Rev. Don Campbell
Acts 27-28
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, DECEMBER 14, 2019
“IF GOD BRINGS US TO IT,…”
Paul’s preaching about the resurrection had divided the Sadducees and Pharisees to the point that a great clamor broke out and Roman soldiers had to rescue Paul from them and bring him to their barracks. The following night the Lord spoke to him saying, “Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome” (Acts 26:11). Following a plot to kill him, his appearance before Felix and Festus, his appeal to Caesar, and Agrippa’s signing off on his appeal, Paul set sail for Rome as a prisoner, traveling at the expense of Caesar (Acts 27:1-2). After several months and a shipwreck, Paul finally arrived safely in Rome (Acts 28:16). Acts ends with the words: “He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”
Paul did not sit in a cell moaning and weeping about how he had suffered for the cause of Christ. He was quite busy, writing Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and Philemon. He also met Philemon’s runaway slave Onesimus and led him to faith in Christ (Philemon 10-21). Epaphroditus brought a gift to him from the Philippian church and almost died ministering to Paul (Philippians 2:25-30; 4:18). Tychicus was Paul’s mail carrier, delivering Ephesians (Ephesians 6:21), Colossians, and Philemon (Colossians 4:7-9).
There’s a popular saying: IF GOD BRINGS YOU TO IT, GOD WILL BRING YOU THROUGH IT. When God makes a promise, we can rest assured, it will be fulfilled. However, it is seldom fulfilled as we envision it. Traveling as a prisoner, suffering shipwreck, and having other narrow escapes, Paul probably did not envision how productive his imprisonment would be. Paul, the prisoner, had a captive audience in the soldiers who guarded him around the clock. As a result, when he wrote his epistle to the Philippians, he could report: “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear” (1:12-14).
CONNECTIONS
1. What has God brought you to that he has not yet brought you through? Are you using the time to mop and moan or using it as an opportunity?
2. How did God bring you through something in a way you could never have imagined?
