Bethel Church

“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God.”  How can God say this?  There are people all over the world - as he is speaking that worship other gods - what makes a god a God?  Doesn’t this statement beg that question - what does a  god have to be before it is a true God?  If someone builds an alter and worships a stone - or carved image - an animal - or whatever it is - does that make that object a god?  It is not the worship of something that makes it a God? - the worship of something makes it an idol if it isn't God- because as spoken very plainly here - there is only one God - there is no other.  So if it isn’t worship that makes a God - what is it?  I would suggest it is sovereignty  because - and really grasp this - without a sovereign God - there is not God - a God that is not sovereign is no God at all.

The church is the body of Christ – Tomorrow morning a lot of you will get up and go to work – think of all the ways that your body makes that one routine event in your life possible – you use your legs to walk out to your car or tractor – you use your eyes to know where the tractor is – you use your ears to hear your spouse telling you that you forgot something or where you keys are – right the list goes on and on – your hand to shift the vehicle – your feet to accelerate it – we use our bodies every day – to accomplish the tasks we have set our mind to.  The church is the body of Christ – it is how God accomplishes what he has set his mind to do on earth.  The proclamation of His name and the gospel happen through the body of Christ – the strengthening of believers happens through the body of Christ – discipleship – growth – maturity – evangelism – missions – these things all happen through a body – the body of Christ – his church – so why would we want to gather somewhere else when the Church is meeting?

Now as we pick up here in Chapter 28 it is important that we grasp the situation – as these guys were all jumping into the water from the ship it must have taken some time for all 276 to get out of the boat and get to shore – they didn’t all arrive on the shore at the same time in the same place – but they were all soaking wet – they were cold – they were in rain that was being blown by hurricane force winds – they were in a place they couldn’t identify – they had to wonder if there were people here and if there were – were they friendly?

As we pick up our series on Acts this morning we find ourselves in the 27th chapter - the 27th chapter of Acts is one of the most remarkable sections of the entire Bible - Luke's explanation of events there is extremely vivid - a masterful presentation of what took place to ships that were caught in severe storms in the Mediterranean Sea- and this isn't just my opinion - but the opinion of historians who have studied this passage.  Now there are a lot of things in the New Testament that cannot be verified or falsified by science or archaeology - like the great number of supernatural events - these things cannot be proved or disproven through science or archaeology - but there is a lot in these books that are of historical nature - that can be ether proven accurate or false through what we know to be true - now Luke isn't a master sailor - although this wasn't his first time on a ship - but this trip is described in amazing accuracy concerning the exact techniques that were used by sailors during this time to guard against shipwreck - and as we go through this passage - fairly quickly - for there is a lot of information - I am sure you will see the detail in Luke's account of this trip.