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[0:00] I'd like us to think for a little while about this verse 8 in Acts 28. It came to pass that the father Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid hands on him and healed him.

[0:19] So when this was done, others also which had diseases in the island came and were healed. You might ask the question of this verse, what man is this that's being spoken about in this verse?

[0:34] What man is this that is being declared to us here? And our first initial thought would be, well it's the father of Publius. That's who's being spoken about here. We don't know his name.

[0:45] We don't know much about him except that he was ill with what is the Greek literally is dysentery. That's what's described here or translated in the authorised version as a bloody flux.

[0:56] Dysentery, disease of the entrails where the internal membranes are inflamed and it causes liquid and blood discharge which weakens the body in such a way that eventually you would die of it.

[1:08] And that combined with a fever as well means that the body is being effectively emptied of liquid, emptied of the fluid that it needs as well as of all its nutrients.

[1:20] So Publius' father would die unless something drastic was done. So in the first instance we might say, well this is who it's about. Just to get the context here, you may recollect that Paul and his companions have been shipwrecked now on Malta after a long and extended storm in the Mediterranean.

[1:43] If we look at the end of chapter 27, we see that when it was day, verse 39, they knew not the land. But they discovered a certain creek with a shore into the which they were minded if it were possible to trust the ship.

[1:58] And what that means is obviously a stream coming down a hillside but with a shore. Of course a shore is everywhere technically. What they mean is a beach. Whether shingle or sandy, probably the former, probably more stony kind of shingly beach.

[2:10] But what it means is it's not rocks and cliffs. Not exclusively rocks and cliffs. There is a beach of some kind where they can drive in the ship. Now Malta of course is not a large island.

[2:25] We read at verse 41, falling into a place where two seas met. They ran the ship aground and the foreparts stuck fast and remained unmovable.

[2:36] But the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves. Remember, this storm has been going on for about a fortnight now as we see in chapter 27. St. Paul's Bay in Malta is in the northeast of the island.

[2:49] Malta lies, if you were looking at a map behind me, it would be sort of in that direction. It goes from the sort of southeast to the northwest. From my direction, it would be the other way, obviously.

[3:01] But as you were looking at it, as the island goes this way, St. Paul's Bay would be at the top, sort of right-hand corner up there. But the bay itself is not, the description here is not of a bay into which they're coming.

[3:17] But there is towards the top corner, the top left-hand corner of St. Paul's Bay, there is a little sort of stringy-out island, a very small island that was inhabited until just after World War II, but it's now uninhabited, which is so, pardon it, it's so low-lying that when the tide is high, it actually turns it into two little islands.

[3:39] But where this island almost meets the mainland of Malta, you've obviously got a narrow channel. You've got a close-in narrow channel where if a ship in the midst of a storm was driving into a beach that is not too far from that, there's a rare bit of beach amongst the rocky cliffs there, you would have a situation where, with that narrow channel, sea on one side and the island sort of nosing against the mainland of Malta there, you can Google it on a map or something afterwards.

[4:12] The trouble is normally I say, look at the map at the back of your Bible, but the trouble is that, you know, Malta is so tiny in comparison to the rest of the Mediterranean, you won't see anything there.

[4:23] Malta as an island is about 122 square miles. It's about 17 miles long, about 9 miles wide. You think, well, how does that compare with any islands that we know?

[4:35] Well, North Uist, for example, is about 117 square miles. Different shape, of course. It's not the same shape as Malta. South Uist is about 123.7 square miles.

[4:50] So, again, it's a different shape again. But if we're thinking in terms of area, then Malta is roughly between the size of North Uist and South Uist. So, when we talk about Publius being the chief man of the island and having estates there and lands there, it's not just, oh, this little corner of the island.

[5:09] If he's the chief guy in the island, he's the chief guy in the whole island. It's not a big island. It's slightly bigger than North Uist, a little bit smaller than South Uist. That sort of size we're talking about.

[5:22] But where this storm is raging, and where the nose of the slightly elongated, tiny little St. Paul's Island, it's now called, noses in towards the mainland of Malta, beside St. Paul's Bay, where it is now, in the northeast of the island, you've got this area with the channel, that narrow channel, you've got seas coming in from either side, where two seas met.

[5:46] But almost certainly this is the point at which the ship, albeit the topography will have changed a bit in 2,000 years, was driven in. And those, the sailors and the soldiers and the prisoners, all came ashore.

[6:00] We read, some on boards, some on broken pieces of the ship, and so it came to pass the escape, all safe to land. Verse 7 of our present chapter, in the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Puglius.

[6:15] Now, obviously he's a Roman going by the name, but it doesn't simply mean he was the big wealthy landowner, he was the most important man for wealth and status in the island, because if it was simply a matter of wealth and property, then it wouldn't be him, of course, who was the big man, it would be his father.

[6:34] His father would be the main man in the island, because he'd be the one in whose name the wealth and property was. But no, it's specifically said that Puglius himself is the big guy, he is the chief of the island, the chief man of the island.

[6:50] Now, inscriptions, ancient Greek inscriptions and Roman inscriptions from those days, talk about somebody who's the proton, as it were, of the island of Malta.

[7:01] And that would imply a sort of deputy governor. You wouldn't be a governor, you know, in its own right for something the size of Malta. Probably it was a deputy governor, governing Malta on behalf of, the nearest main governor was probably from Sicily.

[7:21] Sicily, if you look at the map, is a big island, certainly big in comparison to Malta. But probably a junior deputy would be stationed on Malta to sort of run the affairs on behalf of the Romans.

[7:34] And as I say, ancient inscriptions from that time indicate some people, we've got the first in the island, sort of proton leader of the island in Malta.

[7:44] So that is almost certainly Puglius' position. Yes, he would have wealth, possession, estates, but the reason he's the chief man of the island is almost certainly because he's a Roman official whose father will at least have the consolation knowing that his son has done well for himself.

[8:02] But it is he himself who is the chief man of the island rather than his father. But the father is lying sick of a fever and of life-threatening dysentery.

[8:15] To whom Paul then comes in. So who is this about? Is it about Puglius' father? Or is it about Paul then, who's going to do this miraculous healing?

[8:25] Well, of course, the Lord has used Paul in the past. Plenty of times, as we know. In Acts 19, for example, we read in verses 11 and 12, we read, God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul, so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs, or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

[8:50] Now, when it says aprons, it doesn't mean sort of like, like, you know, how your mother might wear in the kitchen when she's making pancakes or something. It's more like a workman's apron, a sort of leather tool kit apron in which you put your tools as you're working.

[9:05] And that would be fastened around your back, there would be sort of pouches at the front that you put your tools in. But because this has been Paul's and it's taken to other people and it touches them, then the sort of the faith that they have would enable them to be healed.

[9:19] What's translated as handkerchiefs implies almost like a sweatband that a workman would put round his head, and that that too was taken to the sick, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

[9:33] Now, of course, the Lord gives this strength to his apostles on occasion to be able to heal the sick. We read of Peter, for example, in chapter 5 of Acts, verses 15 and 16, we read, insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

[9:58] There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were healed every one.

[10:09] Now this would appear from Scripture to be an apostolic gift. Paul, of course, writes to the Corinthians, you know, that he speaks about how the works of an apostle, the gifts and abilities of an apostle were wrought amongst them.

[10:28] You know, I speak concerning reproaches. Though we have been weak, how be it, whence or ever, any is bold, I speak foolishly, I am bold also. Are they Hebrews?

[10:38] So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool. I am more. All the things that he has done, all the labors that he has had for them, because he has done the work of an apostle amongst them.

[10:56] And he witnesses in chapter 12, at verse 12, truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience, in signs and wonders and mighty deeds.

[11:06] So the ability to do signs, wonders, miracles, appears to be a gift limited to apostles. Peter, Paul, if we were to go back again to chapter 3 of the Acts, we read about how Peter himself, however, says in chapter 3, verse 12, and Peter saw it.

[11:25] He answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness, we had made this man to walk.

[11:37] This is the man at the gate of the temple, beautiful, the beautiful gate of the temple, remember, who had never walked. He was reigned from his mother's womb and Peter and John came and he fixed the horizon and he was healed.

[11:50] Why do you look at us as though we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham and of Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, have glorified his son Jesus, whom he delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go.

[12:05] Verse 16, and his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

[12:21] So, it would appear that, whilst, yes, Paul is the instrument, Peter is also an instrument. The apostles are instruments of such healing. Who is actually doing the healing here?

[12:35] Well, we read in Matthew's account of the Gospel, chapter 8, at verse 17. That it might be fulfilled when he even was come, they brought unto him, that's to Jesus, many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick.

[12:53] That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by his eyes, the prophet, saying, himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. Now, of course, Matthew is writing in Greek, so the words are slightly different from what the original said in Isaiah 53, verse 4, surely have borne our griefs, that is, can be translated as sicknesses also, and carried our sorrows, yet we did extreme him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

[13:21] But Matthew tells us that Jesus himself takes the infirmities upon him. In other words, where does the disease go? It goes into Jesus. He takes it himself.

[13:33] He draws out, as it were, the poison, the venom of all the illness and all the ailment, and by his power and grace he restores that which was previously destroyed or that was rotting or was being defiled or broken down in the body.

[13:54] Now, if you've read your monthly record this month and you have read that article by Roddy Rankin in trial of the miracle of healing the man with the withered hand and the amount of sheer biological miracle that is involved cell by cell and, you know, every single vein and every sinew that has to be restored, the flow of blood that has to begin pumping again, the electrons in the brain that have to be restored and working, it is a huge amount of biological complexity that is going on that if it were an ordinary healing would take weeks or months and Jesus is doing it in seconds and that is what Jesus is doing by his power over ruining nature and its decay, taking the dis-ease and the weakness and the frailty upon himself and giving in exchange wholeness and health and healing doing that physically which he likewise does spiritually in taking our sin and infirmity and weakness upon himself and giving to us as a free gift his righteousness and wholeness and purity as with so many things in scripture.

[15:13] The physical is an illustration, a parable of the spiritual and the ultimate reality. What Jesus does physically he is at the same time seeking to do spiritually.

[15:27] This is one reason why when the man is let down through the roof and Jesus says son your sins be forgiven you and people say well who is this that's got power to forgive sins? He says well what is he here to say?

[15:38] Your sins be forgiven you or to say take up your bed and walk and so he says but so that you know the son of man has power to forgive sins the one I say to you take up your bed and walk and he did it because what is the issue here?

[15:51] Why is there disease? Why is there illness? Why is there suffering and weakness and all manner of disease in the world and death itself because of sin?

[16:04] Sin our separation from God there was no disease there was no illness in the garden of Eden there will be no disease or illness or weakness in heaven it is only in our fallen state separated from God that where there is this this distance between us and the source of all life and goodness and wholeness and health and well being when that that wound is opened up all manner of infection and disease gets in and so all these things are a symptom of our fallenness therefore if we are restored to that relationship to God if our sin is forgiven and we are reconciled to God then all the other symptoms of that likewise must disappear by the power of Christ now of course it does not mean now in our day and age if somebody has a serious illness and they become a Christian they automatically are medically healed then it's a bigger issue than simply the healing of the body but that is what Jesus did and that is that which by his grace the apostles likewise did

[17:16] Luke 5 we read at verse 15 and 16 of what Jesus did so much the more went there a fame abroad of him after he healed a leper took the leprosy away great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities now this healing that Jesus does remember when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of his garment and he said who touched me and they said well everybody's pressing on you how can he possibly say who touched me everybody's touching him jostling you the whole time he said no virtue has gone out of me he felt the power drain out of him to go to heal the woman with the issue of blood now if that is the case with one single healing then you can imagine the cost to our lord of all those whom he heals when multitudes come seeking his help that's not for nothing that we read in the very next verse of Luke there chapter 5 then at verse 16 after the multitude of company healed from the infirmities he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed he needed to recharge his strength from his heavenly father he needed to close that gap again with his heavenly father we can see that reverently to close it again with the father and renew the divine strength to build back up that which had gone out which he does by means of prayer and the closeness of his relationship with his heavenly father now of course that which the apostles are enabled to do and to heal and to do great signs and wonders

[19:00] Jesus prophesied of course at the end of Mark's account of the gospel that they will do this he said that those signs shall follow them that believe in my name they shall cast out devils they shall speak with new tongues they shall take up serpents and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover now of course in our reading this evening from Acts 28 we've got Paul taking up a serpent chucking it in the fire and no harm comes to him we've got him laying hands on somebody who is then healed because of the power that Christ gives the signs and wonders of an apostle are wrought by him this is what the Lord himself is doing through Paul and there we've got the clue as to who this verse is ultimately then about is it about Publius' father well not really we don't even know his name is it about Paul surely it's about Paul here well no not really ultimately this verse is about

[20:02] Christ as all of scripture is ultimately about Christ about what he is doing through the means of his servant of his apostle and yes some of the people come wanting to be healed as well isn't that great that he's got these wonderful gifts and so on an interesting detail that one commentator points up is that verse 9 so when this was done others also which had diseases in the island came and were healed now of course that's what it says in our English it's healed but the word that we have translated as healed in the original Greek can also mean literally received medical attention or received medical treatment all these people are coming receiving medical attention receiving medical treatment yes there's Paul there who might be healing miraculously with signs and wonders of an apostle who is right there with him well we've got his companions as well who are there with him who is under God writing the acts of the apostles well it is

[21:12] Luke is it not Luke is the narrator Luke is the author under God of this particular narrative and what is Luke's profession Luke is the beloved physician and if these people came some commentators at least have suggested that it wasn't just Paul then who would be treating these people with his divine signs and wonders but that Luke also would be using his medical gifts to grant them or to give them medical treatment and the abilities the gifts that he also had we think come on that's stretching out point is it if the original actually says they came and they either were healed or received medical treatment or both you know the gifts that the Lord has given are intended for using not all have the gifts of an apostle we read in Ephesians in chapter 4 verse 8 wherefore unto everyone is given grace according to the measure of the gift of

[22:15] Christ wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men or we could translate that more accurately gave gifts among men to be distributed amongst his people even those who may have been originally in rebellion against him he gives these gifts so that these gifts can be deployed in his service Romans 12 verse 6 having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us whether prophecy let us prophesy according to proportion of faith or ministry let us wait in our ministry or he that teacheth on teaching he that exhorteth on exhortation and so on different gifts different situations different blessings so likewise we see that you know

[23:34] Paul has already written to the Corinthians he gave some apostles and some prophets and some ministers and teachers and so on the different of different different different different different gifts that he gives all these diverse things of gifts to Luke the doctor he has given medical ability and teaching and training and these things would be able to be used by Luke long after Paul had been martyred you see the gifts of an apostle almost certainly lived and died with the apostles but the gifts the Lord continues to give to his people they are expected to use 1st Timothy 5 verse 16 when we're talking about the care of the widows in the church Paul writes to Timothy says if any man or woman that believeth have widows let them relieve them and let not the church be charged that it may relieve them that are widows indeed what's that got to do with miracles divine here no the point is that whilst the church had these resources to care for the widows and those who had nobody else to care for them what they're saying is if your family or your nephew or your brother or whoever has sufficient resources to look after a needy widow who may be his sister or his aunt or whoever it may be if you've got the resources to do it within the family do it within the family so that the church with its limited resources can expend those resources on those who have nothing else and nowhere else to turn in other words what gifts or resources or abilities you've been given use them use them where they are we might say that in this situation in Acts 28 although it doesn't explicitly spell out that Luke is taking part in the healing it is a perfectly legitimate understanding of the text and the context

[25:46] Luke has been given these gifts the gifts of an apostle are also being used but where the gifts of an apostle may or may not be available other gifts can and should be used don't just fall back automatically on the signs and wonders of the church signs and wonders of the apostle if you've got ordinary gifts if you've got other gifts use them if you've got medical ability Luke use it there if you've got gifts to look after your widows use that there whatever different gifts we have been given the Lord has given to us in order to be used not simply to sit nicely on the shelf or to be packed away in a suitcase and taken out in pristine condition I remember once conducting a week many years ago in my former parish and it was in a home and of course the galley bible and psalter and so on was there and you know these thin flat gallic soakers that you get where they've got the small print but you know they were ubiquitous around the churches and so on and I saw in this home what I'd never seen because they were all pretty tacky and pages falling out so on here was one in pristine condition the cover was still beautifully black the writing was still in gold and you opened the pages and they were still white and they weren't doggier and your first thought is oh this is beautiful this is wonderful and then you look at the front and it says so and so

[27:20] I get from somebody another 1948 or 1951 or whatever it might be and then you realise the reason this Psalter and this Bible are in such pristine condition is because they've been locked away in a cupboard for all these half centuries all these decades they've never been used they haven't been taken out they haven't been read they haven't been sung they haven't been used for the purpose for which they were designing yes they look immaculate yes they look beautiful here master is the talent you gave me I've dug it up from where I buried it I present it back to you here thou hast to design what will my master say to such a servant when the gifts that have been given whether medical ability whether the ability to care for our widows whether the ability to use and serve the church of Jesus Christ in whatever way it is or whether it be the gift of the Bible the Psalter and the resources that we have here master thou hast what have we done with the gifts the

[28:27] Lord gives well this is what Paul did with the gift the Lord gave him came to pass the father previously sick of a fever and of a bloody flux to whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid his hands in him and healed him now we don't read that Puglius' father then became a Christian we don't read that Puglius himself became a Christian what do we have here we have the fact that Puglius had courteously helped and launched not the whole ship's company what were like 176 of them or something like that but rather almost certainly it means the centurion probably Paul because he's a Roman citizen his immediate companions and maybe the soldiers maybe the immediate prisoners they were looking after as the Roman representative on the island Puglius looked after the Romans the rest could find accommodation where they were the fact that it was for three days implies that given that they wintered the entire three months or whatever there probably he looked after them until they could find alternative accommodations of their own but he had shown kindness to them and he received us and lodged us three days courteously so for this kindness an act of kindness is done back to him from the

[29:40] Lord God is no man's debtor but who is doing it is it Paul is it the Lord well we know ultimately as we've read as we've seen that it is Christ who takes the infirmities Christ who takes the disease as the ailments upon himself Christ who gives the well-being and benefit and think well yeah that's already well but Jesus isn't actually there is he well the Bible will tell us differently Revelation chapter 1 verse 18 Jesus says I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore and have the keys of hell and of death Jesus said at the end of Matthew 28 he said teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even until the end of the world so if Christ is present by his spirit if Christ receives the gifts from his father bestows them upon his people and is present by his spirit then it's not just some sort of ethereal kind of in the atmosphere sort of spirit that's around us it is a person of Christ in his spirit who is right there and although

[30:54] Paul is the one laying on the hands it is Christ who is the one doing the healing because he's right there I am with you always even to the end of the world Christ is there Christ is the one doing the healing Christ is present each person of the Trinity is involved in this great work from the father the gifts are received from the son they are distributed to men by the spirit they are put into practice and exercise every person of the Trinity is involved here Publius his father indeed is restored to health and in a sense you could say God can use even dysentery in order to glorify his men because here we have this man this aged man no doubt with this life threatening condition that is going to be the death of him restored to fullness of health he is given rather a few extra years because eventually he is going to die anyway of natural causes and the question of course is what did he do with those years he was given what use did he make did he close in with

[32:02] Christ did he become a believer maybe he did we don't know we are not given to know anybody else's story we have enough of a job to make certain of our own calling and election we don't know if goodness himself became a believer we don't know or whether they just received the healing thank you very much that's very nice I've been given this gift now I can live another 10-15 years in my own happy ignorance and paganism and then die and go to hell that may be the end result but it is not for want of God's kindness or the Lord's intervention because what man is this just a question we might ask about this verse is it Puglius' father whose name we do not know is it Paul who is the one undertaking the healing apparently or is it ultimately who is really about Christ what man is this it is not merely

[33:02] Puglius' father he is there he is involved the fact that he is sick is part of the means that God uses to glorify his name it is partly Paul playing his part in this it is partly the shipwreck it is partly the place at which Paul and his companions have been washed ashore in the shipwreck all of these acts of providence God is using to combine to glorify his name it is ultimately all about God's glory and nothing glorifies God so much as his beloved son Jesus Christ it is all about Christ what man is this adversity it is Christ Christ by his spirit Christ by his power Christ by his presence who is there healing Hobius' father helping Paul to witness because of his healing power would look no doubt standing by recording all this for posterity and no doubt making use of his own medical skills and abilities for those who also have diseases in the island and come and were healed or as the original could be translated received medical attention doctor

[34:18] Luke and Paul the apostle and all others given whatever gifts they may have utilizing them for the gospel of Christ this is what we are called to do this is what Christ would have us do because he is not gone and dead he is alive and right there with us I am he that liveth I am alive I am the resurrection and the life I was dead and behold I am alive forevermore it's not just that he fainted or swooned on the cross it's not just that he was in a coma whilst he was in the tomb he was dead as dead as dead can be this is what he says I am he that liveth I am alive now and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore amen and have the keys of hell and death if anybody can open heaven to you it's me if anybody can heal you it's me if anybody can give you gifts that I desire to use for my kingdom it is me if anybody can bring you alive when you are death's door it is me if anybody can use dysentery on the bloody flux to glorify the name of my heavenly father it is me it doesn't matter then what condition you may be in physically medically personally whatever your state whatever your mental condition whatever your physical condition

[35:47] God is able to use even that which may seem the greatest darkness and the greatest suffering that which threatens to squeeze the very life out of you God is able to take that and to be glorified in overcoming this slow destructive death just as he did for this nameless man on lockdown you see everything the Lord does ultimately will glorify his name and his invitation to us through the gospel through the good news is to be part of that glory to be part of what glorifies him because if even the likes of us can be with the Lord in glory even the likes of us can be healed can be restored can be made new can be given a fresh start and a new beginning and our sins washed away and a life that we never anticipated if all of this can be real for me little me in my situation in my old so ordinary dull and unimportant life if it can be real for me it can be real for anyone and this is what

[37:08] Paul is saying this is what the New Testament is saying you know if it's real for me I am a witness Paul says time and again that I who even persecuted the church God took and used me whatever your past is God is ready and willing to put it in the past you know what Romans says of course in chapter 3 I think it's at verse 12 I don't know it's not verse 12 I beg your pardon but all have sinned and come short of the glory of God here being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God all your sins are in the past you know you can't commit any sin tomorrow well you may when you get there but it hasn't happened yet when it happens you repent of it when it happens you confess and you know that there is the blood of Christ to cleanse you from all sin and everything that is in your past however dark however devious however shameful the forgiveness of sins that are past the remission of sins that are past without exception that is for the blood of Christ it is the procuiation that which makes favourable and the healing of the bloody flux the dysentery the healing of any other disease or leprosy or blindness or being lame from birth the healing of being an unbeliever of being a downright atheist all of this can be healed all of this can glorify

[38:55] God all of this can make you part of this great program of not just forgiveness but glory God desires sinners to be part of his glory and that is what he invites them into that is what the good news is about calling inviting lost souls to be part of his glory because what is this verse about what man is this who is it about it is about the glory of God that is what is happening here the glory of God is being revealed in the curing of this the glory of God is being revealed in the work of the apostle perhaps in the ministry and gifts of Dr.

[39:39]  Luke certainly in the shipwreck and the safe delivery of all these souls in all that is done God is being glorified and God invites each and every sinner to let him be glorified in their lives too and so they likewise enter into that glory enter into what he has prepared for them that love him that's the invitation and it is completely free and it is all to the glory of God who is glorified most in his beloved son Jesus Christ who makes it all possible what lies it's not Paul it's not Paul it's not his father it's Christ and if you will have them it is you too let us pray