Why Was Paul Sent To Sea?

Tom:

This is our Understanding the Scripture segment, we are in the Book of Acts chapter 17, and Dave, I think we finished verse 13, but before we get into it I want to mention this.I got some compliments from last week’s show from Gary, our producer.

Dave:

Wow!

Tom:

And you know he doesn‘t give out compliments.

Dave:

No, he doesn’t.

Tom:

I mean, he’s the guy who said--well, I remember one compliment he gave us, he said you and I have perfect faces for radio, I mean, that’s as far as we get with him.But he did compliment me, because last week in verses 10 and 13, I pronounced “thither” right.

Dave:

Wow!

Tom:

You know, I do struggle a little bit with the King James English from time to time, but I got through both of them.

Dave:

You must have a little British blood in you.My father was from England, he pronounced, “sithers”.

Tom:

No, I do “schedules” but not “sithers”.Well anyway, we are in Chapter 17, and we are going to pick up with Verse 14.“And then immediately the brethren sent away Paul to go as it were to the sea: but Silas and Timothy abode there still.”

Dave:

But why did they send him away, Tom?Because he is being chased from one town to another.It’s not like, well, we have some of our TV televangelists today, they come in on their own jet and there will be a red carpet rolled out for them, and they are just praised and hailed.Paul was just beaten up, jailed and he knows it’s going to be the same in the next town.

Tom:

Bloody back.

Dave:

Yeah, and he goes from town to town.He wasn’t a coward, he wasn’t running away, it wasn’t that he was unwilling to be a martyr, but Jesus did say when they refused to receive the Word, shake the dust of your feet off, go somewhere else.I think it’s related to, “Cast not your pearls before swine”.And Tom, I can remember, as a young Christian, way back--well, as a young Christian I was only entering high school, entering the 10^th grade at that time, but I’m thinking of, in my teens, everybody likes a good argument.You like to defend your ground, and so forth, and I would have to confess, maybe I spent a little too much time casting my pearls before swine.Jesus said, Don’t waste your time.There are some people that, you’re not going to convince them.All they are interested in is pushing their ideas on you.Tom, you ever watch a conversation--I like to observe these things--neither person is listening to what the other one is saying, they are just waiting until the other one takes a breath so they can start their pitch.Well, not entirely true for everyone, but Tom, more than we would like to admit.So, Paul, he has left town.You guys don’t want to hear this, you want to stone us?Okay, we’ll go elsewhere.And now he comes to Athens.

Tom:

“And they that conducted Paul brought him unto Athens: and receiving a commandment unto Silas and Timothy for to come to him with all speed, they departed.”

Dave:

Tom, it’s interesting to me again that they knew who the head guy was, who is really stirring up the trouble.Obviously, Paul was the chief spokesperson that it said.Silas was his partner, they were in prison together, but it was apparently safe for him and Timothy to stick around a little bit longer there in Berea, and it’s only because Paul says,Please send them on.Now you say they sent--they got a message.I wonder how long that took.They didn’t have Pony Express even, let alone e-mail or radio or communications.Somebody had to make that journey back down there on foot, don’t read much about them riding on horses, it seems like the Roman soldiers were the ones who had the horses. So, this is a little perspective on it, and he says, Come to him with all speed.Well, you’re going to be walking fast.

Tom:

Now Dave, I’ve got a question about this, and I don’t know how long ago we’ve talked about this but I think it’s important.As Christians we’re to be really led of the Spirit, and God did guide and direct the things we were talking about just a little earlier, that the Lord, the Holy Spirit will give you, if you’re walking and being sensitive to His leading and His guiding, He will tell you when you’re casting pearls before swine.He will tell you when to stand, be steadfast and hang in there, fight the good fight of faith, contend for the faith, and sometimes not, that we are to take ourselves out of harms way, and so on.But m y point here is, for Paul, Silas, Timothy, they were led of the Spirit.Is that available for us today, or not?

Dave:

Absolutely.Tom, let me tell you a little incident, because I don’t think I’ve really told many incidents, I mean, almost every time I’m on--I could tell you so many amazing stories, just from my trip to Brazil last week.Coming back from Chicago to Portland, a guy sitting next to me is reading his Bible, and I think, Oh, that’s nice, a Christian here, but Lord, you usually sit me next to a non-Christian.Well anyway, I find out he’s Church of Christ, and they are very strict on baptism, as you know.

Tom:

Right, they believe in baptismal regeneration.

Dave:

Right, you’ve got to be baptized by them in order to be saved.Well, the conversation starts out like that, and he really knows his stuff and he’s very aggressive.I didn’t let it go two minutes, Tom.I said, You know, I often tell people that I can prove the existence of God by who he sits me next to on airplanes, and right now this is creating a real problem for me.Why did God sit me next to you?

Tom:

How did he react to that?

Dave:

Because you’re not going to convince me, and I’m not going to convince you, so I don’t think the Lord sat me here for us to talk about this.Well, I mean, I can’t waste time, Tom, I don’t have time to waste.Anyway, it turned into a fruitful conversation, going in other directions, and who knows what might come out of it.He didn’t know anything about prophecy, the Middle East, and so forth, was quite interested, so we sent him a copy of Judgment Day, and some other things.But Tom, God will guide us.Wow!I have to tell another quick incident, is that okay?

Tom:

Sure.

Dave:

We’re talking about God getting us--I’m coming out of the customs, coming home, and I go through security and they’ve x-rayed my--I don’t know whether I told you this, I don’t remember.

Tom:

Yes, go ahead.

Dave:

They x-rayed my baggage and--

Tom:

It’s your carry-on.

Dave:

Yeah, I only take carry-on’s, I do not check anything anywhere in the world.The guy, they don’t speak English, but he’s pointing at that knife, I think they know that word, knife, and I say, There’s no knife in there!Come on!And they pull off to the side and they point right where they want me to open it, and I open it up and there’s a package in there, brown paper, you know, it’s not a present, it’s not fancy paper, but it is sealed with scotch tape, and so forth.And I pulled the thing out and I’m shocked!It’s pretty hefty….

Tom:

Dave, didn’t you put it in there?

Dave:

Tom, you know, these dear people--Oh, I shouldn’t say this, but oh my.Tom, I’ve got myself into something now.But I opened this up, there is a knife, I mean it’s a big knife, it’s a carving knife.It’s a very beautiful--someone, it was a gift some gave to me.I don’t know who gave it to me, so I can’t thank them. I mean, things are happening, you know, so many people crowded around you after a meeting, and so forth--it was very kind and very thoughtful of them, but now I’m in trouble.

Tom:

You didn’t bother to open it?

Dave:

No, I had a number of gifts in there that I hadn’t opened, and I can’t explain this because these guys don’t speak English.I mean, I could be arrested for trying to take a huge knife like that aboard a plane, and what do you know?The computer is broken down, there’s only one other person coming through security at that moment because the computer is broken down and nobody else is coming through.It turns out to be a lady who is a translator in five languages, a very dear lady.So, I tell her my story, she explains the whole thing to them and they believe her, and they say, Well you can go back and you can check your bags and put this in there.I say, I do not check any baggage ever anywhere in all the world.This is a rule, and I just don’t have the time, I can’t go back out there, and so forth.So, they got the knife, and I really feel bad about it because it cost somebody something and it would have been a wonderful knife.But the point is, Tom, this lady comes along at the right time.I took her into the Red Carpet Club, she had another flight she had to wait quite a while for, and we got acquainted and I was able to give her something that maybe would help her to get to know the Lord.So, God does these things, and He will guide us.Sorry, that I took up all that time on that story, but this is what He’s guiding Paul and Silas, a whole better than He guides me because they were really the servants of the Lord, but He will guide any one of us, and He will use us, and He watches over us, and it really is -----------, Tom.