Hebrews 13

And motivate us to continue on the journey. Many of us have one scripture that we might have in common that I'd like to turn to. If you would join me in Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. Let's take a look at it for a moment. In Hebrews 13 and verse 6, the author of Hebrews proclaims, We may boldly say, The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? Again, this is not a new thought because basically the author of Hebrews is reverberating the echo of the psalmist. Actually, this comes out of Psalm 118 and verse 6. So it is not necessarily a new thought until we really get into a situation where we have to claim this verse. Oftentimes, we have what I call favorite verses, stand-up verses, anchor verses. But really, in a sense, they are but philosophy until they are put into the oven of life. And that's what I would like to do today is take this verse, a verse, just two or three lines and see how it plays out in life. Again, let's read it before we go to a very real story. The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me? And what I like to do by doing what I'm about to do is to share an example that I'd like to see us all be able to do. And that is not simply to have a favorite Scripture, but to anchor it with a story, couple it with a story in the Bible. Otherwise, what happens is a Scripture can be like a bumper sticker. We all see bumper stickers, but life has got to be more than a bumper sticker. It's got to be written out in our hearts, our lives, and our actions. To show you how this is done by taking a Scripture like this, which is profound and very encouraging, let's take a look at it in real life, real time with a real person. Join me if you would in Acts, verse 27.

In Acts in verse 27 to see how this plays out in the life of a Christian.

It's often been said that life is a voyage, and there are a lot of similarities between life and taking a voyage. And sometimes we wonder what lies over the horizon in our life. We know what happened yesterday. We know what might be occurring today, but tomorrow we're not sure. And it is, again, like taking that voyage out to sea. And we often wonder what really is over the horizon. We take confidence and encouragement in the Scripture like we just read.

And we know that, in a sense, in our mind and our heart, that God is there over that horizon waiting for us. But the devil is in the details, getting from point A to point B. And that's what I'd like to discuss here for a moment, in a very, very famous story about Paul and his voyage to Rome. And I give it to you as not only an example of putting a verse and a story together, but I hope to really encourage you as well today to recognize that God was going to ask of Paul something, but at the same time that God would never leave him, nor forsake him, no matter what man did.

Allow me to set up the story for just a second so that we can move into the message, is that basically Paul had been in a challenging situation for a couple of years, basically going back and forth between Jerusalem and Caesarea like a yo-yo. And Paul, being the dynamic individual he was, began to feel that his life was becoming futile, his ministry was being wasted, and that there needed to be a break in the deadlock. And so that he did, by that famous appeal, they're saying that, you know, I am a Roman and I appeal to Caesar.

Sometimes we do what we need to do, thinking it's the best thing to do at the time that we do it. And he felt that he had to break his deadlock so that he could continue to proclaim Jesus Christ to other individuals. And so basically what happened is it is to roam that you appeal, and so it's to roam that you will go, which then sets up the voyage that we find in Acts and verse 27.

Now, when it was decided in verse 1 that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some of the other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius who belonged to the imperial and or Augustan regiment, very special core of soldiers, probably those that were basically given responsibility to be liaisons between Rome and the far extents of the empire. And we boarded a ship from Atrobatium about to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and we put out to sea. And we put out to sea.

Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us. Very interesting that Aristarchus was allowed to come along with him. That is Paul. And there's something that we don't really gain a full sense from the scriptures unless we go a little bit deeper. But the commentaries bear out that most likely for Aristarchus to be able to go along with Paul, being a individual in the judicial system, he would have had to have been a slave or an indentured servant. And there is a sense, I say a sense, that Aristarchus perhaps made himself a slave and or an indentured servant to Paul so that he might be able to go along with him, to comfort him during this time.

Now, the next day we landed at Sidon and Julius, and kindness to Paul allowed him to go to his friends so that they might provide for his needs. Now, it's very interesting that a relationship begins to develop here between Julius and Paul. Julius, a man of the Augustine regiment, was most likely a brave individual. And sometimes one brave individual recognizes bravery in another individual, even though they may not agree. There was a commonality here of bravado that was being shown respect one to the other. And from there we put out to sea again and passed to the Lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

And when we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra in Lecia. And there the centurion found an alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and put us on board. We've got to recognize the alexandrian ship was coming from Egypt. Egypt was the grain basket of the ancient world, and there was always a steady line of sea traffic going from alexandria at the mouth of the Nile with grain loaded on board for the masses in Rome.

And so there was this thoroughfare going back and forth. And so it was kind of like up to this point Paul had been basically on a puddle jumper and now he's on the 747. These were gigantic, gigantic warehouse ships. And Paul was on board one of these. And we made slow headway for many days and had difficulty arriving off as need us. And when the wind did not allow us to hold our course, we sailed to the Lee of Crete opposite to Salmon.

And we moved along the coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens near the town of Lecia. Now you notice something here that I alluded to on the day of Atonement, that we moved along the coast. In that day and in that age there was no sextant, there was no compass, and to venture out in the ocean was scary.

Basically maritime traffic at that time where it was basically a matter of hugging the coast as much as possible. To cross out into the open sea was indeed a great risk. And much time had been lost and sailing had already become dangerous because now it was after the fast. So Paul warned them, men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo into our own lives also.

But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship. The owner of the ship was the man, probably the businessman, that held the grain and basically he felt that he needed to get it to roam. Business decision. Even though Paul was probably the one individual who had traveled the most as far as having been on voyages and was a constant traveler, they ignored his advice.

Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter and the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there, there was a harboring crate facing both southwest and northwest. Now we're going to move into the story. That's just kind of the introduction. Now we're going to get into the exciting part that affects Paul, you, and me. And when a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought that they obtained what they wanted.

When a gentle... does that sound like Hawaii? When a gentle south wind began to blow, they began to obtain what they wanted. Keyword, what they wanted. They didn't recognize that God was also on board and was serving up a purpose for Paul to understand Hebrews 13 verse 6, and for us to go away on this Sabbath day from this location and understand how God operates.

So they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. See, they're still sailing along the shore. And before very long, a wind of hurricane force called the Northeastern swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind, and so we gave it way to it and were driven along. And as we passed to the lee of a small island called Koata, we were hardly able to make the lifeboat secure. And when the men had hoisted it aboard, they passed ropes under the ship itself to hold it together. Basically, it's like a movie that we've seen in the past that there's creaking, there's cracking, and it looks like the ship is just going to come undone. That's why they call it the Book of Acts. There's a lot of color, there's a lot of action. They feared that they would run aground on the sandbars of Sirtas, and they lowered the sea anchor, and let the ship be driven along. And we took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. We've seen movies like that. Get everything overboard! And sometimes in the Bible, people toss people overboard, as well as in the Book of Jonah that Mr. Gardiner told us about. And on the third day, not the third minute or the third hour, do you know what it's like to be in a storm for three days, 72 hours?

And on the third day, they threw the ship overboard with their own hands. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and the storm continued rage, we finally gave up all hope, all hope, of being saved. Now, let's think about what's going through Paul's mind. God, I'm trying to do your work. I've tried to be a good Christian camper for 25 or 30 years. I proclaimed Christ in Asia Minor. I proclaimed him in Macedonia. I spoke of him on Mars Hill. I've been throwing into the lions' den in Ephesus. I've been beaten by rods. I've had to face my own people that have thrown me out. I've done this. I've done this. I've done this. I've done this. And I've done this. And I've done this. And this. And this. And then I tried to break this log jam going back and forth between Caesarea and Jerusalem. God, when is enough going to be enough?

What do you think the answer is? God was still working with Paul. It wasn't enough. He was going to take him to a new level, just as he did with Job. And Paul's story and Job's story is yours and mine, because there was going to be some rough sledding towards that horizon of what God wanted to do with Paul. And Paul had to come to understand that no matter what came his way, no matter what man would do to him, God would be on board. God would show the way. And his purposes in Paul, as well as in you and me, will be made and will happen. Notice what happens here. All hope. See, back then, what happened when you're on the open sea, understand something. This is before there were rudders. I know Mr. Clark is a sailor type, and so is Skip a little bit with his dinghy. Ships back then didn't have rudders. Think about that. There was no rudder. Got that? No rudder. No rudder. Think about sailing a ship without a rudder. No sextant, no compass to guide. Storm, no stars to see. No constellations to guide, as the Greek and Egyptians would do. As we basically say to make a point, there was no nothing. Nothing.

They were being blown down towards the sandbars of the seas off of North Africa that were the graveyards of antiquity of ships.

And after the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said, men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete. In other words, I told you so. And then you would have spared yourself this damage and loss, but now I urge you to keep up your courage. Because not one of you will be lost. Only the ship will be destroyed. Now, you think about that for a moment. You talk about calling a shot. I want you to understand something. The ship is going to be wrecked. It's going to be destroyed. It's going to sink offshore. You're not going to make it. And as bad as that is, not one life is going to be lost. Wow! God was revealing something to Paul. How is that? Notice verse 23. Last night, an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve.

Interesting. It's not enough simply to belong to God. You have to serve God.

He said, don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar. And God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. All of these men on board, I have given to you. Wait a minute. Did I miss... Who's the prisoner? Who is the guy that was arrested and being taken to Rome? Have you ever used to... Some of us that are a little bit older in this room, remember Tom and Jerry? The cat chasing the mouse? All of a sudden, this whole thing is pulled into reverse. The ship has been given over to the man of God. He knows his God. He belongs to God. He says he serves God.

Fascinating. Mark 13 verse 11.

Let's remember that the book of Acts is written in part by Luke to show the extension of the gospel and that what Jesus said would come about. In Mark 13 and verse 11, notice what it says here.

But when they arrest you and when they do deliver you up, do not worry beforehand and don't pre-meditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, notice, speak that. For it is not you who speak but the Holy Spirit. You betcha! Because how could it be other than the Holy Spirit to say the whole ship is going to be destroyed? But by the way, just in case you're worried, nobody's going to die.

The first thing that we need to understand is that Paul was being sent to Rome as a prisoner of Christ. It would be a situation that would develop. It wasn't going to happen overnight, but through every process and process and process, this was the beginning of the end of Paul's ministry. It was wrapping up, but God wasn't through with Paul. Paul was eventually going to have to face the judicial authorities in Rome. Paul would eventually, either then or even later, have to give up his life, but God wasn't done with him. God says, I'm going to perform a miracle in your life. I want you to recognize it. I want you to know it. I want you to share it. You see, sometimes God asks us to go over the horizon for him and do some amazing things to glorify him. Sometimes he does not take away the pain. He doesn't always take away some of the suffering, but he says, I'm going with you along the way. I'm partnering with you. I have not abandoned you. The first miracle that we see in this story on this voyage is that God spoke to Paul by an angel. Paul was open to that. Paul did not dismiss that. Paul partnered with God on that, and he spoke what needed to be spoken. Translate that into your life and what you're going through that perhaps you feel that God has dismissed you, abandoned you.

And like Paul, we can maybe say, yeah, I'm going to put my whole rolodex of what I've done out here. Let's understand something. God is taking us, friends, to a new and an expanded level to glorify Him. Let's pick up what happens here then. Let's notice what happens.

So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as He told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island. On the 14th day, we were still being driven from the Adric Sea, across the Adric Sea, went about midnight the sailors since they were approaching land. They took soundings and found that the water was 120 feet deep. A short time later, they took soundings again and found it was 90 feet deep. And fearing that they would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. And in an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending... this is a good movie... pretending they were going into the sea, that they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. And then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, uh-uh, no, no, no! Not in the story, not a part of the script. Listen, then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. There is a way which seems right unto a man, but the way thereof is the way of death. So the soldiers cut the ropes that held the lifeboat.

Here's your lifeboat. Paul said, you're not going to use the lifeboat. This is about God. It's not about a lifeboat of your making.

The old knife? No.

Just before dawn, Paul urged them all to eat. For the last 14 days, he said, you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food. You haven't eaten anything, and now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Now, one of you will lose a single hair from his head. After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of all of them. Then he broke it and began to eat it. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. Here's a question. Here's a thought. Here's an example for each and every one of us. When God is activated in our life and when we are the source of God's attention and good things are happening, do we acknowledge Him before others? Do we acknowledge God and the source of our strength, the source of our courage, the one that puts our butterflies that we will humanly have, and He puts them in formation? Do we acknowledge Him before man? If we do not acknowledge God before man, will God acknowledge us before man Himself?

What's happening in your life? What's going on in your life?

How are you able to acknowledge God to even those that may not fully understand Him? The book of Acts is written for us to learn how to act as Christians.

Now, when daylight came, verse 39, they did not recognize the land but they saw a bay with the sandy beach, which they decided to run the ship aground. If they could, they were still trying to get to land, but that is not what God said would happen. He said, the ship's going down. But what is it about us as people? We will still always try to do it our way. So they cut loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, and at the same time untied the ropes, and held the rudders. They hoist that the forest sailed to the wind and made for the beach. I mean, they had this, they had, you know, they had the engines on if they could. But the ship struck a sandbar, ran aground, the bow stuck fast, and would not move, and the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf.

When God calls it, it's going to happen just the way that He says it's going to happen. Get on board. Stay on board. Take God at His word and commit your works to Him. The soldiers, verse 40, who plan to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. Now, let me ask a question of the audience. Why would the guards, why would the soldiers, want to kill the prisoners as perhaps they saw them going overboard and trying to get away? Why would that happen? Anybody know why?

Chris? That's right. Absolutely. The prisoner goes, you go. Just kind of really simple, kind of a Latin phrase. You know, the prisoner goes, you go. That's it. If they escape, you die. Kind of simple. So you can see humanly why they're doing it, but that was not what was going to happen. The boat was going, what? To be destroyed, but everybody was going to remain alive. But the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. And he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land. The rest were there to get on planks or on pieces of the ship. And in this way, everyone reached land in safety. What does God say in Isaiah 46, 9 through 10? You can jot it down. Focus on it later. I have declared the end from the beginning, the beginning from the end, and my purpose and my pleasure shall stand. When God says that He is going to do something with you, it is going to happen. When God says in Philippians that if I have begun a good work in you, no matter what man might do to you or try to get in the way or whatever, my will, my purpose, will occur. My love you will experience. And you will know that you are mine and I am yours. Know that. Understand that. First miracle, big one, the vision, and it came to pass. The others are very short but just as neat. Now once on shore, Paul could have said, oh man, that is enough. I have passed. I've done it. No more in this lifetime. I am retiring from full-time ministry.

This is it. Just blessings of children. I like those. No, Paul's just saying, no, just call me up very soft and to bless the child. I can't take this anymore. Well, notice what happens here in verse 20, chapter 20. Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us an unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. And Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and as he put it on the fire of a viper driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. Now that's kind of neat.

What do you mean, not need, but fastened? This is my PowerPoint. You don't want to miss this. But, fasten. You've got the fangs and the arm. You've never done that? It's just fastened. Paul must have been sweet. He couldn't get enough of them. Just kind of fastened with those fangs right in them. Why did he say fastened? Whenever you see this in the Bible, ask yourself why. Luke, being a doctor, was giving the details. This wasn't just a hit and run by the snake.

It wasn't just a little dabble, do you? This snake was fully embraced on the arm of Paul. Thus, the miracle would be substantiated. Paul should have been dead. Notice what it says. And when the islanders saw the snake hanging, hanging from his hand. Have you had that happen this week? Is that going on in Rancho Panaschitas? With a rattler? Hanging! You know, take the words of the Bible and make them live. They said, you know, this guy's got to be a murderer. For though he escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.

But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. And the people expected him to swell up, you know, just a bloat like a pig. Or some were dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and he said he was a god. Within probably minutes, he went from a criminal to god. Just the reverse of what happened in Lystra.

Remember when Paul and Barnabas were in Lystra? Oh, you're a god! Long live the gods! And then all of a sudden, they're being stoned. Paul was kind of getting used to this. Paul recognized something about people that you do sometimes in pastoral work. People can be fickle. They love you one moment and they're ready to toss you out. Not all of you, but they're ready to toss you out the next moment. Paul understood this. He had kind of a tour pastor. What's the bottom line here? While we laugh, while we smile, there's a powerful point.

Paul is going to Rome. He could humanly feel abandoned. God is with him on the ship. Not only that, God continues to work with Paul and there is a miraculous intervention as the snake bites him.

Let's go to the next point. Then there was an estate nearby that belonged to Bublius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home. And for three days entertained us hospitably. His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. And Paul went in to see him and afterwards placed his hands on him and healed him. And when this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. And they honored us in many ways. And when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

The vision, the miraculous intervention with the snake. And now Paul is used to heal the governing official of the island. When you go back and you lead back, each of these miracles led to the other. Paul could not necessarily see over the horizon as much as some of you and I cannot see over our own personal horizons. But God has a plan. God has a purpose. But what I found so often in life is we only see that if we are looking for God in our life and surrender ourselves to Him.

And dedicate ourselves day by day that we are going to partner with Him. So that we can understand what's going on. Susan and I were up in Oregon and as is our tradition. It's just our way of life that when we are traveling before we go out the door, Susie and I get together, sit down and we dedicate our day to God.

And we say, God, we don't know what's happening. We know that we're going to go out amongst your people today. We ask that you might help us to give to others and help us certainly to receive and understand what we might receive from others of your people or from the community.

And you be with us each and every step of the way because there's things that we're not going to see. We want you to be number three in our family. We want you to be the active guide. We don't necessarily know where to go. There are roads that you want us to travel, people that you want us to see, experiences that you want us to have.

Open the door and help us to be open to that. And then when Susie and I went out every day during this feast, there'd be this moment when we would be what we call this gotcha moment. We go the prayer.

And we do that two or three times during the day because people that are looking for God are going to find Him. And that doesn't always mean in the positive things, the happy things, but the growing things that we need to understand that no matter what man might do, that God will be our helper. So here we have this. Now let's understand, let's put this together as we begin to wrap up.

Paul is going to Rome. He's on the voyage of his life. He's going to an uncertain future.

But God is his partner. There is the vision. There is the intervention with the snake.

And now he is still being used. He might have thought that, you know, after the voyage, even then he might have felt abandoned. He might have thought, okay, that was good, but, you know, I'll never be back in the saddle again. Maybe I'll never be used beyond this. And God continued to use Paul mightily towards his glory. But here's where all of you come in now. And the fourth step is really incredible. And I want to share with you as we conclude. After three months, we put out a sea in a ship, verse 11, that had wintered in the island. And it was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. And we put in at Syracuse, that means they're in Sicily, and stayed there three days. And from there we set sail and arrived at Regium. And the next day the south wind came up. And on the following day we reached Pudioli. And there we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we went to Rome. The brothers there had heard that we were coming. And they traveled as far as the form of Appius and the three taverns to meet us. Basically what this is saying is that Paul landed on the coast and then began to go up the Appian Way. And that there were people that came out to meet him. Now when you say these fancy Greek terms like three taverns or Appius, that doesn't mean anything to us because we haven't been there. But this form at Appius was 43 miles away from Rome. When is the last time any of us have walked 43 miles to meet somebody? Three taverns was 33 miles away from Rome. And what is incredible, and maybe you've never seen this before, you might want to circle this word if you want to, they meant to meet us. The word that is used there in the Greek is the same word that is in a sense meant for a delegation that moves outside of a city and greets either an emperor or a general or a dignitary. To them, in a sense, the most important individual on earth, not Caesar, not a Roman general, but a prisoner of Christ, a prisoner for Christ, had need of their companionship and their encouragement. And at the sight of these men, Paul thanked God and was encouraged.

This is where all of you come in, brethren, and I'm quite sincere in what I'm saying here right now.

This is the fourth miracle on the voyage to Rome. Something that perhaps Paul had not been able to manifest in his mind over the horizon is that there were people that would come all the way to encourage him to be with him, and he thanked God for them. God had performed mighty miracles, saved men from a sinking ship, intervened to save a man from a poisonous snake, used the man to raise a man up that most likely should have died. But God saved his best miracle for last.

God's greatest miracle is his spirit in other people, to encourage, to comfort, to be there, to lift up, not just simply the servants of God like a Paul, but each and every one of us in the voyages that we're going through in our life. I know that you do that all the time for many of us that are in the ministry. I hope that we do return the favor. This year, for Susan and I to go up to Bend, we thought we were going to relax some. It was more relaxing than Escondido. There were so many people, and I do mean so many people, that came up and wanted to meet us, wanted to encourage us in the different roles that we play out in our spiritual community.

It lifted both of us up incredibly, gave us tremendous hope, tremendous encouragement.

So often people want to say thank you or da-da-da, and you know, you just kind of keep on pointing up. It's all about God, but it just filled our spiritual lungs. And it really told us just what an incredible group you are. I just want to share that all the miracles, sometimes you say, well, what about all the miracles and why don't we have miracles today in the church? We do.

Good things are happening every day in the body of Christ. But never, ever, ever, and I, you know, I'm not just saying this for a fourth point because I've thought about this message many times. I've given it before, but I always come to the fourth miracle, the miracle of God, Spirit, and people, people like Kevin, Tammy, Walter, Paul, Anita, Roland, James, to be there for people, to go the extra mile, 33 miles, 43, don't start walking towards Temecula. We'll do that in the springtime. But to go that extra mile, to be there, because when you are there, they're not just simply seeing you. They're seeing God in you. They're seeing the love of God in you, seeing the encouragement of God in you. God is tempting in you as a Christian, and because we have been comforted, we comfort others. What we take away from this is simply this. Let's go back to Hebrews 13 and conclude. We'll anchor a scripture with a story. Why don't you do that as an exercise in the months to come? Take one of your favorite scriptures, then go searching for the story, because Christianity cannot just simply be a bumper sticker. If it's just a bumper sticker, it's just a theory, it's just a philosophy, and it will melt in the oven of life as soon as it comes up. And so all of these things have been done for us as an example. But back here again in Hebrews 13, let's just read it for a second and conclude.

Hebrews 13 verse 6, so we may boldly say, that means with confidence, the Lord is my helper, I will not fear what can man do to me. The author of Hebrews, the apostle Paul, came to understand that a Christian is never truly alone. A Christian is surrounded by a tremendous cloud of witnesses that go before us and above us. We have a worldwide fellowship, we have a family with the same spirit that we haven't met, but they're ready to greet us at the Three Taverns, at the Appian Way, in Bend, in Hawaii, in Escondido, in Kerrville, and wherever the Spirit of God is alive and well.

And to recognize that wherever we go, God is already there. He's waiting for us.

The victories in Him. We only have to work out the details.