Sermon: Enduring The Storms Of Life

Sermon: Enduring the Storms of Life

Text: Acts 27:20-44 “The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. 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. But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 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.’ So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island.” 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. 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. 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. 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. But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, “You will all die unless the sailors stay aboard.” So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away.

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. “Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.” Then he took some bread, gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it. Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat all 276 of us who were on board. After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard. When 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. So they cut off the anchors and left them in the sea. Then they lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward shore. 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.

The soldiers wanted to kill the prisoners to make sure they didn’t swim ashore and escape. 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. The others held on to planks or debris from the broken ship. So everyone escaped safely to shore.”

Introduction: Countless friends had warned the apostle Paul not to go to Jerusalem, and their worst fears come true shortly after he reaches the city. Religious opponents whip up a crowd against Paul. They seize him and drag him from the temple. A Roman commander intervenes moments before the mob kills Paul, but the apostle still goes to prison. This last chapters of Acts tell the rest of his story.

Life doesn’t always turn out the way you hope, and God doesn’t always make bad situations instantly better. Parents fight, and some divorce. Someone close feels a strange pain, then receives a deadly diagnosis. Your schoolwork overwhelms you, and you fail a class. What are you supposed to do when awful things happen that you can’t change? When life beats you up, God still has a plan and a purpose for every minute of your day. He hasn’t left you. He will lift you up if you let him. He helps you press on through life’s hardest circumstances.

If someone or something endures a storm, they successfully deal with a very difficult problem and succeed in reaching the end of a very difficult period without much harm or damage. As we look around, storms are raging in nearly revery area of our lives: financially, physically, mentally, and spiritually. Some storms we cause, some God allows, some are caused by others, and some are an act of nature. I know that we can agree there are some storms that we have caused in our lives by taking the wrong advice from a so-called expert, which leads to bad decisions, or by listening to popular opinion, or the majority leading to unwise decisions or by making a permanent decision based on our present temporary circumstances.