Detours :: A Sermon on Acts 28:1-10

the week in review for the week ending July 19th

“What is the proper response to a detour in your life?”

Acts 28: 1-10 :: Paul Ashore on Malta

28 Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. ² The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. ³ Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. ⁶ The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

⁷ There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. ⁸ His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. ⁹ When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. ¹⁰ They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.

Pastor intern JP is from Africa. He began his sermon by telling the story of a bus ride he took in 2014 to travels to his sister’s wedding in Congo. The bus caught fire. Some people on the bus risked their safety to save the bus driver and stop the fire. JP was travelling with his siblings and their plans took a detour when they had to stay overnight in a police station to wait for the next bus, which was scheduled for the next day. He told us about how a woman amongst them felt called to share the Gospel while they waited overnight.

Sometimes the best laid plans are interrupted. When we meet roadblocks on our journey we face a choice about how we respond to the detour.

Q. What is the proper response to a detour in your life?

A. It is to continue serving Christ/G-d.

First point. Keep the fire burning … during the bad weather.

Before this passage Paul and the crew and passenger survived a shipwreck. Paul told the ship captain not to sail in the bad weather. The captain disregarded his advice. The ship got wrecked near the shores on Malta.

Paul is bitten on the hand by a viper snake as he puts more wood on the fire; in being eager to serve Paul gets bitten. He survives. Paul keeps fire in the rainy weather.

What are detours?

1. They’re connected with g-d’s greater plans

2. They’re not meaningless

3. They serve a divine purpose as seen in Jesus

How do we experience detours ? Delay versus redirection | Interruption versus disruption

JP spoke of the “butness” of detours: they ruin our well laid out plans. G-d’s plans don’t pause during detours and we are His hands and feet.

Ask yourself these questions. Do we respond poorly during a detour? Do we doubt g-d’s promises?

Paul was shipwrecked 3 times before this. He didn’t let past his past misfortunes define him

JP mentioned the Pareto Principle, the 20-80 rule — 80% of work is done by 20% of the people. Are we active threats to the adversary or harmless bystanders? The adversary doesn’t fear harmless bystanders, he fears the active threats, ie. those who continue doing the right thing even when they face trials.

In the Biblical passage, the Maltese are fickle and confused — they gossiping about Paul because he survived a viper bite and then they worship him when he heals the sick. Paul doesn’t waver, he trusts g-d’s promise. Second point. Trust in g-d’s promises.

Healing of Publius’s father and the other Maltese done by Paul refers also to salvation. Malta became Christian and the governor Publius became its first bishop.Third point. Continue serving Christ faithfully by sharing the Good News.

Detours do bring change and sometimes they invoke stormy seas and yet we are anchored in Jesus. JP reminds you and I that we are where we’re supposed to be. Step boldly. There’s hope in every trial.

Remember the Three Points of How to Handle a Detour —

1. Keep fire burning

2. Trust in g-d’s promises

3. Share the Good News.

Week in Review

How can we apply this lesson in our daily lives and how can we improve our public discourse and social activism and our political system, inspired by this lesson from the Gospel? How do we handle detours as a society? Poorly, we handle them poorly. Think of Covid-19 and the government’s unhinged tyrannical response. Think of the dehumanisation that progressives perpetrated. Think of the way the PRC orchestrated the pandemic. Think of the dismissal of that entire line of thinking. Think of the undisputed evidence that’s surfaced about the role of the CCP in manipulating the west with the Wuhan Virus. Think of the silence of Covid evangelicals now.

How did we handle the detour of the Wuhan Virus? Well some of us responded by organising and supporting the Freedom Convoy and its occupation of downtown Ottawa. How’d that work out for everyone? Not great.

Reader, we suck. We really suck at this detour thing.

How did we handle the other pandemic? That’s the overdose crisis. We devolved into a nightmare society where public health gets hijacked by professional drug pushers. Harm reduction got hijacked by a genocidal social experiment called public supply of addictive drugs (PSAD). Treatment has become harmful and enabling deadly drugs had become harm reducing. Nepotism pervades the public health and academic institutions. The same few influencers dominate the studies, just like Gender Medicine studies. It’s all corrupted and rigged.

Reader, why do we suck like this?

How did we handle the detour of the October 7th Massacre? Canada has devolved in an Islamist apologist, Jew hating, Christian hating hell hole of radicalism. Cops bringing antisemitic Hamasnik protestors coffee. Cops protecting Islamists intimidating the public with their call to prayers in the street. Hate crimes being ignored. Only thought crimes matter in Canada now. There’s a vocal group of pro Netanyahu Kahanists and they seem happy to sacrifice hostages for their messianic war fantasy narrative.

Again, we suck at detours.

How will we handle the detour of the Lich-Barber sentencing, which begins tomorrow? That remains to be seen.

Below the line you’ll find my recent writings, both here and at New Westminster Times.

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Eating People Alive

Nightmare

What’s the proper way to handle a detour in your life?

Think about the ways we handle detours, individually and collectively.