Welcome to this podcast from Harvest Community Church of Huntersville, North Carolina, where our vision is to make disciples who make disciples. I'm your host, Liz Stefanini. We have two sermons left in the Book of Acts. We've been going through the Book of Acts. We have two sermons left in it today. Acts 27, 1 up to 28, 15. And right now, maybe you could just turn to somebody near you and tell them what your favorite movie of all time is, okay? What's your favorite movie of all time? All right, how many of you raised your hand, you were able to identify one? It's hard for me. I don't watch a lot of movies, but there are multiple ones. Now here are some of the genres of movies. There are different types of movies, right? Action, comedy, drama, fantasy, mystery, romance, thriller, western. I don't think it's an official genre, but I added based on a true story because for me, I like to watch movies that are based on a true story, but how many of your Movie, your favorite movie was in the action category. Raise your hand if you were in the action category. All right. Comedy. All right. How about drama? Fantasy. Some of you are raising your hand more and more. Somebody up here said it's Hallmark. Is that one of the, is that one of the genre? Hallmark. How many Hallmark? Raise your hand if it's Hallmark. Okay. Mystery. Romance. Couple romance people barely get other thrillers Westerns surely there's got to be somebody with a West Western. Okay, how about based on a true story? All right, I think It would be hard for me to answer that one too because I think it would be action movies but again, I really like things that are based on true stories and I like you know, drama as well. I like a good Western as well. So there are different ones. You know, if you like movies, if you like action, if you like adventure, if you like suspense, then I think Acts 27 and 28 is for you because what we're going to look at today from God's word, it's almost like a movie. It's unbelievable to think about everything that the apostle Paul experienced on his trip from Caesarea to Rome. And in fact, that is the context. As we set the context for this passage today, when Paul was on trial in Caesarea, He appealed to Caesar, which that, of course, meant he was going to Rome. He was going to go to Italy. And the passage today details this incredibly dangerous trip that he took, as well as the support that God gave him along the way. So on this map, you see on The top left is Rome. There's Italy. You can see the boot, right? That's where Paul is going to get to. But down on the bottom right is Caesarea. That's where he was. And there's a lot of ocean between here and there, 1,400 or 1,500 miles worth for him to travel. Now, the first eight verses of this chapter talk about the beginning of this trip. He names who goes with them, and it's Paul and a lot of other prisoners. There's 276 people on the ship, and it talks about how they travel up the coastline, and in fact, this arrow shows from the first eight verses of chapter 27, they end up at this place, this little island, and this place called Fair Havens. And I'm gonna pick up in verse nine, of Acts 27 to read. Much time had been lost and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. Now that year, that was in the fall of the year, this particular year the Day of Atonement occurred on October 5th. So it's in the fall It's almost winter time. The seas get more dangerous. And Paul warns the people that are on this ship. He's a prisoner, but he still warns them. Notice what he says in verse 10. Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo and to our own lives also. But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship. Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix and winter there. This is the little Phoenix that's on that thing, not Phoenix, Arizona, which had not been discovered yet. There was a harbor in Crete facing both Southwest and Northwest. And when a gentle South wind began to blow, they saw their opportunity. So they weighed anchor and sailed along the shore of Crete. Before very long, a wind of hurricane force called the Northeaster swept down from the island. The ship was caught by the storm and could not head into the wind. So we gave way to it and were driven along. Now let's go back to the map and update there. This middle section Our passage is as they're leaving that island and all the way from verse 15 to 44 We're gonna look at some more of those verses in a minute They're just they wanted to go along that little island where they were but they just the wind just drove them south and they they couldn't do anything about it and And they're just out aimlessly in the sea not really knowing where they are We'll just pick it up in verse 18. And Paul starts describing some of the action and some of the adventure and some of the danger that's involved here. We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard. It's like they were afraid that at any moment the ship was going to crash. And so I think the reason they start throwing things over is so that maybe there's less resistance to the strong wind and maybe it might be less damage to it. In fact, verse 19 says, on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved. Now it is hard to imagine being on a boat. for days and days when there's no light, when it's a storm and you don't know. And it says we, now Luke is the author of Acts. He's in on this. He's giving this firsthand account. It's like, we gave up, we gave up. Verse 21, after they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said, man, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have spared yourself this damage and loss. But now I urge you to keep up your courage because not one of you will be lost. Only the ship will be destroyed. Last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me. Nevertheless, we must run aground on some island. On the 14th night, we were still being driven across the Adriatic Sea, when about midnight, the sailors sensed they were approaching land. I don't know how they sensed, maybe they just had so much experience, but they wanted to check it out. So verse 28 says, they took soundings and they found that the water was 120 feet deep. A short time later, they took soundings again and found that it was only 90 feet deep. So they know they're getting near something, but they're afraid. They're afraid they're going to run aground and run into the rocks. That's what verse 29 says. Fearing that we would be dashed against the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for daylight. You know, dangerous situations really help our prayer lives. These sailors who probably didn't do much praying before that, it's like they're praying for daylight, right? So watch what happens. In an attempt to escape from the ship. The sailors left the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the boat. Can you believe that? These sailors have hundreds of people on the ship with them and they're like, oh, they decide they're giving up and they're going to escape. They lower the lifeboats down and they're just going to get out and save themselves. human nature, self-preservation, right? But Paul saw it, and Paul said to the centurion, that was the Roman soldier that was in charge, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved. So the sailors cut the ropes that held the lifeboat. and let it drift away." That's pretty amazing. Paul's saying to the centurion, hey, if those guys go, we're not going to be saved. And so the centurion makes the order. They cut the boat and the ropes and they move forward. Skip down to verse 39. When daylight came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a sandy beach where they decided to run the ship aground if they could. Cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea and at the same time untied the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and made for the beach, but the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow stuck fast, the bow stuck fast and would not move. And the stern was broken to pieces by the pounding of the surf. The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners to prevent any of them from swimming away and escaping. So you get the picture. First of all, the sailors are going to try to escape and now they've crashed. It's a shipwreck. They know they're near an island and yet they're afraid that that the prisoners are gonna escape. I think, talking about movies, one of my favorite movies, when we lived in Chicago, we had some really great friends and a lot of times after our whole families would get together and then the kids would go home and get in bed, the guys had what we called movie club, and we'd go to like the dollar theater. And the first one I went to them, we saw The Fugitive. And there's that, that's a movie Harrison Ford's in it and it, it starts out near the beginning. There's this incredible train wreck. He's, he's falsely accused of merger. He's been arrested and he's with some other prisoners. They're chained in and there's this incredible train wreck. And after the train wreck, all the prisoners start escaping. Well, this is a shipwreck. And the soldiers are like, they knew they would be punished severely if the prisoners escaped. So they, all right, what are we going to do? We'll just kill them. We'll just, we'll just kill them. Well, watch what happens. Verse 43, the centurion wanted to spare Paul's life and kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard and get to land. The rest were to get their own planks or other pieces of the ship. In this way, everyone reached land safely. And once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. Here they are, they finally end up on some land. And there you can see at the end of that red line, they've gotten to this little island. See where Rome, they're getting closer to Rome, but now they're just still out in the sea on this little island called Malta. Now it's interesting what happens on Malta, because Paul's not to Rome yet. And he's going to face some more danger. Verse two, the Islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and as he put it in the fire, on the fire, a viper driven out by the heat fastened itself on his hand. When the Islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, They said to this each other, this man must be a murderer for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess justice has not allowed him to live. So you go all of this shipwreck and see in danger and then a snake grabs onto your hand and they're like, oh, this guy must be a murderer. But Paul shook the snake off into the fire. and suffered no ill effects. The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead, but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Now, The next verses tell us that there was a chief officer of that island named Publius and he welcomes them in and shows them hospitality. And Publius' father happened to be sick and Paul goes in and prays for him and heals him. And then other people hear about it and they come and Paul is healing people on Malta. And the islanders, when it's time for them to go, the islanders help provide the supplies that they need to go the rest of the way. Because remember, they had thrown everything overboard. Verse 11, after three months, we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods, Castor and Pollux. The next verse is described that trip and verse 14, set concludes with, and so we came to Rome. The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming and they traveled as far as the forum of Appius and the three taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people, Paul thanked God and was encouraged. Now that's a lot of verses. But back on the map, you see that last little leg, they do get up to Rome. Paul faced not only physical storms on this trip, but throughout his life, throughout his ministry, he faced all kinds of storms, both physical storms and emotional storms. And what we're gonna do as we look at God's word today, is we're going to see what were the anchors that helped Paul deal with those storms. Because the very anchors that helped Paul can help you and me today. You and I face storms. I don't know that any of us are going to get on a ship and almost die on the ship or any of us are going to get a snake hanging on us. But we're going to face storms. I heard a pastor years ago say that about trials, you're either just leaving a trial or you're in a trial or you're about to go into a trial. It's kind of the way life is. We face storms. It might be health. It might be the doctor saying to you, I hate to tell you this, but da, da, da, da. It might be a relationship problem. might be a broken relationship with somebody or a challenging relationship with somebody. You might be doing fine on your job and then all of a sudden you get laid off unexpectedly. It might be children. It might be the children, the child or the children that you love get sick or pass away. Or maybe they don't get along with each other. Maybe they reject their siblings or maybe they reject you. Maybe there's emotional or mental pressure or stress. Maybe it's a financial reversal. There are a lot of storms that we face. Life and the interesting thing is we know some things about storms and there are things we don't know about storms I've got this little chart on your outline and let's go back and forth between what we know and what we don't know We know storms happen You know, you go to a restaurant and they might say do you want to sit indoors? You want to sit outdoors? You don't get to go into life and they say do you want to sit in the stormy section or the non stormy section? We know that storms happen. We don't know when they will happen. We usually don't get any warning. It's not like our hurricanes that we get warnings days in advance that it's moving this direction. It's everything seems to be fine one minute and boom, then the storm hits. We know that storms are usually beyond our control. Paul had little or no control over these storms that he was going through. I mean, he, he did warn them, Hey, it's probably not safe to sail now, but they chose to do it anyway. He wasn't in control. We, we don't know why storm comes storms come. Why did these storms come? Was it because of the disobedience of the sailors? We don't know that Paul was speaking on behalf of God when he warned them. We're not sure. We don't know if that was just his human opinion. We aren't told in that moment that he was given a revelation from God. We're told about a different revelation, which we'll come to. Was this God's plan? Was this Satan's attack? Why did those storms come? And the same is true in our personal lives. One of the things we do sometimes is drive ourselves crazy trying to figure out why we're going through something. And we don't know why. And sometimes people give well-meaning thoughts. Oh, it must be this, it must be that. We don't know. We see through a glass darkly, Paul says. We do know that storms can take a serious toll on us. Here, these sailors gave up hope at one point. It's like, oh, this is it. And in life, storms can take a serious toll. We don't know when storms will end. But there's one more thing that we do know, and this is really, really important today. Although the presence of God does not keep us from storms, the presence of God will keep us through storms. That's what God promises for us. Not that I'll keep you away from the storms. Not that it'll always be dry and sunny and 72 degrees and low humidity. but I will take you through the storms. God hasn't promised to shield us from storms, but he delights to show up for his people when they're going through a storm and helping them get through it. What are the anchors? Four anchors here that I want to give you briefly, and these are the same anchors that God wants. If you belong to God today, If you're his child through faith in Jesus Christ, these are anchors for you. First of all, the first anchor is comfort from a God who is present. Verse 23, notice what Paul said to them. Last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me. God sent an angel. To stand beside Paul. Today, God sends his Holy Spirit to live inside of us and to assure us and to be with us. And we draw comfort from the fact that God is not just out there somewhere. God's here. God is present. How do we experience God's presence in a storm? It's usually through two. Two of the strongest ways are the word of God and the quiet assurance of the Holy Spirit in our lives. The key is being alert to his presence. C.S. Lewis said about God, he walks everywhere incognito. And the incognito is not always hard to penetrate. The real labor is to remember. To attend. Hebrews 13, verse five and six, keep your lives from the love of money and be content with what you have because God has said, never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. So we may say with confidence, the Lord is my helper. I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? That's the first anchor, comfort from a God who is presence. The second one is relationship with a God to whom we belong. Same verse. I love what Paul said there. Last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve. I loved seeing that video from Nigeria, didn't you? Seeing those kids who've experienced a lot of storms in their lives saying, I am a child of God. I belong to God. And we can say that and we can have this relationship with God. Jesus said in John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me in the old Testament. God said to his people in Isaiah 49. Shout for joy. You heavens rejoice. You earth burst into song. You mountains for the Lord comforts his people. and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me. The Lord has forgotten me. Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she is born? Though she may forget, I will not forget you. See, I have engraven you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are ever before me. I think it's a good spot to stop for a minute and ask, do you have a relationship with this God through faith in Jesus? I mean, that's what we're assuming. That's to whom I'm speaking primarily here in person and through our live stream. But not everybody has that relationship automatically. In fact, we all don't have it automatically because we've sinned and we're separated from God. And that's what the cross is all about. Jesus died to forgive us our sin and to bring us into relationship, a personal relationship with God. And I invite you, if you have not opened your heart to him, to do that today. The third anchor that we have is confidence in a God who is powerful and sovereign. You know, it's an interesting question. Why is there so much space given to this trip? 59 verses to get Paul from Caesarea to Rome. And you know, Luke could have done it in one or two verses. They got on the ship, there were a lot of prisoners, there were a lot of storms along the way, and a snake even bit him, but he showed up at Rome. You could do that in one or two verses. 59 verses. Think about all the things that happened to Paul, not just on the trip, but even as we go back from the time he went to Jerusalem. Remember he was arrested in Jerusalem. There was a plot to kill him. There were groups that were trying to execute him. He had trial after trial. He was imprisoned in Caesarea. He was threatened to be assassinated by the Jews. He almost drowned in the Mediterranean. He was bitten by the snake. He was nearly killed by the soldiers. But guess what? He got to Rome. He got to Rome. And this isn't about Paul's great perseverance. This isn't about, oh, Paul just happened to be very lucky or very fortunate or very blessed. God gave him a promise. And the scripture says, in Proverbs 21 30, there is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord. God planned for Paul to go to Rome. God had things for Paul to do in Rome. We'll look at some of those, Lord willing, next Sunday as we wrap up the book of Acts. These last two years in Rome, there was enhanced witnessing and evangelism and he probably wrote several of the New Testament letters while he was there in prison at Rome. And he did all of these things, he had all of these experiences. Why? Because God was strong enough to get him there. God had said, I'm going to get you there to Rome. You're going to testify for me in Rome. And God was sovereign. God worked all these things, including the sailors, including the snake, including seeing that the sailors were about to escape, including giving him favor with the centurion. God is a sovereign God. God is a powerful God. God is not a small God. He's a big God. And he's a sovereign God. And we just want to say, praise the name of Jesus today. Well, there's one more anchor. And that relate that's very related to all of these, especially number three, and it's trust in a God who is faithful to his promises and faithful to his people. God is faithful to his promises. He is faithful to his people. Paul stood up before those men and said last night, an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand trial before Caesar. And God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you. And if we were to go back several chapters earlier in Acts, we would remember in Acts chapter 23, in one of these earlier experiences, the following night, the Lord stood near Paul and said, take courage as you have testified about me in Jerusalem. So you must also testify in Rome. So in spite of the rejection, in spite of the prison, in spite of the broken ship, in spite of the snakes, which is probably the worst for me, in spite of it all, God was faithful to his promises. God did what he said. And the key is trust. J.I. Packer correctly says that when we falsely teach people that the Christian life is supposed to be a bed of roses, we misunderstand the purpose of grace. The purpose of grace is to draw us closer to God. And if we try to tell people that, oh, it'll be fine, trust Jesus and everything will be wonderful, we're not telling them the true gospel. He says this, God pursues his purpose, and I quote, not by shielding us from assault by the world of flesh and the devil, nor by protecting us from burdensome and frustrating circumstances, nor by shielding us from troubles created by our own temperament and psychology, but rather by exposing us to all these things so as to overwhelm us with a sense of our own inadequacy. and to drive us to cling to Him more closely. The reason why the Bible spends so much of its time reiterating that God is a strong rock, a firm defense, and a sure refuge, and helpful for the weak, is that God spends so much of His time bringing home to us that we are weak, both mentally and morally, and dare not trust ourselves to find or follow the right road. It's a long quote, I know it, but let me just give you a couple more sentences to wrap it up. It's very powerful. God wants us to feel that our way through life is rough and perplexing so that we may learn, thankfully, to lean on him. Therefore, he takes steps to drive us out of self-confidence, to trust in himself, in the classical scriptural phrase for the secret of the godly person's life, to wait on the Lord. And the answer is trust. Psalm 56, four, the psalmist said, in God whose word I praise, in God I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me? I think that might've been quoted in Hebrews. Psalm 62, 8, trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. So God's word for us this morning is that when God builds his church, God himself is the anchor for his people in the storms of life. So if you're going through a storm, Hold on tight to the anchor. Hold on tightly to your anchor. Hold on tightly to God. Trust Him. Trust His purpose. Trust His power. Trust His presence. Trust His sovereignty. And He will be your anchor. Let's bow our heads together, please. Thanks again for joining us today from Harvest Community Church. 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