Bible Chapter: Acts 28

Because the Bible is practical, here are some statements to get you thinking.

1.  Write one or two key thoughts that come from today’s reading.
    This is the last chapter in the book of Acts.  It ends very abruptly, a strange way to stop the story.  Luke does not say anything like “and now we are ending this history of the church”.  Bible scholars have commented that the ending shows that he wrote up to a certain point telling the story of the church and the missionary travels of Paul and then simply stopped.  It has also been suggested that we are living in the 29th chapter of Acts.  This implies that since Jesus never changes, the church should continue to walk in and minister in the power of God.  We must continue to see people saved and God’s power shown to all.  That is an essential challenge.
    This chapter starts with the results of the shipwreck we just read about.  They all survived and landed on the Island of Malta off the coast of Italy.  They were greeted warmly by the local people.  We see Paul’s heart and connection with God.  He was helping to collect firewood and was bitten by a poisonous snake.  He simply shook it off and kept on working.  This was a powerful testimony of his trust in God’s protective power.  The Lord had given him the assurance that he would survive so he didn’t worry about the snake.  Paul ministered to the people there.  They had to stay three months to wait out the winter.  Eventually they got on another ship and made it to Rome.
    In Rome Paul ministered out of his house arrest for two years.  He had spent two years in confinement in Caesarea and then, following a harrowing trip, spend another two years confined in Rome.  Luke doesn’t cover the rest of the story but secular history says that Paul was eventually released and he continued traveling and preaching.

2.  What can I apply in my life from the reading?
    Paul had heard from God.  He sense God’s calling to spread the good news of Jesus.  He suffered in ways that few can fully understand.  And yet, he kept his focus and did what God called him to do.  When one door closed, he kept looking till God opened the right one.  When the world seemed to be falling apart he kept going.  There is evidence that he got tired and impatient from time to time, but he never let that interfere with doing what God called him to do.  This is a good lesson.  As I write this I am almost to the point of forty years of full time ministry.  It has been exciting, and yet at times, very tiring.  People like Paul are a good example and encouragement to keep on keeping on.  Someone has said:
The most important things is to keep the most important thing the most important thing.
    This speaks to keeping priorities in focus and seeing life and ministry through the perspective of eternity without getting sidetracked.  I can’t believe that anyone ever entered heaven and was disappointed.  The opposite side is also true. No one every enjoyed hell.  I heard a testimony one time of a person who had a vision of hell.  He said it was so horrible that if you were offered escape from it by being brutally tortured and murdered a million times you would immediately say, “Let’s go, let’s get started”.  It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

3.  How can I help someone?
    I am thinking of those who are serving Jesus and are discouraged.  I can help them see that when we keep the right focus we will make it.  This is not simply ignoring the reality of the battles, it is looking at life and ministry from God’s perspective.  That is always the best way to see life.