Acts 27: When the storm feels too strong

We read Acts 27 and follow Paul’s dangerous voyage toward Rome as a storm strips away control, comfort, and false confidence. We leave with one clear challenge for hard seasons: stay with the ship God is using, anchor your soul in hope, and keep going. 
• Paul’s growing opportunities to share the gospel with powerful people 
• The decision to sail and Paul’s warning about danger 
• The hurricane wind and the crew’s desperate survival measures 
• Paul’s courage after God’s promise of safety for everyone aboard 
• The attempted escape and the lifeboat being cut loose 
• Bread, thanks, and steady leadership in the middle of fear 
• Shipwreck without loss of life and the lesson of hope as an anchor 
 

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Transcript

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Hey, this is Mike with Outloud Bible Podcast. Last time in the Book of Acts, we saw that Paul has been very busy with opportunities to share his story, to share his testimony. I hope you found some boldness

Paul’s Boldness And Next Steps

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in Paul's boldness. You may not find yourself in such a large audience or in front of such aggressive people or in front of such influential or powerful people as Saul. That may even be more of a reason to go and share your story wherever someone may be willing to listen. Paul seems to be marveling at the doors that keep being opened, be able to go in front of the Sanhedrin and then in front of the governor, and then in front of the next governor, and then in front of the king. He just he's on a roll and he's like, you know what? No, I appeal to Caesar. I want to go straight to the top. I'll tell him my story and let him decide if I'm in the wrong or not. But mostly it's not about right or wrong. I mostly want him to hear the gospel. Very Paul. So today we're going to be reading Acts chapter 27, just one chapter, Acts 27, and we'll see what happens with Paul and his friends on the way to Rome. Here's Acts 27 in the New English Translation. When it was decided we would sail to Italy, they handed over Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion

Acts 27 The Voyage Begins

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of the Augustan cohort named Julius. We went on board a ship from Adramitium that was about to sail to various ports along the coast of the province of Asia, and put out to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. And the next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius, treating Paul kindly, allowed him to go to his friends so that they could provide him with what he needed. And from there we put out to sea and sailed under the Lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us. After we had sailed across the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we put in at Myra, in Lycia. There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy, and he put us aboard it. We sailed slowly for many days and arrived with difficulty off Nidus. Because the wind prevented us from going any farther, we sailed under the Lee of Crete, off Salmon, and with difficulty we sailed along the coast of Crete and came to a place called Fair Havens, that was near the town of Lassea. Since considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them, then I can see the voyage is going to end in disaster and great loss not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives. But the Centurion was more convinced by the captain and the ship's owner than by what Paul said. Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there. They hoped that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest and spend the winter there. When a gentle south wind sprang up, they thought they could carry out their purpose, so they weighed anchor and sailed close along the coast of Crete. But not long after this, a hurricane force wind, called the Northeaster,

The Northeaster And Losing Hope

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blew down from the island, and when the ship was caught in it and couldn't head into the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along. As we ran under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we were able with difficulty to get the ship's boat under control. And after the crew had hoisted it aboard, they used supports to undergird the ship, and fearing they would run aground on the Sirtis, they lowered the sea anchor, thus letting themselves be driven along. And the next day, because we were violently battered by the storm, they began throwing the cargo overboard, and on the third day they threw the ship's gear overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and a violent storm continued to batter us, we finally abandoned all hope of being saved. Since many of them had no desire to eat, Paul stood up among them and said, Man, you should have listened to me and not put out to sea from Crete, thus avoiding this damage and loss. Now I advise you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship will be lost. For last night an angel of the Lord to whom I belong, and whom I serve, came to me and said, Don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and God has graciously granted you the safety of all who are sailing with you. Therefore keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be just as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island. When the fourteenth night had come, while we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected they were approaching some land. They took soundings and found the water was twenty fathoms deep, and when they had settled a little farther they took soundings again and found it was fifteen fathoms deep. Because they were afraid that we would run aground on the rocky coast, they

God’s Promise And A Hard Landing

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threw out four anchors from the stern and wished for day to appear. When the sailors tried to escape from the ship and were lowering the ship's boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to put out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay with the ship you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship's boat and let it drift away. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying, Today's the fourteenth day you've been in suspense and have gone without food. You've eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food, for this is important for your survival, for not one of you will lose a hair from his head. After he had said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat. So all of them were encouraged and took food themselves. We were in all two hundred and seventy-six persons on this ship. When they had eaten enough to be satisfied, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea. When the day came, they didn't recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach where they had decided to run the ship aground if they could, so they slipped the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the linkage that bound the steering oars together. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and steered toward the beach. But they encountered a patch of cross currents that ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and couldn't be moved, but the stern was being broken up by the force of the waves. Now the soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would escape by swimming away, but the centurion wanting to save Paul's life prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land, and the rest were to follow, some on planks and some on pieces of the ship, and in this way all were brought safely to land. Oh, it's exhausting, isn't it? There's a detail here in verse thirty that I think is pretty poignant. When you see that the the sailors were they were trying to

Stay With The Ship In Your Storm

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escape from the ship. Right? They didn't uh fully believe Paul's promise that everyone was going to be okay. So they were pretending to, oh, we'll go lower some anchors, but really they were just trying to get into a lifeboat and save themselves. And so Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. So the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship's boat and let it drift away. I'm imagining this boat ride kind of like our Christian walk, where we're going exactly where God wants us to go. And it can be some days of bright and sunny and smooth sailing and places called fair havens. And other days it is stormy, it is rough, it's exhausting, you are drained, you feel like you're in danger, things just aren't going well, and people around you are freaking out. On our journey, we're gonna have both of these types of times and everything in between. Especially on the stormy days, especially when you don't feel safe financially or health-wise or relationally, when you just feel like you are in a storm and you can't make any progress, you're not going the direction that you thought you'd go, you're not going at the speed at which you thought you'd go, you look around you and you don't feel like anyone is on your side, those are the times that you're most tempted to get into a little boat and try to get back on track where you feel like you should be. And I'm here to tell you, to use Paul's story as a metaphor here. Unless you stay with the ship, you can't be saved. I'm not talking about your salvation in this metaphor in light of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. I'm talking about there is no safer place to be than in the boat that God is using to bring you to where He wants you to be. Stay with the ship. Paul had that confidence due to the angel who visited him and said, You will be safe, you and your companions, just stay with the boat. You'll lose the boat, but you will be safe. Now you may not have a visit from an angel telling you that everything's going to be okay, but you do have God's word. And God's word says the name of the Lord is a strong tower, a refuge for those who take shelter in it. God's word says, Don't lean on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your path straight. God's word says, consider it joy when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And you know what? Through it all, we'll lose our boat. Our boat, this journey that we call life here or this side of heaven, will pass away. It will get shipwrecked, but we're going to find ourselves safe and secure on the other side. We have that hope to look forward to, to serve as our anchor in the storm. Hebrews 6 19, we have this hope as an anchor for the soul. So what do we do in the storm? Sure, throw down that anchor. We have that hope as an anchor for our soul. And in the meantime, stay in the boat. Don't leave the boat. Keep going. I know it's scary. I know it may look like you're gonna experience loss. Stay with it. You're right where God has you. That's the Thinking Out Loud thought for the day. I hope it's encouraging to you, and we'll see you next time as we conclude the book of Acts. We'll see you then. Thanks for joining me here on the Out Loud Bible Podcast.