What to do in the storm Acts 27:27-44

Introduction

One of the amazing themes of the life of the Apostle Paul is God’s provision every step of the way. When Paul shared some of his testimony with the church at Corinth he tells them this 2 Corinthians 11:25–30 “25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is offended, and I burn not? 30 If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things which concern mine infirmities.”

Paul could have packed his bags and gone back to persecuting Christians but instead, he gloried in his infirmities and there is no telling the amount of lives turned over to Christ because of the Testimony of Paul throughout all the trials he faced.

This morning as we look at the story of the storm and the shipwreck I want us to look at 4 things to do when you find yourself in a storm

Set your Anchor vs. 27-29

As we pick up in verse 27 we find ourselves on a ship with Paul and many others in the middle of a storm on the Adriatic Sea, which is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea bordered by Italy on the west and by Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia on the east.

This wasn’t a little storm, it was a storm that lasted 14 days.

They were driven up and down the Adriatic Sea, and what would have made the trip even harder is that the clouds would cover the sun by day and the stars by night. They didn’t have GPS, they used the sun to lead them during the day and the stars at night. They really would have had a hard time navigating.

At about midnight they believed they were getting close to a country so they started sounding.

The word sounded means “To use the line and lead in searching the depth of water.”

As they were checking the depths of the water, they tossed in the weight and found the depth of the water to be 20 fathoms, which would be about 120 feet and then went a little further and checked the depth again and found it to be 15 fathoms or 90 feet.

Instead of risking running into an Island because of the lack of vision and such, they decide to drop 4 anchors out of the stern and wish for the day.

You might ask the question, what was the purpose of the anchors and the direction of the ship, don’t miss this. The anchors kept the ship with the bow facing the shore.

When we find ourselves in a storm, we have an anchor that will keep us pointed toward the shore. His name is Jesus Christ and we can trust him.

It makes me think of the Hymn entiltled will you anchor hold in the storms of life.

Will your anchor hold in the storms of life, When the clouds unfold their wings of strife? When the strong tides lift, and the cables strain, Will your anchor drift or firm remain?

We have an anchor that keeps the soul Stedfast and sure while the billows roll, Fastened to the Rock which cannot move,   Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.

I’m thankful this morning that no matter what storm we are facing we have an anchor that will keep us pointed toward that heavenly shore.

When you feel like running stand firm Vs. 30-32

Notice in verse 30 after they had been praying for day, some of the shipmen were getting a little antsy and almost a little selfish as they were going to save themselves with the lifeboats and leave the others behind.

They had the perfect scheme, they were going to pretend that they needed to drop anchors from the front of the ship as well.

They might’ve tricked the soldiers, but they were getting past Paul as he reminds them of God’s promise in vs. 22.

Acts 27:22 “22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.”

The response of the soldiers were to cut the ropes off the boats and to let them fall off.

I think this has two applications to us today:

When you feel like jumping off the boat, stay. God is with us in the midst of our storms and we can stand firm with him. We don’t need to abandon ship, we can ride out the storm with the one whom the winds and seas obey.

Like these men with the life boats cut the ropes, giving them no back up plan, we find an example of this is 1 Kings 19, When Elisha used his farming equipment to cook his oxen, he was making it to where he couldn’t go back to his past life. I think of William Borden who wrote in the leaf of his Bible “No reserve, no retreats, no regrets”

When you feel like running from the storms of life, stand firm and trust in the Lord.

Stay spiritually nourished vs. 33-38

Paul knew the strain they had experience as they rode the storm for the last 14 days, and the food that they needed for their health. Its really hard to fight a battle or endure a storm if you’re not properly nourished.

Paul again reminds them of the promise that God had made to him about their safety.

Its amazing that during that 14 day storm that no one on the ship was harmed. God really did what he told them he would, and he is doing the same today. We can trust him!

Paul took some bread and gave thanks to God for it and it boosted everyones morale. They were all of good cheer, and they ate some meat.

Notice there was 276 souls on board the ship, and when they had enough to eat they lightened the ship again and cast out the wheat into the sea.

To make spiritual application to this, I think its important as believers that we stay spiritually nourished in the midst of the storm.

I remember when I was in high school my junior year, I competed in powerlifting, and my coach convinced me that I would do better if I dropped a weight class, the problem was I was in the middle of my weight class so I would have to lose about 7 pounds in a week to compete at the lower weight class. So for a week I didn’t eat very much and so I went into the final meet and I had the worst meet of my career. Why? Because I wasn’t properly nourished enough to compete like I needed to.

The same thing happens in our Christian life, if we aren’t spiritually nourished properly we will not be able to fight off the devil and when the storms come we will try and run.

To be spiritually nourished, you must read your bible and pray every day. We like Job, when he said that he desired the word of God more than necessary food in Job 23:12.

Trust God to lead you through storm or through ship wreck vs. 39-44

When the daytime came, they found a creek with a shore and they sent the ship down that path. The made a plan to get the ship to the shore and as they were doing that they ran the ship aground and the ship broke due to the violence of the waves on it.

Remember God’s promise to Paul was that no person would be hurt but the ship would be destroyed and that is exactly what happened.

When the ship was wrecked the soldiers made a plan to kill the prisoners to keep them from escaping, but Paul had made such and impact on the centurion or the leader of the soldiers that he kept them alive and every one made it safely to shore.

You might be asking what is the application to my life from this ship wreck?

People are watching how you respond to storms and trials. Remember that everything that happens in the life of a believer happens for a purpose, and that purpose is to mold us into the image of God. So even when it doesn’t make sense trust in him.

Conclusion

When we find ourselves in a storm, we can drop anchor, stand fast in Christ, stay spiritually nourished and trust God, and we will survive the storm we find ourselves in.

This morning if you have never trusted Christ as your saviour, come and we can show you from God’s word how you can be saved. The only way Paul could glory in the trials he faced is because he knew the saviour and he believed that Jesus died for his sins, was buried and rose again, the Gospel.