An expository lecture class verse by verse led by Pastor Robert Read

Acts Lesson 39 Study Questions

1.    I urge you to take heart: As a messenger of God, Paul hoped to bring _____ to these passengers and crew who had given up all hope. His point wasn’t simply to tell them he was right, but to bring them ______ news.

2.    An angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve: The angelic presence was an encouragement; Paul’s recollection of his calling was also. Paul remembered that he belonged to God and that he served God. God never forgets those who ________ to Him and _______ Him.

3.    Paul believed God when there was nothing else to believe. He couldn’t believe the sailors, the ship, the sails, the wind, the centurion, human ingenuity or anything else – only _____. This was not a fair-weather faith; he believed God in the midst of the _______, when circumstances were at their worst.

4.    Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Paul knew two reasons why they had to stay together. First, the ship’s passengers desperately needed the crew’s ________, and it would be fatal if the crew abandoned the passengers. Second, Paul probably sensed that God’s promise to give him the lives of the whole ship’s company assumed that they would stay __________.

5.    Since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you: Paul had a word of _______ and confidence from the Lord for the frightened crew and passengers. But this word only benefited those who _________ it.

6.    They did not recognize the land: They did not know it at first, but they came to an island called ______. The place where the ship came aground is now called _____________.

7.    And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape: To the soldiers, it made sense to kill the prisoners, because according to Roman military law a guard who allowed his prisoner to escape was subject to the same _________ the escaped prisoner would have suffered – in the case of most of these prisoners, _______.

8.    Made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold: Luke wrote as someone who experienced this, both the _______ of the Malta natives and the cold and wet of the storm. Malta could mean __________, a fitting name.

9.    A viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand: Paul was __________ to God and living as a true servant. But this did not keep him from this _______. His humble service brought out a viper, and the viper didn’t just nibble on Paul – it fastened on his hand.

10.    And suffered no harm: God didn’t preserve Paul from the _______ just to let him perish by a snake. Paul was protected. It was promised he would go to Rome (you must also bear witness at Rome, Acts 23:11), and Paul wasn’t to Rome yet. It wasn’t so much that nothing would stop Paul as it was that nothing would stop God’s ________ from being fulfilled.

11.    The leading citizen of the island… who received us and entertained us courteously for three days: This was a great ________ and a strong contrast to the misery of the previous two weeks at sea. God gave Paul, Luke, and Aristarchus a season of _______ and replenishment.

12.    Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him: ____ healed this man; yet it happened through the willingness and activity of Paul. God did the work, but Paul made himself _______ and available for the work.