God in the Storm
Acts 27
Acts 27:9-10 NLT
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. “Men,” he said, “I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on—shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.”
Acts 27:11-12 ESV
But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that some how they could reach Phoenix.
Acts 27:13-15 NLT
“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. 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.”
Acts 27:18-20 ESV
Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
1. Get a Word from God
Acts 27:21 ESV
Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.
Acts 27:22 ESV
Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
Acts 27:23-24 ESV
For this very night there stood before (stood beside) me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
Acts 27:23a-24a ESV
“there stood before (stood beside) me an angel… and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar’”
Acts 27:18-20 NLT
When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Acts 27:23-24 ESV
and he (the angel) said, ‘Do not be afraid,Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’”
Luke 1:37
“For with God nothing will be impossible”
2. Walk in what God said
Acts 27:23-26 ESV
For this very night there stood before (stood beside) me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island.”
Matthew 17:20 ESV
“if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
2 Corinthians 4:13
Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak.
3. Watch God Work Through You
Acts 27:27
When the fourteenth night had come… about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.
Acts 27:30-36
And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.
Acts 27:42-44
The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.
