Dave spoke this morning from Zechariah 4:6-10. Often, we are influenced by the idea that everything must be big, but many great inventions started with a small idea; Zechariah reminds us not to despise the day of small beginnings. (Zech 4:10)The Jews had been exiled from their home land for 70 years and had now returned; this was a time of rebuilding. Yet after so many years away, doubts were hindering this process, as they continue to do so frequently, even today. We have to learn to listen to God and not to those who sow doubts.

Zechariah reminds us that God’s power is what is important, not our ability or inability. (Zech 4:6) Satan is a powerful liar and wants us to believe that we cannot prevail, but God empowers us. 2 Cor 10:3-5 reminds us that we have divine weapons given to us by God; we have all we need to overcome the enemy and the world. The power of the Holy Spirit promised in Acts 1:8 can be ours today.

Secondly, God’s power removes obstacles. (Zech 4:7) Mighty mountains can be removed in God (see Luke 10:18, Luke 19:20).

God rejoices over our work; He can use anything for His glory, even the jawbone of a donkey or a tent peg can achieve mighty things in God! Spiritual gifts are given to us by God, not for ourselves, but for others. His power is given to us to witness and to ensure that the church grows. We may often feel that we are a minority who cannot do anything, but we must remember that Israel went into Egypt with about 70 people and left with millions! We have already seen what God can do with our little (purchasing a building costing over £160,000 with only £7,000 in our bank account!) There is no limit to what God can do in us and through us by His Spirit.

Romans 8:28 is one of the most quoted and reassuring verses in the whole Bible: ‘we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.’ (Rom 8:28) We are reminded by Paul that even when things don’t work out the way we want them to, God is still able to work for our good.

A shipwreck on Malta probably wasn’t on Paul’s wish list of things he wanted to happen to him, but the experience was certainly beneficial to the islanders of Malta, and anyone who visits nowadays can still see the influence of Paul on that island. Being under house arrest in Rome probably wasn’t on Paul’s wish list either, but the fact remains that the book of Acts closes with the news that ‘for two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!’ (Acts 28:30-31) Whatever happened to him was turned to good. Much of our New Testament was written by Paul from this place of imprisonment, so there definitely was good to be seen from a personally injurious situation.

We see that the forces of nature (water, wind and snake) and the machinations of men (schemes, plots and threats) were all arrayed against Paul, but even though demonic forces lay behind these, they were not enough to thwart God’s plans. Scripture is full of examples of the devil seeking to thwart God’s saving purpose through His people and His Christ:

• Pharaoh trying to drown the baby Moses

• Haman trying to annihilate the Jews

• Herod the Great trying to destroy the infant Jesus in Bethlehem

• the Sanhedrin trying to stifle the apostolic witness and smother the church at its birth.

God is well able to obstruct the devil’s purposes. By God’s providence Paul reached Rome safe and sound, and we see fleshed out for us the truth of Romans 8:28, God working for good in the life of this great apostle. God ‘works out everything in conformity with his will’ (Eph 1:11); ‘no wisdom, no insight, no plan’ can succeed against the Lord. (Prov 21:30)

Public opinion can change very quickly: people who were once revered can soon become vilified and the opposite can also happen. It’s not often, however, that both processes can happen to the same person, yet this happened to Paul. On his missionary journey to Lystra, he was first worshipped as a god because he healed a man and yet within a short space of time was stoned after Jews from Iconium and Antioch stirred up the crowds against him (Acts 14:11-19), whereas in Malta, he was first called a murderer and then a god! (Acts 28:1-10)

Both these incidents remind us that opinions can change very quickly, often when swayed by other people or by circumstances. People rarely see the bigger picture and judgments are often made on people based on what we can see – which tends to give us at best a glimpse into a person. God reminds the prophet Samuel that he does not look at outward appearances but at the heart (1 Sam 16:7), and it’s important for us always to remember this. We often tend to think that we know what is going on in situations, but just as the islanders on Malta reached the wrong conclusion about Paul initially (assuming that if he survived a shipwreck simply to be bitten by a snake, he must have done something very wrong!) and were equally wrong to believe he was a god because he survived the snake bite, so we must be careful not to jump to conclusions and to be prepared to give people the benefit of the doubt!

In 2016 I visited Malta to celebrate my 50^th birthday. It was the first time I had ever been to that island, and I was surprised to find evidence of Acts 28 all over the island still. Its geography reflects Paul’s arrival (the bay on which he was shipwrecked is known as St Paul’s Bay) and throughout the island, there are churches and memorials which tell us the story of his arrival there. Christianity is alive and flourishing there, centuries after the apostle landed there unexpectedly on his journey to Rome.

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Surprisingly in Acts 28:1-10, we read of no gospel preaching, simply a series of miraculous events, including some healings (of the governor’s father and others on the island.) We are not told of any conversions, yet it is obvious to this day that Paul left a lasting legacy on Malta, to the extent that the tourist board tells us the story of Acts 28 on its website! (https://www.visitmalta.com/en/st-paul-in-malta) The island is proud of its heritage, proud of its Christian roots, and we see how one person can make an enormous difference to the destiny of a whole nation. Three months can make a huge difference, it seems!

In our ‘Little Big Church’ service tonight, J-P talked about filling our lives with important stuff. It’s so easy to fill our time and attention with unimportant things (wealth, TV, computer games, caring about our appearance and so on) and we even let things like bitterness, hatred, anger and the desire for revenge take up so much of our lives. Truly, however, we need to understand that important things must take priority: things like God, love, family and friends, health and wellness, food and water, living with passion, education and so on.

He illustrated this with three jars: the first one, an empty one representing our lives, and then one jar filled with balls to represent important things and one with sand to represent the non-important things.

If we try to fill our empty jar with the non-important things, the balls do not all fit in as well, meaning that important things get left out if we focus on the non-essential. If, however, we prioritise important things, there is room for all the extra ‘stuff’ – this has to be in the right order.

In Matthew 6:31-33, Jesus told us our priority should be to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Rom 12:2 tells us we should not try to live as everyone else does, but should make wise choices in God. This can be hard, but the image of the clock and the compass remind us that we need to use time wisely and be guided and directed by God. If we have things in the right order and don’t get distracted by non-important things, then we can do what God wants us to do and tell everyone about Jesus.

Garry spoke this morning from Gen 39:1-6, continuing his series on Joseph. He started by asking what drew us to God initially – sometimes we come to God through different means and for different reasons, including the benefits we perceive from belonging to God’s family. Ultimately, the best reason we can have is that Christianity is true. We should follow God not for what we can get out of Him; we should not be ‘fairweather followers’ only (see John 6). Many fall away from God when the storms of life come, but Joseph shows us what it means to follow God wholeheartedly, even when things go awry.

There is a cost to following Jesus and He urged His disciples to count the cost (Luke 14:28-35). That might be a material cost (losing a job, for example, as we speak out for Jesus) or a cost in terms of relationships (as many Orthodox Jews, Muslims and people of other faiths have discovered when coming to Jesus). Joseph demonstrates to us that staying with God is possible, no matter what the outward circumstances. He could have prayed to escape from Potiphar’s service; it must have seemed so wrong to him to have gone from being a dearly loved son to being a slave, but He continued to trust God, even when there seemed to be no material benefit to him. Jesus too demonstrated His determination to follow God’s path for His life, no matter what the personal anguish (Matt 26:38-39). We may feel that Jesus was exceptional and we cannot be expected to do the same, but many Biblical characters (Job, David, Paul, to name but three) show us that it is possible to face great trials and still remain faithful to God.

We need to understand from the core of our beings that God is not a random, capricious God. He has reasons for His actions, even if we cannot see or understand those (see Ezra 1:21-23).Joseph had to wait more than twenty years to see the fulfilment of God’s good plans for his life, but he lived faithfully for God in all circumstances. Joseph found favour in Potiphar’s sight (Gen 39:4) because he served him readily, willingly, cheerfully and faithfully. Ultimately, it was Joseph’s faith and confidence in God which enabled him to do this, and we can have that same and faith in God, even when things are going awry.