Hey, Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee, Cabal, and I'm your host for The Bible Recap.

If.

You're doing our New Testament plan, today we finished our 12th book. And if you're doing the whole Bible, we finished our 51st book. Paul defended himself in front of King Agripa and Governor Felix yesterday, and today we launch into the aftermath of that trial where he's being transported to Rome to appeal to Caesar like he requested. He has to be taken there by sea and the authorities are kind enough to let his friends travel with him, including our narrator, Luke. This is a bigger ship with sails and anchors, not a little fishing boat, and there are nearly 300 people on board. At this point, it's approximately 59 AD, roughly 30 years after Jesus rose from the dead, and it's autumn. The trip is taking them longer than it normally would because they hit some rough winds and have to reroute along the way. Around this time of year, most of the shipping expeditions are halted because the weather is so bad on the seas in winter. Paul tells them, I have a bad feeling about this, you guys. If we continue on, I don't think this is going to go well. We'll probably end up losing some of our supplies and some of our shipmates.

By the way, we don't have any evidence that this is a message from God. It could just be Paul speaking from experience. Either way, they don't listen to him. He's a prisoner after all. Sure enough, they hit a storm. On day two of the storm, they start throwing the ship's cargo overboard, which probably includes exports like wheat. On day three of the storm, they start throwing their actual tools and maybe even parts of the ship itself overboard. They're getting desperate. The sky is dark and stormy for days and they're feeling hopeless and probably seasick, too, I'm guessing. They haven't had anything to eat in days, but I'm not sure if that makes things better or worse. At one point, Paul stands up and says, I wish you would have taken my words to heart, but hopefully now that you've seen me give good advice, you'll listen to me, especially because this new message is actually from an angel. He told me that no one is going to die. We'll lose the boat, but we'll all live. So be encouraged. God is going to get us all to Rome. But a shipwreck is part of the journey.

After two weeks of this nightmare, they're finally approaching land. They start to make preparations to go to shore by dropping anchors from a dinghy, but Paul tells them, Nope, stay in the boat. They listen to him this time and cut the dinghy free. Paul starts calling the shots on the boat and they're actually listening to him. The next day, they shipwreck into the island of Malta, just south of Cicily. In the late 1960s, some divers found four anchors off the Coast of Malta that date back to first century Rome. The site where the anchors were discovered fits with the criteria listed in the text, so it's possible that these may be the anchors from Paul's ship. We posted a photo and an article about this in the show notes. The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners when they hit land before they're able to escape, but God has promised that no one will die, and he thorts their plan via the compassion of Paul's guard, Julius. And just like God promised, they all survive. As it turns out, the people of Malta are super nice, which isn't necessarily the response you'd expect when a bunch of prisoners crash land on your shore.

They make sure everyone is taken care of. Paul dusts off his Boy Scout skills and starts a fire, but he forgets that the first rule of campfires is watch out for vibes. A snake laches onto his hand, and the locals who are steeped in Greek mythology, take it as a sign that he's evil, a murderer, in fact. And well, they're not wrong. They say the Greek goddess justice is making sure he doesn't get away unpunished. But meanwhile, the one true God, Yahwey, is like, I'm sorry, Greek goddess who? You must have the wrong number. This guy belongs to me. Paul shakes off the snake and starts working on some s'mores and the people are astonished. After he doesn't even have so much as a swollen pinky, they decide that he is a god. Paul provokes such dramatic responses from people they either love him or hate him and sometimes both in the same hour. He's invited to stay at the home of the chief official, and while he's there, he heals the man's dad. This starts a domino effect with other sick people on the island, and Paul keeps healing them all. After about three months, when the worst part of winter has passed, they set sail again heading toward Rome.

When they arrive, they're greeted by friends, and Paul even gets to stay in his own cell, just him and his soldier. Because of his high status as a prisoner and probably the fact that his soldier has really taken a liking to him, he seems to be granted a lot more freedom than most other prisoners in this day. He calls a meeting of the local Jewish leaders in Rome and explains his situation to them. They say, We haven't heard anything negative about you, but we have heard bad stuff about the followers of Jesus that you're a part of. Then on what that's all about. They set up a day for him to tell everyone about it. When seminar day comes, loads of people show up at Paul's prison cell to hear the truth. He talks from morning until night as is his way. Some of them believe and some don't. People can hear the same truth and respond differently. That's because it doesn't depend on how well we make our argument or present the facts. The Spirit has to open hearts to hear the truth. Paul points that out to them and says, This is just like what Isaiah prophesied.

After attempting to share message with the Jews first and being met mostly with rejection, he moves on to share the message with the Gentiles. You may notice that even though Paul has primarily been called to minister to the Gentiles, everywhere he goes, he always starts with the Jews first. Paul lived as a prisoner in Rome for two years. If you visit Rome, you can walk into the cell where many believe he was held. It's a two cell dungeon called Memertinum, and it's also believed to be where Peter was held before his crucifixion. We'll link to an article about it in the show notes. What was your God shot today? Mine was Julius. I saw God's provision to appointing this man to be Paul's centurion of all the soldiers. God made sure to give Paul the softie, the one who would eventually come to listen to him and even spare his life. I bet after watching God speak to and through Paul, watching Paul humbly encourage even his enemies on the ship, watching him survive a snakebite and heal people for three months in Malta, he couldn't deny the truth. He probably heard his fair share of late night sermons, too.

We don't know for sure, but I bet God assigned Julius to be Paul's centurion not just for Paul's sake, but for Julius' sake, too. I hope he wasn't just impressed by Paul. I hope he came to know the saving faith of Christ. I love it when God reaches across enemy lines to show mercy and save those who oppose him. That's where he found all of us. I'm so glad he did because he's where the joy is.

Tomorrow.

We'll be reading the books of Colossians and Phyleton. Together, they're just five chapters. We're linking to a nine minute video overview for Colossians and a six minute video overview for Phyleton. So check those out if you have a chance.

Do you have.

Friends who know you've been reading through the Bible who talk about wanting to read alongside with you? If so, we've got some info coming out on a few days that will help everyone. We'll be posting an episode called Prep for Next Year that will have some really important updates and changes, so be sure to listen to that. Plus, we'll also be releasing our six prep episodes again. If you jumped in with us for the New Testament but haven't listened to those yet, we would encourage you to check them out too. And if you were with us for the Old Testament, you could probably use a refresher, right? We think everyone could benefit from giving these a listen. So keep your eyes filled for those six prep episodes plus the episode called prep for next year. You do not want to miss the info on our updates and changes. We've got some great things in store.

For you.

With less than two weeks left until Christmas, hopefully you've listened to Scrooge a Christmas Carol podcast. There's also a five day devotional that uses this Christmas tale to emphasize God's work in your heart. You can do these short devos with family or friends, and it will help keep the focus of Christmas on Jesus. Click the link in the show notes to check it out.