Storm Survival Guide Series

Storm Survival Guide

Series: Acts

Chuck Sligh

June 24, 2018

NOTE: A PowerPoint presentation is available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.

TEXT: Please turn in your Bibles to Acts 27.

INTRODUCTION

In Acts 27:1-2, we read “And when it was determined that we should sail into Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners unto one named Julius, a centurion of Augustus’ band. 2 And entering into a ship of Adramyttium, we launched, meaning to sail by the coasts of Asia; one Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, being with us.”

Paul, you recall, had appealed to Caesar due to having been unjustly imprisoned, so in verses 1-2, Paul begins his journey by ship to Rome. The trip began uneventfully, but starting in verse 13, Luke describes a terrifying storm they endured.

Unless you’ve ever been in a boat in a truly dangerous storm, you cannot fully comprehend the horrific storm Luke in Acts 27.

Illus. – When I was a teen living in Okinawa, I remember some of my friends and I taking a boat from the main island of Okinawa to visit one of the smaller islands. It was during the typhoon season and though we were not in a typhoon, we soon found ourselves in a really, really scary storm. We were in a ship much more modern and technologically superior to any of the Roman ship Paul would have been in. Yet, with each wave, our boat was like a plastic toy bobbing in that raging Pacific Ocean, which at that point in time was anything BUT “pacific”—which means “calm, peaceful.” We were engulfed by waves sometimes almost twice as high as our boat! I got right with God real quick—because I just knew that my number was up!

You may never go through a storm in a real ship during your lifetime, but life is full of personal storms in the form of troubles and trials we go through:

• Like MEDICAL storms of sickness, disease, accidents, degenerative health issues.

• Like RELATIONAL storms: marital problems, divorce, abuse, mental illness, emotional crises, depression, loneliness.

• Like FINANCIAL STORMS: losing a house, being put out of the military, bankruptcy.

Today, let’s look at storm survival from Acts 27:

I. NOTE FIRST OF ALL THAT LIFE’S STORMS HIT WHEN YOU LEAST EXPECT THEM.

In verses 1-8, which we’ll not take the time to read today, Luke describes the beginning of Paul’s trip to Rome. As you can see on the map on the screen,[1] they had a stop at Sidon, sailed north of the island of Cypress (instead of the more direct southern route) because of contrary winds), and then landed at Myra where they changed ships. After a couple more stops, they finally arrived at a port called Fair Havens.

Now the thing I want us to see is that up to this point, this was a normal, mundane sea journey, typical of any other voyage of its kind in Roman ships in that day. This reminds us that storms in our lives can hit in the most ordinary routines of life.

Have you ever been going through life and everything is fine and dandy?... Life is good; your finances are great; you and your spouse are getting along wonderfully; everyone in the family is healthy; things are super at work. And then BAM!—a storm hits that rocks your world: You have an accident that totals your car and puts you in the hospital; you find out you have cancer; you and your spouse go through a major marital crisis; a loved one dies; you’re falsely accused of something at work that could destroy your career.

These things happen to us even as Christians serving God. Paul was saved, serving God with all his heart and right with God. Yet, as we’ll see, he went through a horrible storm.

You see, storms don’t play favorites; Christians experience storms just as everyone does. Job said in Job 5:7: “Yet man is born unto trouble, as sparks fly upward.” The question is not IF you will experience major storms in your life, but HOW will you go through them?

II. THE SECOND THING WE SEE IS THAT WHEN A STORM HITS, WE NEED TO SEEK GUIDANCE FROM GOD.

In verses 9-12, it became apparent that the weather was going to be too bad to continue their journey all the way to Rome for the time being.

Again, for time’s sake, I’ll just summarize these verses for us. Luke says that they decided they needed to sit the winter out because it was so late in the Fall. Paul, having received counsel from the Holy Spirit, warned the ship’s officers that they should winter in Fair Havens.

But the experienced captain and crew knew that the harbor in Fair Havens did not shelter ships from the wind in every direction, exposing their ship and its cargo to greater danger over the winter. The consensus was that they should proceed to Phoenix, further up the coast, where the ship would be less exposed over the winter. However, Vegetius in the 4th century AD records that sailing in the Mediterranean after September 15th was dangerous, and after November 11th was impossible. [2] When they decided to sail after the Day of Atonement, as Luke records in verse 9, it was right in the middle of that dangerous period. Whether they stayed in Fair Havens or proceeded to Phoenix, either way was risky.