Help for the Hard Storms of Life - Part 2
Acts 27:21-44
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - June 4, 2008
*I’ve been in a few bad storms. In 1982 I was flying to Korea to help negotiate a contract for the Air Force, and while we were out in the middle of the Pacific, we went through a terrible storm. I looked out the window and the wings of that 747 were flapping like a bird. It was so rough, the stewardess had to sit down in the aisle. And let me tell you, she was scared. My rule of thumb on an airplane is this: If the stewardess is happy, you’re fine. -- But if your stewardess is scared, you’ve got a problem.
*Storms. Most of the worst storms we’ll face won’t have anything to do with the weather. But someday, you will find yourself in a storm just as serious as Paul faced here.
*What are we to do? As we started looking into the Word of God last time, we saw three strategies:
1-Attempt to avoid every storm you can.
2-Then strive to survive the storms you can’t avoid.
3-And trust God to take you through the storm.
*Now as we finish this chapter tonight, we can get more insight from God’s Word. Here’s what to do in the storm
1. First, keep defining your life by your connection with God.
*Who am I? How do you define yourself? There are a lot of ways to answer that question. But if you are a believer, this is the most important thing about you. And being a believer has got to be the central focus of your life, especially in the storm. In vs. 21-25 Paul defined his life by his relationship to God.
21. After long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.
22. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.
23. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,
24. saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
25. Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.
*Here Paul defined himself with 3 simple statements. In vs. 23 he said, “I belong to God,” and “I serve God.” Then in vs. 25 Paul said, “I believe God.”
*What a great definition of life for the believer! “I belong to God. I serve God. I believe God.” Let that be your definition -- especially in the storm.
2. Keep defining your life by your connection with God. -- And keep praying through your darkest night.
*Never give up on God! Things seemed to go from bad to worse in vs. 27-29. It was a long, dark night, but the believers prayed through. Luke tells us:
27. When the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land.
28. And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms.
29. Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come.
*They kept on praying and so should we. Yesterday I got a thank you card from Maxim Ammosov, the man from Jews for Jesus who showed us “Christ in the Passover” last March. That card from Jews for Jesus reminded me of the day six years ago when Katie and I pulled into Wal-Mart and saw the Jews for Jesus bus. I used to get their newsletter, so I knew about these Christian Jews and how they put on musical programs to raise awareness and support for reaching more Jews with the Gospel. The tour group had sung at the Senior Citizens Center that day. And they stopped at Wal-Mart on their way to Shreveport.
*Katie about died when I went over to the bus and knocked on the door. But I thought it would be a blessing to meet these people, and it was. We had a great visit with Rivka -- a beautiful young lady from Israel. I asked her how she got saved. She told me it was through the prayers and witness of other Jewish Christians. Rivka came to see that Jesus is the Messiah of the Jews. And she said something very important: “If you are praying for someone -- Don’t give up! That man prayed for me for two years before I got saved.”
3. Keep praying, even through your darkest night. -- And be determined to follow God’s plan for your life.
*God has a purpose and plan for your life. Sometimes His plan takes us through storms. And sometimes His plan is hard to understand. For example, in vs. 30-32, the Lord had some unexpected conditions for survival of the passengers and crew.
30. As the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow,
31. Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.’’
32. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.
*Maybe they didn’t understand what was going on, but once those Roman soldiers heard God’s plan for their lives, they were determined to carry it out. That’s the way we need to be.
*Listen to this testimony from Paul Johnson. He was a very successful builder of Holiday Inn Motels and convalescent hospitals. Paul said, "When I was forty years old, I worked in a sawmill. One morning the boss told me, ’You’re fired!’
*Depressed and discouraged, I felt like the world had caved in on me. It was during the depression and my wife and I greatly needed the small wages I had been earning. When I went home, I told my wife what happened. She asked, ‘What are you going to do now?’ I replied, ‘I’m going to mortgage our little home, and go into the building business.’
*My first venture was the construction of two small buildings. And within five years I was a multi-millionaire! Today, if I could find the man who fired me, I would sincerely thank him for what he did. At the time it happened, I didn’t understand why I was fired. Later, I saw that it was God’s unerring and wondrous plan.” (1)
*God has a great purpose and plan for your life. As He reveals it to you, be determined to follow Him -- even in the storm.
4. Be determined to follow God’s plan for your life. -- And discover the power of encouragement.
*Dedicate yourself to encouraging other people. Paul was a great encourager twice in this passage. First, listen to his encouragement in vs. 21-25:
21. After long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss.
22. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23-For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,
24. Saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
25. Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me.
*Then Paul gave more encouragement in vs. 33-38:
33. As day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing.
34. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.”
35. And when he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat.
36. Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves.
37. And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six persons on the ship.
38. So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.
*Discover the power of encouragement. God wants you to be encouraged, and He wants you to be an encourager to others.
*It was on March 23, 1945, during one of the last major offensives of WWII. General Dwight Eisenhower was walking near the Rhine River and fell into step beside a young infantryman. The young GI seemed depressed, and Ike asked, “How are you feeling, son?” “General, I’m awful nervous. -- I don’t feel so good.”
*And Eisenhower replied, “Well, you and I are a good pair then, because I’m nervous too. Maybe if we just walk along together to the river we’ll be good for each other.” (2)
*No barking orders -- No special advice, but what an encouragement to that young soldier! God surely wants to encourage you, and He is surely going to put you in situations where you can encourage other people -- especially in the storms.
5. When you are in the storm, discover the power of encouragement. -- And depend on God’s amazing ability.
*Our God has infinite, amazing ability. Eph 3:20 tells us that He is “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.” So as believers, we should expect help from unexpected places. This is one of the things we see in vs. 39-44:
39. Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible.
40. And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore.
41. But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.
42. Now the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape.
43. But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land,
44. and the rest, some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.
*God has all kinds of ways of helping His people! Here He used the centurion. But God also used something unexpected -- the broken pieces of the ship. Some of those 276 men didn’t know how to swim, but back up in vs. 24, God promised that all of them would be saved. So when the time came, God made sure that the ship would be broken up. That way the non-swimmers had something to grab on to and float to shore.
*We should expect help from unexpected places, because God has countless ways to help His people. But the best way He ever helped anybody was through the cross of Jesus Christ! Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Listen to what Paul said about the power of His resurrection in Eph 1:15-21.
15. Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
16. do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
17. that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him,
18. the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,
19. and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power
20. which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,
21. far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
*Jesus Christ has amazing ability to help us because He is risen from the dead!
*Years ago there was a missionary in the country of Turkey who was having great difficulty getting Muslims to understand why they should believe in Jesus Christ. One day he was traveling with some Muslims along a road that had no road signs. Eventually, they came to a fork in the road. Not having a map with them, they did not know which road to take to get to their destination. Right beside the road was a tomb of a Muslim “holy man.”
*While they were trying to decide which road to take, the missionary said, “Let’s go over to the tomb and ask the ‘holy man.’” “But the man is dead!” his Muslim friends protested. “He cannot give us any information! See that house over there? Let’s go there and ask someone who is alive!”
*“You are quite right,” said the missionary. “Never forget that Mohammed is dead. He can give you no help or information. In him there is no life. But Jesus Christ is alive! And he will give you eternal life if you will trust him as your Lord and Savior. But he will also give you power you for daily living!” (3)
*Yes -- even when you go through the storms of life. The truth is that some storm just can’t be avoided. But God shows us what to do:
-Keep defining your life by your connection with God.
-Keep praying through your darkest night.
-Be determined to follow God’s plan for your life.
-Discover the power of encouragement.
-And depend on God’s amazing ability.
(1) SermonCentral sermon “Guidance” by Ewen Huffman - Psalm 32:6-9 & 10 - July 2005)
(2) Original source: www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,853471,00.html (KERUX ILLUSTRATION COLLECTION - ID Number: 1891 - SOURCE: Reader’s Digest - TITLE: The Fine Art Of Encouragement - AUTHOR: Mark Littleton - DATE: 11/1/89)
(3) SermonCentral sermon “Three Benefits of Jesus’ Resurrection” by Freddy Fritz - Matt 28:1-10
