Acts 27:1-12 – Paul sails for Rome
- “Some men are chosen to do...”
- Paul is shipped off to Rome.
- He is about to face trial in Rome in a time that was not kind to Christians.
- Even the journey there was turning out to be very difficult.
- They were fast approaching the autumn/fall and winter was right around the corner. The seas were becoming treacherous for the kinds of ships that existed 2000 years ago.
- The writer tells us that they were attempting to sail after the fast – this is key to understanding the travel problems they were facing.
- The fast was Sept/October
- The Jews believed it was only safe to sail between Pentecost and Tabernacles [May-June to 5 days after the fast so]
- The Romans believed that sailing after September 15th was doubtful and after November 11th was suicidal!
- Last night I watched the film “to kill a mockingbird” – it is a famous American classic about a white lawyer defending a black innocent young man accused falsely of a rape charge.
- He is threatened and his children are bullied.
- Eventually his children are attacked.
- In the film – when he loses the case and his children are crestfallen, his neighbor approached his son.
- She attempts to help him make sense of his towns terrible decision and his father’s courage.
- She says these words;
- “Some men are chosen to do the unpleasant things to help the rest of us”
- That is leadership and Paul understood it.
- I have to do the unpleasant things as a leader. Sometimes even those you love can’t understand. Sometimes your enemies won’t understand.
- But leaders have to do the unpleasant things to save their communities from something much worse than the unpleasant.
- Praying; yet again, for courage.
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