Plan and Outline
Luke weaves together different interests and emphases as he relates the beginnings and expansion of the church. The design of his book revolves around
(1) Key persons: Peter and Paul;
(2) Important topics and events: the role of the Holy Spirit, pioneer missionary outreach to new fields, conversions, the growth of the church, and life in the Christian community;
(3) Significant problems: conflict between Jews and Gentiles, persecution of the church by some Jewish elements, trials before Jews and Romans, confrontations with Gentiles, and other hardships in the ministry;
(4) Geographical advances: five significant stages Peter and the Beginnings of the Church in the Holy Land (chs. 1-12)
- Introduction (1:1-2)
- Christ's resurrection ministry (1:3-11)
- The period of waiting for the Holy Spirit (1:12-26)
- The filling with the Spirit (ch. 2)
- The healing of the lame man and the resultant arrest of Peter and John (3:1;4:31)
- The community of goods (4:32;5:11)
- The arrest of the 12 apostles (5:12-42)
- The choice of the Seven (6:1-7)
- Stephen's arrest and martyrdom (6:8;7:60)
- The scattering of the Jerusalem believers (8:1-4)
- Philip's ministry (8:5-40)
ACTS 27 NLT
1 When the time came, we set sail for
Italy. Paul and several other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman
officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment.
2 Aristarchus, a Macedonian from
Thessalonica, was also with us. We left on a ship whose home port was
Adramyttium on the northwest coast of the province of Asia; it was scheduled to
make several stops at ports along the coast of the province.
3 The next day when we docked at Sidon,
Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit with friends so
they could provide for his needs.
4 Putting out to sea from there, we
encountered strong headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course,
so we sailed north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland.
5 Keeping to the open sea, we passed along
the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Myra, in the province of
Lycia.
6 There the commanding officer found an
Egyptian ship from Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on
board.
7 We had several days of slow sailing, and
after great difficulty we finally neared Cnidus. But the wind was against us,
so we sailed across to Crete and along the sheltered coast of the island, past
the cape of Salmone.
8 We struggled along the coast with great
difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea.
9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather
was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and
Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.
10 “Men,” he said, “I believe there is
trouble ahead if we go on—shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as
well.”
11 But the officer in charge of the prisoners
listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul.
12 And since Fair Havens was an exposed
harbor—a poor place to spend the winter—most of the crew wanted to go on to
Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was
a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.
13 When a light wind began blowing from the
south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and
sailed close to the shore of Crete.
14 But the weather changed abruptly, and a
wind of typhoon strength (called a “northeaster”) burst across the island and
blew us out to sea.
15 The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into
the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.
16 We sailed along the sheltered side of a
small island named Cauda, where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the
lifeboat being towed behind us.
17 Then the sailors bound ropes around the
hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across to
the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to
slow the ship and were driven before the wind.
18 The next day, as gale-force winds
continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo
overboard.
19 The following day they even took some of
the ship’s gear and threw it overboard.
20 The terrible storm raged for many days,
blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone.
21 No one had eaten for a long time.
Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened
to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this
damage and loss.
22 But take courage! None of you will lose
your lives, even though the ship will go down.
23 For last night an angel of the God to
whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me,
24 and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for
you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has
granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’
25 So take courage! For I believe God. It
will be just as he said.
26 But we will be shipwrecked on an
island.”
27 About midnight on the fourteenth night
of the storm, as we were being driven across the Sea of Adria, the sailors
sensed land was near.
28 They dropped a weighted line and found
that the water was 120 feet deep. But a little later they measured again
and found it was only 90 feet deep.
29 At this rate they were afraid we would
soon be driven against the rocks along the shore, so they threw out four
anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight.
30 Then the sailors tried to abandon the
ship; they lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors
from the front of the ship.
31 But Paul said to the commanding officer
and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.”
32 So the soldiers cut the ropes to the
lifeboat and let it drift away.
33 Just as day was dawning, Paul urged
everyone to eat. “You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for
two weeks,” he said.
34“Please eat something now for your own good.
For not a hair of your heads will perish.”
35 Then he took some bread, gave thanks to
God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it.
36 Then everyone was encouraged and began
to eat—
37 all 276 of us who were on
board.
38 After eating, the crew lightened the
ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard.
39When morning dawned, they didn’t recognize the
coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to
shore by running the ship aground.
40 So they cut off the anchors and left
them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed
toward shore.
41 But they hit a shoal and ran the ship
aground too soon. The bow of the ship stuck fast, while the stern was
repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves and began to break apart.
42 The soldiers wanted to kill the
prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape.
43 But the commanding officer wanted to
spare Paul, so he didn’t let them carry out their plan. Then he ordered all who
could swim to jump overboard first and make for land.
44The others held on to planks or debris from
the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.
ACTS 28 NLT
1 Once we were safe on shore, we learned
that we were on the island of Malta.
2 The people of the island were very kind
to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome
us.
3 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and
was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him
on the hand.
4 The people of the island saw it hanging
from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped
the sea, justice will not permit him to live.”
5 But Paul shook off the snake into the
fire and was unharmed.
6 The people waited for him to swell up or
suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t
harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.
7 Near the shore where we landed was an
estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us
and treated us kindly for three days.
8 As it happened, Publius’s father was ill
with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands
on him, he healed him.
9 Then all the other sick people on the
island came and were healed.
10 As a result we were showered with
honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we
would need for the trip.
11 It was three months after the shipwreck
that we set sail on another ship that had wintered at the island—an Alexandrian
ship with the twin gods as its figurehead.
12 Our first stop was Syracuse, where we
stayed three days.
13 From there we sailed across to Rhegium.
A day later a south wind began blowing, so the following day we sailed up the
coast to Puteoli.
14 There we found some believers, who
invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome.
15 The brothers and sisters in Rome had
heard we were coming, and they came to meet us at the Forum on the Appian Way.
Others joined us at The Three Taverns. When Paul saw them, he was encouraged
and thanked God.
16When we arrived in Rome, Paul was permitted to
have his own private lodging, though he was guarded by a soldier.
17 Three days after Paul’s arrival, he
called together the local Jewish leaders. He said to them, “Brothers, I was
arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I
had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors.
18 The Romans tried me and wanted to
release me, because they found no cause for the death sentence.
19 But when the Jewish leaders protested
the decision, I felt it necessary to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no
desire to press charges against my own people.
20 I asked you to come here today so we
could get acquainted and so I could explain to you that I am bound with this
chain because I believe that the hope of Israel—the Messiah—has already
come.”
21 They replied, “We have had no letters
from Judea or reports against you from anyone who has come here.
22 But we want to hear what you believe,
for the only thing we know about this movement is that it is denounced
everywhere.”
23 So a time was set, and on that day a
large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about
the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures.
Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from
morning until evening.
24 Some were persuaded by the things he
said, but others did not believe.
25 And after they had argued back and forth
among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit
was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet,
26 ‘Go and say to this people: When you
hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not
comprehend.
27 For the hearts of these people are
hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes— so their
eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot
understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’
28 So I want you to know that this
salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept
it.”
29
30 For the next two years, Paul lived in
Rome at his own expense. He welcomed all who visited him,
31 boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God
and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.
