Peace of Our Savior Lutheran Church and Preschool - WELS

Acts 28:1-16

Acts 28

Safe on Malta

¹ Once we were safely on shore, we learned that the island was called Malta. ² The natives showed us extraordinary kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all, because it had started to rain and was cold.

³ As Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and laid it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he escaped from the sea, Justice ^[1] has not allowed him to live.”

⁵ However, Paul shook the snake off into the fire and was not harmed. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited for a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷ In the nearby vicinity was an estate that belonged to a man named Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as his guests for three days. ⁸ The father of Publius happened to be sick in bed, suffering from a fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, prayed, laid his hands on him, and healed him.

⁹ After that happened, others on the island who were sick also came and were healed. ¹⁰ They honored us in many ways, and when we were going to sail, they put on board whatever we needed.

On to Rome

¹¹ After three months, we set sail in an Alexandrian ship that had wintered at the island. Its figurehead was the Twin Brothers. ^{[2] 12} We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³ From there we sailed up the coast and arrived at Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and on the second day we came to Puteoli. ¹⁴ There we found some brothers ^[3] and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵ The brothers there heard the news about us and came as far as the Forum of Appius and Three Taverns to meet us. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and was encouraged.

God’s Witness Reaches Rome

¹⁶ When we entered Rome, ^[4] Paul was allowed to live by himself with a soldier who guarded him.

Acts 27:21-44

Acts 27

²¹ After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice and not set sail from Crete and avoided this damage and loss. ²² But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because there will be no loss of life among you. Only the ship will be lost. ²³ In fact, last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me ²⁴ and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And surely God has graciously given you all those who are sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, because I believe God that it will be exactly the way I have been told. ²⁶ However, we must run aground on some island.”

The Shipwreck

²⁷ When the fourteenth night came, while we were being driven back and forth in the Adriatic Sea, ^[1] about midnight the sailors suspected that they were approaching some land. ²⁸ They took soundings and found it to be one hundred twenty feet deep. ^[2] After sailing a little farther, they took soundings again and found it was ninety feet deep. ^{[3] 29} Fearing that we would run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daybreak.

³⁰ The sailors tried to escape from the ship and had let down the skiff into the sea, pretending they were going to put out anchors from the bow. ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “If these men do not stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut the ropes holding the skiff and let it fall away.

³³ Just before daybreak, Paul urged them all to eat some food. He said, “This is the fourteenth day you have waited in suspense and have gone without food. You have eaten nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take some food because this is important for your rescue. In fact, not a hair from any of your heads will be lost.” ³⁵ After he said these things and had taken some bread, he gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. ³⁶ They were all encouraged and took some food themselves. ³⁷ In all there were 276 of us on the ship. ³⁸ When they had eaten all they wanted, they lightened the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.

³⁹ At daybreak, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach, where they planned to run the ship aground if they could. ⁴⁰ They cut off the anchors, leaving them in the sea, and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then, after hoisting the foresail to the wind, they headed for the beach. ⁴¹ But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and would not move, while the stern began to break up from the pounding of the waves.

⁴² The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners so that no one would swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion wanted to save Paul and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make their way to land. ⁴⁴ The rest were to follow, some on planks, and some on other pieces from the ship. In this way, all of them were brought safely onto land.

Acts 27:1-20

Acts 27

Paul Sails for Rome

¹ When it was decided that we ^[1] would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, of the Imperial Regiment. ² After boarding a ship from Adramyttium, which was going to sail for ports along the coast of the province of Asia, we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.

³ The next day, we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care. ⁴ From there we put out to sea and sailed on the sheltered side of Cyprus, because the winds were against us. ⁵ We crossed the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia and landed at Myra in Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy, and he put us on board. ⁷ We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus. Since the wind did not permit us to go further, we sailed on the sheltered side of Crete, off Salmone. ⁸ With difficulty we sailed along its coast and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

⁹ Since so much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the Fast ^[2] was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰ “Men, it looks to me as if the voyage is going to end with disaster and great loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.” ¹¹ But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and the owner of the ship than to what Paul was saying. ¹² Since that harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix and winter there. (Phoenix is a harbor on Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.) ¹³ When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they could carry out their plan. They raised the anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete.

The Storm

¹⁴ But before long, a hurricane-like wind, called the “northeaster,” rushed down from the island. ¹⁵ Since the ship was caught in it and could not head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. ¹⁶ As we sailed on the sheltered side of a small island called Cauda, we were barely able to secure the skiff. ^{[3] 17} After hoisting it on board, the men tied ropes around the ship to reinforce it. Then, fearing that they would run aground on the sandbars of Syrtis, they lowered the sea anchor and in this way were driven along. ¹⁸ Because we were tossed around so violently by the storm, the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. ¹⁹ On the third day, they threw the ship’s gear overboard with their own hands. ²⁰ When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the violent storm kept pressing down on us, finally all hope that we would be saved was disappearing.

Acts 26:19-32

Acts 26

¹⁹ “Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. ²⁰ Rather, I first told those in Damascus and Jerusalem about it, and then throughout the entire country of Judea and also the Gentiles. I told them that they should repent and turn to God, while also doing works that are consistent with repentance. ²¹ These are the reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²² “But I have had help from God right up to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would happen, ²³ that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴ While Paul was saying these things in his defense, Festus shouted, “Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you insane.”

²⁵ But Paul replied, “I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am clearly speaking words that are true and sensible. ²⁶ Certainly the king to whom I am freely speaking knows about these things. Indeed, I cannot believe that any of these things has escaped his notice, because this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”

²⁸ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “In such a short time are you going to persuade me to become ^[1] a Christian?”

²⁹ Paul replied, “I pray God, that whether in a short time or a long time, not only you, but also all those who are listening to me today would become what I am, except for these chains.”

³⁰ After he had said these things, ^[2] the king stood up, along with the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. ³¹ After they had left, they said to one another in private, “This man is doing nothing worthy of death or chains.”

³² Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Acts 26:1-18

Acts 26

¹ Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”

Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. ² “King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am going to make my defense before you today concerning all the things about which I am being accused by the Jews, ³ especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.

⁴ “All the Jews know the way I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. ⁵ They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion.

⁶ “And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, ⁷ the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. I am being accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O King. ⁸ Why does it seem unbelievable to any of you that God raises the dead?

⁹ “I too was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. ¹⁰ And that is what I did in Jerusalem. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹ I often tried to make them blaspheme by punishing them throughout all the synagogues. Because I was so insanely angry with them, I even pursued them to foreign cities.

¹² “That is how I came to be traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. ¹³ At noon along the road, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. ¹⁴ We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ^[1] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ ^[2]

¹⁵ “Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’

“The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ¹⁶ Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen ^[3] and to the things I will reveal to you. ¹⁷ I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. ¹⁸ You are to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’