Euroclydon (2)

Euroclydon Acts 27:14 But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. 15 And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive.

To begin with brothers and sisters There was a storm on the sea that came to us last week and the Lord gave me a fascinating story glint gleam and gaze at that has some gallant facts that brings us to a glorious favorable finish. Y’all got a few minutes so I can tell this fabulous story.

Brothers and sisters The story takes place in the book of Acts. The book of Acts was written by Dr. Luke the beloved physician and if we really tell the truth about it, the book of Acts is consider to be the book of History for the New Testament. The book of Acts establishes the out lay for the structure of the newly formed Christian Church. And the church said Amen.

The main characters in the book of Acts are the Apostle Peter in the early chapters, then in the latter Chapters it’s the Apostle Paul.

And so the background information to this great story is found in Acts 24: 2  Paul was called into the meeting, and Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Most Excellent Felix! Our people enjoy much peace because of you, and many wrong things in our country are being made right through your wise help. 3 We accept these things always and in every place, and we are thankful for them. 4 But not wanting to take any more of your time, I beg you to be kind and listen to our few words. 5 We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up his people everywhere in the world. He is a leader of the Nazarene group. 6 Also, he was trying to make the Temple unclean, but we stopped him. [And we wanted to judge him by our own law.

Tertullus is the ring leader posting the charges against Paul. But Paul is a Roman citizen. And the Jews were under Roman Rule and no subject people could order the death of a person without Roman approval!

So they got Felix involved then they went higher and got King Agrippa involved and Paul. And Paul appealed to King Agrippa and King Agrippa said his famous word Paul you almost convinced me to be a Christian but How many folks know that almost ain’t good enough. When we first got to Pilgrim BC my wife an I and the deacons would go an serve sister Mary Lee Lavadin and she and my wife would sing the song 99 and a half won’t do. That made her day and ours too.

And so we all must be cognizant to be full persuaded that Jesus is Lord and Savior of our lives because some STORMS are going to come into our lives and we’ve got to know what anchor hold and grips the solid Rock. We’ve got to know that that Rock is Jesus.I am holding on to Jesus church. How about you?

And so the text says in Acts 27:1 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. Briefly speaking Paul was on his way to stand trial in Rome Luke the beloved Physician and writer of the text was there with Paul probably as his personal doctor. and Aristarchus was there with Paul as his personal attendant and assistant. God wil always fix it so that there are a few people on your side to makes this Christian journey easier to go through.

And the text also says that there were other prisoners on the ship. The original writing in Greek suggest that the other prisoners were on their way to Rome to die! not stand trial. And Julius was the keep of them all.

Then the bible says in verse 3 And the next day we touched at Sidon. And Julius courteously entreated Paul, and gave him liberty to go unto his friends to refresh himself. Paul had gone on missionary conquests before and folk knew Paul from all over and Julius knew how important Paul was to the Body of Christ so he treated Paul kindly. The question is Can you be kind? Some people just need a little courtesy amen ?

Verse 4 says “And when we had launched from thence, we sailed under Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. 5 And when we had sailed over the sea of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. 6 And there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing into Italy; and he put us therein.

1. In verse 4 brothers and sisters the bible says that the Mediterranean Sea got rough because of the westerly winds. And right now all of the hurricanes we get in America come from the westerly winds off the coast of Africa. Those storms go through the Atlantic Ocean. And the church said amen.

2. Julius got off the little coastal ship and found a bigger cargo ship in Alexandria. All up to now Julius seems to be a wise centurion commander. The ship had at least 276 people aboard it. But Every solution they came up with, gave way to more in tensed problems. And it gets worse. And anytime any of us are outside of the will of God, THINGS WILL GO WRONG!. Because it gets worse.

7 And when we had sailed slowly many days, and scarce were come over against Cnidus, the wind not suffering us, we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; 8 And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea.

Right here God slow the conditions of the weather down to almost a halt. Ask me How you know that Rev? I know it because very rarely does a Major Sea have placid calm waters for many days. You can get a few days where the Ocean or the Sea is calm and placid but for the most part the Oceans and the Seas and as we just saw last week, things, can get rough like the Gulf pretty quick in fact in nothing flat.

Then bible say that precious time had gone by because verses 7&8 says “we sailed under Crete, over against Salmone; 8 And, hardly passing it, came unto a place which is called The fair havens; nigh whereunto was the city of Lasea. This means that it was now storm season. Down here in South Louisiana we know about storm season.

Let me just say this it wasn’t their fault that they got caught up in the stormy season. No no no because what could have been a short week or so journey turn out to be a nightmare at sea. Then Paul explicitly warns them to change tactic to change protocol to change directives and to change directions.

9 Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them, 10 And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. 11 Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.

Sometimes the smartest person in the room does not make the smartest decisions in the room. Let’s be honest right here.Just because you’re smart, you do know that it’s possible that you don’t know everything about everything. Paul knew what the captain didn’t know. Because Paul had the Spirit of discernment even though the captain had the experience of the seas. Nobody isn’t saying that the captain doesn’t know what he knows about sailing on the high seas, but sometimes things are spiritually discerned not carnally digested. And the church said Amen.

And so the NCV says in verse 12 Since that harbor was not a good place for the ship to stay for the winter, most of the men decided that the ship should leave. They hoped we could go to Phoenix and stay there for the winter. Phoenix, a city on the island of Crete, had a harbor which faced southwest and northwest.

The Storm

13 When a good wind began to blow from the south, the men on the ship thought, “This is the wind we wanted, and now we have it.” So they pulled up the anchor, and we sailed very close to the island of Crete. 14 But then a very strong wind named the “northeaster” came from the island. This Levanter is a strong strong strong fierce winter storm called Eurokylon but better known from the bible in verse 14 as Eurocyldon.

Oh brothers and sisters Euroclydon ain’t nothing nice. Eurocyldon is the kind of storm that you never forget. I can remember terrible storms but I was still afraid and the folk in the text were afraid too.

“Going through a storm is really hard to deal with, it’s a lot to process while it’s happening,

The tempestuous winds of Euroclydon can make us afraid. And even though we know that Theos Paraklesis which means The God of All Comfort is there with us, and that God is our source,

and even knowing that Jehovah Shammah , the Lord is there, is right there with us,It can still get pretty scary.

And even though we know that Jehovah Raah which means The Lord is my Shepherd , is there, We can get scared sometimes.

and even though we know that Immanuel, which means that God is with Us, is there we get scared sometimes

and even though we know that Jehovah Uzzi, which means that The Lord my Strength is there in the storm, but while it’s happening we still get scared.

and even though we know that Jehovah Ezrah, which means that God is My Helper is there, In the midst of the storm still the human side of us is afraid of the awesome power of a Euroclydon.

They were afraid of the storm called Euroclydon. It was a Northeaster Storm in the Southern region around the Mediterranean Sea.

In 2024 Franchine wasn’t no joke either.

All storms are terrible to go through. brothers and sisters Paul the captain the military commander and all of the passengers on the ship are out there on the High seas in the Mediterranean Sea in the middle of a northeaster called Eurocyldon.

Eurocyldon is reeling and rocking the boat from side to side.

Eurocyldon is taking the ship up high waves and deep down in low waves.

Eurocyldon is turning their world upside down. And In an extraordinary situation like this “nobody wouldn’t survive”.

Tell your neighbor: We wouldn’t make it… Now turn and tell the other neighbor We couldn’t take it.

And brothers and sisters That’s when you sing the song If the Lord don’t help me I can’t stand the storm.

Then Verse 15 says “And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. They were trying  The poor sailors were trying and trying but they couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let the wind carry them where ever it willed. And drifted twenty-three miles to the south in that fierce storm , to the island of Cauda.

Brothers and sisters THEY WERE IN STORMY WEATHER .

And the bible says in verse 16 And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: 17 Which when they had taken up, they used helps, undergirding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands, strake sail, and so were driven. When a storm is raging there is nothing you can do to calm that storm down.. The Hurricane last week was ripping trees up pulling power lines down destroying property all over south Louisiana and there was nothing we could do but let her drive.

That storm was 90 plus miles MPH when it hit land, so can you imagine Eurocyldon with winds over 150 MPH and Church the poor sailors pulled in the small boat that was towed behind larger ships, lest they lose it or it be driven against the ship and cause damage.

18 The next day the storm was blowing us so hard that the men threw out some of the cargo. This storm didn’t just last one day it kept on going and going and going and They dumped cargo overboard.These precious commodities that was a great source of commerce and trade and worth a lot of money. They threw overboard..

Sometimes we throw valuable cargo over board. And sometimes we forget the bridges that have crossed us over.

And desperate times causes for desperate measures. Look at verse 20 When we could not see the sun or the stars for many days, and the storm was very bad, we lost all hope of being saved. Brothers and sisters when all hope is gone, You’re Done! And that’s why we come to church because there is Faith Hope and Love at the church. And when a storm comes it shows folk true colors. Foolish stuff doesn’t matter. Schemes and scams doesn’t matter playing games doesn’t matter the Only thing that matters during the Storm is your precious life. I can replace stuff and things but I can’t replace you.21 After the men had gone without food for a long time, Paul stood up before them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me. You should not have sailed from Crete. Then you would not have all this trouble and loss.

Brothers and sisters when God uses the Pastor Preacher Teacher Leader to send you a message, you ought to listen, you are admonished , and fully Warned to listen, in other words you ought to listen, while the blood still runs warm in your veins. Paul said you should have listened to me and for the record we all should have died!!! But the Good Lord saw fit to post and angel to keep us safe. ( How many folk know that we have angels watching over us?)

Paul said the angel of the Lord came to me and encouraged me to be strong and unafraid because you are going to stand before Caesar and God has promised to save your life and the lives of all 276 passengers. God saved all of them just because of Paul.And the church said Amen.Paul said in verse 25 I trust God that everything that the angel told me is going to happen just like He told me it would happen.

Paul said we’re going to crash on a island but we will survive.

In other words things are going to be rough but we are going to make it. Let’s pray for victims of our recent storm. Some folk loss everything. And Like I always say “It might be my trouble today but your is right around the corner.”

So let’s have compassion and benevolence and concern for the unfortunate ., For the least of these. Amen were you blessed by the message. Give God a hand of Praise.