1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 We're coming to Bible on the Beach. 2 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,240 Now today will be in Acts chapter 28. 3 00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:07,200 Finally, we're at the end of Paul's missionary journey. 4 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:08,480 Stoked you could be with us today. 5 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:13,000 Now I do this so that disciples can make disciples and churches can plant churches. 6 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,600 This is the 164th episode, I believe, of Bible on the Beach. 7 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:18,640 God's been awesome. 8 00:00:18,640 --> 00:00:22,880 In the last couple of years, we've seen God start a church with a couple of knuckleheads 9 00:00:22,880 --> 00:00:24,820 and a jujitsu studio. 10 00:00:24,820 --> 00:00:30,640 Now we've helped plant 24 churches now, helping disciple about 800 people. 11 00:00:30,640 --> 00:00:33,440 Just basic, simple Jesus stuff. 12 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:35,840 Just Jesus, a Bible, some food and some friends. 13 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:40,200 We've seen God do amazing things literally all over the world. 14 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:42,760 Pakistan, Indonesia, El Salvador. 15 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:44,200 Very exciting time to be alive. 16 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:49,880 We've also helped produce over 6,600 liters of water for people. 17 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:54,280 So thanks for listening to Bible on the Beach at Ocean Water today. 18 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:55,960 Let's get into it. 19 00:00:55,960 --> 00:01:01,600 Every time I open the Bible, I always love to say, God, give me the eyes to see. 20 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:03,280 Give me the ears to hear. 21 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:08,880 Give me the heart to feel what you're speaking to me today. 22 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:11,760 I teach this is God's mouth. 23 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:13,600 We open it up. 24 00:01:13,600 --> 00:01:19,160 He wants to talk if we're listening, if we're feeling what it is that he's saying. 25 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:27,280 So Acts chapter 28, verse one today, this is after we had safely reached land. 26 00:01:27,280 --> 00:01:30,240 We discovered that the island we were on was Malta. 27 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:34,680 Now this is a sea island in the Mediterranean seas. 28 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,480 Paul's on a missionary journey. 29 00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,040 Remember Jesus said, you're going to be my witnesses. 30 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:42,560 Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, the outer ends of the earth. 31 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,520 So heads up. 32 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:50,840 When God calls you, he calls you locally and globally. 33 00:01:50,840 --> 00:01:54,440 We know this because Jesus says you're going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem. 34 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:55,440 That's where you grew up. 35 00:01:55,440 --> 00:01:56,440 Those are the places that you like. 36 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:58,440 Those are the people you get along with. 37 00:01:58,440 --> 00:02:02,320 Then Judea, maybe people that live in the same town but aren't like you. 38 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:06,680 And Samaria, different culture, other ends of the earth, different culture, different 39 00:02:06,680 --> 00:02:08,600 language, different people. 40 00:02:08,600 --> 00:02:11,520 That's God's purpose and his plan for all of our lives. 41 00:02:11,520 --> 00:02:16,100 So you have to understand that and lean into it because that's the tension you'll feel 42 00:02:16,100 --> 00:02:22,320 in your time on earth is that God is constantly pushing us and calling us out of ourselves 43 00:02:22,320 --> 00:02:25,000 to love others sacrificially. 44 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:26,760 So Paul's wrapping up his journey. 45 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:28,640 He's had a lot of success. 46 00:02:28,640 --> 00:02:35,880 He's able to defend himself against all these legal accusations, against persecution, against 47 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:36,880 false imprisonment. 48 00:02:36,880 --> 00:02:39,520 All of these things he navigated. 49 00:02:39,520 --> 00:02:42,280 That's like all the stuff that we navigate in our life. 50 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:46,560 A lot of times we think that the people in the Bible are the heroes and the people reading 51 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:48,800 the Bible are the zeros. 52 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:50,760 That's not true. 53 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:56,480 The Bible is just a compilation of a bunch of people that felt like zeros but trusted 54 00:02:56,480 --> 00:03:02,880 God and trusted them so much that God made sure there was a book put together about those 55 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:10,440 people to tell their story of incredible faith and incredible trust in God through difficulty. 56 00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:14,800 So when you read the Bible, the heroes aren't in the Bible. 57 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:16,760 We're all zeros. 58 00:03:16,760 --> 00:03:21,160 But when we trust God, that is what's heroic about our life. 59 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:24,600 We put our faith and when we put our trust in him. 60 00:03:24,600 --> 00:03:28,000 So this is what Paul did a really good job of. 61 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:34,680 He says, Paul gathered an armful of brushwood and was setting it on fire. 62 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:42,200 A venomous snake was driven out by the heat and latched onto Paul's hand with its fangs. 63 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:46,760 When the islanders saw the snake dangling from Paul's hand, they said to one another, 64 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,720 no doubt about it, this guy is a murderer. 65 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:52,040 Well they were right. 66 00:03:52,040 --> 00:03:53,180 They did have discernment. 67 00:03:53,180 --> 00:03:55,580 He was a murderer. 68 00:03:55,580 --> 00:04:01,840 But they were about ready to see God's grace in Paul's life in real time. 69 00:04:01,840 --> 00:04:04,160 Did Paul deserve to live as long as he did? 70 00:04:04,160 --> 00:04:05,160 Of course not. 71 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,920 Do we deserve to live as long as we live? 72 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:08,920 Of course not. 73 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,040 Do we deserve the lives that we've been given from God? 74 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:14,840 Of course not. 75 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:18,800 So they're about to see God's grace in action. 76 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:23,240 He says although he escaped death at sea, justice is now caught up with him. 77 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:30,440 So they thought that they were the judge and jury for Paul and who he was based on this 78 00:04:30,440 --> 00:04:32,680 circumstance of the snake biting him. 79 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:37,360 You'll have people in your life judge you think they know everything. 80 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:41,840 The reason why we're not supposed to judge others is because we're not God and we don't 81 00:04:41,840 --> 00:04:45,600 have all the information and we don't have all the facts. 82 00:04:45,600 --> 00:04:51,280 This is why trials take so long because they're trying to gather information and trying to 83 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:58,200 gather facts and then they make a judgment based on the facts and the information. 84 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,840 We don't have all the facts and we don't have all the information and that is why we don't 85 00:05:02,840 --> 00:05:03,840 judge others. 86 00:05:03,840 --> 00:05:09,200 And in fact, Jesus said with the measure that you measure it, it will be measured back to 87 00:05:09,200 --> 00:05:10,200 you. 88 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:16,240 So be very careful my friend with that judgy attitude when you think you know people but 89 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:17,240 you don't. 90 00:05:17,240 --> 00:05:19,440 You don't know them. 91 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:24,720 Only God knows everything that's going on in someone's life and knows why they do what 92 00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:25,720 they do. 93 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,320 The Bible says the hardest is the see-fool and wicked above all things and who could 94 00:05:28,320 --> 00:05:29,560 know it? 95 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:34,680 We don't even know why we do what we do a lot of the time. 96 00:05:34,680 --> 00:05:46,760 So Paul shook off the snake, flung it into the fire and suffered no harm at all. 97 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:53,040 Everyone watched him expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead after observing what 98 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:55,000 had happened. 99 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,680 They changed their minds and said he must be a god. 100 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:03,500 The Roman governor of the island named Publius had his estate nearby. 101 00:06:03,500 --> 00:06:11,780 So it's interesting how people's perception of you will change based on circumstances. 102 00:06:11,780 --> 00:06:16,120 This is why you shouldn't care what people think because they don't have all the information. 103 00:06:16,120 --> 00:06:18,400 They don't have all the facts. 104 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:19,980 They don't know your intentions. 105 00:06:19,980 --> 00:06:22,020 They don't know your motives. 106 00:06:22,020 --> 00:06:26,200 We don't even know them and we're the ones making the decisions. 107 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:32,160 So they said Paul one minute he was a murderer the next minute he's a god. 108 00:06:32,160 --> 00:06:34,800 That's the crowd in life. 109 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:39,440 One minute they're ready to hang you the next minute they're ready to make you a hero. 110 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:41,680 With the crowd you can never win. 111 00:06:41,680 --> 00:06:43,520 It's just a fickle situation. 112 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,240 That's why we live for an audience of one. 113 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:48,040 That's why we focus on God. 114 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:49,720 Now the Roman governor of the island lived nearby. 115 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:55,280 He graciously welcomed us as his house guest showed us hospitality for three days. 116 00:06:55,280 --> 00:06:59,400 We say with him his father lay sick in bed suffering from a high fever. 117 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:02,000 Paul went into his room and prayed for him, placed his hands on him. 118 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:04,280 He was healed. 119 00:07:04,280 --> 00:07:06,360 People of the island heard about this miracle. 120 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:08,240 They brought all the sick to Paul. 121 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:09,600 They were also healed. 122 00:07:09,600 --> 00:07:14,560 The islanders honored us greatly and they were preparing to set sail again. 123 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:17,420 They gave us all the supplies we needed for our journey. 124 00:07:17,420 --> 00:07:22,720 So you can see that Paul actually was directed by God, directed by the Holy Spirit to this 125 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:29,800 island because there were islanders that needed to see Paul get bit by a snake and not die. 126 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:34,080 And there were people that needed to be prayed for to get healing. 127 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:39,600 So remember that when you find yourself in a circumstance, find yourself in a situation 128 00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:45,720 that you didn't expect, God my friend is up to something bigger than you can comprehend 129 00:07:45,720 --> 00:07:50,040 or imagine according to Ephesians 3.20. 130 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:53,000 Thanks so much for joining me in Bible on the Beach. 131 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:58,520 If you're going through something and you need prayer, please message me, send me an 132 00:07:58,520 --> 00:07:59,520 email. 133 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:01,360 I'd love to pray for you, help you any way that I can. 134 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:04,160 Until next time, have an awesome day.