{"id":21717,"date":"2022-05-25T22:00:34","date_gmt":"2022-05-26T05:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_27_27-44-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-05-25T22:04:19","modified_gmt":"2022-05-26T05:04:19","slug":"acts_28_1-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/acts_28_1-6\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can\u2019t Always Control This But It\u2019s Okay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Acts\u00a0 28:1-6\u00a0 \u00a0 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 28:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 28:1-10 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and for three days entertained us hospitably.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured.
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They honored us in many ways and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0 Has anyone ever judged you and jumped to conclusions about you because of your circumstances?\u00a0 In\u00a0Acts\u00a028:34, Paul is bitten by a snake and based on these unfortunate circumstances the residents of Malta assume he is guilty of murder.\u00a0 But when Paul shows no ill effects from the snake bite, those same people change their minds and call him a god (v6)!\u00a0 That’s how fickle public opinion can be.<\/p>\n

In the minds of people who don\u2019t know you well, you can go from a murderer to a god in a moment, from being demonized to being deified.<\/p>\n

But Paul didn’t worry about any of that.\u00a0 Instead, he just did his best to keep serving God and loving people.\u00a0 He prays for the father of Malta\u2019s chief official Publius (v7-8) and he is healed.\u00a0 Paul also prays for other sick people (v9) who are healed and blessed as a result.\u00a0 After spending three months with the people of Malta, Paul and his team are honoured by the people of Malta.<\/p>\n

It goes to show\u00a0you can’t always control what people think of you or what conclusions they will draw from your circumstances. But you don’t have to worry about that.\u00a0 If you will just focus on loving God and being faithful to His calling on your life, in the end, you will win respect, both in heaven and on earth from those whose opinions matter the most<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As Proverbs 3:3-4 says: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.\u00a0\u00a0Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man.”<\/p>\n

Acts 28:11-16 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0There we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.
\n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged.
\n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 11-16:\u00a0 Paul\u2019s journey to Rome, which ultimately spanned years, can be divided into two parts.\u00a0 There was first an extremely dangerous, tumultuous part where his life was in danger at almost every turn (attempts on his life, potential floggings, court proceedings with his life on the line, imprisonments, a shipwreck and a snakebite).\u00a0 This was followed by a much more peaceful part where Paul gets to live near a sandy beach in Malta, is treated honourably by the chief official of Malta, experiences relatively peaceful travels (v11-13), befriends new Christian friends (v14-15) and is allowed to live by himself in peace under Roman guard (v16).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Praise God that while there are challenges with every season, not every season is tumultuous and stormy.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

So when you\u2019re experiencing a time of relative peace and quiet, thank God.
\nWhen you\u2019re experiencing a time of intense busyness or trouble, trust God.
\nAnd in every season no matter what, hang onto God.<\/p>\n

When you do, you can be confident that God will take you to the destination He always meant for you.<\/p>\n

Father, thank You that through every season, whether stormy or peaceful, whether the winds of other people\u2019s opinions are for me or against me, my life is always safe in Your hands.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi\u00a0 GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Acts 28:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Acts 28:1-10 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta.
\n2\u00a0\u00a0The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand.
\n4\u00a0\u00a0When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”……<\/p>\n

On verses 1-10:\u00a0 Has anyone ever judged you and jumped to conclusions about you because of your circumstances?\u00a0 In\u00a0Acts\u00a028:34, Paul is bitten by a snake and based on these unfortunate circumstances the residents of Malta assume he is guilty of murder.\u00a0 But when Paul shows no ill effects from the snake bite, those same people change their minds and call him a god (v6)!\u00a0 That’s how fickle public opinion can be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21717"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21720,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21717\/revisions\/21720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}