Title: Melide's Salvation
Contents
Melide's salvation. Acts 28:1-10. 08.4.13.
In the old days, our ancestors placed a bowl of water on a jangdokdae and prayed for a long and healthy life for their families. Because they did not know God. So, “Intellect is Gamcheon.” I had the belief that if I prayed to heaven with all my heart, it would surely come true.
This belief is called shamanism. Any god can impress God to get what I want. This may seem like a very good faith at first glance, but it is actually a very dangerous faith. Because he uses God as he pleases. Because there is a human mind that wants to use it according to their own needs.
Faith in God is a little different from this. No matter how hard we try, we cannot impress God. First, God's love comes down into us and we respond to that love. No matter how well we do, we cannot impress God.
Because God is not human like us. God is leading us in his own way.
Paul's companions arrived on an island after a 14-day storm.
28:1 “After we were saved, we found out that the island was called Melidea.” I woke up later and arrived at an uninhabited island I knew nothing about.
God is the one who leads our lives where we never plan our path. Paul was originally on his way to Rome. However, after encountering a typhoon, Paul arrived on an island he did not know at all called Melide.
Why did God lead Paul and his companions to the uninhabited island of Melide instead of leading them to a safe harbor? It was God's plan of salvation.
1. God's plan is different from ours.
Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man plans his way in his heart, but the Lord directs his steps.” Therefore, verse 3 says, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will come to pass.”
God's plan and ours are different. Paul wanted to go to Rome and preach to many Jews. However, he had arrived on an island called Melide, which he did not expect at all.
Toins lived there. They welcomed Paul's party. They first made a fire to avoid the cold. But when Paul put wood in the campfire, a viper came out of it and bit Paul's hand.
When the people saw the serpent hanging from Paul's hand, they said to each other, "This man must be a murderer. He has managed to get out of the sea, but the Spirit of Justice will never let him live."
The Toins were waiting for Paul, knowing that he would suddenly fall on his face and die. However, knowing that there was nothing wrong, they said in amazement, “It is a god.”
2. The Melites were people who were bound by shamanic beliefs.
They thought that man died because he had done something wrong to God. They thought that because Paul had committed many sins, God was angry and he was bitten by a serpent to death.
Whether they were sick or sick, they thought that God had punished them all. They had the belief that sickness would be cured only by appeasing this god.
God decided to save the Melites who were thoroughly bound by this shamanic belief. That is why he had Paul change the course of the boat through a typhoon.
Therefore, we should not be discouraged or give up when things we pray and plan do not go well. Because God makes us give up on our plans and causes unexpected things to happen in order to fulfill God's plan. In that storm, there must be God's work of salvation.
God said to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me."
Jonah went down to the port of Joppa in the opposite direction of God and boarded a boat to Tarshish. Tarshish is now Spain. At that time, people thought that the end of the earth was Spain. Jonah went in the exact opposite direction.
At that time, God caused a typhoon to blow over the sea. The sailors on board began to call their gods. However, the typhoon started getting stronger and stronger. They threw everything in the boat into the sea. Even in the midst of this chaos, Jonah went down to the bottom of the boat and slept.
The captain went down and woke Jonah. Then they said, “Come, let us cast lots to find out from whom this calamity has come upon us.” Immediately they cast lots, and Jonah was caught.
The sailors asked Jonah, "What is your livelihood, where are you from, where are you from, and what nation are you from?" Jonah said, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. Now we are on our way to Tarshish, fleeing God’s command.”
The sailors rebuked them, saying, “Why did you do this?”, but it was already too late.
The typhoon now has the momentum to completely destroy the ship. The sailors did their best, but they couldn't handle it any longer.
The sailors asked Jonah, "What must we do to make the sea calm?" Jonah said, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea, and the sea will be calm for you. It is because of me that this sea has arisen.”
The word that calms the storm is “because of me.” For those who admit their mistakes, people don't hate them either. The sailors did their best for Jonah.
The sailors said, "God, do not destroy us because of this man, for the Lord GOD does your will." And they threw Jonah into the sea.
Jonah went into the belly of a big fish and stayed for three days and three nights. What Jonah realized in the belly of the fish is that all salvation is done according to God's will.
God does not work according to man's plan, but according to his own will. Therefore, if there is a great storm in the direction we are going, we should ask God's will. Only then can we go in the right direction in our life.
3. God is a miracle worker.
Paul was invited by Boblio, the highest chieftain on the island of Melide. I was treated well in that house for three days. But suddenly Boblio's father fell ill with fever and dysentery. Boblio is Melide's supreme leader. Perhaps Boblio is the island's greatest religious leader. This is because the chief is responsible for all ancestral rites on the original old island.
Paul went into Boblio's father's room, laid his hands on him, and prayed. Then his fever disappeared like a lie.
God still works miracles today. Yes, to spread the gospel through miracles.
Elder Dongju Kim is in Jinhae. This person has been running an Inkel dealership for 40 years. He was born in Japan and lived in Korea, but until he was 22 years old, he lived in denial that God does not exist. Then one lung broke and he was hospitalized at Gongju National Hospital for surgery. He stumbled across Tolstoy's book, "The Truth of Life," while in the hospital. “Faith is like a child's breast. When I was young, I couldn't know the existence of the parents who gave birth to me and raised me, but just as a child can know the existence of their parents when they grow up, you have to believe in the existence of God to know it if you don't believe it."
He went to the church in the hospital and accepted Jesus as his Savior, saying, “Can someone like me believe in Jesus?” However, I was audited for amputation of the lungs, and the operation could be performed only when the lung capacity reached at least 60%, but Elder Kim was only 47%, making the operation impossible. Elder Kim grabbed the director of the hospital and asked him to wait just one week and went to the church. He said, “God, I have only believed in Jesus for 10 days, but please save my life. Then I will live for the glory of God.” And a week later, when I audited again, my lung capacity was 62%. But now the cost of surgery was a problem. I needed 400,000 won for surgery, but I didn't have the money. He wrote a letter to President Yun Bo-seon. “Sir, a 22-year-old young man is dying because there is no 400,000 won for surgery. Please help.” I sent a letter, but there has been no news for more than a week. Elder Kim gave up and went to the hospital director and said, “I want to live. If my eyes are worthwhile, please sell them for surgery.”
This rumor spread throughout the hospital. That year, the Eighth Army received free surgery for 47 state-funded patients from tuberculosis donations. Elder Kim was not a state-funded patient, but he moved the heart of the hospital director and successfully received the 12th operation and is living a healthy life until now. The radio company, which started with 35,000 in 1964, has now become a business place with more than ten employees.
Conclusion: As Paul was being escorted to Rome, he encountered a great storm. He arrived on an island called Melide and was bitten by a terrifying viper. However, by the grace of God, he did not die and there was nothing wrong with it. People began to respect Paul as a god, and all of the Jesus that Paul preached to them came to be believed.
The God who worked on Paul is also the one who works for us today. Therefore, when we also meet storms, we should not be discouraged or back down, but we should go forward with faith and become victorious saints.