Acts 28:1

Man, God is good. Good morning, Cross Connection. It’s great to have you here this morning. Would you open your Bibles to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 28? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of the ushers will bring you one.

As you're turning there, I just want to mention that Pastor Mark mentioned we’re going to have a praise and worship night tonight. One of the aspects of our vision here at Cross Connection is to connect with God, and we want to connect with God through worship, just as we did through singing. Tonight, we will gather together to worship the Lord and spend some time in prayer. There are many pressing prayer needs in our church. Just about every single week, we receive around 80 to 100 prayer cards, indicating a lot of need within the church. Some of those needs are quite significant. For instance, Woody, one of our guys from the children's ministry, has been in the hospital for well over a week now—almost two weeks. We want to come before the Lord and pray for these needs.

So tonight at 6:30, if you're available, we will be worshiping the Lord here in the sanctuary. About an hour before that, at 5:30, we will gather together for dinner next door in the youth center. So come on out tonight.

Now, let’s turn to Acts chapter 28. We will start reading today in verse 1. There, Luke writes, "Now when they had escaped, they then found out that the island on which they ran aground was called Malta. The natives showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that was falling and because it was 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 to his hand."

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."

Lord, we pray that You would speak to us. We believe that Your word is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness.

So God, instruct us and teach us. Lord, if there's anything in our lives that needs to be reproved or corrected, then do that work by Your Word and by Your Spirit. We desire to walk in a way that is honoring to You, and we know that walking in a way that is honoring to You will be satisfying to us. Therefore, God, we pray that You would make that a reality in our lives. Transform us by the renewing of our minds as we continue to follow along with the Apostle Paul here in this journey to Rome, we pray. In Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed, saying, Amen. You can be seated.

Maybe you saw this article some months ago, dated February 17th, Sunday, 2014, from Middlesboro, Kentucky. A snake-handling Pentecostal pastor died from a snake bite. Jamie Coots, the pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus' name— I love that name of the church— in Middlesboro, Kentucky, was handling a rattlesnake during a service when he was bitten on his right hand Saturday night. When the ambulance arrived at 8:30 p.m., the EMS team found that Coots had gone home. According to a statement from the Middlesboro Police Department, Chief of Police Jeff Sharp told ABC News that, according to the people at the church, Coots verbally refused treatment at the church. He said, "Coots was unconscious when we got to his house." When the ambulance crew arrived at Coots' home, his wife, Linda Coots, signed a form declining medical treatment, police said. He went on to die about an hour later.

I picked this up this morning because I wanted to point out, as we start this passage in Acts chapter 28, that the story of Pastor Jamie Coots in Kentucky is the wrong application of the text we are looking at today. Even though we see here in this passage a powerful miracle, the Apostle Paul is on the island of Malta and is bitten by a snake that is very clearly poisonous, based on the reaction of the people who lived on that island. Even though we see this powerful miracle that ultimately opens a door for the gospel, it does not present a pattern by which we should endeavor to worship God through handling venomous snakes.

If you come tonight, there will be no venomous snakes in our worship time. I can promise you that. So that is the wrong application of this text. Even though there is a very contested passage of Scripture at the end of the Gospel of Mark that talks about handling snakes and being bitten by them and not dying, it is very clearly the wrong application of the text.

We are told by those who do the research that there are more than 120 churches in our nation that practice handling venomous snakes in their worship services. This is not one of them. If you came here hoping to find that, you're probably in the wrong state. Just so you know, we don't do that here at this church.

There is a powerful miracle here through this event that happens, and it does open a door for the gospel, as oftentimes powerful miracles do. But it's not the only miracle in the text. As I pointed out last week, I think there is an even greater miracle in this passage.

Look back with me one chapter to Acts chapter 27, verse 41. There we read that the boat Paul and 275 other individuals were on was in the midst of a storm for two weeks. In verse 41 of Acts 27, we read that it struck ground in a place where two currents or seas met. There would be a sandbar there, and they ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves of this great storm.

The Roman soldiers aboard this boat, who had command over a group of prisoners, planned to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim away and escape. However, the centurion, wanting to save Paul, one of the prisoners, kept them from their purpose. He commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard and first get to land, while the rest would make it on boards and parts of the ship.

And so it was that they all escaped safely to land. That is a phenomenal miracle. Two hundred and seventy-six individual men aboard this Roman grain ship, after being in a phenomenal storm, a typhoon-like storm for fourteen days, now come to the end of their ordeal.

This journey and all of them come out alive. All of them end up on shore.

Verse one, Acts 28, look at what we read there. Mark says, "Now when they had escaped, they found out that they were on an island called Malta." Immediately upon coming ashore, they discover that they are on this island called Malta.

Now, many days prior to this, when they were just a few days into their journey, the storm was already making all of them sick, bringing them to their utter end of hope. They were all wondering if they were going to make it out of this. We saw previously in verse 21 of Acts chapter 27 that these things were written. After a long abstinence from food, Paul stood in the midst of them, saying, "Men, you should have listened to me."

If you were with us a couple of weeks ago in our study, you know that this boat had come to a harbor called Fair Havens on the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea. They were there for a long period of time, and they had come to the point in the year where it was not safe to travel on the Mediterranean Sea any longer. Paul, who had already experienced three shipwrecks in his life to this point, stood up and told the group of sailors, the prisoners, the soldiers, and the centurion, "I don't think we should go on this trip. It's not going to end well."

But they overruled him; they didn't listen. So they set out on this journey, and now, three or four days after that, they are in the midst of a terrible storm. He stands up and says, "Guys, I told you so. You should have listened to me. We wouldn't be in this predicament; we wouldn't be in this mess if you had listened to me and not sailed from Crete." Verse 21 says they incurred this disaster and loss.

Now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship. These are powerful words of faith uttered by the Apostle Paul that ultimately turned out to be a prophetic word from God: "There will be no loss of life among you, only the ship." For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar there in Rome, and indeed God has granted to you all those who sail with you."

So, men, take heart, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told to me. However, verse 26 of Acts chapter 27 states, "However, we must run aground on a certain island."

Now, in our studies over the last two weeks, there was a map on the back of your sermon guide that showed the Mediterranean Sea. Although it's not on the back of your sermon guide this morning, you'll probably find it in the back of your Bible. One of the things that you'll notice about that map is that when you look at the Mediterranean, between the island of Crete, which is right in the middle of the Mediterranean, and going west to the left, there are no other islands other than this little piece of land called Malta.

When I say little, I mean it is small—only 17 miles long and 8 miles wide. It's just a bit bigger than Catalina Island. Here was this massive grain ship; historians tell us that it was not an easy ship to sail in good conditions. Yet, they were not in good conditions; they were in a typhoon. They had let down the main sail, pulled up the anchors, and brought the skiff, the small boat that was being dragged behind it, up on the deck. They had just allowed the wind and the currents to drive them.

In faith, Paul said, "Listen, guys, we're all going to be okay. We're all going to survive this, but the boat won't make it. We're going to run aground on a certain island." When you look at the map, there are not certain islands all over the place; there's just one small island. By God's sovereign direction and providence, this boat, unable to navigate or see the stars or the sun during the day, was caused by God to come right into this place on the island of Malta. That's a miracle. It was in alignment with the words that Paul had shared, in alignment with the things that he had said.

Now they run aground on this small island, just as Paul had foretold. In addition, not only did they run aground as he had prophesied, but ultimately there was no loss of life among the people, only the ship. We continue to read back to Acts chapter 28, verse 2. When they had escaped, they found that they had come to a certain island called Malta, and the natives showed us, note this, unusual kindness. They kindled a fire and made us all welcome because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold.

This is not one of the points that I've put on our sermon guide this morning, but I do think it's an important point to note. Consider, if you will, the hospitality of the natives on the island of Malta.

These Maltese natives showed, as Luke writes, unusual kindness. It was not your normal sort of kindness; it stood out to Luke and to all those who were there in this situation. The King James translators wrote that the natives showed us no little kindness. They showed us great, exceedingly great kindness as these newly arrived guests found themselves dashed upon the shore of the island of Malta. The grain ship had been broken apart, and they came ashore weary and tempest-tossed. The Maltese natives welcomed them and kindled a fire to warm them, helping them escape the cold of the storm.

I point this out because it is important that we seek to be unusually kind to strangers, especially if you are a Christian today. Jesus told his disciples in John chapter 13, around verse 35, that they shall know you are my followers by the love that you have for one another. The world will recognize you as followers of Jesus, if you are a follower of Jesus today, by the love that you have for one another.

Love can sometimes be a very subjective and intangible thing. It only becomes real and tangible to us when we see acts of love demonstrated. Remember in the Old Testament, God tells us through the prophet Jeremiah, "I have loved you with an everlasting love." But we wonder, what exactly is that love with which you love us? He describes it through special revelation given to the prophets in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, Jesus comes to demonstrate it.

We are told in the most translated verse of the Bible, John chapter 3, verse 16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life." God demonstrates love. We see it again in Romans chapter 5, verse 8, where it states that Jesus demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He makes his love very tangible.

Jesus, in the Gospel of John chapter 15, said, "Greater love has no man than this, to lay down his life for his friends." But God demonstrates, as noted in Romans 5, verse 8, his love towards us in that he died for us when we were his enemies. Thus, we see a very tangible demonstration of God's love, and we, who are followers of Jesus, need to also display that kind of love to others.

Now I know there will be some who say that in the passage in John chapter 13, he is talking about love between believers, love between disciples. However, we don't get off that easily. If you're a Christian today, we are called, and we see it repeatedly in the New Testament, to love not only those in the church but also those outside the church in very tangible and demonstrable ways.

Most of us will admit that when you ask the average American who doesn't go to church and doesn't necessarily believe the things of the Bible to give their immediate word association with the term "Christian," it is not typically love. Unfortunately, the world does not immediately connect love to the term "Christian." You are identified not by those things, even though Jesus said they shall know that you are His disciples by the love that you have for one another.

I would suggest that if you are a Christian today, we need to put some of these things into practice so that people can look and say, "Yes, that is a Christian." If anything, the Church of Jesus Christ should be known for our unusual loving kindness.

Here, the people on the island of Malta are pagan; they don't believe in Jesus yet, and they have never heard the gospel. Paul's obviously going to have an opportunity to share the gospel with them through the events that happen in Acts chapter 28. Yet, even though they didn't know God, we see that they are unusually kind. Would to God that it would be said about Cross Connection Church, the people who make up this church, that we are unusually kind, especially to strangers. Amen?

We are continuing on. Luke records in verse 3 that when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened to his hand. The natives of the island of Malta showed unusual kindness to the shipwrecked men, welcoming them to the island with this fire to warm them by.

Paul, even though he is one of the 276 weary, storm-beaten men who came ashore on this island, and despite being tired after being in this storm for more than two weeks, does something phenomenal. At more than 60 years old, as soon as he is on the island, he gets up and begins to walk about in the storm, in the rain, in the cold, gathering sticks for the fire to warm the rest of the sailors, soldiers, and prisoners. There he is, this old disciple of Jesus, walking storm-beaten and cold, gathering sticks.

Which brings us to our first point on our sermon guide, if you have it handy. The first point is that godly leaders serve. Of course, I recognize this is not an incredible insight, but it is an important one that we should hold on to. Godly leaders serve. This is clearly a cultural value of the Kingdom of Heaven. It is most certainly not of this world, because this world does not value servants. Our world does not value servants, so this is completely contrary to the world in which we live.

Jesus said, in the Gospel of Mark, and it is actually recorded in three of the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10, Jesus says to his disciples, after he gathers them to himself, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord their authority over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them." He acknowledges what it's like in the world. Many of you seated here today work in a secular, non-Christian environment. You work in a corporate office, on a college campus, or in some place where you see the hierarchical structure of authority. In those environments, it is atypical, that is, it is not normal for those in authority to submit themselves as servants. We recognize this.

Jesus says, "You know what it's like. The rulers of the Gentiles lord their authority and leadership over others." But the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom that is to come, is different because its King is different. How do we know its King is different? In that same passage in Mark chapter 10, Jesus says this in verse 45: "For even the Son of Man," speaking of himself, "did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many." King Jesus exemplified servanthood. He came to serve and not to be served. Therefore, the Servant King, which is a title we could rightly give to him, said that although the rulers of this world lord their authority over their subjects, it is not to be that way with you. In verse 43 of Mark chapter 10, he says, "Yet it shall not be among you, but whoever desires..."

To become great among you shall be your servant. Subjects of the Servant King are to be servants too. Godly leaders serve.

Secondly, point number two: godly leaders get bit by snakes. Now, I'm not talking about actual snakes here, although that may happen. The snake that bit Paul was a very real venomous viper. Those who seek to serve Jesus, those who seek to follow along with Him and lead in His kingdom, will, as we've already considered in previous studies of this passage, suffer snake bites. They will go through times of difficulty. This is proven by Scripture, history, and personal experience. Those who seek to serve and follow the Lord and honor and glorify Him as godly leaders will suffer snake bites. It's proven by Scripture.

I think all the way back to the book of Genesis and the story of Joseph. Some of you remember that story. Joseph was, at the time when these events happened, the youngest of ten older brothers. I think that would be a difficult thing. I had one older brother; I can't imagine it times ten. Here he was, the youngest at that point in time, with ten older brothers, and he began to have these God-inspired dreams about becoming the leader of the family. You can imagine his ten older brothers did not like the sound of their little runt brother Joseph saying, "One day you'll bow down to me." They didn't care for that so much.

Even though the vision came from God, ultimately, if you read through the story in Genesis, you find that his brothers became so angry with him that one day they hatched a plan to kill him. They took him, beat him, and threw him into a pit. They were going to kill him that day. One of the brothers spoke up and said, "I don't know, maybe we shouldn't do that. Let's sell him into slavery instead." So they sold him to a group of people that were passing by to be a slave. Joseph ended up as a slave down in Egypt, in the house of Potiphar, and there he served well. Even though he got bit by the snake, even though he found himself in a terrible situation,

He serves well. He begins to rise up in the household of Potiphar, but ultimately, the wife of Potiphar accuses him of harassment, of trying to rape her. As a result, he is thrown in prison for something he didn't do, and he spends the next many years in prison. Now, ultimately, the story ends well, but what do we see in the life of Joseph? We see that godly leaders get bitten by snakes.

I think not only of Joseph; I think of Job, the story of Job. It's an incredible book. If you've never read it, you should. In the book of Job, we see this man who was a godly man. In fact, God's testimony of Job was that he was a righteous man. There is none like him in all the earth. How awesome to have God say he is righteous; there is no one like him. He is the standout. But he got bitten by the snake. The enemy, the adversary, the devil, comes in and strips Job of everything that he has: his children, his wealth, his health. The only thing that the enemy didn't take from him was his wife, and that was purposeful because she says, "Curse God and die." So there is Job, bitten by the snake.

Well, not just Joseph or Job, but also Jeremiah, the prophet Jeremiah. A godly man indeed, a man whom God had placed His call and gifting upon from birth to be a prophet, a voice of God to the nations in his day. However, the people who heard him didn't like what he had to say. As you follow his life through the work of Jeremiah, you see that there were times when he was beaten and times when he was thrown into a pit. He lived a hard life, bitten by the snake because he was a godly leader, just like Joseph and Job.

Of course, we cannot forget Jesus. I am only hitting the J names in the Bible; there are many more. But what do we see? Godly leaders get bitten by snakes, not just in Scripture, but in history. If you get a chance, I encourage you to read "Fox's Book of Martyrs," an awesome work that charts the martyrs of the early church through many thousands of years into the history of the church. These are people who were killed, bitten by the snake because of their profession of faith. "Fox's Book of Martyrs" shows that it's not just in Scripture; it's in history, but it's also in personal experience. If you set out to serve and follow Jesus, you can be certain that the enemy, who is often described as the serpent, will bite. He will come against you and oppose you.

It is very real that the enemy seeks to oppose anything that is of God. If you seek to follow Him, serve Him, and lead in His kingdom, we must recognize that bites will come, just as they did for the Apostle Paul in this passage.

Early leaders serve; secondly, godly leaders get bitten by snakes. Continuing on to verse four of Acts chapter 28, it says, "So when the natives saw the creature hanging from Paul's hand, they said to one another, 'No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live.'" You could rightly capitalize the first letter of the word "justice" because it might actually refer to the name of a Greek goddess named Dike, the goddess of justice.

The natives of Malta, like almost everyone today, had a certain quid pro quo theology—a tit for tat or this for that kind of idea about the way the world works. This is considered to be perhaps the most universal worldview of humanity. Theologians and theology professors refer to it as the doctrine of retribution. What is it? It is simply this: if you are a good person, you will receive blessings and good things; if you are a bad person, you will receive curses and bad things. Therefore, if you are going through a trial, you must be a pretty bad person.

This worldview is one of the most universal among humanity and one of the oldest. I mentioned a few minutes ago the Book of Job, which is considered by some scholars to be the oldest book chronologically written in the Bible. It perhaps reveals this idea, this worldview of man, and this doctrine of retribution more than any other book.

How so? In the first few chapters, we see Job go through a devastating trial. He loses his children, his wealth, and his health. Then three of his friends come to visit him. They find their friend sitting in the dust on the ground with oozing sores all over him. When they arrive, they sit down with him, and for seven days, they do not say a word. They simply sit there and mourn with him.

After seven days, Job speaks up and cries out, lamenting his life and all the terrible things that have happened to him. He expresses that it would have been better if he had never been born. One of his friends responds, saying, "Job, listen, I have a word for you. This would not have happened to you if you were not a bad guy." For the next thirty or so chapters, we see a back-and-forth exchange between Job and his friends. Each time, his friends insist that there must be some hidden sin in his life.

Although we know the testimony of God—that there is none like Job in all the earth and that he was righteous—his friends did not understand that. All they could see were the bad things that had happened to him. In their minds, because these misfortunes occurred, it was clear that he was a bad person. This reflects the doctrine of retribution, which has filled our hearts and often carries over into our Christian lives. Even though the Bible, especially in the New Testament, teaches something completely different, we instinctively revert to that mindset when something bad happens.

You stub your toe, get a flat tire, or have a bad day, and immediately you start to think, "I must have done something bad. It's because I didn't read my Bible this morning," right? We do that. However, the Bible does not reveal that God operates in this way. God is gracious, even to those who do not deserve it. How many of you have experienced the grace of God without deserving it? Come on, all of you raise your hands. That's every one of us.

In the story, Paul escapes the storm and comes ashore. While he is in the midst of doing something good—serving—he gets bitten by a snake. The conclusion of those watching, the men and women of the island of Malta, is that no doubt this man is a bad guy, a murderer, because he escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow him to live. They believe that the God of justice will not let him go unpunished.

Point number three on your outline: godly leaders' motives are often questioned, or you could say that godly leaders' character is frequently scrutinized. The Maltese natives knew nothing about the Apostle Paul other than the fact that he, along with 275 other individuals, had just escaped a violent storm. Yet, just minutes after their escape, he is bitten by a deadly snake. In their minds, this situation epitomizes wandering justice.

What is wandering justice? You thought you escaped, but now it has come, and it got you. Divine retribution, wandering justice. The Bible reveals that one day there is a day of justice coming, described as the day of the vengeance of our God. God, who sees all things and knows all things, will one day rightly judge all things; of that, we can be certain.

In the book of Amos, the prophet Amos tells us in Amos chapter 5 that when that day comes, it is inescapable. The day of justice is inescapable. For those of you who look out on the world, read the news, or watch the news and think there is no justice in this world, you are right; there is a lack of justice. But one day, the day of justice will come upon those who deserve it.

The reality is that every single one of us here today deserves justice, but in Christ, we have been given grace and mercy if you are in Christ. Those who are not in Christ will receive the inescapable justice of God one day. Amos describes it like this in Amos chapter 5, verse 19. He says that day will be as though a man fled from a lion and a bear got him, or as though he went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him.

What is Amos saying? He is saying that the day of vengeance of God is inescapable in this way. It will be as if you are running from a lion, and just when you think you got away from the lion, bam, the bear gets you. But then you manage to escape the bear, and you finally get to your house. You run into your house, put your hand on the wall, and a serpent comes out and bites you. That justice will be inescapable.

However, godly motives and the motives of godly leaders are often questioned, especially by those who are led by them. But look at Paul's response; look at his reaction when he gets bitten by the snake. He shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

Point number four: godly leaders press on in the face of opposition. If there was one thing that Paul knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, it was that he was going to Rome. Some two plus years before the events described here in Acts chapter 28, the journey had already been set in motion.

The Apostle Paul was back in the city of Jerusalem when a plot was revealed to kill him. A group of men bound themselves with a fast, saying they would not eat until he was dead. When Paul heard about this, he, like anyone would have been, felt a little down knowing that this group wanted to kill him so badly. Public opinion was not very high for the Apostle Paul at that moment.

There he was in the city of Jerusalem, in the Roman praetorium, when God appeared to him by night and said, "Listen, Paul, you have testified before me here in Jerusalem. You will testify of me in Rome." This assurance was not just given in Acts chapter 23, but also in the middle of a storm. In Acts chapter 27, while they were in the midst of the storm, God came to Paul, who was afraid and concerned that he might lose his life in a shipwreck. An angel reminded him, "Listen, Paul, let me remind you, I told you you're going to Rome. You will testify before Caesar there."

Now, here Paul was on the island of Malta. God had gotten him away from those who sought to kill him over two years before. God brought him through the shipwreck so that he could ultimately reach Rome. When he was bitten by a snake, he simply shook it off into the fire as if it were nothing. Why? Because he had God's vision and knew that the island of Malta was not his final destination. He could look at the circumstance of being bitten by a venomous snake and have faith that, although he didn't know how, God would bring him through.

This is an encouragement to me because we have the testimony, the more sure word of prophecy, as the Apostle Peter calls it. We have the assurance from God that He will bring us, who are followers of Jesus, through whatever trial we face. In fact, the book of Romans, chapter eight, says that we in Christ are more than conquerors through God who loved us. We know that nothing shall separate us from the love of God, and ultimately, He will bring us to be in His presence.

Therefore, if you go through a storm, if someone seeks to come against your life, or if a snake bites you, we can be certain that in whatever situation or circumstance we find ourselves, God is going to bring us through. This gives us the faith to press on. Godly leaders press on in the face of opposition and hardship. Thus, the challenges Paul faced did not deter him from his course.

Verse six of Acts chapter 28 states that the islanders of Malta were expecting Paul to swell up suddenly and fall down dead after being bitten by a snake. They had seen this happen before: a man gets bitten by a snake, swells up like a balloon, and then falls dead. This had occurred to others who lived on the island. Like many people, these islanders did not like snakes. When they saw one, they would run away, wanting to be nowhere near it.

So, when Paul was bitten by the snake and it latched onto his hand, he shook it off, and they were watching closely. They thought, "Oh, he must be a murderer. What a bad dude! He escaped the storm, but now he gets bitten by a snake and will surely die." It was almost as if they derived some sort of sick glee from the situation. Isn't that the way we are? We often feel a twisted sensation when watching someone get hurt or face misfortune, wondering what will happen next.

As they watched, they thought, "He's going to swell up." But he didn't swell up. Then they thought, "Oh, he's going to fall over dead." But he didn't fall over dead. After they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. Their conclusion was that he was divine.

Interestingly, this was the second time in Paul's life and ministry that someone mistook him for a god. It had also happened in Acts chapter 14 when he was on a missionary trip with his friend Barnabas. Initially, the islanders thought Paul was a murderer when he was bitten by the snake, but how quickly their perception changed. When he did not die, they declared him a god. This is a phenomenal turn of events.

Point number five is that godly leaders experience God's empowering. Not only did Paul survive the snake bite, but we also see this in verses seven through nine. In that region, there was an estate belonging to the leading citizen of the island, whose name was Publius. He received us and entertained us courteously for three days.

Now it happened that the father of Publius lay sick with a fever and dysentery. Paul went into him and prayed. He laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases came, and they were healed also.

Godly leaders experience God's empowering. Point number six is that godly leaders go through open doors. Here was an open door of opportunity for the Apostle Paul. He found himself on the island of Malta and immediately began to serve as he had always done, gathering sticks. He got bitten by a snake, but God healed him from the snake bite, empowering him to recover from this venomous attack.

Now, an open door was given to him. The leading man of the island, what we call a man of peace, became a bridge to the people of the island. He opened his door and his house, saying, "Come on in." Paul walked through this door of opportunity and found another opportunity. The man's father was sick, had a fever, and dysentery, and was no doubt going to die. Paul went in, prayed for him, and God healed him.

Then many multitudes of people from the island brought their sick and diseased to the Apostle Paul, and God healed them too. Godly leaders go through open doors, and godly leaders experience God's empowering. This is an encouragement to you and to me because every single one of us who are Christians today are called by God. If you are a follower of Jesus and have put your faith in Him, you have been called by Him to go through the open doors that He gives you.

The problem is that none of us, when those open doors are not available, can avoid saying, "I don't think I could do that. I don't know how I can fulfill that." Yet God not only calls His people, but in 1 Corinthians chapters 12, 13, and 14, He gifts His people. Not only does He gift His people, but He empowers them to do things they could not do otherwise.

Just before Jesus ascended into heaven in Acts chapter one, He told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem, and they would be filled with power from on high. The Spirit of God would come upon them, and they would be witnesses of Him in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts. There is not a single person that God places His call upon who does not sense their overwhelming inability to do what it is that God sets before them. But it's not your ability; it's His ability.

Godly leaders experience God's empowering as they go through the open doors that God gives to them. In verse 10 of Acts chapter 28, the people of the island of Malta honored us in many ways. When we departed, they provided such things as were necessary. They took care of our needs and honored us.

Point number seven, the last point: Godly leaders are ultimately vindicated by God. The temptation is something every one of us experiences, including me. When opposition comes, when the snake bites, and when questions are levied against our character and motives in ministry, our instant temptation is to defend ourselves. We want to stand up for ourselves and deal with it ourselves. That's what our flesh wants to do.

When the snake bites, when the questions come, and when opposition hits us, we are all tempted to try and handle it. We think, "I'm going to get in there. I'm going to make it right. I'm going to let these people know who's boss," whatever it may be. But the reality is that the godly leader is the one who says, "God, you defend my case. I answer ultimately only to you." If we will, by faith, say, "God, you defend my case," we can be certain that we will see Him do just that. God will vindicate His leaders and His people.

The response and reaction of the people on the island of Malta when they saw this prisoner come ashore, surrounded by Roman guards, was immediate. When they saw this man pick up sticks, throw them in the fire, and get bitten by the snake, their initial reaction was that he was a murderer. Yet ultimately, in the end, they honored him greatly and took care of his needs. They provided for him as he and the others left the island because godly leaders are ultimately vindicated by Him.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, I thank you for these ten verses. Although written nearly 2,000 years ago, they have application for us in the 21st century.

I'm certain that if someone had told Luke 20 centuries ago, "Hey, 2000 years from now, there are going to be people that you have no idea about, living in a place you'll never see, who will be reading through these things and will be challenged and encouraged," he would have thought they were crazy.

And yet, God, by Your providence and by Your awesome direction, here we are today being instructed by You. Help us this week to walk in a way that is pleasing to You. Help us to put these things into practice by faith, Lord, trusting that even though snakes come and people question our character and our motives, even though opposition and hardship come before us, we can serve and press on.

Help us to recognize and look for Your empowering presence, to go through the open doors that You provide, and to know that ultimately we are vindicated by You. Our trust, Lord, help it not to be in anything else but You. Even though we're tempted to try and do it on our own, help us not to lean on our own understanding this week, but to acknowledge You in all our ways and see You directing our path.

We pray this in Jesus' name. Let's worship with one last song. Amen.