Good evening, let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 454. If you don't have it written
in yet, the first line of the fourth verse, he gives me overcoming
grace. And that fifth line, to me he's
given a new heart. Christ has for sin atonement
made, what a wonderful Savior! We are redeemed, the price is
paid, what a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord I praise Him
for the cleansing blood, What a wonderful Savior! That reconciled my soul to God,
What a wonderful Savior! What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Lord He cleansed
my heart from all its sin What a wonderful Savior And now he
reigns and rules therein What a wonderful Savior What a wonderful
Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior is Jesus,
my Lord He gives me overcoming grace What a wonderful Savior
? And triumph in each trying hour ? What a wonderful Savior
? What a wonderful Savior ? Is Jesus, my Jesus ? What a wonderful
Savior ? Is Jesus, my Lord to me he's given a new heart what
a wonderful savior the world shall What a wonderful Savior What
a wonderful Savior is Jesus, my Jesus What a wonderful Savior
is Jesus, my Lord. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
354. 354. What a friend we have in Jesus
All our sins and griefs to bear Privilege to carry Everything
to God in prayer Oh, what peace we often forfeit Oh, what needless
pain we bear All because we do not care Everything
to God in prayer Are we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithfully? ? Jesus knows our every weakness
? Take it to the Lord in prayer ? Are we weak and heavy laden Covered
with a load of care Precious Savior, still our refuge Take
it to the Lord in prayer Do thy friends despise forsaken
Take it to the Lord in prayer In His arms He'll take care Acts
28. Acts 28. One more message after
this and then we'll have to start something else. and looking at Romans, but boy,
I tell you, just looking at some introductions
and things to it, that'd take a long time just to introduce
it. I don't know if y'all sit still long enough for that. I'm gonna read the first 11 verses. And when they were escaped, Then
they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous
people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received
us every one because of the present rain and because of the cold.
And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the
fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his
hand. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on
his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer,
whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth
not to live. And he shook off the beast into
the fire, and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked, when he
should have swollen or fallen down dead, suddenly But after
they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him,
they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. In the
same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island,
whose name was Publius. who received us and lodged us
three days courteously. And it came to pass that the
father Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom
Paul entered in and prayed, and laid his hands on him and healed
him. So when this was done, others
also which had diseases in the island came and were healed,
who also honored us with many honors, And when we had departed,
they laded us with such things as were necessary. And after
three months, we departed in the ship of Alexandria, which
had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux." Our Father in the glorious, precious,
blessed name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, what a name. What power in the name. What
glory in that name. What peace is in that name. What
assurance is in that name. What salvation was wrought by
that blessed man. And Lord, we stand and thank
you and bless you for this great, great, great, great salvation
that you provided us. And Lord, you required nothing
from us, absolutely nothing. And Lord, you did it all. You
saved us, saved us from sin, rebellion, enmity. And we're
so thankful. And Lord, we've gathered out
here this evening to worship, gathered out here to look into
your word. And I thank you, Lord, that you
blessed Cody to preach here last week. We pray you blessed him
and the saints were blessed by him. And Father, forgive us of
everything that's unlike you and please have mercy. Mercy
on us. Mercy on our families. Mercy,
mercy, mercy on those that are sick. Lord, we especially pray
for Bill and Fran. Oh Lord, we know that you've
taken them into some deep waters. Taken them into places that no
one wants to go. But Lord, we go where you lead.
Just help us to pray for them, uphold them before you, the throne
of grace. And please come down among us
this evening. And as my preacher brethren are
standing preaching tonight, God bless them. Oh, Lord, use them.
Lord, we cannot do nothing without you. No wonder the apostle said,
who is sufficient for these things? Lord, we're not sufficient, that's
for sure. So meet with us for Christ's
sake. Amen. Don't forget the ladies' luncheon,
Friday. First Friday. Page 31 in our course books.
Oh, how merciful. 31 in the course book. When I was lost in sin and shame,
how Thou let me take the blame. Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou
was to me. ? And I could look down deep within
? ? And see the sinfulness of sin ? ? Blessed Lord, how merciful
Thou was to me ? ? Oh, how merciful Thou was to me ? How merciful,
blessed Lord, how merciful thou art to me. Oh, how merciful. How merciful, blessed Lord How
merciful Thou art to me A sinner lost and so helpless Yet Thou
say'st, I must repent Blessed Lord ? How merciful Thou was
to me ? I wonder why should I rebel ? And with a soul deserving hell
? Blessed Lord, how merciful Thou was to me Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful, how
hard to be. Oh, how merciful. How merciful, blessed Lord How
merciful Thou art to me ? I'm not ashamed of all thy grace
? When thou came and took my place ? Blessed Lord, how merciful
thou art to me ? And when this world ceases to be ? Eternal
blood to speak How merciful Thou art to me. Oh, how merciful Thou art to
me. How merciful, blessed Lord, how
merciful thou art to me. Oh, how merciful. How merciful, blessed Lord How
merciful Thou art to me among barbarians, among barbarians. You remember last week we talked
about Paul being saved in a storm and God saved all those that
were with him. And how Paul stood after they
hadn't seen the sun and stars for 14 days, it was a storm,
ship was tore all to pieces, And Paul stood up in the middle
of them, and all that storm and everything, and says, Be of good
cheer! You know, God told me this night that we was all going
to be saved! We were going to lose the ship, but we were all
going to be saved! And sure enough, they all got safe to land. Ain't
that what it says in verse 42, excuse me, verse 44 of chapter
27? and the rest some on boards and
some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass
that they escaped all safe to land." They all made it, they
all made it. Now, this is not salvation their
sin. As far as I know, only two people
on that ship were saved from their sin. That was Artarchus
and the Apostle Paul. The rest of them was Romans,
and they were on that ship, and they were there to take him to
see Caesar in Rome. But after they all escaped, to
land, and they landed upon an island. It says, you know, they
knew then that the island, in verse 1, they escaped, and they
knew that the island was called Melita. They landed on an island,
and if it hadn t have been for God s providence, they never
would have been there. But here s the thing, but God
put them there, every single one of them on that ship. He
sent a storm, a great to show what he could do for even unconverted
people because he had a preacher on board that ship. He had an
apostle on board that ship, and that apostle had a work to do,
and they landed on this island because God s going to use him
on this island. There s no other reason for them
to be there. God uses storms and has used storms time and
again to save His people. He s used great, great trials
to show His people that He s with them, and I tell you, there have
been strong winds and storms fulfill the will of God. I tell
you, it fulfills the will of God, and these strong winds fulfill
the counsel of God. This is Paul s third shipwreck.
He had three shipwrecks. This is his third one, and they
were blessed to be on this island for three months. And this island
is called Malaita, or Malita, and now it s called Malta. It
s an island called Malta. That s where in the end of World
War II, that s where all the Churchill, all the leaders, Eisenhower,
all the leaders, the presidents, all the leaders met on the Isle
of Malta. and signed treaties to end World
War II on the island of Malta. And they all went there, and
that's where it took place at. When they all got on a ship,
and they got there, and they all began to sign treaties and
end World War II on this island right here where Paul was. And
you go to Malta, I've talked to people that's been there,
and they said everything about there, they've just got all kinds
of monuments to Paul. you know, because he had been
there at one time. They had all kinds of statues
and altars and all kinds of things praising him, and didn't praise
the Lord but praised him. Now, I want you to know something
here in verse 2. These are barbarians. I don't know why they call them
barbarous people. I guess it was because they were
ignorant, they were unlearned, they were unlettered. nobody
had ever met them before, nobody had been on that island before,
and they were kind of isolated, and that's why they called them
barbarians. But Paul said in Colossians chapter 3, he said
there's in Christ, Christ is all and in all, so there's neither
circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarians, Scythians, they're
bond or free, but Christ is all and in all, no matter who you
are and what you are, bond or free. And so here's what happens
to them, the barbarous people, oh, listen to how kind, he says,
they showed us no little kindness. They, I mean, Paul says, they
treated us exceptionally well. They had a good, good reception
from them. They seen these fellas start
landing up on their island, they coming up out of the sea, they're
wet, they're cold. And you know, look over here
in Romans, over to your right one, Romans 1.14. Look what Paul
says about this over here. They showed great kindness to
these people, and the apostle said, I'm a debtor, both to the
Greeks and to the barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise. I'm a debtor, to do what? The
next thing he says is preach the gospel to them. That's the
only debt I got, to preach the gospel to them. But here back
over here in Romans 8 it says, They showed such kindness to
us. And I'll tell you what they did, they built a fire. They
said, These folks are cold, it's cold, that's what it says, and
received every one of us. They made no difference in these
people. They were barbarians, and yet they kindled a fire,
received every one of us because it was raining. It was raining
even then, and it was cold. and it was cold, so they built
a fire to warm these people, to be good to these people, to
be kind to these people, and to meet the needs of all these
people. They were strangers to them.
Paul didn't know the men that got on this island, all them
people were strangers, and all these people that landed on the
island were strangers to them. And so here's a bunch of strangers
coming together, and God brought them together, And yet these
folks didn t know these people, just saw that they were shipwrecked,
and they said, Boy, these folks are cold, they need to be warm,
they need to be dried out, they need some strength, they need
some encouragement. And but God in His providence
saved their lives, and even though He saved their lives off that
ship, you know what He s doing? He s still taking care of them.
And you know why He s doing it? For one reason. was a man on
there, had a work to do. One reason, God, He goes to extremes,
extremes to use His people. He certainly does. And I tell
you something else, beloved, God was taking care of them and
He saved their lives and took care of all these Romans and
all these prisoners and all these people, sailors that was on there.
And that shows us that God's Word is perfect. He does EXACTLY
what s right, every single time for everybody, and I tell you,
He don t make no difference who it is, He treated them good,
and that would not be ANYBODY, ANYBODY! You know that men are
going to have, it s going to be awful for men when God takes
care of people like this. And one of the prisoners said,
Let s kill all these prisoners here. One of the Romans said,
Let s kill them, lest they escape. Paul said, There ain t nobody
going to escape. I m not afraid of you, and I
m not afraid of this storm. God s got His hand on me. God
told me what was going to happen. He said, He s going to save us
and serves, I believe, God, as it was even told me. And I tell
you, these folks took such good care of them. And I tell you,
beloved, Listen to me now, I just want to talk for a minute. Every
kindness that somebody shows us, every kind word, every encouraging
word, every tender word, everything that's ever done good to us,
We receive it at the hand of a man. And I'll tell you, if
we receive any kind of kindness, any kind of encouragement, any
kind of uplifting from somebody, we have to acknowledge that it
comes from God. God caused that to happen. You
know, our Lord even said, if you give a cup of cold water,
TO ONE THAT BELONGS TO ME, YOU'LL NOT LOSE YOUR REWARD. AND WHAT
REWARD IS HE TALKING ABOUT? GOD TO BLESS YOU, ENCOURAGE YOU,
AND KEEP YOU, AND MEET ALL YOUR NEEDS. AND I TELL YOU, GOD CAN
MAKE ENEMIES TO BE AT PEACE WITH YOU. HE CAN TAKE AN ENEMY AND
MAKE THEM BE AT PEACE. HE CAN MAKE STRANGERS TO BECOME
FRIENDS. HE CAN TAKE PEOPLE THAT'S NEVER
MET BEFORE AND MAKE THEM BECOME FAST, FAST FRIENDS. And so God,
if we receive a kindness from anybody, it's a blessing from
God Almighty. I'll tell you what, don't never,
ever take it for granted. You know, we don't deserve anything. We really don't. We're not a
deserving people. We don't deserve grace. We don't
deserve salvation. We don't deserve God's goodness.
We don't deserve God's mercy. We deserve nothing from the hand
of God. So if God blesses us and then
he uses one of his people or even a stranger to give you a
kind word, you say, Lord, thank you. I certainly, certainly,
I don't know why anybody would say a kind word to me. And that's
what he's talking about. And you, they were barbarous
people. They were uncivilized people. They were unlettered
people. They were ignorant people. They
were superstitious people. But oh my, you remember when
that man was wounded. talking about the Samaritan,
the man was wounded, and his lead had been held up by robbers
and beaten and left and laid over here in the ditch, and over
on one side there comes a priest walking by, and he went on the
other side so he wouldn't have to look at him. And then here
come a Levite of the tribe of Levi, and he walked by him. But
a Samaritan, whom the Jews say that they're unclean, you can't
have no fellowship with them, you can't have anything to do
with them, that Samaritan reached down and got him and picked him
up, took him to an inn, bound up his wounds, poured oil in
his wounds, and took him on in and said, I'll pay for everything
he needs. And he said, that's the way these
people were. That's the way these people were like the Samaritan.
And all religion walks right on by. Religion don't care. Oh, they were barbarous people.
But as Abraham, you know, look in Hebrews 13. I want you to
see this right here. Hebrews 13 in verse one. Look
here with me. Excuse me, verse two. BE NOT FORGETFUL TO ENTERTAIN
STRANGERS, and that s what happened here. There were strangers landing
on this island, and oh, listen to what it says, For thereby
some have entertained angels unaware. You know what that s
talking about? That s talking about Abraham.
Abraham one day looked up, and three men come walking up. They
were strangers, but you know who those three people were?
One of them was the LORD Himself, and Abraham took them in and
fed them and cared for them and met all their needs. And oh my,
and I tell you what, you never know, you never know when you're
going to do something for somebody and God just put them in your
way to do it, just put them in your way to do it. And then look
what it says here in verse 3, back over in Acts 20, 28. And when Paul had gathered a
bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire. There came a viper
out of the heat and fastened on his hand." Now, I want you
to notice something here. This is an apostle. This is an
apostle. This is the most important man
that was on that boat. But what does he do? He is a
servant. He really took to heart what
our Lord said. He's the chief among you, let
him be a servant. There's all kinds of men around
there. Lot of people that were servants
and all the people on that ship. But who's out gathering wood?
The apostle is. Who wants to get wood for the
fire? The apostle is. Who's wanting to get wood to
keep everybody else warm? To be a servant. Here he is out,
here's an apostle. He's out here picking up sticks.
He's out here gathering up wood. He's out here working. He's out
here laboring. He's truly being a servant. You
know, when he says, though I be nothing, this is a person, he
said, though I be nothing. He's gathering wood. I know a
preacher, I know several preachers that have done things like this,
that if the toilet need cleaned, they go clean the toilet. If floors needed mop, they'd
mop the floor. And then I know some preachers
that in fact, listen, if y'all don't get it done, it won't get
done. But I'll tell you, this really, really touches me that
here's this man, this man who God used so greatly, so mightily,
he restarts going out and gathering up wood. And you know what you'd
have said? One of you fellas go get some
wood. It's getting cold around here. Get some wood to put on
the fire. You go get some wood. You go get some wood over there.
You go get some wood. He could have done that and nobody
thought nothing about it. But he didn't tell. Nobody do
nothing. He just went and got it himself. Went and got it himself. And oh my. Here he was. He's a free man. He's the Lord's
serving, and yet here he is laboring in the most menial, low task. I tell you, he s doing good for
somebody else. These folks were kind to him,
he said, I m going to show kindness to them. They ve been good to
me, I m going to try to help them out. And he s a prisoner,
but oh my, God has ways of showing who his child is, who he really
is. And then look what happens now.
It says there came a viper, in verse 3, out of the heat and
fastened on his hand. A viper is very, very poisonous.
There are some vipers, there's a viper down in Australia that
you'll die within one to two minutes after it bites you. There's
no way in the world you can be saved. No way you can be saved. And here they are, they're gathering
sticks, and there's a snake in there, a viper, a very poisonous
snake. grabs him by the arm, latches on. I mean, it just didn't
bite him, but it said it latched on. Some fangs was in there. It bit
him. It bit him good. And watch what
he said. It said, well, it fastened on
his hand, grabbed at his hand. I remember Dear lady down in
Vandiver, years and years ago, they was out cutting wood and
getting wood in the fall of the year, and she reached down and
picked up a stick of wood to put it in the truck, and a copperhead
bit her right in the hand. Bit her right in the hand. And
she had to go around with her fingers sewed in her stomach
so it wouldn't rot off. But here's a man that a snake,
one of the most poisonous snakes in the world got on Oh my, and
look what happens now. And when the barbarians saw that
venomous, venomous beast hang on his hand, they saw it, they
was watching. They said among themselves, they
got to talking, said, boy, they was all sitting around, they
all got talking, they said, did you see that? Did you see that
snake bite him? Oh, my! And they said among themselves,
There's not a doubt about it, this man's a murderer! He HAS
to be a mean man, he HAS to be a murderer, something he's done
really, really, really bad, whom though he hath escaped the sea,
he got out of the sea okay, yet VENGEANCE, VENGEANCE, not God,
not the Lord, but VENGEANCE is not going to let him live. And Paul, when he put those on
there and he throwed the wood on the fire, that snake still
hanging on his hand, he just shook it off. Just shook it off. Just shook it off. I mean, an
old mean snake. Just shook it off in the fire.
And oh, my. And watch what happens now. And
it says he felt no harm. He felt no harm. And but how
be it, they just watched him and watched him and watched him
and watched him. They looked at him and just everywhere
he went, everything he'd done, they looked at him. He should
have swollen. He should have been started swelling
up. His arms should have been swelling up big and his face
ought to have been swelling. His eyes start closing up and
he started having a hard time breathing. But oh my. And they thought, well, he's
going to fall down dead here any minute. He's going to fall
down dead any minute. They just watched him. I want
to see this fellow die. He's got to die. He has to be
an awful mean man for this to happen to him. And then, oh,
my. And they looked after him for
a great, great while. I mean, they watched him for
a long, long, long time. And then they saw no harm come
to him. Well, they changed their minds. He went from being a murderer,
not fit to live, vengeance going to kill him, And they changed
their minds after they watched him and seen him move around
like nothing had ever happened to him. Shake off that snake
and shake off that viper. And they changed their minds
and then they went from being a murderer to being a God. That's how quick people, I mean,
you know, they just, they'd go strictly by appearance, by appearance. And that's what they did, and
they was going by appearance, and oh my, this man, I tell you,
this man must be an awful, awful man. And you know, when our Lord
said, they shall take up serpents, this is what He meant. And if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall not harm them. He's
talking about His elect people. He's not talking about, I watched
a show one time, And these folks went out as a bunch of Pentecostal
people, and they went down and turned over a bunch of metal
and everything, and they caught a box full of them, of copperheads. I mean a box full of them. And
they put them in their car and carried it for a long ways, you
know, a couple hundred miles to take them back to church.
They were going to take them to the meeting that night. It was going to take them to
the meeting that night, so they got all these snakes and they took
them in there and they let the lid off the box. Copperheads
everywhere, little ones, big ones, all kinds of them. And
boy one, they got to dancing around there and they grabbed
one of them snakes and holding up and all that, and then the
preacher, the old man who was the preacher of that place, he
got bit! Oh, they just danced and played
with them snakes. He got bit. Well, he went home
and he just said, well, I'm going to be fine. I'm going to be fine.
Ain't nothing going to do. He died about three days later.
But you reckon they were going to quit handling snakes? No.
They're not going to quit handling snakes. I used to live with a
preacher. I used to live with a preacher, and I was about 14
years old. He had a farm, and I helped him on the farm. Helped
him with his, I know his son, and we'd work on the farm. Take
care of his hogs, and he'd chop out his cotton, and all that
corn, and all that kind of stuff. And he had been a Pentecostal. And he told me about how, buddy,
he said, he had to, he said, I would just, if we can't handle
snakes, I said, I don't even want to go to church. He liked
to handle rattlesnakes, and all that kind of stuff. And I tell you what, somebody
said one time, said, they got a bunch of snakes in there, where
do you want the door in? I don't care. He said, well,
I'm fixing to make one if you pull out any more snakes, because
I'd make a door to get out of there. But that old man got bit
and went home, would not go to a doctor and sit there in his Lazy Boy or whatever he had and
laid there and died. And I tell you what, anybody's
stupid enough. Now see, Paul handled a snake
and he did not do it deliberately. He didn't say, I'm gonna go find
me a snake to show these folks how I can handle a serpent. When
God said, they shall handle serpents and it shall not harm them. Drink
deadly poison, shall not harm them. That's when they don't
know what, you know, they did not know that snake was there.
God did. And I tell you, the awfulest
snakes that you'll ever deal with is people. Our Lord said,
You vipers and serpents, generation of vipers and serpents, and He
is talking to PEOPLE! He said, You're the snakes! You're the serpents! You're the
deceitful ones! And you know it said over in
Romans, it said they had the poison of Asp under their tongues. They had a serpent, the mouth
of a serpent. And aspen, the poison of aspen. And oh my, get under their lips.
And I'll tell you what, they spew out poison, they spew out
meanness, they spew out all kinds of nasty things about God and
about people and anybody that'll listen. But oh my, and they shall
take up serpents. And Paul, that's exactly what
it means there. Not go out here and buy a snake
and get a snake and take it up on your hands. Who was it told
me that, was you the one telling me that your grandpa killed a
rattlesnake and he put the rattlesnake up and then he put it in a, your
dad put the rattlesnake in a stump to get rid of it and then a copperhead
come out of the stump and bit him? But he got okay, didn't
he? He had sense enough to go to
the doctor. You know, but this, But I tell
you, he shook it into the fire. He didn't feel no ill effect
from it whatsoever, none. And they watched him. He should
have been sick, should have fallen down dead. Oh my, well, he's
a murderer. No, no, he's a God, he's a God. And then look what it said in
verse seven. In the same quarters, in the same area, in the same
place, were possessions of the chief man of the island. Now,
what made him the chief man is because he had lots of possessions.
He was wealthy, probably was wealthy, had a lot of property
or something, but he was wealthy, so he was the chief man of the
island. His name was Publius, and he received us. Oh, my! And who did he receive? I believe
he received Paul and Aristarchus and Luke. Luke was with them
too. Luke was the one who wrote the book of Acts. But anyway,
he received us and watch what has happened. He lodged us three
days courteously. Oh my, talk about taking somebody,
you're talking about a hospitable man. LOVERS OF HOSPITALITY. HERE'S A FELLA WHO LOVED HOSPITALITY. HERE'S A MAN WHO LOVED PEOPLE,
A MAN WHO SEEN THESE FELLAS THAT HAD NEED, AND HE INVITED THEM
INTO HIS HOUSE, FED THEM, TOOK CARE OF THEM, STAYED IN A NICE,
WARM HOME, STAYED IN A PLACE THAT WAS VERY COMFORTABLE FOR
THEM. And they said he was a hospitable man. That means he had a great,
large heart, and he treated them courteously. I mean, he was exceptionally
good to these men. Treated them like they were the
best guest it had ever been in his home. He treated them so
courteously. Can I get you anything? Do you
need anything? That's the way he treated them. And oh, my. And it came to pass,
and everything that ever happens, it always comes to pass. When
God said it came to pass, it's coming to pass. And it came to
pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a
bloody flux. He had dysentery, that's what
that's called, dysentery. When it starts, it'll kill you,
just if you don't get something done for you, it'll kill you.
You know, that was something that would happen, that happened
in a lot of foreign lands, that happened years ago, just getting
nasty water, water with bacteria in it. And here they was, he
had this bloody flux, he had dysentery, and he was just pouring
blood out of, had a fever and just pouring out blood over and
over. And oh my, and Paul entered in,
Paul entered into that man's house where his father was, And
he prayed, and he prayed, and I don t know how he prayed, don
t know what he said, but I believe he acknowledged God to be God
first thing he did. God, You re the one with the
power. God, You re the one with the
grace. You re the one that s got the rights. You re the only one
that can heal. You re the only one that can
use me. Oh, God, for Christ s sake, FOR
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST'S SAKE, WOULD YOU HEAR ME WHILE I LAY
MY HANDS ON THIS MAN? LORD, IT WON'T DO ME ANY GOOD
IF YOU DON'T BLESS ME, IF YOU DON'T ENABLE ME, IF YOU DON'T
USE ME TO HELP THIS MAN. I BELIEVE WHEN PAUL PRAYED, I
BELIEVE HE LIKE ANYBODY ELSE, IF THEY GOT ANY SENSE, THEY STARTED
OUT RECOGNIZING GOD. WHY WOULD HE PRAY? HE DIDN'T
GET DOWN THERE AND PRAY, HE SAID, LORD, THIS POOR MAN IS SICK.
I'm gonna lay my hands on him. No, no, I believe, I really believe
when these men prayed, they started out talking about how God, how
glorious he is, how powerful he is, how gracious he is, how
merciful he is. And he started thanking him for
letting me be on this island. Thank you for taking care of
me. Thank you for this man. Let me come in his home. I mean,
I think he prayed up, said a lot of things, a lot of things. And oh my, he prayed. And then
he laid his hands on him. Oh my. And healed him. Healed him. Could you imagine
being that sick? I mean, he was so sick. No telling
how bad it stunk in there. How nasty it was. How awful it
was. But Paul went in there and prayed
and laid his hands on him. and he is healed like that, healed
just like that. Oh my, and oh, he was used of
God to heal him, and then what happened? Look what happens.
In verse nine, so when this was done, when this was done, others also which had diseases
in the island, all kinds, there's no telling what kind of diseases
they had, But oh my, this is why God put him on this island. And which had diseases in the
island came and were healed. God used this man. That's why
He gave him signs and wonders, and these were some of the signs
and wonders that He gave him. And oh my, all these people with
all their diseases, just like our Lord Jesus Christ, all that
had diseases came to Him. came to him. And all these people
on this island that were sick came to Paul. Paul laid his hands
on them and healed them. And oh my, and so when this was
done, when they was cast on this island, when they had built him
a fire, when he had viper bit on his hand and they throwed
him in the fire, they watched for him to die and he didn't
die. Went from being a murder to being a God. She was treated
so courteously by the chief man of that island, healed so many
people, healed so many people. And then look what it says. So
when this was done, all that had been done before, all that
we had talked about before, oh my, these people honored him,
also honored us with many honors. Now, what do you reckon the honors
were? They honored them, I don't know, but they honored them in
a wonderful way. They honored them with many honors,
no telling what they done for them, no telling what they said
about them, no matter how they esteemed them, no matter how
they picked them up and honored them. And who also honored us,
all these people on this, with many honors, many honors. And oh my, listen to honor with
me, great respect. They revered them. They saw that
God had honored them and they honored them. God had honored
him and they honored him. And they gave us, and look what
it says now. And when we departed, they gave us, they loaded us
down with such things as was necessary. You know, notice it
says what was necessary. not what they wanted. And I tell
you, I don't believe the apostle would have took anything other
than what was absolutely necessary for their journey. And they gave
them what was necessary, and the apostle would take no more.
And then look what it says in verse 11. And after three months,
they'd been on that island for three months, Been healing people, laboring
on that island, used of God. I'm sure, I'm sure Paul preached
the gospel to them. There's no doubt about that,
that he had preached the gospel to them, used these things to
preach the gospel. And after three months, we parted
in the ship of Alexandria. That's what they was on, the
ship of Alexandria, that wrecked, shipwrecked, which had wintered
in the isles. who entered in the isle whose
sign was Castor and Pollux, and I don't know what that meant,
the flags that they were flying, I reckon. And so here he is,
he's going on to Rome, and the next time, our last study will
be when he goes to Rome, and when he lands in Rome, and how
he's received in Rome. But the barbarians was good to
them, and Paul was good to the barbarians. God brought them
together. God brought them together so God could do a work in those
people's lives and hearts through that man. Our Father, thank you for allowing
us to meet here again this side of eternity. Thank you for your
word. It's just so self-explanatory. Just read it, make a few comments. And Lord, we're so thankful. that we know something about
your sovereignty, know something about the council, you work all
things after the council of your own will, how you used a shipwreck
for the apostle to do a work, and a bunch of barbarians heard
the gospel, a bunch of barbarians were healed, and they were treated
so good and so kind by him. Oh, Lord, work in us to be kind,
gracious, forgiving, tenderhearted, even as God, for Christ's sake,
forgave us. Lord, meet the needs of our heart
and souls. Meet the needs of this body of
believers. And again, we pray for our dear, dear brother, sister,
and others among us who are very, very sick. We ask for your abundant
grace, for Christ's sake. Amen. Amen. Well, I'll see you
Sunday, God willing. Thank you.