The Hope of Israel in Chains
First B Jackson
2025-10-19

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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I'm going to try to calm down for just a minute. Sorry. I was coming down the hall early this morning. I saw a friend and I did a spit take of coffee and I'm a ball of nerves and I don't know why. Acts 28 is in front of us and maybe the shipwreck last week, the bunny last week, all of that stuff that we talked about.

Midweek this week, the rest of the team left to go down there and me in the house without Tanya is a little weird. You know, after thirty three years, that's kind of little weird and the different kind of divine appointments along the way, you start to just be more cognizant of or I start to be more introspective, circum spect, whatever. When when I'm not in the norm and I think mission trips help us to do that. Go into new places, help us to do that and so the other day, I was handling a couple items on my list before I left and I hit Swan Valley on the way to Idaho Falls carrying a piece of junk behind the truck, you know. That's that's what I do and it's like Peter going back to fishing.

I just go back to hauling junk. And as I was hauling this old piece of junk, I was following a motorcycle up about a eighth of a mile in front of me and then they veered off into the ditch and they bounced. And it was like all over the place and wild, pretty violent. Road speed not flying. I had a piece of junk behind me.

I was probably running 45 or 50, not 70 and they were in front of me keep we're maintaining safe distance, you know, long. They're away in front of When I saw him go off, I immediately started praying. I'm the next car and then they did. I I thought it was just one person. I saw someone go like a rag doll but this rag doll landed like a gymnast, both feet on the ground and then sat down.

And that was a 60 year old lady. Her husband, a 69 year old man was driving the bike neither had helmets on. And and I was the next guy and there were other people behind me. I pulled over and stopped and started rendering it. I was going to her because I didn't know there was a hymn.

I was going towards her and he was lying there in agonal breathing and that's near the end. Right? But he was breathing. I saw to her, are you okay? Yes.

What's his name? Bruce came back and started working with him and they both lived. I stayed there so did everybody else. There were tons of other people that stayed with us and we I I want to I want you all to be praying for me. That's why I'm bringing this up.

Bruce and Violet are their names. They're at the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. I'd stayed there with them until we had him on the helicopter and we had her in an ambulance and and then went on visited the guy in the, you know, the nursing home, took the junk to the junkyard, and then went by Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center and met the daughter as she was just arriving. I I was there just as she was arriving and was able to go back with her and met the son as I was leaving and that's a divine appointment without any doubt in my mind and I'm praying for that on this mission trip and it was an in between. It was in between.

They had already gone and I'm going next time and you know, what this is between. I gotta get a funeral done and two services on Sunday. I knew of those things but can we pray just a moment? Would you all pray where you are now? God for Bruce and for Violet and for Amy and for Ron and for Jordan and for his wife.

I pray right now. As Bruce is lying there unconscious, sedated because of the great pain, intubated, and on a ventilator. I pray that you'd heal his body completely and that he would he would recognize you, lord, that he'd be drawn into a relationship. Previously, he, I believe, has a relationship with that he'd be drawn into a relationship that is new and fresh and absolutely unhindered and lord that each of us that are praying for him would feel the same way. For Violet who did fly up into the air and come back down and has a a slight fracture in her neck and one in her foot.

Lord, for her, completely conscious from the moment she landed, completely conscious. I pray lord that this consciousness of the of the miracle that you have wrought, lord, that that she would be in her anticipation of Bruce's healing. Lord, that she'd be able to center her thoughts on you and I pray that I would be able to center my thoughts on you. God, show us the way that you'd have us to go and give us the grace lord to walk in it. Allow us to have our wits about us.

Amen. Amen. Thank you. Acts 28. Here we are.

This is the last chapter in the book of Acts. I sitting in sitting in seminary one time, I had a professor that said, well, what happens after Acts 28? And I said, Acts 29. I hadn't really counted how many chapters there were in Acts. Now, I know.

But Acts 29 is what's happening now, right? This story is still being written. It's still happening. Acts 28, this is where we left off. So, they they had left from Caesarea Maritime went through Sidon up around Cyprus, Cilicia, Pamphilia, Lida, Lydia, down towards Crete, Fair Havens, and then on to Phoenix.

And then all about in the drift. And they ended up being brought safely to land. I can say, hey, these folks have been brought safely to land. This is our group plus Jay Buckhalter who's the leader of the team. He's standing there next to Tanya.

We're old friends. They used to bring teams down to Mexico and his administrative abilities are incredible and so we just piggyback on their trip. So, we don't have to do that part. But that's a great, that's all the team from here except for Jay. So, you can pray for them and they were brought to land safely there in Guatemala.

Now, when they had been brought safely through, we, there, we found out that the island is called Malta. So, that's Malta out in the Mediterranean and here's a little better map. People made fun of my maps last week. They said it looked like that was Lego land and a lot of people online did not like it. So Malta is right there and this is where they landed according to the lay of the land from scripture and you know what?

Saint Paul's Bay. What a coincidence. That's why they call it Saint Paul's Bay, okay? They really love Paul on Malta from what I hear. The natives, the Maltese showed us extraordinary kindness for they kindled a fire and they took us all in because of the rain that had started and because of the cold.

I have been accused of leaving on the first day that snow hit the valley and I am guilty. But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper, that is a venomous snake. So, it says viper, it's not just any old snake, it's a viper. Sorry. If any of y'all are triggered, close your eyes.

Here. This is a bathrops asper. I know more about this snake than I want to. A viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on Paul's hand. On May eleventh twenty seventeenth, we had a team in Guatemala and that little snake I just showed you was a Barba Amaria.

That is a yellow bearded snake. It's also called tercio pillow, a velvet snake, and it's got a few others, a bathrobes asper. That's it. And that is my wife's finger. Yeah.

On a mission trip, went up to just get something out of her bag and came back. Woah. Drew back this and slung the snake just like, oh, it says Paul would do this in just a minute but he slung it off. You know, she slung it off. Couldn't find it after that.

We ended up going to the hospital that's there on-site, Saint John's and they had this the powder form of the serum, the anti venom but they didn't have the serum that you put with it And so we went down the hill in the suburban as fast as we could go in the pouring rain and we got to another clinic and they had the serum and so they had a rotavirus outbreak and they wouldn't allow anybody to come in to the hospital. So they handed us the serum through the bars, and we ended up at the Mega Medica Emergency Clinic. And it's a big hospital, not too terribly far away, and we ended up spending the night there. Tanya had this anti venom infused, and we had great care. No problems with the care there, was wonderful.

And then, overnight, at 04:41AM, there was an earthquake. You know, whenever you watch and cover just Central America and you see an earthquake, the thing that they show that's flattened is always the hospital. Almost always. And we're on the 5th Floor, Top Floor, 4th Or 5th Floor of this hospital. And it was like, goodness gracious.

What else can go wrong on this trip? We had left Paschal. She had no no way of being in touch with us. They took her on a a trip the next morning. The next morning was the time where they take you out and you see the ruins of whatever.

So she's walking through the ruins where they used to do child sacrifice without either of her parents. Not knowing. Anyway, Tanya said, is the shaking of my hands shaking this whole room? I said, no, this whole room is shaking. We spent the night in this little room right there.

Pray for our trip to Guatemala. Would y'all pray for our people? I just thought I'd mention this. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another, undoubtedly, this man is a murderer. Now, they know it's a ship full of prisoners.

This guy, he's one of the really, really bad guys. This is a murderer. Though he has been saved from the sea and we've heard quite the tale, justice has not allowed him to live. You know what? People have a sense of what is good and right.

Even if they don't know to God, they have a sense of what is right. God has given us a conscience and he's given us an idea that there is such a thing as right and wrong even if we disagree about what that is. Justice has not allowed him to live. However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and he suffered no harm. Thank you.

Tanya suffered no long lasting harm from this. Now, they were expecting that he was going to swell up and suddenly fall down dead because that's what happens when you get bit by venomous snake, and they know that. But after they had waited a long time and seen nothing unusual happen to him, then they changed their minds and they began to say that he was a god. Can you see how people are all over the map? Fickle people that we are.

First of all, he's a murderer, now he's a god. And this is not the first time for Paul that he's been accused of being a god. You remember in Lystra, it says, when the crowd saw what Paul had done, healing a a lame man, they said the gods have become like men and they attributed that he was the God. And that just Paul rips his clothes. I'm not a god.

You're misunderstand. I do carry the message of God with me but I do this in Jesus name. Jesus is God. I am not God. So, now in the neighboring parts of this place or lands belonging to the leading man of the whole island was named Publius and Publius who welcomed us and entertained us warmly for three days.

And it happened that the father of Publius was lying in bed afflicted with a recurring fever and with dysentery. Actually, this place down there in Guatemala is this is the main thing they they help rescue. Hope of life is the name of the organization and what they do apart from the teams that come down all of the time, what they do is they hear about somebody in a village in a remote area, and they go up into the village. Tanya's been on a couple of these rescues, where you go up into the village and they find a child usually, or an older person that has fever and dysentery, and they don't have any way of getting better. And they bring those folks back to this compound hope of life.

There's a hospital there, there's a nursing home there, there's an orphanage there, and there's a village of people who have come down from the villages to have the aftercare needed. But Publius' dad was lying in bed. Publius is an important guy. He's a wealthy landowner but he can't do anything about his dad's illness. And so, Paul went in to see him and after he prayed, he laid his hands on him and he healed him.

And after this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him and they were being cured. The miracles always authenticate the message. When I say Malta is they love Paul, they love Paul, and they love Christ because they follow after Paul who followed after Christ and it's still that way. Two thousand years later, Malta is very very Christian and it's because Paul presented with them with the gospel. It doesn't go into it at great length here but we know what Paul does.

They also showed us, Luke says, many honors and when we, Luke says, we're about to set sail, they supplied us with everything that we needed. Luke was there. He was a witness to what was going on and after three months, we set sail on an Alexandrian ship. They had arrived on an Alexandrian ship. Did remember what happened to that Alexandrian ship?

Stuck in the reef and beaten to pieces. This is a different one. So this is the third ship they've been on since they lived at Maritime Caesarea. After three months, we set sail because that's the time of year they should have been sailing in the first place. Which had wintered on the island and which had the twin brothers for its figurehead.

There they are. Thank you, Nick. Thank you, Chris. The twin brothers, it's interesting because we live in a a we live in a land that is like, we know that this is not we know that this is not Christian, right? We know that our place.

Now, it belongs to this is my father's world and this is Christ. Everything's made through him and belongs to him but we know that not everybody attributes the glory to God like they should. The twin brothers, these are Castor and Pollocks. If you are into astronomy or astrology or constellations at all, Gemini, the twins, this is them. And they were the patron, not saints, but the patron gods or whatever of sailors and horsemen for some reason.

I don't know why. Just this. Castor and Pollock, sons of Zeus, one supposedly divine and one human. Y'all probably need to know all this but Castor and Pollux were the figurehead of this boat that's now transporting Paul and Luke and Aristarchus and all of those other prisoners, soldiers, and whatnot. After we put in at Syracuse, we stayed there for three days.

So, they went from Malta to Syracuse which is on the Southeastern End of Sicily. And it says, and from there, we sailed around and arrived at Regium. If you're modern day Italy is Regio, Italy, Regio, Italy, which is right about there between Italy and Sicily but on the Italian shore, not the Sicilian shore of the straight. And it says, oh on the second day, we came to Puzzoli and Puzzoli is Puzzoli. Now, in Italy which is very near Naples and so there we found some brothers and sisters.

Isn't that cool? This is the first time Paul's been this way. He's he's getting there and there are already brothers and sisters there. That's cool. So there we found some brothers and sisters and we were invited to stay with them for seven days.

They were hospitable towards them. That's what they're supposed to be and that's how we came to Rome. We got from Naples to Rome. Now, whether they went by ship or whether they walked from there, it doesn't go into that. There are people that are differing opinions but and from there, the brothers and sisters, when they heard about us, they came as far as the market of Appeus and the three ends to meet us and when Paul, it's it's interesting that he gives all these place names.

They're they're it's very detailed. It's very detailed and I think for Theophilus reading this, he didn't make this story up. You know, he's just saying this is what happened. And when Paul saw them, he thanked God and he took courage. There are brothers and sisters here already.

Now, think about this. In this is in '61, I think, about '61. So, winner of '57 beginning of '58, he writes Romans and he sends it to the Romans. Ain't that cool? Like the church at Rome and then the spreading out from there has reached these brothers and sisters.

It's it's so awesome And can you imagine how grateful Paul was to God and how much it encouraged him after this journey? Now, when we entered into Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself after being on a ship with 276 people. And after all of the guard, guards, guards, everything else it says, he did he did have one soldier that was there guarding him. It doesn't sound like he was in a bad position at all. Now, after three days, Paul called together those who are the leading men of the Jews.

What a persistent guy he is. What happens usually when he calls it, when he's called to in by the leading men of the Jews? Well, he's been beaten. He's been threatened. He's been flogged.

He's been run out of town. He's been attempted stoning. Exactly. He's had all these things happen but after three days of sitting there in Rome, I'm sure prayerfully says, to the Jew first and then the Gentile. I'm going start where they ought to know the story, right?

So, he calls them together and when they came together, he began saying to them, brothers, how gracious that is. He's not holding any animosity in his heart towards his fellow Jews. Brothers, though I had not done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers. Yet, I was handed over to the Romans as a prisoner from Jerusalem. So, the Jews are the ones who handed them over, right?

And when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there were no grounds for putting me to death and that's true of Felix and that's true of Festus and that's true even after a group of Bernice. It's true, right? When they had examined me, they were willing to release me. But but when the Jews objected, I was a forced to appeal to Caesar. Not that I had any accusation against my nation.

I didn't countersue. The norm today is if somebody sues you, you immediately sue them back. It's not my fault. It's your fault. But he he didn't do that.

I was forced to appeal to Caesar. He knew that there were plots against him if he would have taken a ship across to Caesarea or to Syria one time. He knew there's a plot against him from Jerusalem to Caesarea the next time. He knows that there are multiple plots to kill him and so he does appeal to Caesar, uses his Roman citizenship as he should have. I was forced to appeal to Caesar not that I had any accusation against my nation.

For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you. I want to do everything I do in the open. I'm I'm not doing anything in secret. I want to speak to you. Since I'm wearing this chain for the sake of what?

The hope of Israel. The hope of the people of God. I'm wearing these chains for the hope of Israel. Now, they said to him, we have neither received letters from Judea concerning you nor has now which is interesting because they the Rome had received the letter from him. The the church had received the letter but he hasn't, they have not, the brothers in the synagogue have not received the letter from Jerusalem.

We've needed to receive letters from Judea concerning you nor have any of the brothers come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. As far as we're concerned, you've got a clean slate. State your case. But we desire to hear from you what your views are. For regarding this sect, it is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere.

We know that what the way is, they were maybe called Christians at this point in other places they were, but he's saying, we understand the sect of the Nazarenes. We know that they exist, and we understand that usually when we hear about them, it's not good. So, you tell us what you think. And when they had set a day for Paul, this is the second meeting. After three days, Paul calls them all together and then he says, let's let's come up with a time when we can get together and so, they bring more people this time.

When they had set a day for Paul, people came to him at his lodging in large numbers and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets and he was doing it from morning till evening. This is like the fourth time that Luke has said Paul talks for a lot. You know, he goes on and on and on. He just keeps on but this, you know, when Jesus called him and he said, you're going to be my representative. He he showed him all the things in the Old Testament that were about him and Paul knowing this stuff and knowing their view of this stuff would be just right for explaining it to him and some were being persuaded by the things that Paul said but others would not believe and I I would say that if you look throughout the book of Acts, every time that we have seen the gospel presented all the way back to the second chapter and on the day of Pentecost empowered by the Holy Spirit.

If you see anytime that the gospel is presented, it almost always says and some accepted and some rejected and in Acts 17, it says, some will hear you later, right? So, the same thing is happening. The other cool thing is, this is the same gospel that was being presented. It doesn't change. You know what?

It hasn't changed. The way, Jesus is the way. He's the truth. He's the life. The Old Testament, both the law of Moses, Torah, and the prophets Tanuk, all of this points towards Jesus.

Now, he's going to explain this. Wouldn't you have loved to had that series? That video series. Of the question and answer period from this and some were being persuaded by the things said about Paul but others would not believe. And when they disagreed with one another, they began leaving after Paul said this one parting statement.

Now, it caused a rift. The gospel does cause a rift. We shouldn't cause a rift just because but the gospel will cause a rift between the ones who believe and the ones who reject. It will. But let it be the gospel that does that, not your opinion or your attitude.

Right? When they disagreed with one another, they began leaving after Paul said to them this one parting statement. The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah, the prophet, to your fathers. Would all of them have agreed with that? At this point, all of them would have agreed that the Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. I agree. I agree.

And they might have even thought a chapter and verse while Paul was wrong. But they would have been wrong. The Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah, the prophet, to your father, saying this, go to this people, Isaiah, Paul, Ray. Go to these people and say, you will keep on hearing and you will not understand and you will keep on seeing and will not perceive for the hearts of these people have become insensitive and with their ears, they hardly hear and they've closed their eyes. They don't want to see.

Otherwise, they might see with their eyes and otherwise, they might hear with their ears and understand with their heart and return and I would heal them. I, this is Isaiah and this is word of the Lord, you know, but have you all ever heard a confirmation bias? If we okay. You have heard of it too. How about the Paul Simon line?

Still man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest. No. No. No. Right?

I don't want to hear what you're hearing right now. That's what the ones who are disagreeing with him were doing. He's saying, open your ears. Open your ears and hear. Now, the Holy Spirit spoke rightly when he said this.

Isaiah six nine and ten, this is what it says. It's exactly what he said. He quoted it. Go and tell this people, be ever hearing but never understand. Be ever seeing but never perceiving.

Make the heart of this people callous. Make their eyes dull and close their eyes. Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and be healed and you know where it says this? It's Isaiah six. Isaiah six where Isaiah receives this call from God, sees him in the temple, the his resplendent glory fills the temple and immediately, Isaiah says, woe is me, I am undone.

When confronted with the holiness of God, it's woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I dwell in amongst the people of unclean lips and he feels like he needs to be smited, right? And God takes an ember and cleanses his tongue and gives him what he is supposed to say. Amen.

It's right after six eight and then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send and who's going to go forward for us? And I said, here am I, send me. That's so cool. Now, knowing what follows is this, I'm going to go and tell these people and they're they're not going to respond or at least some of them are not going to respond. It's still the word of the Lord.

When you read through the prophets and I'm thinking about going into the minor prophets, pray for me. That's what I'm thinking about going into next. When you hear the word of the Lord coming through Amos or the word of the Lord coming through Micah or the word of the Lord coming through Malachi. You hear it and a lot of those guys are like, I don't want to deliver this message because it's an unpopular message. Even Amos saying, listen, I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet but the word of the Lord came to me and this is what it said.

Right? So, this is what he's saying. Go and tell these people. And so Paul says that to them and they start to leave. You know, morning and evening.

Nah, I'm not listening to that and they're condemning themselves again for not having heard and understood and taking it in because they don't want to hear it. In their pride, they don't want to hear it. In humility, you can say, oh, I've had this wrong. And now I see. Therefore, let it be known to all of y'all that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles and they will also listen.

If you go back to Deuteronomy eighteen eighteen fifteen, I think it is where he says, look, be looking for. There's God is gonna send you a prophet. He's gonna send you somebody from among you that's like me and he is gonna speak the words of God and y'all listen to him and Paul is saying, the Gentiles are going to listen. You're rejecting it but you're rejecting it fully well hearing all that you need to know. The Gentiles are going to listen and when he had said these words, oh, this is King James version by the way.

If you look through your most of your translations will go from 28 to 30. I'll just skip over 29 altogether. It's a textual tradition. So, this is from the Texas receptus. So, the King James version, New King James, and a lot of them will have it as a marginal note.

Says verse 29 says this, after 28, the the Gentiles are going to listen and then when he had said these words, the Jews departed and had great reasoning among themselves. So, he started an argument among them. And then 30 says this, now Paul stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and he welcomed all who came to him. Doesn't that sound peaceful? It does.

After all that he's been through, doesn't it sound peaceful? He stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and welcomed all who came to him and he was proclaiming or preaching the kingdom of God which is what John the Baptist preached which is what Jesus preached which is what Peter preached which is what Paul it says, was preaching and that's what we want to keep on preaching, preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness. He was not doing it in a corner. He was open to everybody who would come to him and the last word in this whole book is unhindered. That's my favorite word in the whole book.

And if you consider all of Acts, have we hit hindrances? Yeah. Over cultural bounds, over geographic bounds, over all kinds of misunderstanding, over all kinds of pride issues, religious issues, all kinds of stuff but the way that the gospel moves forward is steadily and the gospel itself is unhindered. It says at times in the book of Acts that the Holy Spirit hindered them from doing what they thought they ought to do And hey, he might do that to you too. May we be unhindered.

Lord God almighty, I pray that the hindrances that we feel on this Earth and in our time that lord that we would recognize that they are not hindrances to the gospel. Lord God almighty, would we be willing and able to make the next right step to fulfill the commission to get your gospel to the ends of the earth. May we trust in the sovereignty of God but use the responsibility that we have. May we be assuring to people. May we have confidence amid opposition.

May we prioritize proclamation. May we encourage people that are stuck in restricted context. Actually, looking at Paul being stuck in different places. May we care about those who are stuck in prison. May we care about those who are stuck in restrictive government places.

May the gospel flourish in our living rooms. I think back to Acts two forty two and five forty two where it says, in daily in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ and then, often it'll add and the Lord added to their number those who are being saved. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen. Amen.

Would you stand