimately to

take me to His heavenly kingdom, which is the end of his life.

Until I'm dead, God's gonna keep me from evil.

God's gonna preserve my life.

God's gonna pervert, preserve, most importantly, his salvation.

He's not going to let the devil snatch him out of his hands.

So with that said, as we think about trusting in God's preservation, how

should we live knowing that truth?

Well, it would be this: Live faithfully for Christ, whether

he calls you to live or to die.

Live faithfully for Christ, whether he calls you to live or die So seize every

day that you have here on this earth.

I have a bracelet.

I didn't think I wore it today.

Oh, yeah, I did.

It says carpe diem, meaning…

It's Latin for seize the day.

Every moment that we have is a gift from God.

Make it worth something.

Paul says this in a more biblical sense in Ephesians 5:16, right?

Ephesians 5:16

When he says, "Make the most of your time," or, "Redeem your

time for the days are short."

All right?

Evil is here.

We have a short time on this earth, a short time to live for God.

Make every moment count.

Live faithfully for him until he calls you home.

That's Paul's…

That's what Paul said to the church at Ephesus, later on to the church at

Philippi, and it's believed that Paul was in prison when he wrote this letter.

Uh, excuse me, to, yeah, to the Philippians.

I wanna read what he says in, uh, Philippians chapter 1 verses 20 and 21.

Philippians 1:20

He has this same sentiment and outlook on life.

He says this: "According to my earnest expectation and hope, that I shall

not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ shall

even now as always be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

He's saying, "It's a win-win for me.

When I'm living, I'm gonna live for Christ, and if I die or when I die,

then I'm gonna be with Christ."

He's gonna be a witness no matter what happens.

And as I, as I thought of this, and, uh, unfortunately, as a pastor, you know,

I do a lot of funerals, and there's always an opportunity that that brings

people to be a little more open to the gospel, and to hear about Christ, and to

hear about the person who's died, what they put their hope and their trust in.

And I thought about this.

I mean, wouldn't it be worth it if, in your death, you brought somebody to

the Lord because of your life, right?

Or somebody came back to the Lord because they remember your example,

that you trusted Christ until the end?

I could not think of a greater thing to happen, uh, at my funeral.

I know how much Mindy likes for me to talk about my death, but when I

die, if somebody came back to the Lord or if somebody for the first

time came to the Lord, that, that…

Obviously, I wouldn't know about it till later on in heaven, but

that would be worth it, I think.

Again, Paul had that outlook on life.

We, as believers, should have that as well, right?

For me to, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

So obviously Paul did not die.

God was not finished with him.

As we go back to Acts 28, let's r- uh, pick up the story in verse seven.

So they're looking at him, he, you know, he doesn't die, he must be

a god, and obviously Paul's not.

They, again, have bad theology.

Verse- let's read verses seven through nine, sees what h- see what happens next.

It says, "Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging

to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and

entertained us courteously three days.

And it came about that the father of Publius was lying in bed, afflicted

with recurring fever and dysentery.

And Paul went to see him and after he had prayed, he laid

hands on him and healed him.

And after this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases

were coming to him and getting cured."

So now we see God using the Apostle Paul.

He preserved the Apostle Paul, and now he's gonna use the Apostle Paul to

bring about s- uh, healing to everybody else on the land who's ill, who's sick

And I, I wanna point out something I think that's very important.

So remember in verse six they said, "He's a god."

Like, they obviously thought Paul was someone special 'cause

he didn't die from being bitten by a poisonous snake, a snake.

But if you notice, the Apostle Paul, what he does, when he doesn't just go

and heal the man, it says he prayed.

Showing that, "Hey, I, I need to ask for God's provision to heal this man.

I don't have the power in myself" And he demonstrated that, right?

It says he, he went to the see the man, and he prayed and laid hands on him.

And this shows that even Paul, as, as great as God used him, depended

on God's provision in his life.

He needed God to work through him.

He didn't take for granted that, uh, "Hey, I'm this great man.

I just survived this snake.

I could heal anybody.

I could heal myself."

He's like, "No, I need God's help" And he demonstrated that in front

of all the people that were around.

Which leads me to my third point of application, is that we as

believers need to depend on God's provision in our own lives

One of the ways that we do that is through prayer.

I think that's one of the purposes of prayer, is to help us to

realize our dependence on God.

It's not that when we pray that we're gonna change God's mind or God

wasn't aware of the situation, right?

If God's in control of all things, then He knows all things.

He knows what we need before we even go to Him.

He knows what we're gonna ask before we even ask it.

And some people will say, "Well then, why do we even pray if He knows all things?"

Well, because we're commanded in scripture to pray.

But I think, again, prayer helps us to realize our own dependence on God.

Right, 'cause we're praying to God, "Look, God, I, I need your help.

God, I, I need you."

Or, "Thank you, Lord, for what you've given me."

We recognize that it is our provision all comes from God.

And so prayer helps us to build that dependence on God.

Not only that, it's a witness to other people as well.

Remember I said the Apostle Paul prayed in front of everybody,

showing that he depended on God for things, and they saw that.

And when we pray in front of people, they realize that, hey, they're recognizing

something other than themselves, right?

That, hey, this food that I have comes from God.

This life that I have comes from God.

I can't get through the day on my own without depending on God

So dependence on God, again, is what prayer is all about.

And if that's the case, then we should be, as believers, committed to prayer.

That's why the Apostle Paul says in Philippians 4:7-8, "Be anxious for

Philippians 4:7–8

nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your request be made known to God."

And then look what happens.

"And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your

hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus."

See, prayer doesn't necessarily go and change God, it changes us.

It gives us peace

Because we're fully dependent on God for that thing that we prayed for.

It's like, "God, I need this," or, "God, can you do this?"

And we are acknowledging we need God's help, and that in turn gives us a

peace that surpasses all comprehension.

It gives us peace, and it guards our hearts and our minds.

So think of the power of prayer in that sense.

It gives you peace, it guards your hearts, and it guards your minds.

Do we not want that in our lives?

Yes.

So be committed to prayer.

And then when we pray, when God moves, make Him known to others.

Again, I said prayer is a witness, and that's what I mean.

Prayers are a witness to other people.

When they see us pray, they recognize something is going on.

But what about when God answers your prayer?

Do you share that with people?

Do you tell people about it?

That's why I said, when God moves, make Him known.

This is what the psalmist said in Psalm 9, in a couple of Psalms here.

Psalm 9, he says, "I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart,

and I will tell of your wonders.

I will be glad and exult in you.

I will sing praises to your name, O Most High."

So he's saying, "Hey, when these things happen, I'm going to tell

others about what you've done."

That's a witness.

And then again, in Psalm 96, let me turn there with you, is, is another

example of that exact thing about telling other people about what God has done.

This is a testament.

This is a way we can proclaim God's name to be a witness to friends

and family, even to strangers.

Look at Psalm 96, particularly verses two through five.

He says this.

"Sing to the Lord and bless his name.

Proclaim good tidings of his salvation from day to day."

And then look at this.

"Tell of his glory among the nations, his wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

For great is the Lord and great to be praised.

He is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of peoples are idols, but the Lord made the heavens."

When we tell people about what God is doing in our life, it, it magnifies Him.

It, it raises Him up.

It elevates Him

It's something again that I need to work on in telling people what God is doing in,

in my life or how God moves in my life.

My wife, I, I don't wanna embarrass her, but she's a great witness to that.

She'll tell me, "Hey, God did this," or, "God moved that."

It's, uh, all, it's in her language.

That's how she talks, and it's a great reminder how she truly

believes that God is moving in her life on a day-to-day basis.

That's how all of us as believers should be.

This is what the psalmist is exhorting us to do, to make known the wonderful

works of God and the peop- around the p- around, uh, in our lives so

that the people around us will hear.

So this is what the Apostle Paul does.

He's healing people, and then we ca- go back to our text

now, see what happens next.

So after he's blessed people, we're gonna see that they wanna bless Paul.

They wanna bless his trip and everyone else that's involved.

It says this.

So after they, uh, brought people and they were getting cured, it says this

in verse 10, "And they also honored us with many marks of respect, and we

were s- and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed."

Right?

They still need to go to Rome, and they have no ships

But it says the people here, hey, they honored us with marks of respect

and gave us all the supplies that we were gonna need to make that voyage.

Look at verse 11.

It says, "At the end of three months," so they were there for three months,

and at least, and they're gonna be, get their supplies, and it says this: "We

set sail on an Alexandrian ship, which had wintered at the island, which had

the twin brothers for its figurehead."

So they, there's a ship there that has docked for some reason.

We don't know why.

But they were allowed to get on it.

Was it all 276 people?

I don't know.

The, we, we know it was the Apostle Paul.

We know it was Luke and some of the companions, and it was probably

some of the, the centurion and the Roman guards who were in charge

of getting them there, right?

But what we see here is that God uses the kindness and generosity of the residents

of Malta to provide for Paul's trip.

He's like, "Hey."

They're like, "Hey, you blessed us.

We wanna bless you.

We wanna take care of you."

You see, God rewards and provides for His servants as they're

going about the Lord's business.

We see this in a number of examples in the Old Testament.

Let me just give you two.

You remember when the Israelites left Egypt, they took a lot of

provisions with them, right?

The, the Egyptians were, "Here, we'll provide you with this."

Even though it was like, "You guys just get out of here."

God provided for the Israelites through the Egyptians.

Or when Nehemiah was gonna go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of

Jerusalem, he asked for the king to give him letters so he could get lumber, he

could get supplies to rebuild the wall, and that's exactly what the king did.

He sent letters with Nehemiah so that the people will provide

for God's people for God's work.

Again, it's another way of showing how God provides for His people.

Knowing that God will provide for you, we don't always know the when

and the how, but what's our response, what should our response be to that?

Well, it should be to remain faithful and trust God for the results.

We continue to live for God, continue to do what He's called us to do,

and allow Him to provide what He needs in, what we need in our lives.

The New Testament over and over encourages us in that way.

Let me share with you a couple of verses like, that demonstrate that.

The Apostle Paul, when he wrote to the church at Galatia about not

growing weary and continuing to be faithful to God, he wrote this: "Let

us not lose heart in doing good."

This is Galatians 6:9.

Galatians 6:9

"Let us not lose heart in doing good," so let's just remain

faithful, "for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."

Again, "Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if

we do not grow weary," Galatians 6:9.

Galatians 6:9

Again, it's a, an encouragement.

Hey, don't give up.

Don't lose heart.

Remain faithful.

God's going to reward you.

He believes that.

Then in the book of Hebrews 6:10, the writer says this,

Hebrews 6:10

again, about trusting God.

He says, "For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and love

which you have shown toward His name, and having ministered and in

still ministering to the saints."

He's saying God's gonna re- God's gonna reward you.

He's just.

He sees what you're doing for Him.

He will reward you.

And Jesus Himself said, if you remember in Matthew 6:31-33-

Matthew 6:31–33

Again, about remaining faithful, focusing on what's important.

He says this, "Do not be anxious, then, saying, 'What shall we eat?'

and, 'What shall we drink?'

and, 'With what clothes shall we wear?'

For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things."

So what's His advice, or command I should say?

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these

things shall be added to you."

Again, it's focusing on the provision in our lives.

God will provide for us.

You remain faithful.

You don't lose heart.

God will not forget what you have done in His name and for His glory.

And we see that being played out here in the apostle's life.

He was following God's command.

He was ministering to people along the way, even in the midst of tragedy.

Remember, he's still a prisoner-

But he didn't lose heart.

He kept going.

He knew that God would provide.

And let's read the last section, verses 12 through 16, as we, as we close

So it says, "And after we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days."

So the ship's taken off.

There's- they're traveling now towards Rome.

And it says, "And from there we sailed around and arrived at, at Rhegium.

And a day later a south wind sprang up, and on the second dame-

second day we came to Puteoli.

There we found some brethren."

By the way, these cities are along the, the western coast of Italy.

It says, "Then we found some brethren and were invited to

stay with them for seven days.

And thus we came to Rome.

And the brethren, when they heard about us, came from there as far as the Market

of Appius and the Three Inns to meet us.

And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

And when we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with

the soldier who was guarding him."

So here we see the fulfillment of what God said in Acts 23:11.

Acts 23:11

I have to go back, because this is what was holding or keeping Paul focused.

This is why he was able to s- take courage, 'cause God said in verse 11

of Acts 23, when he, when he stood by Paul, he says, "Take courage!

For as you have solemnly witnessed to my cause at Jerusalem, so

you must witness at Rome also."

So this is what Paul was holding onto.

This was the promise that Paul had from God, is you're going to make it from Rome.

This is what he encouraged everybody in the boat.

We're gonna make it to Rome.

God has spoken to me

Luke gives us this, this travel log of his trip highlighting them,

"Hey, look at what God is doing.

We're meeting believers.

They're taking us in."

Again, God's provision along the way

And then as they arrive in Rome, look at what Paul's response is.

I think this is important in verse 15.

This is gonna be our final takeaway.

So when he arrives in Rome, at the very end of verse 15, "He

thanked God and took courage," which is exactly what God told him.

"Take courage, Paul.

I'm gonna get you to Rome."

That word courage means confidence.

He gained confidence, right?

It happened.

I'm here.

Just like God said, I'm gonna have confidence and trust God, like, from

this point forward, even though he's been trusting him from the very beginning.

But right, when you get confidence in something, like,

I believe it, it's gonna happen.

It's true

I can take courage in it.

And that's the final application for us as we look at God's faithfulness.

Let God's faithfulness renew your courage, your confidence in Him, right?

God keeps His word.

Here's a great example through the life of the Apostle Paul.

God keeps His word, and because He keeps His word, we can take courage

and confidence in what God's Word says.

We don't have to doubt it

I'll close with this last quote from a commentator named Darrell Bock.

It kinda summarizes this.

He says, "God's word can be trusted because God can be trusted."

Amen.

Right?

We trust God's word because who said it?

God said it, right?

If there's people you don't trust, you don't believe their word, but

you can trust God's word because the guy who's backing it, who's God.

And then he c- concludes this, and this is the hard part, "The only

thing one does not know is when God will accomplish His will."

Right?

That's, that's the hard part.

We're like, God doesn't tell us what specifically is gonna happen.

We have to trust Him.

But we can trust Him because He's God.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank You so much for Your word because it reveals who You are.

It shows us the God behind the words can be trusted, and we've seen

that again and again in scripture.

And Lord, if we were to think about it and to write it down, we could say

we've seen it again and again in our own lives, your providence, your provision,

and your preservation in our lives.

And we thank You for that.

And I pray this morning that You would help us to remember those things,

Lord, that we would remember You are in control of all things, that You

preserve us as Your servants until the day that You call us home, and we

can have confidence in that, Lord God.

And may we, like the Apostle Paul, remember to, to thank You for all

that You do in our lives, and may we take courage and confidence that

You are in control of our life.

Lord, we thank You for the, the reminder this morning through

the life of the Apostle Paul.

Help us this week to trust You, to follow after You, and to be witnesses for You in

this life until the day You call us home.

And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.