Acts Week 10
Acts 28: 1 – 10 (nkjv)
Welcome to Nambucca Baptist Church for our service today, 13th June 2021. It was a fine and sunny morning with a bit of chill in the air that soon warmed up as the sun rose. Today we have reached the end of our series in the book of Acts with our sermon today.
Our message relates to the first few verses of Acts 28, where Paul is shipwrecked along with 276 other men on the island of Malta. Malta was certainly not Paul’s original destination. God had told him to go to Rome and here he was shipwrecked a long way off course. Having survived this ordeal Paul helps out with those locals who had lit a fire to warm and dry the other survivors. He grabs what looks like a bundle of sticks and as soon as he got near the fire, one of those sticks woke up. A very angry viper bit Paul on the arm and refused to let go.
We can all find ourselves in places that we did not expect and which are not especially pleasant, the idea is to stay close to the call of God for your life and press through the disappointments into the grace of God. As for the snake, well we have all found ourselves bitten by the consequences of our own poor choices. The idea is to shake off the snake just like Paul and keep on doing the thing that God has called and destined for you to do.
This is where we would normally take up a collection but as you can see we can’t pass an offering bag around online. We have, however, provided a secure online giving facility for you. You can either use the Tithe.ly app on your smartphone or just click on the green button on the screen. We have been blessed by the way so many of you have managed to continue to give in various ways so that we can continue with the work of the Lord here in our church and beyond our walls.
There were originally two 12 second video clips from Taylor Swift’s song “Shake It Off” included in the sermon. YouTube blocked the whole original sermon and I have edited out the offending videos to enable us to get the message out. Apologies if those breaks seem a little wonky. As a consolation, I have included a link to the whole song at the bottom of the service. Enjoy.
It’s almost as if Taylor Swift had our message in mind when she sang this song. Here it is in full, so I hope you will see the connection.