Welcome back to another harrowing edition of the daily Bible podcast. Today we finish the book of acts, which is really exciting because it ends on something of a cliff hanger. And I'm really excited to tell you what that means for you. And I. But first I forgot to pray yesterday. My apologies. Uh, I'll try to fix that today. So if you were missing that and you felt like you're lacking something in the daily Bible podcast, my apologies, I will do better today. I promise I'm not normally used to being in the driver's seat of this podcast. So with that said, let's jump in acts 27 and 28, starting with Paul. Now finally sailing for Rome. Now this is not the way he wanted to do it. I'm sure he would have rather have flown first class and have done it with a much better experience, but he's again in prison. And so they decided to set sail for Italy and they deliver Paul to some other prisoners and, and some of the prisoners rather to a Centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius. Now, this is interesting. I was wondering about why Luke would include the guy's name. I'm sure that they got a chance to know him that a chance to maybe figure out who his family was and what he was doing. So my suspicion here is that some of the names that you see that seem to have no value other than just to provide historical context may, may suggest a little more than what meets the eye. In any case Paul's now on his way. And as you know, he's sailing and they're sailing at the wrong time of the year and they're sailing in the wrong place. And so as would be expected, they encounter some really severe weather. And they're now in Fort. They have a storm at sea, which takes us from verse 13 all the way through verse 38. You see what happens. And yet in this, this is God sending Paul and his and his company through a storm that he promises, Hey, you're going to get through this. I love this because Paul is comforted. Bye bye Jesus, who appears to him? And says, don't sweat it. I'm going to get you guys there. No, one's going to lose their lives. And Paul communicates this to the men, but he says something interesting in verse 31. Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. I think there's something really cool there, even if it's subtle, the idea. Is that there's only one way to be saved here and it's not through your own ingenuity and imagination. There's one way to salvation and it's the ship. And of course you can see some of the parallels there. I'm sure Paul took advantage of that. Very interesting parallel. Nanny case now they're lost at sea for 14 days, verse 33 says, and then he says, look, guys, get some food. You're going to need some strength. No, one's going to perish here. Trust what I'm saying. Take some food and some bread. So Paul's very much stepping up here. He's leading these men and he's causing them to take comfort in the fact that he knows they're going to be delivered. Now, one of the things that I think is fascinating. Is that God will bless people around you because of your walk with him because of your faith in him. Other people receive the spillover of your life and your witness. Don't forget that there will be people in your neighborhood that are safer and better because you were there and there will be children who are. Who grow up with awareness and wisdom because of your parenting that they otherwise would not give the other, not otherwise would not have. Paul comes to a ship wreck here in verse 39 through the following, through the end of the chapter here. Uh, there was a moment where it seems like. They were considering killing all the prisoners. That they've thought about taking them out. In fact, verse 42 says it that way the soldiers plant was to kill the prisoners. Lest any should swim away and escape, but the Centurion wishing to save Paul. Julius now has an affection for Paul, which again, suggests to me that I was right about this. There's a relationship there. He protects Paul from carrying out their plan. Uh, so he says, I want to do this for Paul sake. And so that's exactly what happens. He orders those who could swim to jump overboard first and to make for land and consequently, Paul by his witness save the ship Julius by his leadership saves Paul and the ship. So everyone's benefiting here because of Paul's obedience to Christ and because of Paul's witness. Acts chapter 28, the last chapter of the book of acts. He takes Paul to Malta and then eventually to Rome. And Malta where they crash land. They find a group of receptive citizens who are there to help. Quickly, they start to think that Paul is a guy because he's bitten by a snake. He doesn't die. They went from thinking that he was a convict that has not escaped justice to now thinking, oh man, this guy must be a God in our midst. Well, of course. Paul is not going to entertain that. Uh, but he does utilize that platform. To open up the gospel to all the people that are willing to listen, such that the chief men of the island Publius who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days is sick. Paul visits, him lays his hands upon him. He's healed and now everyone hears about it. And they all clamored appall asking for the same thing to be done for them. As a result of Paul's ministry among them, verse 10 says they also honor us greatly. And when we were about to set sail, they put us on board, they put us, they put on board, whatever we needed. So again, Paul. Is being provided for generously by God through this ministry. I wonder. If you've stopped to take note of the ways that God has utilized your life. To minister to others and consequently for God to minister to your needs in a generous way. As we prepare to land the plane of 20, 24. I wonder if you're thinking about the ways that God has blessed you this entire year. It would be so good for you to spend time looking through your camera roll or your calendar or your journal and saying, how has God blessed me this year? How has God blessed? Me by the service that I rendered to others. Jesus says it's more blessed to give than to receive. And consequently, when we do that, it's often through our giving that God gives back to us in such generous portions. Paul's ministry. Was the way that he lived life. He wasn't doing it for the goodies and the benefits, but God used those things to benefit him and to benefit so many others. I'd love for you to take stock of that. As you prepare to close out the year. And acts 28 verses 11 through the end of the chapter. Paul finally makes it to Rome as three months down the line here. It's further than what they expected. It's a longer timeframe than what Paul counted on probably, but that's kind of God's way. Isn't it? God tends to make us wait for the things that he wants to give us. It's not that God's saying no, no, no. He's saying no, not yet. And that's the case here. Paul slowly gets there in God's timing. And as he does that, he does what he always does. He speaks to the local leaders of the Jews, gathers them. And tells them what's going on. He tries to inform them. Look, I've been sent here because of the elders of the Jews from Jerusalem, even though I've done nothing wrong. And so the elders of the Jews here say, okay, well, we want to hear what you're here for. Then tell us what your beliefs are. Tell us what you're doing, tell us why you belong to the way and what that suggests. And so they hear him. From morning, till evening, testifying to the kingdom of God and trying to convince them about Jesus, both from the law. A law of Moses. And the law of the prophets. Silam verse 24 says we're convinced by what he said, but others just believe. So Paul is making some inroads here. This is good news. But that doesn't mean that a bulk of them are not hearing what he's saying or not wanting to hear what he says. And so they began to disagree among themselves. And then Paul and a moment of holy frustration says, this is what Isaiah said about you guys. And Isaiah chapter six, verses nine and 10, they're going to be sent to them. You're going to preach, but they're not going to hear. Well acts 28 doesn't end on a bad note. In fact, it leaves us on a cliffhanger of sorts and I love it because it has great implications for you. And for me, Verse 28. Paul says, therefore, let it be known to you that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen. And this is God speaking through him. The Gentiles will listen. And certainly throughout most of the church, history, Gentiles have listened in great numbers. And even today, Gentiles are still listening, which is of course, most of us fall into that category. It says here in verse 30, he lived there for two whole years at his own expense. And he welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance. Without hindrance. The end of this story, the end of this chapter opens up to the next chapter, acts 29, as we might say, and beyond not to be confused with the network, we are part of act 29. The word of God continues without hindrance. Through the ministry of believers like you and me. We pick up where Paul left off. In fact, we don't know where Paul went after this. We have suspicions about what he did and then how he ministered after this. But we don't know for a fact what we do know. Is that the church since the time of Paul has picked up the Baton and now carries it forward. And I want to ask you, as you prepare to finish 20, 24. And think about 20, 25. What can you do this year to carry the Baton forward to. Tenue the work that Paul began for the kingdom of Christ. You have so many opportunities, we all do. Neighbors and grocery stores and even podcasts like this, maybe God wants you to start a podcast. I don't know. But God's given you opportunities. If nothing else, you have family, you have friends, you have people that love you and care about you and would love to have you open up the door. Of salvation to them. I know you don't have control over that, but you do have prayer. You do have faithfulness, and I trust that God will use that because the word of God is living and active and it's sharper than any two budgets toward. We know that we believe that let's put it to work this year. Hey, thank you for joining me today. Thanks for joining me for acts 27 and 28. I hope you enjoyed the reading through. And also interjecting it with some of Paul's letters. There's more to come and we're excited to do that together. We're going to finish up the year with some really heavy Bible reading, but really good reading in the less, but with that. Let's pray and we'll close this out. God, thank you for sending the gospel to us. We are the recipients of faithful ministers like Paul. Who gave us the gospel for some of us, it's our parents for some of us. It's our pastors. Still others. There's friends involved. But however you got it to us. God, we're thankful that those believers. We're faithful to the task. And that even though they might've come across many obstacles and perhaps things that they thought were distractions or time delays. You've got the gospel to us through their lives. And we're thankful for that. Thank you for people like Paul, who give us an example of what it looks like to endure through difficulty and to embrace the mindset that suffering is not all bad, especially when the suffering is done for the right reasons. And of course the best reason. Is that of love for you and love for your people? Help us to do that better this year and in the years to come. We love you. And we thank you for this reading today in Jesus name. Amen. Thanks so much for joining me. I appreciate you guys. And I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Hopefully with pastor PJ into, as we cover the next reading of the daily Bible. Reading and podcasts. Okay. I'll see you then. Bye.