The Book of Acts 28:1-15 Paul's witness on Malta

So we're getting near the end of this next week, I think. And then we I'm not sure where people are going next session. I think when mentioned he's going to go to Burns class and you all. pick his shoes. Roger and I have been teaching out of the word of God. We're less topical. The other classes are often topical. We pretty much stick to the books. I prefer that personally because these topics, these guys have an agenda that they've been used to teaching off and on.

That's really great. The neat thing about our church, you can go to the website and hear any of the lessons if you want. I must have been kind of guilty of not doing that. I need to do that more. Maybe some New Year's resolution which I could easily play. But anyway, so we're going to deal now with the first 15 verses of Acts 28. Since we only have 15, Roger, thank you for assigning me 35 to 50 verses. Let's read those first 15 verses. Okay, Acts 28.

Now, when they had escaped, they then found out that the island was called Malta. We'll come back to that in a second. And the natives showed us unusual kindness. Remember, Paul had just shipwrecked, right? and he's on the island of Malta now. The natives showed us unusual kindness for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that was falling because of the cold.

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 onto his hand. So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, no doubt this man is a murderer. whom though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live. But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

In that region there was an estate of the leading citizen of the island whose name was Publius, who received us and entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. And Paul went into him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.

And they also honored us in many ways. And when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary. And after three months, we sailed in an Alexandrian ship whose figurehead was the twin brothers, which had wickered at the island. And landing in Syracuse, we stayed three days, and from there we circumnavigated, I guess, Regio. And after one day, the south wind blew, and the next day we came to Puglioli, where we found brethren, and were invited to stay with them seven days, and so we went towards Rome. And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as the Appiae Forum and three inns. And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. Okay, so we have pretty much a historical outline here of what Paul's going through as he's going on to Rome. And so we've broken this down into three sections.

The first I've entitled, Paul et al., meaning others, are welcomed on Malta. Interesting, and Peter will find this interesting, Malta is AKA Malita. And the reason that's interesting, Malita, the disease diabetes mellitus is based on the term malita, which means honey or sweet. And the way diabetes was found out to be a condition of glucose elevation was they tasted the urine from patients with diabetes versus the urine of patients without diabetes and it was sweet. So this is Melitta, originally described as Melitta and then ultimately the Latins changed it to Malta.

Now the rationale for Malta is not entirely clear but it probably relates to some extent about this was an island of refuge. So geographically, this is about 900 square miles, not a big, big island. And this is around 60 miles South of Sicily, which again is at the tip of Italy, and about 500 miles West of Crete. So this is fairly distant in terms of navigational distance. And apparently this was a place filled with wonderful architecture at the time. So then Malta means place of refuge because ultimately this was a place where people got out of that, reckless seed, and courted to ultimately indoct, to avoid the partial interest.

The history indicates that this was inhabited by Phoenicians, and the Greek says natives are barbarous. And it's interesting, if we think of barbarous, we think of barbarians, don't we? But I guess the term meant non-Greek speaking. So they really weren't barbarians as we're thinking about today, uncivilized, potentially threatening people. These are people just didn't speak Greek. So they're called barbarians because they were inadequately educated. What did they speak then? What did they speak? Did Paul know what they were saying or no?

Presumably not. But then people surfaced and maybe Paul did. It seemed like they had some communication. At a limited extent. So they were able to communicate to some degree. Remember, Paul was pretty knowledgeable and it's even possible that he knew their language.

I don't know. It seems like not because it seems like they were wondering why he was there, he must be a murderer and stuff like that. It seems like Paul could have communicated, I'm not a murderer. The text doesn't give us the detail, but there must have been some way to communicate. I don't know if there was a translator, whether Paul knew the language, the text just doesn't say.

And interesting, Luke, the way he goes about sharing information, who showed unusual, more than usual, hospitality. More than usual? Why don't they say showed a lot of hospitality, right? It's double negatives to make a point of something more exaggerate than in fact just describing it in a positive manner. So they showed an unusual amount of hospitality and kindness to Paul.

Remember, this ship had 276 people on it. We tend to focus through the eyes of Luke who's writing the text and Paul, who in fact is being described in detail. But there are 274 other people. What's the name of the captain of the ship that sent her in? Anybody remember? Julius. So Julius is on board too.

And particularly the adverse weather conditions. So you remember the shipwreck. This is during the winter, late October, early November presumably. The Mediterranean is pretty fierce at this point in time in terms of rain and cold and just the waves were probably substantial.

This island of refuge, place of refuge, really relates to other travelers other than the boat Paul was on. Alright, let's move on. Paul proactively gathered wood for the fire. What lessons there for us? He's a servant. He doesn't think he's some high stature. Give me a practical example on a day-to-day basis. Let's spiritualize this a little bit.

If you go to visit someone for Christmas, you should offer to help out. Be proactive and help out. Are you invited for Christmas dinner? You help them set the table or whatever. You offer to help. Even if you're at the airport, just wave the door open for somebody behind you and help them get through. Tom does that as a volunteer at the airport. Yeah, he gives direction. We actually met Tom one time. Yeah, we were arriving and Tom's there to greet us. That was kind of cool. We start working at Wal-Mart to find the way.

My sister, I forgot to tell you, my sister when she came to visit and you gave her that map of the airport, she said thank you very much. Sorry I forgot. That was a lone person that one day that I gave the map and it was her. She said thank you, thank you. That was so funny.

I think we are maybe, I'm guilty a little bit of over spiritualizing, but I think there's a little bit of a lesson here. They're hospitable to him, they're kind, they don't even know the guy, and yet he's going to get firewood to put on the fire. I think you can tell a lot about a person.

Actually, maybe this is judgmental in some way. Just by that very trait, a person is just willing to help out. People that are not willing to help out kind of gives you a sore point with them. They kind of hold themselves aloof and they don't enter into just being a... entering into life and helping people and doing things. Let me take that to the next step, Roger.

In a sense, do we have unrealistic expectations of people? Possibly. Is that of the flesh or is that of the spirit? I think ultimately we should have no expectations. I think Paul exemplifies what a guest should be doing. Being concerned about those who are showing unusual kindness and hospitality. Jeremy, welcome. Good morning. All right, let's move on. A viper was mistaken as a stick and hung on to Paul's hand. What's a viper? Snake. Okay, but is it a particular type of snake? Poisonous.

What do you make of the evidence that there are no poisonous snakes on Malta today? Burned them all. I wasn't sure what to expect. People use that as another contradiction of scripture. The fact that here is a poisonous snake that presumably Paul should be bit by and die within minutes after the snake bite. Anyway, but there are apparently no poisonous snakes on Baltimore. There are no dinosaurs around anymore either. All right, so I think the question too comes up, why? I mean, usually a poisonous snake, according to what I was reading in some of the commentaries, when that snake bites, it releases immediately. And you get edema, I put edema, a medical term, but you get local swelling. And apparently the venom can be lethal within minutes to two and a half hours.

So Paul is obviously not experiencing that. So remember what the natives thought, What the natives thought is that this guy is a murderer, that's maybe why he was bit by the snake. Well, they're going to make a different conclusion in a second. There are two options here about why. The first is the viper was still sluggish, a condition called torpor.

It's still cold and maybe the venom itself is not adequately available and not sufficient to cause much harm. Keep in mind, the snakes in the in the wood and Paul is picking up the wood to put on the fire and he doesn't see the snake. I mean it's probably cold and rainy and the snake is probably not very viable. But if it's that cold the snake would be in hibernation. Well I don't know. Snakes don't hibernate. Yes they do. Hibernate? I don't know. They do. They go down and we don't see any snakes for a long time. I'm not sure it's the term. I don't know if snakes hibernate. I don't know.

We can look that up, that's a good question. Or the second and possibly also is that God's preservation of Paul's existence to reach Rome is another. So we can look at this spiritually, we can look at it medically. But the interpretation of the natives was that Paul was a murderer. But when he shook off the diaper and didn't die, the natives believed he didn't die because he was a god.

This brings up a really interesting conversation. What's pagan theology all about? Or let's say world-based theology. Superstition? Well, a lot of it is that you look at the physical evidence. You judge things by bad happens to bad people, good happens to good people, and you have all kinds of metrics. And you go at it that way, and that's what they're doing. They say, well, bad things happen to bad people.

But when it didn't happen, they changed their mind. Everything's based on human observation, right? So they're willing to change their mind when Paul didn't die. It must not be a murder, it must be a die. I mean, it's all, there's nothing in terms of any deity, any creation, anything that goes beyond what we can observe. It's really very much where the world system is, right? Yeah, Tom. It's good to know that Paul was able to witness an absolute authenticity of his standing in Christ by just not fretting over what happened. So that busted up their train of thought? Other thoughts about this?

Okay, so the pagan theology really allows circumstances to ultimately allow them to make conclusions. Whereas in fact, Christian theology is, this is God's revelation. Now God's not causing healing ministries as far as we know today in the way Paul did here, but God's done everything he needs to do until price returns until the rapture. So basically we don't need to expect anything more of God than what he's already proclaimed because we have the word of God, right?

That's really all we need right now. Other thoughts about this before we move on? All right, good. Now, there's a similar kind of interpretation of Paul as in Lystra. Remember that sequence of events in Lystra? Should we look back at that? Probably should. Acts 4, 8 through 18. That was months ago. Well, that's early. That's like 148 through 18. So if somebody gets that, please read that for me. And these verses are relatively brief, so we're not going to spend 10 minutes reading.

And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being in cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked. The saint heard Paul speak, who steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked. And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lyconian, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

And they call Barnabas Jupiter and Paul Mercury, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of, they rent their clothes and ran in among the people crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do you do these things?

We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein. who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, and then he did good, and he gave us rain from the heaven, fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. And with these sayings, scarcely restrained they the people that they had not done sacrifice unto them." So again, the lengthy section in a way, but also the contrast between labeling them as gods because of the miracle they witnessed, versus God's revelation, and of course Paul responded to that, this isn't just what you're observing, this is an act of the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Heavenly Father.

Alright, let's move on to the second section entitled Paul's healing ministry, verses 7-10. Acts 28-7, I'm just quoting it directly from the scripture, in that region there was an estate of a leading citizen of the island, his name was Publius. who received us and entertained us courteously for three days.

Boy, Paul is really getting himself some resort someplace. He is really entertaining some good times after that shipwreck. He probably deserved it from an earthquake perspective. Publius was the leading citizen or likely the Roman governor on the island. That is a very Latin name, Publius. He is the local chief of the natives there.

His father apparently was quite ill with fever, migraine, dysentery, his typically bloody diarrhea. I'm going to be a bit medical here. This is either likely a contagious bacterial disease of the GI tract or could have been inflammatory bowel disease like Crohn's disease or anyway, so forgive me there. Presumably it's not cancer because he's got a fever and something acute is going on. Of course, people with inflammatory bowel disease can have flares just like this with bloody diarrhea and fever. So anyway. Thanks for the diagnosis. I'm sorry. Do you want to teach the rest of the class? This is great. This is great.

Acts 28.8 then.

Paul went into him and prayed and he laid his hands on him and healed him. By the way class, what's this deal of laying on your hands and healing him? Is there something necessary about laying hands on and healing? We see Paul write about that elsewhere in his epistles, right in Timothy, 2nd Timothy I think. In the early church you see that in other places, but then of course what people have done is they try to carry that across and say well I'm going to take what we see in the transitional period, I'm going to take that across, when I lay hands on you, that will have some special effect.

And there's no evidence in the rest of scripture that that's part of the picture. It's very true. And some people think the laying on hands was the anointing with oil or something. There could be some disowned value of the oil. But by the way, I'm in a, not a mainline church, but a neo-evangelical church that we came to when I first moved to Denver, my late wife and I. I mean I was getting involved in that church to some extent and we went out to lay hands on people and pray for them in the sense that there was something magical about that. What may be scriptural to lay hands on but to expect that there is any power to lay hands on I think is probably inappropriate. Jeremy any thoughts here? I don't know. I mean, I just think of the idea of proximity.

I mean, you're actually laying hands on a person, especially when it's sickness. I think it shows a communion and relationship there that... I don't know if it had more significance in the culture at the time, but certainly to have enough compassion and confidence in Christ to actually lay your hands on somebody that's sick, It would certainly have a profound effect on the person. There's something about touching someone, isn't there, when there's need and suffering? That's it. Just to show you care. Well, let me just give an example.

I mean, most of the patients I see at the University of the Olympic Clinic are patients who don't need a physical exam. But I do a brief exam on everyone I see. And even though I'm not expecting to find anything, there'd be no reason medically that the exam's going to add anything.

I've done it maybe three months ago or six months ago. There's nothing new. I'm basically reviewing data and making some decisions about what needs to be done. There's something about that that I've incorporated into my business. The exam may take three to four minutes. It's not an extensive exam, but it's enough to list the wrongs.

There is something about that physical contact that is meaningful. Holly? I think, too, when you're sick, you feel like people are afraid to come near you. And then it's like, so when someone does and touches you, you feel like you're not like a leper, you know, kind of like, ah, you know. Could it just not be giving simple medical attention?

Or is there some, I don't know what the derivative of the original writing is for laying his hands in this context. But could it not be that he came in and made him comfortable and gave simple medical care and that could also be, I don't know. Possibly, I mean in James 2 it talks about laying on hands, right? Where you pray and anoint with oil and lay on hands.

Is Luke here? I forget. Luke's here. So wouldn't the doctor look at him if that was it? Actually, that's a good point. I think that's an important part of the interpretation. I think Luke, being a physician, is clearly looking at things a little differently than a non-physician would be. That's a good point. There's one more thing.

We had a chance to live in England for five years back in the 70s and 80s. We noticed a difference in care between doctors. This is maybe a little judgmental, but the British system, the doctor would not actually ever touch you. At least in the cases we did. Just for simple, what you described, he would sit across from the desk, he would ask you about your condition, he would never actually touch you.

And we found that a little strange. So I was kind of commending our system and you in particular that you do that because I think that's very helpful. He would actually just ask you about your condition. He would not really necessarily, unless there was a need to do it, unless there was a specific need, like you said, there wasn't a need. So it's just kind of interesting how different, I don't know why, that was a British medical system that we had a small contact with.

Well, keep in mind there's a practical reason for me doing an exam too. It goes to billing. But that's not why I do it. For me to document an eight point physical exam, which includes eight items, eight parts of the body, allows the billing office to bill. That doesn't relate to my income at all. I'm salaried. My income doesn't depend on billing at all. But we're reminded that an exam is part of the complete bill. And if we don't do it, the bill is less. So in a system like the University Hospital, you need income like any other system would if you had a business to operate.

So Paul was not only heavenly here, heavenly directed, but also heavenly protected. So that's a quote from Macaulay. I listened to his preaching or teaching on this particular section. I like that Paul was not only heavenly directed, but also heavenly protected.

So the idea of the snake bite not being lethal, et cetera, I think goes back to what we just covered in the previous section. And then the healing of the many, meaning those with diseases. I guess you wouldn't heal someone who doesn't have diseases. So I think you have to believe that that was only for those with diseases.

And then the honoring of Paul that's spoken about, I think, in verse 9, that honoring of him was likely monetary. So he's probably getting some payment for the services provided. And also, before they departed, the natives or Phoenicians supplied them with the things that were needed. So presumably, these are supplies and food and other things.

Remember, they were shipwrecked. But now we're getting on, presumably, a new boat here, right? All right. Remember, Julius was also on board here. So the honoring of Paul, remember Julius is somewhat sympathetic to Paul's situation. And remember, he dealt with him fairly, fairly, what would be the term I'm looking for? Judiciously. Well, judiciously would mean that he doesn't believe he's guilty, right? So he's judiciously making a decision. Well, he was very fair with him. Julius was his friend, and although he had a responsibility to the Roman government to deliver Paul to Rome, Julius was someone who was not anti-Paul, if you will. He was supportive, I think, of Paul in what he'd done.

Now here's your map, by the way. So on the next page is the map, which shows Malta down here, here's Sicily here, so they went to Syracuse, and then to the region, and that's the Puglioli, and then we're going to cover this section right now. So Paul's healing at Martha was like that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's turn to Luke 4, 38 to 40 and read those three verses to really capture the similarity between what Paul's about and what the Lord Jesus Christ was about in Capernaum. And Martha and I have had the distinct privilege of being in Capernaum. It kind of makes the Bible come alive when you've actually had an opportunity to really be in front of the temple and kind of see what Christ may have been doing to kind of picture that going back.

And he arose out of the synagogue and entered into Simon's house. And Simon's wife, the wife's mother, was taken with a great fever, and they besought him for her. And they stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with any diseases brought them unto him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. Great, Tom.

So what are the similarities here between what Paul's doing and what the Lord Jesus Christ is doing? Similarities? Laying a hand. Okay. Well, you heal one person and then they bring another. Right. Well, how about something else that's similar? What was the first subject or person or patient or how were you already? Well, it was the parent of someone. Okay. He was involved with. And how did they present medically?

Okay, so I mean there's kind of a lot of reproducibility here of what Paul's doing in really the history of what the Lord Jesus Christ had done. So I thought that was an interesting analogy. And like Jesus, Paul could save others, but not himself. I think that's an interesting concept. Remember, how is Paul ultimately executed? Beheaded. He's beheaded.

And the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, couldn't save himself either, right? healing ministries are very similar to the extent that they are healing others, but ultimately not capable of healing themselves. And that's God's plan, right? I mean, Paul is fully of the human nature, he's fully flesh. God was born innocent, born in sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ was born not only innocent, but righteous, but yet neither one could save themselves. I think it's just an interesting thing to ponder here a little bit. They're going about healing many others. Yeah, Tom. A quick comment. Okay? Any other thoughts? And the scripture doesn't give us that detail, does it? Yeah. All right. Of course, Paul's not running by himself, the editor. Holly? This is kind of different. I was thinking about it.

It's like, when people get healed, and it says they honored and they served after they're healed, it's like no one gets healed and goes like, thanks a lot, see ya. Well, there actually are some. Are there? Ten were healed and only two came back and thanked the Lord. There's some examples of people not being thankful for that. Now, there are a few examples.

That was a parable, was it not? Is it a parable? Maybe it's a parable. Parables are not exactly. That's a good point. I don't know. I guess it's not true, though. My point isn't right. There's a parable that kind of points out some people are not thankful.

The last section here for today is the trip from Malta to Rome. I've shown that graphically for you there to take a look at that. Keep in mind he's not that far from Rome now. There's been a lot of travel across the Mediterranean. Now he's really getting very close to getting where he wants to go. It says after three months they sailed in an Alexandrian ship. What did we say last week about an Alexandrian ship? What did it likely have on board?

Wheaties. Wheaties, right. Not boxed. They're filled with wheat. These are carrier ships that really traverse the Mediterranean to deliver wheat to other lands. Whose figurehead was the twin brothers, which had wintered. Notice three months of winter that I have highlighted there. Remember the winters are tough on the Mediterranean. We had wintered the island, so this boat presumably had reached Malta, but it had not been destroyed like the boat that Paul was on.

The twin brothers of Fingerheads were presumably the sons of either Zeus or Zupator and this is representative of Castor and Pollux who in fact were ultimately figments of their imagination in terms of people who in fact could protect them during difficult travel.

It's kind of like a rabbit's foot for Paul. Sailors are very superstitious. How about like with Jonah? In the case of Jonah, Jonah said, well, throw me overboard then. So the idea is, did Paul need a rabbit's foot? So the idea he's boarding a boat with these figures, these figures that are representing protection from adverse conditions. And no, Paul didn't need a rabbit's foot. I mean, he's in God's will going to Rome.

But it's interesting too that these two guys Pollux and Kasser were ultimately made a constellation which we now realize is called Gemini. There's a constellation in the sky named after these two guys that is called Gemini. So you know they've made it in history. These two brothers. There were 276 people. All these people plus Julius who is a Roman citizen. They're really superstitious. They're all about this. Superstition is big. They're doing this for their own hides.

They landed and spent three days in Syracuse. You see where Syracuse is. It's on Sicily. That doesn't look like a very long trip, does it? No. That was at the east coast of Sicily. Then fetched a compass and spent one day in Regium. and where the south wind went on to Pulioli. So if you look at the map, the south wind came and pushed them up here to Pulioli.

Now, the question I had that came up in my study here, why a compass now? Yeah, I brought a compass back earlier. I would have wanted a compass when I left the Caesarea, right? It might be that they were just simply on the lookout for a change in the wind direction so that they'd be able to steer clear. We're told that there's a southern wind which is going to push them norther. But if you go back and look at the map, maybe things were, if they're leaving here, I don't know, why would a compass be particularly helpful if they're leaving here? They're not going to be going here, but I guess they could be going there. I don't know. I mean, that's just speculation. Maybe it's real rocky and they need a compass to make sure they're far enough off the shore there.

Well sailboats were pretty primitive back then. They couldn't tack much. They couldn't do much except to stretch that sail across and maybe hope that the leverage would get them right and maybe check by nighttime star sightings or whatever. I thought the stars played a big role in kind of guiding ships. How common were compasses in those days? I didn't do a historical...

Actually, I'm kind of amazed they have compasses there. Yeah, I am too, actually. What's that? I'm amazed they have compasses there. Yeah, I don't know. It's possible that they could have gotten... And what does a compass from back then look like? The one definite possibility is that they could have gotten some magnetite in the form of a single crystallized rock, let it fall down and watch which way it pointed on a soft surface, and okay, that's north. But I would think the sun, the stars, and other things. Anyway, I just have fun speculating on things that come up like a compass.

Why is that in the scripture? But it is. So Pulioli means the wells, by the way. That's what that term means. And it's inhabited a Jewish kind. That didn't mean there were only Jews there. Apparently the Jews had gotten to Pulioli. And remember, the early church was directed to whom? The Jews.

And apparently this city, Pulioi, as you can look at the map, is probably a frequently visited port, right? Coming from the Atlantic, actually, is where you're seeing that come into play. And apparently there were brethren there, so we know that some of the Jewish colony there were, in fact, believers. And Paul was invited by them, and they stayed for seven days, and then off to Rome.

My Bible doesn't say anything about a compass. Yeah, it does. It does? Verse 13. My translation doesn't have it either. Yeah, mine doesn't have it. Mine says compass. You have compass in yours? Yeah, mine says compass too. I don't have compass in mine. Roger, how about you? Somebody read 13 for me with a compass.

And King James says, and from thence we fetched a compass and came to region. And after one day, the south wind blew and we came the next day to put together. Yeah. This is from there. We sailed around. So some have come to some. Let's not speculate any longer. All right. So they spent seven days pulling away. There was a church there.

What do you think happened there? What do you think Paul's doing? Another just a question. I have a question. So now they they're there. They were on the ship and they were still under the authority of Julius, we presume. Now I get to this Pudioli. And so now Paul's just let go.

I'm confused about this, because it says they were invited and stayed for seven days. It must be that they invited the Roman too. I don't think that, because go down to verse 16, which I'm going to be teaching, it says that they He basically, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with a soldier who was guarding him. But that was when he got to Rome. Do you think he's still under their authority? I can't believe they let him go.

That's what I was wondering. They invite everybody, I think. It's sort of like, OK, you and the Roman government, you can come. Well, just think about Holly Hills today. What if, I mean, 276 people showed up here? I mean, there'd have to be a lot of people. ability to meet the needs of those people for a whole week. There's a lot of things interesting to speculate about.

So that's why I said, what do you think happened there? What did they do? They went to the King Soopers and stopped out there and entertained the troops. And the other brethren, this is a different set of brethren. I heard he was coming in 2015. They came to meet us as far as the Appiah Forum and three inns or taverns, what And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.

So let's go back and look at the map again. And now we're up here. So this is probably no more than around 20 miles or so. This is not a huge distance between the three tablets or the three ends. And that's the Appian Way. Remember, the Appian Way was a major Roman highway at the time. So it still is preserved in many parts of Southern Italy.

All right, so. And what do you think Paul was thanking God for at this point? Because he got out by the skin of his... Well, it's not anything I have a lot to thank God about. Just being preserved through the storm. The viper and the whole thing. And also the extreme kindness that he's shown. So thankful for the courteousness of people. The fact that he's alive and not dead. He survived the shipwreck. He survived the snake bite. Paulie and then Tom. Paulie? My book says that he was happy to see them because earlier he had expressed his deep desire to see them someday in Romans 15-24. I like that.

Well, it's an actually an advanced echo of amazing grace. Through many dangers, toils and snares, we've already come. Paul could have written that hymn many years ago. The other thing, keep in mind, what was his intent through the whole journey? Where was he going? He's almost there. And now he's in an environment where those brethren, people who know the Lord, they've shared the gospel, they bond with him and the Lord Jesus Christ. So he was thankful for a lot of things here.

Three inns or three taverns is around 33 miles south of Rome on the Appian Way with the Appii Forum about 10 miles further from Rome. So the forum noted in the scripture is even a little bit further south than the three inns as described scripturally.

And what does took courage mean to you? By the way, this is the only use in the New Testament of this term. Courage. Took courage. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage. What do you make of that? And by the way, nobody has made a lot of that. Let's define courage. What does courage mean if you look it up in Wikipedia or Webster's or Oxford or any other dictionary? It's something to do with boldness, possibly. If you're courageous, you're...

Courage implies risk. Does it imply risk? To be courageous, I think, has to perceive circumstances, right? in spite of the circumstance that you're ready and you feel that way. So it's not a risk-averse, completely risk-averse action. It's one that involves risk, but it also requires some sort of confidence. I like that. Not risk-averse. That's good. But the risk is there, but you're not ultimately dampened by that risk. You're willing to take a step, knowing there could be an outcome that's not favorable. So it seems like I heard too, like in flying or something, it's doing something in spite of fear. So it's like you can be afraid, but yet still do it.

And what are some examples of courage you think of? I think that Psalm begin, Psalm David, I forget what number it is, but whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in God. And at the very end of that psalm it says, I will trust in God and not be afraid. So I mean it's kind of almost like for me, live is Christ and die is gain.

Let's be sensible here. Is courage often appropriate? People sometimes do things that ultimately end up in death. Sometimes it's foolishness not courage. You've got to put that in perspective. The Lord preserved Paul to get to Rome and that was Paul's intent and he went through a lot of adversity to get there, trials and tribulations. Bob, you could also say that this courage would obviously be in the Lord. If it's His courage, then what's the, you know. There's some level to say that the outcome is not of concern. All right. I keep thinking of Wizard of Oz and the Lion. Take care. It's a good analogy. All right.

So remember, Paul wrote his epistle to Romans three years earlier. Sometimes I think we lose the historical perspective. Paul had already addressed the Romans. Let's look at the verses here. Romans 15, 22 to 29. Put this into perspective of maybe a triumphal entry. Remember, Christ's triumphal entry was not anything triumphal. triumphal because here comes the king, right of the new kingdom. So 15, 22, 29 anybody? Roger you want to read that? Sure.

For this reason I have often been hindered from coming to you but now with no further place for me in these regions and since I have had for many years a longing to come to you. Whenever I go to Spain, for I hope to see you in passing and to be helped on my way there by you.

When I first enjoyed your company for a while, but now I am going to Jerusalem serving the saints. For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem. Yes, they were pleased to do so and they are inhabited by them. indebted by them. For if the Gentiles had shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to the ministry to them also in material things.

Therefore, when I have finished this, I have put my seal on the fruit of theirs, I will go on the way of you to Spain. And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ. All right, so remember, Paul had been in the business of gathering offerings, if you will, from Asia Minor areas throughout Macedonia.

And then we were to be delivered to Rome. And he has the full intent to get there. I think not only for the gifts or offerings to those in, I mean, it was initially to take it back to Jerusalem, but ultimately it was going there to also, I think, be involved in that aspect of the ministry. really had a purpose in mind and so he really desires to get there and I think in Romans three years earlier it's reflected in that particular passage that that's his intent.

So what did we learn today? We learned about hospitality and perhaps how we might respond when people are hospitable to us in terms of taking a step forward and being helpful and showing gratitude for our actions. We learned that ultimately that ultimately travesty is part of the journey we all have as we walk here in grace and that we're not to be surprised. There's no entitlement that we in fact are prepared to walk in the spirit through the adversities that we face. And thirdly, I mean God has a purpose for us and I think ultimately that's to reflect the relationship to brethren in Rome or elsewhere was what Paul viewed God to have his purpose to be. So we all have a purpose and it's not uniquely given to us as a lightning bolt. In fact, it's to really represent the new life we have within.

Other thoughts about today's lesson? Pretty much historical to date, but I think there is some uplifting aspects of this spiritually. Yeah, Tom? I was just thinking, when God has a purpose, trials come along that doesn't work that purpose at all. It doesn't change anything. We just have to realize that that trial is moving us toward that purpose. There is a danger there. Paul really sensed that getting to Rome was his ultimate task to do. We don't often have that real clear cut purpose that God revealed. Remember some people question whether Paul made the right decision to go to Rome.

So you have to keep that in perspective. Yeah, I mean the trial, either way, will show up. Yeah, Tom? Well, it was an interesting experience for me yesterday. It tells me that as you go, the Lord equips you as he equipped Paul. Looking at today's lesson, I was told by a guard at the train exit, This lady is sightless, she needs guidance, but she wasn't using a cane, but she just told me to keep up a banter, and I figured that she was using echolocation to help her on her way while just being in near proximity, but not holding hands.

And I just kept up a lively banter, how was the trip, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah Roger is going to finish the book next week and we will say goodbye to Axe. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this time, Lord. We thank you for the blessings we have. Thank you for the Book of Acts and how we've learned about the early church and how so many things are the same and how many things are different. We pray that this would help us in understanding your word. In Christ's name, Amen.