Bible in Context April 2006

Part 2:

When we became believers we:

repented of our sins,

we asked Jesus to come into our lives

and to become our master and Lord,

and then He said:

“O.K.!

And as a special bonus I’ll also

be your friend, your confidant,

and your protector.”

When we became “believers” we said

“I will trust You and try to obey You

(because we knew we would probably

blow that one a time or two)”

and He said:

“I will save you from eternal damnation,

and I will save you from yourself”

We call Jesus our Savior yet,

we seem to have a difficult time accepting

that when He asks us to do something,

He will give us all we need to do it.

If you would, please turn in your Bible

to the book of Acts chapter 28 verses

1 through 10.

Paul is a prisoner on a ship bound

for Rome. God has told him that he

must stand before Caesar but first

there’s going to be this little shipwreck…

These verses start out just after

everyone gets to shore…

Acts 28:1-10

Safe at Malta

¹When they had been brought safely

through, then we found out that

the island was called Malta.

²The natives showed us extraordinary

kindness; for because of the rain that

had set in and because of the cold,

they kindled a fire

and received us all.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks

and laid them on the fire, a viper came out

because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

⁴When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand,

they began saying to one another, “Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, and though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵However he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and began to say that he was a god.

⁷Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously three days. ⁸And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with recurrent fever and dysentery; and Paul went in to see him and after he had prayed, he laid his hands on him and healed him. ⁹After this had happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and getting cured. ¹⁰They also honored us with many marks of respect; and when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed.”

Paul is going about his Masters business!

When you’re doing what God wants you to do, then there isn’t anything that can get in your way – except us.

That’s what’s so great about the “Great Commission”.

Jesus has commissioned us to spread the gospel. When He did that He gave us His Authority to do it!

Think about it! When you and I are doing the job that He gave us to do, we have the Authority and Power of God to do that job!

( end part 2. Still more to come!)