Pastor's Ponderings: Bible Study on Acts of the Apostles 26:12-27:38 (September 29, 2026)

September 28, 2026:  Monday Bible Study on Acts 26:12-31

I hope that you are planning your time away from home carefully today and tomorrow. It appears that we could have some heavy rain if the hurricane moves the way that forecasters are predicting. So, on this day of getting ready, may our Lord Jesus Christ surround your life with His Holy Spirit for your safety, your growth in faith, and the abundant life which our Savior promises.

Please continue to pray for the outcome of Camille treatment to be good with complete healing. Pray too for Regina who continues to work through her vision issues, that the further treatments that she is going through right now will succeed in restoring her vision.

I will start my push right now to be certain that you are registered to vote in the November election, and if you are going to vote by mail that your ballot arrives to your home in a timely way in the next two weeks. Thank you so much for fulfilling the work of being a citizen of our nation by casting your ballot in the election.

In our readings for today we are going to listen to Paul lay claim to the call on his life from the day that he was struck down in a storm on his way to Damascus to persecute the Jews who had joined the Christian Cult in that city. Remember that he is now presenting his case to King Agrippa and his wife Bernice, in addition to the presence of the Governor, Festus, and the others from Jerusalem who had come to prove their case against Paul. At the outset, we need to know that the leaders who are there, both Roman and the Jewish King and his wife really do listen to Paul's witness, and there is a definite shift on the part of the leaders to how they feel about Paul's situation, and the charges against him. Paul defends himself by telling the story of how he came to be committed to Jesus and those who claimed Him as the Messiah sent from God. This is a story with which you and I are quite familiar. We all need to know that we too have a story of God's action in our lives which has brought us to live lives that are immersed in God's Grace and Light. In my own life I have looked back amazed at how I was brought to a place through my birth and Baptism, to my music, called to serve in church, to my marriage to Melody in which her faith and trust in God would give her the courage to support and encourage my own call to serve the Gospel, to head off to four years of graduate theological training, living in a rough apartment, poor as "church mice" with two little children and then to be at my side in my first call, and even yet, another call to move cross country to a place where she had never been before, and in all of this to be a very important part of my openness to the Spirit's presence and guidance.  In Tucson God gave is the opportunity for our gifts to be used for the Gospel, and for us to grow our large family that we had always wanted from the time we talked about it in our early marriage, and before. Now, in my senior years I have grown in wisdom and faith and have come to know how imperfect I can be, having to bring God's grace to my brokenness and life. This is what Paul undertakes in his conversations with Agrippa. He shares his detailed story of his Call in a storm by Christ Himself, to the healing of his vision so that he might begin to understand the power of Christ's Love for all people, his travels around Asia Minor and Greece, and his journey to bring aide to the poor and destitute in Jerusalem, while at the same time bringing resources to support the ministry there. As part of this Paul appeals to Agrippa as a Jew who understands the power and presence of God for those who honor Him with their lives and service, and as a leader who knows about the prophets’ time after time messages about the coming One, the Light of God, the Messiah. In the last passage that we are using for today's study, we come to realize that Paul's defense has been successful. He does not deserve the charges laid against him, but there is an issue which cannot be resolved. As a born Roman citizen who requested the judgement of Caesar in Rome, neither Agrippa nor Festus have the authority to give Paul his freedom, he must now stand before the greatest judge in the Roman Empire, and once again claim his innocence.

Starting Tomorrow, we will travel with Paul on his final journey and hoped for opportunity to share the Good News in Rome!

With Love in Christ, Pastor Kim

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September 29, 2026:  Tuesday Bible Study on Acts 27:1-38

Good morning on this cloudy, rainy, and unusual September day. Please be safe as you are out today. Please remember that this coming Sunday is the Blessing of the Animals Sunday during worship, it is a Gospel Music Sunday with a carry-in meal after worship. That is a lot to do on one Sunday, but I know that we can manage it. Please be sure to join us. The Gospel Music group also rehearses at 9AM. There will be donuts for our singers who didn't have time to catch breakfast.

Today we are going to be moving through most of chapter 27. It shares with us the blessings and difficulties of Paul's journey toward Rome. I think when we all create a picture of sailing on a ship, it is one of generous food, wonderful cabins for relaxing and sleeping, and adequate personal space. That was not the circumstance for Paul, his companion Aristarchus, the Roman centurion Julius, the other passengers, or the crew. Paul set sail from Sidon on a ship from Adramyttium. Just to get started, we need to take note of the treatment of Paul and Aristarchus. They were both treated well, with compassion for their circumstances, kindness, and freedom to visit friends along the port-to-port journey. As we consider that Paul has a friend with him, we need to ask how that was possible. Likely, Aristarchus had to become Paul's slave for him to make the journey at Paul's side. The centurion, who had authority over Paul, Julius, was probably an older, well respected military person who had been given authority to function as Rome's intermediary between their conquered lands and the presence of the authority of Caesar. Obviously, he did not see Paul, or his "slave" as any kind of a threat to this journey. In the autumn of the year, the sea was not particularly friendly for those attempting to move along its coasts from east to west, which was the route that was being taken. Small, port hopping travel days were necessary to combat the strong autumn westerlies. In fact, it was taking so long that Julius decided to change boats to a much larger, Egyptian corn ship. Of course, the best path to sail would be to round the end of Greece, and to sale much more directly to Italy, but it was not to be. The Egyptian ship was massive, laden with corn to sell to Roman. This ship was 140 feet long, 36 feet wide, and had a draught of 33 feet. It also held over twelve hundred crew and passengers. And the description gets worse. This ship, low in the water and hard to handle because it had no rudder, but instead had two massive stern paddles which in the best of conditions made it nearly impossible to maneuver this very large, heavily loaded boat, but the west wind and its added winter wind from Europe meant that the ship was going to have to stop for the winter, if indeed, it did not founder in the shallows and rocks surrounding some island or head land first. The crew of this ship spent 14 days without food, working hard to keep the ship safe, and indeed, some made plans to try to escape the boat in a small dingy. Paul notified Julius of their plot, and the centurion cut the dingy loose, so that no one could leave. The ship also had just one center square mast and in this wind, the sail was useless. Now let’s get back to Paul. He had already attempted to guide the choice of the centurion to stop where they would be able to winter until the much safer spring breeze returned. However, he was determined to continue to Rome. In doing so he placed everyone at risk and risked the loss of the boat and its grain cargo. We can only imagine fourteen days without food, rough seas, danger on every possible landing site, and then the ship being driven back across the sea to North Africa's shoreline, which was notorious as a place where ships foundered and sank. The crew was ready to revolt, there was little food, and apparently the ship's captain was useless in these circumstances. So, Paul had been in prayer over this circumstance, and God had answered him and told him that there would be no loss of life on this ship, but that the loss of the ship was probable. He guided the crew to eat to gain strength for what lay ahead, hoping to give them courage which Paul himself carried because of his faith in God's promise and message about this journey. In this instance we see Paul chastising the crew for not listening to his guidance. That is an unusual action for a prisoner to take, but Paul knew that the crew had given up trying to control the steerage and had just left the boat to go wherever the wind carried it. It was Paul's courage which compelled the sailors to throw four anchors to hold the boat in the face of the storm, waiting for the morning to come so that they might be able to see where they were, and how best to continue. Paul was a man of great courage and resolve, who's great faith and trust in God and Christ made it possible for him to accomplish what others saw as folly.

So many times, Paul had to draw on Christ's gift of faith and find the courage to move forward. This time it was no different, and the sailors responded.

Of course we are stopping today without finding out what happened. You CAN read ahead! Next Monday we will finish the Acts of the Apostles. It will be a long study on Monday. On Tuesday and Wednesday of next week we will begin Paul's letter to the Ephesian church. God bless you with courage and peace.

With the Love of Christ, Pastor Kim