All right, well, thank you very much everybody for being here this morning I want to begin of course first of all by saying Thank you to pastor Thompson and miss Sherry And their friendship and inviting us out here. We of course always like being with them and I want to say thank you to brother David and his wife for running this location and running this church plant and of course just all of you and everyone that has been a part and has helped. I know Brother Isaac's been involved a lot. Brother Ben, appreciate him opening up his home for us and of course just want to say thank you to everybody especially all of you. I want to say thank you to all of you but of course as the pastor of Verity Baptist Church I want to say thank you to the Verity Baptist Church family that's with us today and of course we've got the Johnsons and the McQueens and Miss JC here. from Sacramento and we appreciate you coming and being here. And of course, we always love spending time with you guys and being with you. And you know, you gotta love coming to Hawaii. And I wanna say thank you to all of you. Of course, all of you have been wishing my wife and I a happy anniversary. Yesterday, we celebrated 17 years of marriage. And I know that seems impossible since we both look so young, but... 17 years and we were able to spend it in Hawaii. So praise the Lord for that. I can't think of a better place to so thank you to my wife for putting up with me for 17 years and We appreciate that. Of course, we're there in Acts chapter 28 and in Acts 28 I'd like you to go back to Acts 27 if you would just to give you a little bit of the context of the chapter Acts chapter 27 And if you look at verse 41, the Bible says this, And what we find is we find the Apostle Paul on a journey and this is actually not really a missionary journey. He's actually in prison at this time and he's traveling from a prison in Caesarea Philippi on his way to Rome. And while on that ship they find themselves in the middle of a storm, verse 41, and falling into a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground, and the forepart stuck fast. And that word forepart means the front part of it. It stuck fast it got stuck and remained unmovable but the hinder part the back part of the ship was broken with the violence of the waves and the soldiers council was to kill the prisoners and this of course would have included the Apostle Paul lest any of them should swim out of escape but the centurion willing to save Paul kept them from their purpose and commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea and get to the land and the rest some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship and so it came to pass that they escaped on all saved to land. So I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul has basically been shipwrecked while on this voyage to Rome and of course Paul was a man that had gone on missionary journeys. He had a lot of experience with ships and he had actually given them advice to not do this but they went ahead and did it anyway. And as a result, they ended up shipwrecked. I'm not preaching about this this morning, but I'll take the opportunity to say this. You have to listen to the man of God in your life. Sometimes the men of God give you some advice and you think, well, they're just men. But, you know, when you've been married for 17 years, when you've been married for 20 years, when you've been in ministry for 10 years, you gain to grow a little bit of experience and you begin to see the weather and you begin to see some things and and you know the bible says that there's no new thing under the sun and sometimes you look at signs and you think that's not going to turn out well for you you might not want to go sailing right now You might not want to go down that road. And this is what happened. They didn't listen to Paul and they end up being shipwrecked. And what we find is that at the end there, verse 44, it says that the rest, some on board, some on the broken piece of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. So they they get to the land. This is where we pick up in verse one of chapter 28. It says, and when they were escaped, then they knew the island. So I want you to notice that the Apostle Paul is shipwrecked. And he and the rest of the prisoners and the guards, they escape from that shipwreck and they swim to this island. Now, Paul has not only been shipwrecked, but he's also stranded on this island. Notice verse number one again, and when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Oahu, I mean Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. And of course, what that means is they showed them a lot of kindness. They were very kind to them, for they kindled a fire. And that's just like, that reminds me a lot of Hawaii, you know, because we came here and the barbarous people showed us no little kindness. They've been very kind to us. For they kindled a fire and received us, everyone, because of the present rain and because of the cold. And what we see in this story is that Paul spends a little bit of time on this island stranded. And the title of the sermon this morning is Paul's Island Adventure. And what we see is the Apostle Paul, he gets stranded on this island and he has this little adventure on this island before they're rescued. And you know, it's funny because, you know, all the way back to just, you know, decades ago, you'd have shows on TV like Gilligan's Island, you know. And even in current times, there's all sorts of shows and TV shows about people being stranded on islands. But you know, the Bible tells us about Paul being stranded on an island. And the truth of the matter is this, that the Bible is an extremely edifying book. It's obviously a spiritual book, but you know, it's also an entertaining book. If you just read the Bible, you'll find a lot of parallels from the Bible, where Hollywood just rips off a lot of stories from the Word of God. Because here we have not Gilligan's Island, we got Paul's Island. We got Paul's Island Adventure. Now I want you to just notice this morning, this afternoon I want to just give you some thoughts and some parallels in regards to uh I want to just get everything situated here too like Pastor Thompson was saying um I want to give you some thoughts in regards to Paul's island adventure and some things that we see what did Paul do when he got to the island of Melita when he got with these barbarous people what did he do and if you're taking down notes maybe you're able to take notes I'd encourage you to write some of these things down like you notice first of all that Paul on his island adventure got to work. When Paul got there, he didn't set up a hammock and lay down on the hammock and just said, well, you know, someone's going to come rescue us. I want you to notice that Paul got to work. Notice verse three there of Acts 28. The Bible says, and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on him. I want you to notice that Paul, and we say this often about the apostle Paul, he's what you would call a type A personality. He was the type of guy that was just busy. He always wanted to be doing something. He always wanted to be producing something. He just survived this shipwreck. He's landed on the island, but while everybody else was probably laying on the island, soaking in the sun, The Apostle Paul, you'll notice, he gets right to work. He gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on fire. He begins to gather these sticks and prepare a fire because they're going to need this on the island. And of course, Paul on this island adventure got to work. And I would say this to Shur Foundation Baptist Church here in Honolulu. We're celebrating two years of ministry. What I would encourage you is on this island, on this island adventure called Shore Foundation Baptist Church Honolulu. I would encourage you to get to work. You know, it's a beautiful place where you are. It's a beautiful place to relax and to enjoy it. And I would definitely encourage you to take time to enjoy this island and enjoy some rest and relaxation. And obviously we believe in the principles of rest. We don't keep the Sabbath day as New Testament believers, but we understand there's a principle there of working hard and resting and taking time to relax. This afternoon, we'll take some time to fellowship and relax. But let me tell you something. This church ought to do on this island what the Apostle Paul did on this island, and he got to work. And you say, well, what did Paul do? He started gathering sticks. He started assembling sticks. You say, what should we do on this island? We should start gathering people. Our job is to gather people and reach them with the gospel of Jesus Christ. See, today, we're here celebrating two years of a church plant. We're also here for a mission strip. There's been a mission strip that has happened on this island this last week. 43 salvations this week, and praise the Lord for that. The apostle Paul, he's stranded on an island, but he's also a missionary. And, you know, we can see what Paul would do whenever he would get to a place on his missions trips or on his missions program. You learn in Acts 28. Go back with me if you would to Acts chapter 13. Let me highlight some of these for you. You say, what is it that Paul did on his missionary journeys? I want you to notice because the Bible documents for us two of Paul's missionary journeys, and it's a pretty consistent thing that he does. Acts chapter 13. Look at verse 42. Acts 13 verse 42. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day. See, Paul shows up and he's preaching the gospel, he's going to the Jews, the Jews go out of the synagogue, the Gentiles catch ear of it, and they besought Paul that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath day. They said, hey, the next Sabbath day, could you preach to us what you preached in the synagogue? Could you preach to us what you preached to the Jews? And I want you to notice what Paul does whenever he started a mission trip, whenever he went, to plant a church verse 43 now when the congregation was broken up Many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Notice verse 44. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. You say, what would Paul do when he'd show up in a city, when he'd show up in a location to conduct a missions trip, to plant a church? You know what he would do? He would gather as many people as possible. He tried to get as many people as possible to hear the gospel, to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the Bible says that came out almost the whole city together. What to God it would be said of this church that the whole city of Honolulu would hear the gospel as a result of the soul winning efforts of Shur Foundation Baptist Church. Look down at verse 47. I want you to notice this was a consistent thing with Paul. He moves from this location to another location. Notice verse 47. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have sent thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. Notice verse 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Notice verse 49. and the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. I mean, when Paul showed up somewhere, you say, what was his plan? What was his goal? His goal was to get as many people as possible to hear the gospel, to gather as many people as possible, to get the biggest crowd, and to publish the Word of God throughout all the region. Say, what should we do on this island? We should publish the Word of God throughout this entire island. This entire island, and this should be the goal of Sure Foundation Baptist Church, that everybody that lives on this island would know about this church, and more importantly, about the Christ that you preach, the gospel that you preach, that it would be said of this place that the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. And notice, it's not just the gospel, it's the Word of God, the entire Word of God. It's everything, everything, like Pastor Thompson was preaching this morning. Everything we believe, everything we hold true, everything we hold dear, and not just about salvation, but about discipleship, about sanctification, about the culture, and about, you say, well, why should we preach about the culture? Because Christians need to learn about the Christian culture. You say, what should our culture be? It should be Christ. Notice chapter 14, look at verse 1. Chapter 14, verse 1. He said, what did Paul do? Everywhere he went, it was to the point, it was like a habit. He was obnoxious about it. Everywhere he went, he went around gathering people, gathering people. He gets to the island of Miletus and he's now in prison. He's not there to plant a church, but it's just what he does. He starts gathering sticks. Everywhere he goes, he's just gathering things. Acts 14, look at verse 1. And it came to pass in Iconium that they were both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, notice, that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. What was Paul doing? Gathering people. Everywhere he went, he was gathering people. Acts 17. If you would, Acts 17. And by the way, the Bible doesn't say this, this is just my thoughts, but I bet you Paul was gathering stakes to start a fire, knowing that people would be gathered to the fire. And when they got there, he'd be like, oh, you like my fire? Yeah, of course, of course you can sit by my fire if you don't mind me preaching the gospel to you. Acts 17. We just know that's how Paul was. I'm preaching through the book of Philippians right now at our church, and you know, when others would say about Paul being imprisoned in Philippi, Paul would say, I'm not the one in prison. They're the ones in prison. They're chained to me, and they've got to hear the gospel. Acts 17, look at verse 2, "...and Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbaths they reasoned with them out of the Scriptures, opening and alleging that Christ's misneeds have suffered, and risen again from the dead, that this Jesus whom I preach unto you is Christ." Notice verse 4, "...and some of them believed." and consorted with Paul and Silas. You say, what should we do here? Here's what we should do. Preach the gospel. You say, well, they won't all believe. I know that, but some of them will believe. Some of them believed Paul was gathering people with the gospel notice and Consorted you see that word consorted there. It means to habitually Associate with Paul and Silas you say what should we do? We should go reach the people that live on this island you say not all of them will believe I know but some of them will believe and some of them we can consort with them We can associate with them. We can assemble with them. We can congregate with them. We can fellowship with them We can disciple them and we can help them grow Notice what it says there at the end of verse 4 and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women I love this phrase not a few I Love how the Bible says not a few he could have said a lot, but not a few is a little more dramatic I think he's not it's not just a few it's not a few It's a lot the great multitude. We we found a lot of people we reached a lot of people I would say 43 people saved this week is not a few and Look at verse 10, same chapter. Acts 17, verse 10. Acts 17, verse 10. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea, who coming hither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Notice verse 12. Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men not a few. So what did Paul do? What was Paul doing? He was gathering people. Everywhere he went, he was gathering people. He gets to the Isle of Melita, he starts gathering these things. He said, what should we do on this island? We should gather as many people as possible. Preach the gospel to as many people as possible. You say, and then what? Well, I want you to notice what Paul did. Go back to Acts 28. That's our text for this afternoon, Acts 28. Notice verse three again. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, why don't you notice what he did? And laid them on the fire. Why don't you notice, Paul did not only gather sticks, and we can take that as a picture or a representation that we should go about gathering people. We should be assembling people. We should be reaching men and women and children. You say, how many? A great multitude. You say, how many? Not a few. You say, and then what? You know what we should do? We should be setting them on fire for God. Throughout the Bible, you find that fire is a picture of the Holy Spirit of God or the power of the Holy Spirit. You're there in the book of Acts. Go back to Acts chapter 2. Look at verse 1. Acts chapter 2 and verse 1. We're going to spend most of our time in this sermon in the book of Acts. We are going to look at some other passages, but we'll be in Acts mostly. Acts chapter 2. Notice verse 1. The Bible says, And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, They were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. Of course, this is the day of Pentecost, when the power of the Holy Spirit came down. They were filled with the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came upon them. This is not when they got the indwelling of the Spirit, but this is when they received the power or the filling of the Holy Spirit. Notice verse number and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and it sat upon each of them. I want you to notice that fire is a representation of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. John chapter 5, you don't have to turn there, I'll just read it for you. John chapter 5 and verse 35. Jesus said this about John the Baptist. He was a burning and a shining light and he were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 1 Thessalonians 5.19 says this, The word quench means to extinguish. The Spirit there is being represented by fire that you can quench, that you can extinguish. And the Bible tells us, hey, quench not the Spirit. You say, why? Because when somebody's filled with the Spirit, when they've got the Holy Spirit of God and the power of God upon their lives, they're on fire for God. The Bible says in Hebrews 12, 29, for our God is a consuming fire. You say, what should we do here in this island? We should gather people and set them on fire for God. It's not just enough to get them saved. Now obviously we want to get as many people saved as possible, but it's not enough to just get them saved. We need to get them saved and help them get on fire for God. At Verity Baptist Church, over the last 10 years, my wife and I have done our best to not only lead a church that is reaching people, but lead a church that is setting people on fire for God. I'm talking about taking people that weren't soul winning, and now they're soul winning. They weren't reading their Bibles, and now they're reading their Bibles. They weren't living for God, and now they're living for God. They weren't faithful to church, and now they're faithful to church. They weren't raising their children with the right culture of Christianity, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and now they are. You say, what are we doing? It's called life change. It's called discipleship. It's called catching them on fire, getting them on fire for God. You say, to the point, you say, to what point? To the, you know, to the point where they would choose to go on vacation and go soul winning. Make a mission strip their vacation and reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I like that song we sing. Set my soul afire, Lord, for thy holy word. Burn it deep within me. Let your voice be heard. Millions grow up in darkness. In this day and hour, I will be your witness. Fill me with thy power. The second stanza says, Set my soul afire, Lord, for the lost and sinned. Give to me a passion as I seek to win. Help me not to falter. Never let me fail. Fill me with thy spirit. Let thy will prevail. Set my soul afire, Lord, in my daily life. Far too long I've wandered in this day of strife. Nothing else will matter but to live for thee. I will be your witness as you live in me. Set my soul on fire, Lord, set my soul on fire. You say, what was Paul doing? He was gathering sticks and he was setting them on fire. You say, what should we do? We should gather people and set them on fire for God. Help them to get on fire that the Holy Spirit of God would begin to burn in their life and that God would become a consuming fire in their lives. Paul, on his island adventure, you say, what did he do? He relaxed, he drank out of a coconut, out of a pineapple, he might have done those things, and I don't think there's anything wrong with doing those things, but you know what you ought to do? You ought to get to work. Get busy about reaching people. Like you noticed secondly this morning, not only do we see that the apostle Paul got to work, if you go back to Acts 28, look at verse 3, like you noticed secondly this morning, Paul got to work, and as a result, Paul, on his island adventure, got attacked. Notice verse 3, and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, notice there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand. What is a viper? It is a venomous snake. Paul goes about gathering these sticks, setting them on fire, and what jumps out at him? A venomous snake, a serpent, a viper bites him and fastened on his hand. Revelation 12 and verse 9, you don't have to turn there. In fact, you go with me to the book of 1 Corinthians if you would. You're there in Acts, go to Romans, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 16. While you go there, I'll read to you from Revelation 12 and verse 9. The Bible says this, and the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, You say who's the serpent and that great dragon was cast out that old serpent It's the old serpent because it's the same serpent that was in the Garden of Eden Notice, called the devil and Satan, which deceived the whole world, and he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Here we have a viper that strikes out at the Apostle Paul when he's gathering these sticks and laying them on the fire. And let me tell something to Shirt Foundation Baptist Church and every soul winning church all over the world. When you start gathering people, preaching the gospel to them, and setting them on fire for God, you better understand that a venomous serpent's probably gonna jump out and latch at you too. It's called the devil. In fact, let me just say this, whenever Christians take advantage of the great opportunity to preach the gospel, understand this, great opportunity always comes with great opposition. 1 Corinthians 16 and verse 9, the Bible says this, Paul said this, for a great door and effectual. What is that? A great opportunity. You know what we have here in Hawaii? You know what you have here in Hawaii? A great opportunity. You know what we have? I appreciate the words of Pastor Thompson about reaching the Pacific. You say, why do you go to Hawaii to preach the gospel? Is it because it's a beautiful place to visit? You know why we go to Hawaii to preach the gospel? Because it's receptive. And it's a beautiful place to visit. Say, why do you go to the Philippines? Because it's receptive. Say, why do you go to Mexico? Because it's receptive. You say, why do you go to Africa? Because it's receptive. There's a great door. There's a great door of opportunity. And you know, we've started a church. Obviously, we have Brother Stuckey doing a great job. Now, two churches from Verity Baptist Church have been planted in the Philippines. And we've got a vision for the Philippines and all the islands of the Philippines to be reached with the gospel. And I hope that Surefound Nation will reach all the islands of Hawaii. I believe, I was telling Pastor Thompson during the break, I believe that we should all have the heart to reach all people, obviously, but I do believe that God sometimes burdens individuals in certain locations. I know that I have a heart for California. I know that Pastor Thompson has a heart for Washington, and we have a heart for the West Coast of the United States of America, but he's got a church here in Hawaii, and we've got a church in the Philippines, and I've got a heart for the Pacific as well. I want to see all sorts of brown people saved. I want to see all sorts of brown, whether they're Aztec or Samoan or Filipino or Guam or whatever. We have a great door of opportunity to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But with a great opportunity comes great opposition. For a great door and effectual is opened unto us, and there are many adversaries. Don't miss that. These things go hand in hand. For a great door, 1 Corinthians 16, 9. For a great door and effectual is opened unto me, that's the opportunity, and there are many adversaries. That's the opposition. With great opportunity comes great opposition. When you start doing something, and reaching people, and preaching, and changing the culture, and changing the lifestyle of individuals, just mark it down, a viper's headed your way. A venomous serpent's gonna come out and strike at you, and attack you, and it's called the devil. Go back to Acts 13, Acts chapter 13. In my first point, I went through and showed you a bunch of references of the apostle Paul, going through and reaching people with the gospel on his missionary journeys, gathering people with the gospel. What I didn't show you is that all of those verses have connected with them opportunity and opposition. Let me highlight it for you. I read this to you just a few minutes ago, Acts 13, 44. And the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. Great opportunity! Doesn't that sound so encouraging? Doesn't that sound amazing? I mean, wouldn't every preacher want that to be said of their community, of their city, that they stood up to preach and came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God? That's a great opportunity! Verse 44. But that also is coupled with verse 45. But when the Jews saw the multitude, they were filled with envy. And spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming." See, with great opportunity comes great opposition. Look at verse 49. I showed you this verse. And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. Isn't that a great verse? Wouldn't every church want that to be said of them? I mean, I hope it's said of Verity Baptist Church that the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. I'm sure Pastor Thompson would love it for it to be said in Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon that the Word of the Lord was published throughout all the region as a result of their ministry up there. That's a great opportunity, but that's connected to, don't miss out on, don't forget about, verse 50, but the Jews stirred up the devout and honorable women and the chief men of the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them out of their coast." See, you have these verses that give us great opportunity and then you see great opposition coupled with them. Verse 44, verse 45, verse 49, verse 50. Look at verse 1 of Acts chapter 4, 14, excuse me, Acts chapter 14. Look at verse one, great opportunity. And it came to pass in Iconium that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake that a great multitude, both of the Jews and also of the Greeks, believed. Doesn't that sound great? Great opportunity. Don't miss verse two. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and made their minds evil-affected against the brethren. I want you to notice that every time you see Paul doing great things, taking advantage of great opportunity, he's also confronted with great opposition. Look at Acts 17, look at verse 4. Acts 17, verse 4. and some that believed, and consorted with Paul and Silas, and of the devout Greeks, a great multitude, and of the chief women, not a few. Great opportunity. Look at verse five. But the Jews, which believed not, moved with envy, took unto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort, and gathered a company, and set all the city in uproar, and assaulted the house of Jason, and sought to bring them out to the people. Great opportunity, great opposition. Look at verse 12, same chapter, Acts 17 verse 12. Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women, which were Greeks, and of men, not a few. Doesn't that sound great? That sounds like a great opportunity. Don't miss verse 13. But when the Jews of Thessalonica had knowledge that the word of God was preached by Paul at Berea, they came hither also and stirred up The people see the Bible teaches us this concept that whenever you attempt great things for God and you're Accomplishing great things for God the devil will set his targets on you See Paul on his island adventure he got to work, but you know Paul on his island adventure he got attacked the devil will put a target on churches accomplishing things for God and with great opportunity comes great opposition So look, you say in our two years of ministry, we've already had maybe some attacks. And I'm here to tell you, the more you do for God, the more attacks will come. I wish I could tell you something different. Oftentimes our churches and the churches we fellowship with, sometimes they're called the new IFB churches. Sometimes people will criticize us and say, you guys have all this drama. Why do you have all these enemies? Why are people constantly attacking you? The question I have is, why are people constantly attacking Paul? Everywhere he's going, he's being attacked. He's being slandered. He's being lied about. They're bringing accusations against him. They're trying to get him in prison. They're trying to get him in trouble. Why? Because with great opportunity comes great opposition. You say, nobody's attacking those old IFB churches, because those old IFB churches aren't trying to do anything. They're not making an uproar. They're not gathering as many people as possible. They're not going out trying to reach as many people with the gospel. And even when they are, they're not trying to set them on fire for the word of God. Obviously there are good churches everywhere and good old IFB churches. But I just tell you this, when you try to do great things for God, expect the viper. With great opportunity comes great opposition. Go back to Acts 28, look at verse four. I said number one this morning, Paul on his island adventure got to work. I said number two, Paul on his island adventure got attacked. Why don't you notice thirdly this morning, this afternoon, Paul on his island adventure was misunderstood. Why don't you notice verse four? And when the barbarians saw The venomous beast. Because remember Paul, he gets to work, right? He gets on the island, picks up all the sticks, starts a set of fire, and then out of that fire comes a venomous beast. And by the way, don't be surprised if the devil comes out of the sticks you just gathered. You say, what's that? It's called a Judas Iscariot. Sometimes we gather people and we gather some snakes along with them. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, I want you to notice what they said, amongst themselves, they said, no doubt this man, in reference to Paul, this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And of course these were heathen, this was the belief of karma, or the belief of this heathenistic, you know, nature's out to get Paul. And here's what they're saying they they Paul gets bit by a snake and they said oh this guy He was a prisoner and he was on he was shipwrecked and the universe or the earth you know nature was trying to kill him and and he survived that and and now He's been bit by the snake. No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he had escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. They're saying those things are happening to Paul because he's a bad guy. Paul was misunderstood. You know what's funny about this story? Paul's the only innocent guy there. Paul's on a ship with a bunch of prisoners, and he's the only one that actually didn't do anything wrong. You know how every prison always tells you they're innocent? Paul was actually innocent. I mean, Paul's just like, what is he being sent to Rome for? For preaching the gospel? He hasn't hurt anybody, he hasn't stolen from anybody, he hasn't done anything wrong. The Roman soldiers were wicked people. The other prisoners were wicked people. Paul was doing the work of God, and notice, Paul's the one. that got struck with the venomous snake. And you know what the islanders said? They said, oh, he must be a bad guy. They misunderstood him. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 4 if you would. Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians chapter 4. They misunderstood Paul. You know what people say about our type of churches? First works Baptist church gets bombed and you know what people say? He deserved it. He, you know, they must be bad people. That's why that happened to them. Pastor Thompson gets persecuted and he gets protested of at Sheriff Foundation. We get protested in Sacramento and people say, oh, you guys must be bad people. Well, Paul got bit by a snake and they said, oh, he must be a bad guy. No, you know what? He's the good guy. That's why he's getting bit by the snake. First Corinthians 14 and verse 13 says this, being defamed. Paul said, being defamed. He says, they don't say the right things about me. They don't believe the right things about me. Paul says, I'm misunderstood. And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, no doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he had escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffered not to live. And then Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 14, 13, he says, being defamed, we entreat, we are made as the filth of the world and are the offscoring of all things unto this day. The word offscoring means something that is thrown away. Paul says, you know, in the world we're defamed. In the world we are made as the filth of the world and are the offscoring of all things unto this day. The world looks at us and they want to throw us away. They want to get rid of us. They say we're the filth. We're defamed. He says, I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved son, I warn you. Let me tell you something. If you get involved in a church that is actually going to preach the word of God, that's actually going to try to get people saved and try to set people on fire, get ready to be defamed. You know what they say about us? They say we're the problem. Because we don't want our children to be exposed to a bunch of filthy faggots. Because we don't want our children to be exposed to a bunch of filth and pornography and transvestites because we believe that a man should marry a woman, they should raise godly children, they should live right and live pure. They look at us as we're the obscuring. We're not the ones on board right now. Everybody's falling all over themselves right now in the month of June. Every company, Amazon, it doesn't matter what company, they're all falling all over themselves to make sure everybody knows we're their allies, we're on board, we're for this. And we say, no we're not, it's filthy. And the world says, you're the problem. You know what we are? We're misunderstood. When you align yourself with God, you'll align yourself against the world. I like the song, So Little Time. The third verse says, despite the heat, the seasons, toil, the hardship, the broken hearts over those we cannot win. Misunderstood because we're off peculiar. Still no regrets. We'll have but for our sin. You know that in the Christian life, you'll be misunderstood. You know why? You say, why would we be misunderstood? Because we're off peculiar. People, they can't understand why it bothers us to go down to the beach and see a bunch of naked people. And they think, what's the problem? And we're like, you're the problem. Your drunkenness is the problem. The problem's at the beach. We're going to enjoy the beach during the millennial reign of Christ. It's going to be great. But we're misunderstood because we're a peculiar. They say, why do you got to raise your kids that way? Why do you have to believe those things? Why do you have to say those things? Why do you have to preach those things? Why do you have to live that way? You know what, Paul was on his island of adventure, he was misunderstood. He was the most innocent, the most righteous man there. And they all looked at him and said, he's the problem. There's something wrong with him. And on this island, on this island, the greatest thing that could happen to this island is for a church like this to show up and get people saved and get people growing and restore marriages and help parents parent their children properly and change the culture. The best thing that could happen is for a church like this to reach as many people as possible and set them on fire. But just realize that some people will misrepresent you. They'll say, you're a cult. They'll say, you're the bad guys. You're not loving. You're not accepting. No, we're the most loving. Paul, on his island adventure, he was attacked. Paul, on his island adventure, he got to work. Paul, on his island adventure, he was misunderstood. I want you to notice the fourth thing. Go back to Acts 28, look at verse 5. I'll do my best to move quickly. Acts 28 verse 5. We see that Paul had this venomous beast latch onto him. I love verse 5. Many sermons have been preached out of verse 5. And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. I love the phrase there, shook off the beast. When I was a kid growing up, you'd play a sport, you'd play baseball or whatever and you'd get hit by a ball or you'd get injured somehow and people would say, walk it off, walk it off. Shake it off. You say, pastor, what do you do when the venomous beast attacks you? You shake it off. And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. You know what the Bible says in James chapter four and verse seven? Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. You just shake them, you just shake them off, he'll flee from you. You shake off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. I want you to notice, What happens here in our story? He gets bit by the snake They misunderstood him. They misrepresent him. They lie about him say he must be the bad guy He shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm notice verse 6 acts 28 verse 6. How be it they looked He got he got bit by a snake and they looked When he should have swollen or fallen down. I want you to notice those two words, fallen down, dead, suddenly. But after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him, like a bunch of superstitious heathens, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. You know that Paul, on his island adventure, got to work? And you know that Paul, on his island adventure, got attacked? And you know that Paul, on his island adventure, was misunderstood? But I want you to notice, fourthly this afternoon, Paul, on his island adventure, stood when others expected him to fall. He got bit by a snake and the Bible says they were looking at him. This became like a sport to them. They were spectators. It says, how be it they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but after they had looked a great while. They're looking at him saying, we've seen other people get bit by snakes and usually by now they've fallen over. Usually by now they've gone swollen. Usually by now, they're foaming at the mouth or they're dying. But this guy, they saw no harm come to him. You know, Paul stood. Paul stood after he was bit by the snake. Go to the book of Ephesians if you would, Ephesians chapter 6. If you're there in the book of Acts, you go past Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Acts, Romans, 1st, 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. You say, Pastor, how should we deal with the attacks of the devil? You shake him off and you stand. No point in going to a frenzy. Find me some, the cure, does anybody have the cure? You know, this anti-venom. He shook him off and stood. You say, what should we do when we get attacked? Look, this church, if you do what you're supposed to do, this church will be attacked on this island. The LGBTQ mafia is alive and well here as well. They're going to jump out of that fire and they're going to bite you. They're going to attack you. This church in the two years of its existence has already been attacked. You've already fought some battles. You've already had some ups and downs and some issues. You say, what do we do? You stand. Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 10, the Bible tells us what to do when the devil attacks. Ephesians 6 and verse 10, finally my brethren, Be strong in the Lord. The Apostle Paul here is using military terms. He's about to give us the great armor of God and the idea of a military, a warrior going out to fight a battle. He says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God. And we could preach a whole series out of the armor of God and what that means and those different pieces. But I want you to notice the purpose of putting on the whole armor of God. He says, put on the whole armor of God. You say that we could do what, Paul? that ye may be able to stand." That ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. You say, what did Paul do when he got bit by the venomous beast? He shook off the beast into the fire and he stood. They said he should have fallen down. but he stood. They said, he should have got swollen, but he stood. They said, he should have died, but he stood. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wakeners in high places. Notice verse 13, wherefore. Ephesians 6, 13, wherefore. The word wherefore means for that reason. For what reason? The fact that we're wrestling not against flesh and blood, but we are wrestling, we are engaged in spiritual warfare against the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, the spiritual weakness in high places. He says, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to... Now I want you to notice, our King James Bible always serves as its own dictionary. It defines itself. So in verse 11, he says, put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand. And sometimes people say, well, I don't know what that means. What does that mean to stand? Well, he's about to explain it to us in verse 13. He says, wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, just like he said in verse 11. He says, that ye may be able to, and then he defines it a little more for us. He says, withstand. He says, you're supposed to stand. But he says, Paul would say, when I told you to stand in verse 11, I didn't mean stand like you're standing around. I'm just standing, what are you doing? You know, you ask teenagers, what are you doing, hanging out? Like a bat? Like, I don't understand, you know? But it's just like, you know, we're just standing around doing nothing. Paul says, no, no, when I say stand, I don't mean stand like you're standing around doing nothing. He says, what I mean is I want you to withstand. He says, wherefore take unto the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Now notice he says, having done all to stand. Now, standing is not something that's difficult, right? You're just standing there. What are you doing? I'm putting all my energy and effort into standing right here. It takes all my mental ability to just stand. Now, standing around is pretty easy. Withstanding requires you to put all your energy into it. You say, what do you mean? It's a military term. It's the same idea as when you watch the documentaries about the Civil War or the Revolutionary War when these armies would go into battle and you would have a line of one side going against a line of another side. And you might have seen those documentaries where you'll have the captain or the general on a horseback riding back and forth on the line. And what's he saying? He's saying, stand your ground! Don't give them any room. Withstand. It's the same idea that you would use in a football concept. I'm not a football guy. I don't know a lot about football. That's obvious by our performance at the Red Hawk Region Conference a couple of years ago. But you know, Pastor Thompson's into football. He knows a lot about football, apparently. You know, I don't know what the term is, but you know, you see these big football players, right? They're on that line. What's that line called? Line of scrimmage? Defense, you know? What's that called when they get down? Right, the line of scrimmage. There's a term, right? There's like the three point stands, right? And what's the point? You know, you can sit there and say, hey, I need you to stand right here. Now they're like, hike, pull. You know what most Christians are doing? The ball gets hiked and they get tackled, and they're like, where'd that come from? See, Paul says, Paul says, I want you to stand. You say, what do you want us to do, Paul? Paul says, no, no, no. I want you to stand. You need to withstand. You need to get ready, because the devil's coming at you. The devil's going to try to push you off. The devil's going to try to stop you. Let me tell you something. The devil's going to try to stop this church. You say, what do we do? You stand. You say, like standing around? No, like withstand. Like, like, put your energy into it! Like, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand, stand therefore having your loins cut about with truth. And James, he said, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil. What does the word resist mean? It means to withstand. It's the action or the effect of withstanding against something. You say, what are we supposed to do? We are supposed to stand! When the devil attacks, when the battles come, we don't give them any ground. Let me tell you something, Christianity has given too much ground to the world already. We've lost too much ground already. It's already accepted. The LGBT garbage is already accepted. We've already lost ground. You say, what do we do? We gotta withstand. We can't give them any more ground. We gotta resist the devil. We gotta withstand the devil. We gotta stand up and fight. See, everybody expected Paul to fall over dead, but you know what he did? He stood. He shook off the bees and they said, he should have swollen. He should have fallen down dead, but he stood. Say, what did Paul do on his island adventure? He got to work. What did Paul do on his island adventure? He got attacked. You say, what did Paul do on his island adventure? He was misunderstood. What did Paul do on his island adventure? He stood when others expected him to fall. Let me give you one last one, we'll finish up. Go back to Acts 28, look at verse 7. Acts 28, verse 7. And the same quarters were possessions. of the chief men of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux. This is an abnormal discharge of fluid. He was a sick man. To whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came and were healed. You know what Paul did on his island adventure? He healed the sick. He said, what can we do? We ought to heal the spiritually sick. Go to Luke chapter 5. We're almost done. We'll look at Luke and Matthew. We'll finish up. Luke chapter 5. Look at verse 31. Luke chapter 5 and verse 31. Luke chapter 5 and verse 31. Notice what Jesus said, and Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. You know, Paul healed the physically sick, but our job is to heal the spiritually sick. They that are holy, not a physician, Jesus said, but they that are sick. He said, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Go to Matthew chapter nine, look at verse 36, Matthew 9, 36. If you go backwards past Luke into the book of Matthew, Matthew 9, 36, the Bible says this, but when he saw the multitudes, this is Jesus, but when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they, notice, why is he moved with compassion? Because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labors are few. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labors into his harvest. You know, Paul healed those who were physically hurting, physically sick. We should heal those who are spiritually hurting and spiritually sick. The Bible says that Jesus, he looked, he saw the multitudes and he was moved with compassion. He cared. You say, why? Because they fainted and were scattered abroad. You know what I believe Hawaii is filled with? You say, it's a beautiful island. People come here to relax. People come here to enjoy themselves. People come here to take a break. And I think those are all good things. But you know, I think that a lot of people come here to try to escape their hurt. A lot of people think that beach is gonna make them happy. They think surfing every Sunday is gonna make them happy. They think getting drunk and parties and drugs and alcohol, they think that all of those things are going to bring them joy and happiness. And I'm not against having time to relax. Obviously, we're against drunkenness and all those things. But let me tell you something. I believe that there are people all over this island, not just here, all over Sacramento, all over Washington, all over anywhere, all over everywhere. Wherever there are people, you will find people that are scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd. People that are hurting, people that need help, people that just need somebody to care. So what should we do on this island? You should find those people. They're trying to escape their problems through drugs, alcohol, through pleasure, through hedonism. And what they need is the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul went around and healed the sick. You know what we should do? Heal the spiritually sick. Paul, on his island adventure, found the people that needed help, and he helped them. And you and I need to do the same. You know, people think of Hawaii, and they think of Waikiki, and they think of the tourists. But you go up and down into these areas, you're going to find a lot of the native Hawaiians here, and they just need somebody to love them. They need somebody to care about them. They need somebody to bring them the truth. They need somebody to preach them the gospel. They need somebody to tell them, let me show you how to have a proper marriage, and let me show you how to rear your children correctly, and let me show you how to work hard and how to provide for your family. They just need somebody to love them. Paul went around helping those who needed help. You and I should do the same. This church should do the same. Paul, on his island adventure, healed the sick, and this church, on their island adventure, needs to heal the spiritually sick. Go back to Acts 28. Look at verse 10. Look at verse 9, just for a little bit of context. So when this was done, Others also, which had diseases in the island, came and were healed, who also honored us with many honors. And when we departed, they laid at us with such things as were necessary. You know how Paul's island adventure ended? You know how Paul's, he wasn't on the island for a long time. You know how it ended? A ship came and picked him up. And the people he helped honored him. You know that our lives on this earth are but for a moment? Say, how long is the island adventure of Surefound Nation Baptist Church gonna last for? I don't know how it's gonna last for, but I can tell you how it's gonna end. One day, the great ship of Zion with the captain, the Lord Jesus Christ, is gonna come and pick you up off this shore and take you to another shore. And all that will matter is what was done for Christ. So make good use of your island adventure. Not everybody gets to live in paradise. Not everybody gets to say like the Apostle Paul, we're living the Christian Gilligan's Island. We get to live on paradise. But you know what? Paradise on earth is nothing in comparison to the paradise of God. We should give our lives, we should give our lives to work, to love people, to reach people, realizing that we'll be attacked, realizing that we'll be misrepresented, realizing that we'll be lied about. Because one day the ship is coming to take us home. And we want to make sure that we've not wasted our time. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the story in the book of Acts. Thank you for how it highlights for us what the apostle Paul did on this island of Melita. And Lord, I pray you'd bless this church. I pray you'd bless the leadership here and that you would help this church to enjoy everything that this island has to offer, but to realize that their time here is just very short. And help us to make good use of the time. Help us to get to work. Help us to reach people, set them on fire for God. Help us to heal the sick spiritually. Help us to love people and help those that need help. And when the attacks come, when the snakes bite, help us to stand. Help us to withstand. Help us to resist. Help us not to quit. And help us to realize that one day, the ship from heaven is coming to carry us home. Only one life, so soon shall pass, only what's done for Christ will last. In the matchless name of Christ, we pray. Amen.