Surviving Shipwrecks & Snake Bites - Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Good morning. The book of Acts chapter 28. Acts 28 beginning in verse one. Let's pray together again. Father, we ask for the enablement of your Holy Spirit to deliver this word in power, to receive it in humility.

Lord, we pray that you would demolish every lie, that you would build everyone's faith, that you would convict the sinner, you would comfort the saint, and you would be glorified this morning. Let this word be delivered in simplicity, humility, but with unction. Yes. And let Christ be seen and heard. Amen.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Acts 28 verse one. Let's read together. After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta.

The native people showed us unusual kindness for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead, but when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. One of the most riveting exciting things about engaging with the word of God is when you sense the invitation from the Holy Spirit to investigate why God has placed certain stories, if not all his stories, in his book. And when you believe that every part of God's word was given on purpose for a purpose, then you can with anticipation and with a posture of prayer, believe that God has something to say even though it may seem unrelatable to you and me. And that is certainly true through the adventurous book of Acts as narrated by Luke. And it's especially true with a scene like this because when you excavate this text, the verses that you just read, I believe that God intended a double sided message.

Number one, that you and I would leave reading this and understanding this and unpacking this with a greater depth and grasp of God's faithfulness through the unexpected. God's steadfast love to the unforeseen. And secondly, the appropriate response of his servants through the unexpected. So let me repeat that. What you and I are gonna leave here with, is with a greater grasp of God's faithfulness through the unexpected, and an example of the appropriate reflex of God's servants through the unexpected.

So we come here and we read that Luke says that they were brought safely to an island called Malta. And here's the understanding, this wasn't a vacation spot. This wasn't even a missionary journey that Paul and his team chose to embark on. They arrived on this island called Malta through a shipwreck. They crawled onto the shore with 270 other prisoners on a boat that was on the way to Rome, but had a detour.

And so as they come soaking wet, as they come tired and exhausted, you have to realize that the chapter before describes how they came to this place. Visit this chapter, chapter 27. What we what will you see? You will see a bunch of men storm tossed. They're caught up in a boat and they were pulled into a storm that was a living nightmare for two weeks.

It got so bad, it got so ugly, it got so dark that at one point, the Bible tells us that there is neither no sun or moon or stars that could light up their paths. For days, a darkness that could be felt and you couple that with a chilling wind and crashing waves smashing the very source of your security from a ship. And there they are when you read chapter 27 in detail. There they are so terrified that Luke even tells us that they lost all hope of being saved and were definitely abandoned. When you read this, you think to yourself, this is this is horrific.

This is terrifying. This is a literal storm, not the emotional storms that we have. Not the storms of our faith. No. This is an actual storm that actually caused a storm for people's trust.

But Paul had a different response. I want you to envision this for a moment. Here's a boat caught up in the blackness of an unkind sea, being tossed apart from your will, not knowing that at any moment you and a bunch of men are gonna become fish food. Read here in Acts twenty seven thirty five. In the midst of all of this, look what Paul does.

And when he had said these things, he was speaking to the other ones that were on board. He took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat. Can you imagine? The anxiety was so heightened. It was so real that the men did not eat a bite of food for two weeks, and Paul is observing them.

And here he is, this strange creature Paul is, stands in the middle of the boat, though they can barely see him, and though they hear wind and they feel rain and the waves are coming and swallowing them alive. He goes, hey guys, you guys haven't eaten for so long. Why don't we just why don't we just feast right now? And they're looking at him like, who is this man? What is he made out of?

And in the presence of all, he takes whatever rations they have left, and he gives thanks to God in the midst of all of this. And then he eats. And what happens? Verse 36. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.

This is a man who was able. This wasn't fake. It's hard to fake this when you're in a real storm like this. This isn't this isn't just some kind of show. This is real.

And this man was able to actually worship heartfelt thanksgiving and gratitude in his heart. He was unmoved. He was stable. He had the peace of God in his heart reigning to the point where it was radiating from him, and even prisoners, murderers, thieves, rapists on that ship were blessed by this man's faith. And I read such a verse like this, and I I asked myself how in the world was he able to do it?

What trust did he have? What kind of thing does was he operating under? And I believe it was a revelation that he have of God from many chapters before that he really believed God for. Go to Acts 23, and you're gonna see why Paul was able to do such a thing. Look at verse 11.

Chapters of this book are dedicated to Paul's trial, right? It's amazing. It's just like the gospels. Many chapters were dedicated to the trial of Jesus. Look what Jesus said to Paul early on before his trial and before his departure to Rome.

The following night, the Lord stood by him and said, take courage. For as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome. Wow. Right? Yeah.

You know what? You know what he was holding on to? What the Lord told them many chapters ago, you're going to Rome. And because I said it, it's gonna happen. And here Paul is being reminded of that early on in chapter 27, an angel was sent to remind Paul of that promise.

But Paul is there in this place and he knew Jesus was faithful. In the midst of all of that craziness, he wasn't like the disciples early on in Jesus ministry when there was a storm and they ran up and said, hey, don't you care about us? You're just gonna let us all die here? And Jesus is taking a nap, and he gets up, rebukes the wind, and he looks at me and goes, where's No. This is a different kind of caliber of faith.

Jesus said the word. The Lord said the word, and days have passed by, and he's holding on to the same promise that God gave him. And when the storm came, the anchor, the real anchor of his faith manifested. But you know what's amazing? Jesus said, you're going to Rome, but you know what?

The Lord didn't say how he was going to Rome. And that's what many Christians have trouble with when they come to God's leading in their lives. They don't understand how he leads. They know that he'll bring them to a certain point. They believe that he'll bring him to a certain destination.

If you're walking in the will of God, you know he has a plan for your life. But the thing that causes us so much disturbance is the pathway. It's the journey. It's the chapters that lead to the crescendo. And we think to ourselves, well, why didn't he do it?

Why didn't he reveal to Paul how it was going to happen? And we'll get there in a moment. But I can't help but read what is happening here, thinking to myself how God has dealt with other people before and asking why God hasn't done it for Paul like he did for another. In other words, God has different means of bringing you and I from one point to the other when we advance in his will. And that is a mystery and his dealings are different.

You want proof? Let's go back to Acts chapter eight. We're staying in Acts today. This is another disciple, another follower of Christ, who is faithful to the Lord Jesus and the gospel by the name of Philip. Philip saw a revival, and then in the middle of a revival, the Lord tells him, I need you to get out of here and go down to a road from Jerusalem to Gaza.

And you know the story well. Philip goes there and he sees a eunuch reading the book of Isaiah. He needs some help explaining it. He goes into the chariot, explains that the man gets saved. And when the man gets saved, he wants to be baptized because he wants to obey the Lord Jesus Christ immediately.

This is what Christ wants for me, then let it be done. There's a body of water there. What holds me from getting baptized now? Alright. Let's do it.

So they go into the body water, the eunuch gets baptized, and a miracle takes place. A miracle that many people don't talk about, and a miracle I'm sure that many people don't pray about. Acts eight thirty nine. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away. And the eunuch saw him no more and went on his way rejoicing.

But Philip found himself at Azathas. And as he passed through, he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea. When's the last time you asked the Lord to teleport you? Philip baptizes this eunuch. He comes out of the water, and the moment the water washed off his face and he was able to see clearly, the man disappears before his eyes.

This is like a personal rapture experience. And this man is teleported to a place many miles from where he is, and the eunuch is rejoicing because his rejoicing is in Christ and faith, and not in who's in his life and who's not in his life. And so he moves on rejoicing in the Lord. But Philip is brought supernaturally to another place. You know what that means?

I'll tell you what it means in the practical way. That saves time, that saves energy, that saves resources. If you travel with your work, or you travel as a minister, you would really appreciate such a miracle. And I read this, and I thought to myself, Lord, why didn't you bring Paul from Jerusalem to Rome in the same way that you brought Philip from this water to where you wanted him to be? Why stick him in a ship filled with criminals?

Why go through a two week storm? Why be terrified and lose sleep? Maybe he didn't, but the others did. Why crash on an island called Malta only to stay there for a few Why all of that when you have the ability and the power to rapture us, help us escape all this stuff and get us to where we need to go? Because to God, the path is just as important as the destination.

And to God, where he wants to bring you is just as important as how he wants to take you there. The Lord needed Paul to be a witness on a ship filled with criminals. The Lord needed Paul to be a witness as a minister of the gospel with healing power on an island called Malta. And guess what it was going to include for that witness to manifest? A storm, a shipwreck, and as you're about to read, a snake bite.

What enabled the man to be able to worship through all of this was the lens of God's promise and it will do you good to do the same. God told me that I'm going to roam. So I'm gonna get to roam. And the thing that you and I have is the whole counsel of God with promises pertaining to different aspects of life. And if we do not learn how to appropriate these lenses, so that when these things come, we can see them through the place of promise, then you and I will not be able to endure very long, and we might compromise our testimony and witness along the way.

Because the shipwreck was one thing, but now Paul's about to face something else. And we read here in verse three. When Paul had gathered in Acts 28 a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. The guy is not getting a break. I mean, you just finished crashing into the ocean, swimming into the shore, coming into a place that you've never been before.

You're with a bunch of criminals, exhausted, tired, you're trying to remain as faithful and pure to the testimony of Jesus Christ. And you know what Paul go goes to do? He arrives on this place and the people are very hospitable. The natives, they bring them in and they realize they're cold so they create a fire and Paul participates. Who's the one amongst the hundreds that are there going around gathering sticks and laboring and helping and being humble?

The mighty apostle Paul. The miracle worker. The author of most of the New Testament. The one who has seen Christ with his own eyes. This man is stooping down to the place of servanthood.

I mean, no matter where you stick the person, he's gonna serve God and serve people. Put him on a ship, and he'll serve people. Put him on an island, he'll serve people. Put him in a jail cell, he'll write and serve people. No matter where you put him, Christ oozes out of the man.

And here he is humbling himself, laboring and picking up sticks so that he can fuel the flame. And I think this man who said, follow me as I follow Christ is a wonderful example of what it means to be a humble servant as Jesus said. You wanna be great, serve. You wanna be first, be the lowest. And I can't help but think about this, that Paul himself here is partnering with others for the benefit of others.

And unfortunately, if you wanna see it this way, local churches being like a fire that bless those as a refuge, that bless those as a hospital, that bless those who come from shipwrecks in life. You have many people that are blessed by those fires, but you have very few that are willing to participate in blessing. You have many people in local churches that will attend the place where they are blessed, but very few that will be like Paul to make the fire keep burning. This might be your local church, this might not be. Wherever you're a part of, let me ask you this.

Are you serving in a way where you're keeping the place warm? What participation do you have? Well, I want this and I No. No. No.

Paul was carrying sticks. Paul was literally carrying sticks. This mighty orator, this miracle worker, this person that can go in the authority and the power of the Holy Spirit like any other. He's carrying wood so that he can bless others. And as one person said, you have many people that will attend the fire, that won't participate to help the fire, but they're the first ones to complain when the fire goes out.

Right? Paul knows no such thing. This man ooze Jesus, no matter how much you squeeze them. And this snake, right? When did the snake appear and latch onto his flesh?

You know when? When he was doing good. When he was serving, when he humbled himself, when he put others above his own desires and needs. It is in that moment, in that kind of an attitude, in that kind of a posture of faith, when an affliction comes and surprises him. And we read this and we think, that is undeserving.

For a snake to come on and to bite someone in the hand makes sense for someone who is willingly in the devil's territory. Someone who has sin in their life and refuses to repent. But here's a saint of God, doing all that he can in whatever context he finds himself in to be a representative of Christ, and a snake jumps out of that pile of wood and sticks its fangs in his veins. And we think, how is this fair? God could have protected him.

God could have protected him. But here's the reality, never forget the scene, faithful followers of Christ. One day you might know the unexpected surprise of experiencing the whip of affliction while you're doing all that you can to serve Jesus. And the bites that sting the most are the ones that come from the sheep that you're trying to help. Right?

The things that hurt the most are the ones that you're trying to to serve, and in turn, they slash. So I want you to be prepared. As you serve Jesus Christ, as you stoop down low even, as as you if you've determined in your mind not to be recognized or praised for your duty for Christ, don't be surprised when something latches onto you out of nowhere to poison you. Was this due to natural causes? Was this due to Satan orchestrating it so that he can prevent Paul from from getting to to Rome?

The Bible silent on it. But one thing is for sure, God will turn this around for much good. God is about to orchestrate something so wonderful from all these events, and Paul already knows it. Because God could have prevented the snake from attacking altogether. Could he have not?

Could not have the man just gathered the sticks and just be a nice humble servant for people to say, he might be a murderer, but he seems like a pretty decent person. He could have because Psalm ninety one twelve tells us that, on their hands, the angels hands, on their hands, they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone. If God can protect my foot from hitting the corner of my table, then God can surely protect me from a snake bite. And so God here is allowing this to happen. Providentially, he is orchestrating this to happen.

And when you understand that, you can respond like how Paul responded. Look at verse five. He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. What a reflex. Be honest now.

Be honest. You get bit by snake, how would you respond? I'll be honest. Not like this. I want to respond like this.

I'm just gonna be honest and say, I don't know if I'm there yet. This snake bites his hand, and he's standing there with the thing dangling from his fingers, and his immediate response is, and it falls into the flames. You know what he doesn't do? He doesn't he doesn't peep out, God, I'm at my wit's end here. I mean, a shipwreck is one thing, and now a snake bite.

What else do you have left for me? He doesn't walk into the forest, point his finger to God and say, I'm your servant. I'm doing all that I can to preach your gospel. The Jews chasing me is enough of a mess. And now you're gonna let me drink salt water, and now probably be poisoned.

Nothing of the sort. I'd like to believe that while that thing was dangling from his hand, there was a whisper in the innermost part of his soul that said, he told you you're going to roam. This will do nothing to you. So he shook it off. Why?

The thing that was supposed to shake in him was actually the thing that he shook off because he had this strong anchoring knowledge of God. You ready for this? He never believed for a moment that God lost control. That is the essence of most of our fear and our anxiety brothers and sisters. If you're honest, if you dig down deep inside, it doesn't matter what it is.

The reason for our fear, the reason for our angst, and our pain, and our worry, and our concern, and our complaining, and our murmuring, one simple reality. We really believe that God lost control in this area of our lives. He lost his grip. He lost his grip on my relationship life. I will never get He lost He he saved my soul from hell, but he lost the grip on this.

I have no more income. The one who owns a cattle on a thousand hills, he he He's busy with the missionaries in China and he forgot me. That's what we believe. We don't say it, but that's what we feel. God's lost control.

This man never believed for a moment that he lost control. That that pilot in that ship might have lost control. That snake coming out might have been unexpected, but one thing reigned in his heart, he said something and I believe him. And it's amazing because until you're convinced that whatever you place into the God into the hands of God will not be mismanaged, your life will not know this tranquility and perpetual peace. You have to really believe, God, if I'm putting it in your hand, if I'm placing it by faith in your control, I have nothing to fear.

But you see a different response from the audience around him in verse four. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer. It's amazing how even pagan people have a sense of justice. It goes to testify that man innately understands that there is a right and there is a wrong. There is evil and there is good.

There is a something of the conscious or something that God has placed in all of us. And you see it with these pagan natives. But this is the conclusion that they made. At some point, they realized that these visitors that came to their front step were a bunch of criminals, and they locked Paul into the lump, and they said, he's one of them. And so when this snake in front of everybody was sucking the life out of Paul, they came to this conclusion, oh, karma had her way.

The universe had her way. This man could not escape. Surely, he's a fugitive. Surely, he is a criminal. And they began to judge the man without knowing the man's story.

They began to deem him as an evil person. And you know what's amazing? Look at verse six. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead, but when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. You know what this proves?

I'll tell you what it proves, the fickleness of man's opinion. May you be set free from the opinions of men this morning. One day they'll praise you, you're a man of God, you're a woman of faith, you're an amazing anointed this and that, you're the next Charles Spurgeon, and you're the next this, and you're the And the next day they'll throw rocks at you. And one day, they'll hate you, and they'll misjudge you, and they'll hear things about you, and they'll never ask really who you are. And then when they discover you, they'll love you.

What's the point? And would you know it, the bible over and over through Proverbs and examples begs the people of God to not be bound by the opinions of men. You don't believe it. Right? You don't believe that the bible really emphasizes that.

That the Bible really doesn't care about his servants. Those who wanna actually live for the purpose of God should be free from such a snare. Well, realize that it happened to Paul before, go to Acts 14. There he is in Lystra with his partner, Barnabas. And they're preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And what happens? Well, he sees the faith of a crippled man who'd never walked. And Paul looked at him intently and says, get up. And the man gets up and he begins to walk. And it caused such an uproar, I want you to see the reaction of the crowds that saw this miracle in verse 11.

And when the crowd saw that saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices saying in their language, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of men. We have gods manifested in the flesh in our midst, and they began to throw a service for them. They're now wanting to worship these men. Right? You don't think people worship evangelical leaders?

You're saying, well, they're pagans. No. You have people today in the church that worship spiritual people, whether they're dead or alive. And then what happens? Well, they're begging them.

What are you doing? We're not gods in the flesh. We're pointing to the real one who came in the flesh, to Christ. And they're trying to convince him otherwise. But listen, it didn't take too long because look what happens in verse 19.

But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and having persuaded the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. Wow. They went from you're a god to killing him. So why do you live your life and what people wanna say about you? Why is God giving us these examples or many examples and many reasons?

And I'll tell you why. So that you can live for the opinion of the audience of one. Always for the rest of your life. If you'd I'm telling you, if you're really serious about serving God and you can't get this in your soul, you won't last long. But here's Paul.

One day they say he's a God, the next breath they're persuaded. How easily persuaded are people about the opinion of who you are, a servant of God. The next day they stoned him. They actually stoned him. They got rid of him.

They were ready to sacrifice and kiss his feet. And a few chapters later, they tell him he's a murderer. They they wish between one other to one another, surely he's a criminal. And the next breath, they're saying, well, he must be a god. Pathetic.

And I love how Paul's reaction is sandwiched in Acts 28 between the two different responses. He's just like, it doesn't matter, call me this or call me that, I live for him. I live for him. And so this man here is exemplifying something quite amazing through unexpected events and it gets better because this is where the Son of God's providence is now going to light on this dark canvas. In verse seven, we're told in Acts 28.

Now in the neighborhood of that place, where lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days, It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever in this century, and Paul visited and prayed, and putting his hands on him, he healed him. When this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases also came and were cured. It's amazing to think. There's this man now who who's obviously a leader in the island, and he hears about these people that crash on their land, and he invites some of them to be with him and to lodge with him, and Paul was among those men. And I can't help but think, if this leader, this island chief heard that there was someone who was a god, and he wanted to know and meet this mysterious man that survived the poisonous snake bite.

And if that's true, then that snake bite that people would desperately dread was actually the means for Paul to expand the breath of his ministry. God doesn't waste anything in our lives, including pain. Including pain. Including pain. You might think that's a very radical statement to make, but let me say it again.

Not one thing in the life of a believer who is connected to God is wasted. And you're learning that from the Apostle Paul in this chapter, and I can show it to you in a different place with a different man who had a similar name named Saul. Saul, the king, the first king of Israel, knew this for himself. Go to first Samuel, and I want you to see one of the strongest pictures of the providence of God that the Bible can offer us. And I want you to see how you can have hope.

We're told here in verse three of first Samuel nine. Remember, the people wanted a king. God would give them what they wanted. And we're going to receive the story of how that king came about. Verse three of first Samuel nine.

Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul, his son, take one of the young men with you and arise, go and look for the donkeys. And he passed through the hill country of Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalash, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.

You're saying, what is the Bible trying to do? The Bible wants you to feel in a human sense the frustration of this experience. So the father loses some of his means of transportation and he goes, son, I need you to go and look for them. Take one of our servants and head on out. And the Bible says, they went from this place, that place, that place, that place.

And we're supposed to we're supposed to imagine how annoying this is. We're supposed to feel the size. We're supposed to feel the grumblings in their stomach as they've been traveling all day and they're hungry. We're supposed to feel even them wondering, how did this happen, and why did this happen? Why can't we just why can't we just leave finding these things?

Instead, they're empty handed. And so all of this is supposed to cause us to sense the vanity of this whole endeavor. And as they're doing this day, throughout the day, throughout the hours, wondering how this is going to actually be accomplished, they just want to give up and Saul's servant looks over to Saul realizing where they were brought to. And he said, you know, we're in the we're in the area of where Samuel the prophet, this is his this is his hometown. And he looks over to Saul and he says this in verse six, but he said to him, Behold, there's a man of God in the city.

And he is a man who is held in honor. All that he says comes true. So now let us go that perhaps he can tell us the way we should go. He encouraged Saul, let's not give up. We're here now, we made it this far up to this point, might as well go ask the prophet, he can help us.

He can point out where we can go, and that we can come back with what we lost. And up to this point, listen carefully, this is all been given from the human vantage point. This is ordinary, isn't it? You've lost your keys before. You've had a frustrating day at work before.

You've had things not go according to plans before. Right? Yes. I'm sure. If not, come to me, tell me your secret.

This isn't it a frustrating experience. But in a few verses, we're gonna see God's mind behind it all. Look at verse 15. Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to Samuel, tomorrow about this time, I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines.

Did you catch it? Day before, God whispered in the prophets here, tomorrow at this time, you're gonna encounter the man that's supposed to be the king of Israel. Read your bibles carefully. God said, I will send to you a man. Did he say, I?

I. So here's the question, how did he send Saul? Did he enter into his room like Samuel when he was a kid and he said, Saul, Saul, I need you to go to this area in the land of Zuff and I want you to meet this man and he's gonna tell you something quite amazing. Nothing of the sort. You know how God sends him?

He lets the donkeys loose. That's how he sends him. And then he lets him get up, get all stirred up and travel all day only not to find the donkeys, only to be in the area where Samuel grew up, only to be in the same place at the right time where Samuel would walk in and they would encounter Samuel and Samuel turn around invite him to dinner and the next day anoint him. Coincidence? Providence.

It's providence. God's means of doing things through natural circumstances to accomplish divine purpose. And so this regular thing, like losing your keys for goodness sake, is something that God can even use to accomplish something for his ultimate glory. And so this person here, this man Saul, teaches us something that a person made comment about. That disappointments are actually God's appointments.

And many times, disappointments in the Christian life do lead to God's divine appointments. I'm not saying every single thing will lead to a grand answer, or calling, or great stride. No. But it's true that God does use everything in the person who walks according to the will of God. God says, I will send a man.

Didn't you say that about Joseph? You read Joseph's life. All that crazy roller coaster experience of jail and false accusation and brothers hating him. And then you come to Psalm 105. And what does the Psalm tells in Psalm one hundred and five seventeen?

God, he had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave. Who sent him? The brothers did, right? They sold him into the pit, and they sold him into slavery, and then Potiphar threw him into prison. No, no, no, no.

The Bible says God was behind it. He sent a man. Samuel, I will send the king to you about this time. And how? As Spurgeon said, donkeys led Saul to a crown.

Do you testify to the providence of God in your life? I remember a very brief example of this. It was just an ordinary afternoon, and I wanted to just it was just here. I just want to go grab some lunch. I was hungry, and I was on the phone with somebody, and I was trying to offer some counsel.

And I go grab a place, grab a burger from a place which I won't name so you don't judge me. And on my way there, I was hungry, I was tired, and I'm trying to speak to somebody to encourage them and to help them in their situation, and it was, to be honest, a difficult conversation. And when I got to the place, I arrived to the front, I'm ready to make my order excitingly, and the man looks at me and says, sorry man, our Visa machine is broken. And who carries cash these days? I don't know, I don't.

I know some people do. And I thought to myself, okay, and I'm still on the phone with somebody and they said, well, you're gonna have to go down there if you want and there's a machine and you could pull out some cash and come back. I thought, I'm already here, let's let's do it. And so I get into my car and I drive down to the place and as I enter into the store, I realize that, I just might as well get cash back. And so I I get to the register and I pull a couple items and I bring it there, there was a sale.

And I'm realizing it's not a sale, and then I buy it anyway. After I bought it, I realized it, and then I I'm told I can't get the cash back. So then they said, you're gonna

have to go to

the machine and pull out cash from the machine. And so I go to the machine and you know how they charge you for money. And so I'm thinking to myself, this burger is getting really expensive. And so as I'm there, on the phone, at one point, the person says, as I'm talking, I'm ready to conclude the conversation in line. The person says, oh, he he she's, I guess, trying to speak into the phone saying, oh, he's he's not telling the truth, trying to be funny.

And so I I hung up the conversation, I said, you know how it is when you counsel people. And and so she looked at me, goes, oh, you're a youth worker, you're this and that. I said, no, you know, I'm I'm a minister. And it's like something just lit up with that person, and she began to engage in conversation. She was asking me questions and she wouldn't let me go, and I fell back because she was dealing with customers and they were getting annoyed, I could tell.

And so she kept talking and talking and talking. She goes, where are you minister? I said, United Evangelical Church not too far from me. She goes, you know, I had a lady and her daughter come to me once and tell me to go to church there. And I

was trying to figure out who

it was. So if you're if you're that person, tell me. I want to know. I've been trying to figure it out for weeks. And so as I'm listening, I thought to myself, you know what?

This burger cost me so much already. It can wait. And so I said, well, you know, look, you had one person come with her daughter, now you have another person. What else do you need from God? Why don't you come to church?

Well, I'm a Catholic and this and that. She began to explain. I said, okay fine. The conversation is over. She goes, well, what why are you why are you a minister?

She's asking me. She's interviewing me, I guess. And so I began to explain. And in this moment, I thought, you know what? It's time for an elevator testimony.

Code word for short testimony. And I began to just testify what God has done in my life, and I began to tell her the gospel of Jesus Christ. I said, I may never see you again. I, by the way, have never walked into that store in my life. That was my first and last time.

I just told her about the gospel. Got my expensive pack of gum, walked out of the place, got into the car, drove and got my burger, and on my way in that short drive, I thought to myself, I see what you did there, Lord. Disappointments can lead to appointments. You have to believe that though. And sometimes it's immediately recognizable, and sometimes and oftentimes it's not.

You just have to trust God and believe that He actually can work in your life through the mundane, and the insignificant, and the frustrating experiences. If you believe that, you'll never lose a smile in your life. And that's what happened to Paul. We come back to Acts 28 and what happens? A healing revival breaks out.

And people begin to be blessed by this man who accidentally in quotation marks shows up into their area. And this is what I want you to see. How long did that last for? And when you come to verse 11, you'll see how long it lasted for. What does it say?

After three months, we set sail in a ship that had wintered in the island, a ship of Alexandria. Three months. You know what's the most excruciating thing about trusting God's providence? It always has to do with timing. It always has to do with timing.

This might look like to the natural eye, a delay to the ultimate purpose of Paul getting to Rome. It wasn't delay. It was a detour. You read something like this and you think, well why didn't why didn't the Lord just tell Paul all of this beforehand? Why didn't he say, Paul, the way you testified about me in Jerusalem is the way you're gonna testify about me in Rome, but listen, you're gonna get on a ship.

There's gonna be a storm. But you're gonna testify about me, and people are gonna be encouraged, and they're gonna question their lack of trust in me because of your fate. But there's gonna be a shipwreck. And after the shipwreck, you're gonna come to an island, and then a snake is gonna come and bite your hand, but it's gonna open opportunity for people talk about you, and then the healing revival is gonna break out. Three months are gonna pass by, you're gonna get on a ship and then you're gonna finally get to Rome.

That's how we want God to talk to us. And in his wisdom, he doesn't. In His wisdom, He veils many chapters in our lives. Because if we don't trust Him in that, then we don't understand what He wants from us. Meaning, God does this because if he didn't, we would be stripped of the opportunities to give him what really pleases him and that's something called faith.

Where's faith? If you get the blueprint of every event for your life. Where How do you exercise that? Faith is exercised. It's manifested.

It's proven. It's not I believe. It's actually shown. How do you do that? When do you do that?

You want a volume of your life in detail so that you can be at rest now when God wants to see you at rest when you don't know. He wants to see you at peace when you don't understand. Does does Paul does Paul shine in those storms, in those shipwrecks, in those snake bites? Does he shine? Yes, he does shine.

And that's exactly what God wants to do. And he doesn't want to have to tell you everything before you do it. But I also think secondly that an open vision of all that would come forth in our lives would also rob us of something. It would rob God of the pleasure of faith from our hearts towards him. But it will also strip us of, I believe, an expression of worship that can only be experienced in the place of being surprised by God's wisdom and providence.

So we don't see it now. We don't understand it now. And God is waiting for you to burst forth in praise when you look back and realize, God, I saw your hand. Donkeys? It all happened from donkeys, Lord.

See, Saul was faithful, like David who recounted the faithfulness of God. It's amazing. You'll never read a Psalm by the by King Saul. Isn't that amazing? King David, so many of them.

Saul, you never read of one. He wasn't a worshiper. But if he was truly a worshiper, I'm sure you would read something of God's faithfulness about donkeys. It all started with lost donkeys. David, Joseph, Daniel, Paul, Philip.

We get to read about it and we get to worship God for it. And God has stories for you and me. And we love to rehearse what Joseph said. Right? What men intended, what you intended for evil against me, God has turned around for good.

We go, amen. Yes, Lord. We love it. Not realizing the one who said it and what he experienced to know it. The dark actions and dealings of others led him to the revelation of the goodness of God.

And and we love to quote that verse, but we don't really wanna experience it. We love to believe it, but we don't wanna have to endure what we have to endure so that we can say it for ourselves. So there's something hidden in that place of understanding God's providential power and love and grace in our lives, but that can only be experienced through shipwrecks and snake bites. So I call the people of God today according to the word of God with a story like this that we can just read and zoom by through so we can get to the epistles. Right?

Leave with an understanding of God's faithfulness in the unexpected. And would you, by the grace of God, would we, by the grace of God, be able to appropriately reflect what He longs from us through the unexpected? So next time you experience something, just learn how to shake it off. But you're not gonna be able to shake it off unless like Paul, you know truth. You know who your God is.

You've studied Him enough where your heart and mind are convinced of His character and his dealings in your life. It's because if you're emotionally stirred this morning, that will only last you by the time you have your lunch. And you're gonna need another sermon, which we all do. We all need reminders. That's what this is about.

But my prayers that this would be so deep in your soul, so real in you, that people that God allows you to be around, like these prisoners on the ship, would be encouraged to see a different species before them because you're connected to the God man. Let's pray together. Father, every person in this place is on a different journey. You know exactly what men and women in here are enduring. But thank you that in Christ, there is no losing.

There is no loss. There is nothing wasted. Any waste in our lives is caused by our own sin and caused by our own foolish decisions. But Lord, like when Paul, we strive to obey you, snakes come. Help us realize that you're writing something.

Help us realize that like Paul, the pain that we might endure is only the key to unlocking a greater breadth of ministry. Help us realize that even through regular occurrences in life, like losing things, things being canceled, doors being closed can lead to something astounding. It can lead to a witness. It can lead to somewhere else that you want us to be. Lord, what an amazing comfort we have in knowing your providence over our lives.

And so, Lord, help us not interpret what we are seeing in our lives through the lens of human wisdom, But Lord, help us believe the promises that you've established in your word about those who belong to you. You will bring us to completion. Everything is used to conform us to Christ likeness. You have good works set before us that we should just walk in them. So Lord, in this moment, we just we ask that the burden the burden of all the things that we are enduring would be lifted off by the magnet of providence.

And Lord, help us trust in you. Help us trust in you. Help us trust in you. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen.

This Sunday morning, I want to encourage you lest we get sucked into the routine of our service and just conclude for the sake of concluding. What's going on in your family life. I don't know what's going on with your personal faith. I don't know what's going on in your mind. I don't know what's going on.

I have no God knows though, but this is a chance to respond to the word of God by speaking to God for yourself. So I encourage you to just speak to the Lord with whatever it is saying, God, I want that faith that I just saw in Paul. I want that unrelenting desire to honor you in all cases, all context. And I wanna be able to glorify you in the midst of much conflict. Lord, help me know specific verses and truths from your word that will help me interpret these things so that I am not shaken, but I can shake them off.

Just speak to the Lord, please. Don't rush now, and trust that the God who wrote this story is writing yours as well. And then we'll sing.