Shipwrecked

Date
Part
30
Speaker
Mark Frazee
References
Acts 27
Play Time
29:40
Study Outline

Part 1. Reading sections could include:
vs. 1-8; vs. 9-12; vs. 13-20; vs. 21-26; vs. 27-32; vs. 33-38; vs. 29-44.

Part 2. What lessons are there from this story?
 1. Natural disasters happen to non-Christians & Christians. We will not avoid them.
 2. In a crisis, the calmness of a Christian’s confidence in God will stand out.
 a) Paul shared his opinion, based on plenty of sea faring experiences & crisis (2 Cor. 11:25-27) that because it was the dangerous time of travel at sea the voyage would end with great loss of cargo, the ship & lives v10-11). The pilot & captain thought otherwise & ignored his advice.
 b) In the middle of the terrible storm when all hope of survival was gone (vs. 20), Paul addressed the others. “Men, you ought to have followed my advice…” (vs. 21) was not “See, I told you so.”, but to establish credibility. He urged them to keep up their courage, because there would be no loss of life, just the ship (vs. 22). He was confident of this because the God whom he served sent an angel with the specific message, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar…”(v24)
 c) Paul recognized the sailors were trying to escape and alerted the centurion & soldiers (vs. 30-31).
 d) He encouraged everyone to eat food to  & then gave thanks to God & ate (vs. 33-35).
3. God’s rescue of one might include others with him.
 a) “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.” Vs. 24 This implies Paul requested that everyone’s life on the ship would be spared.
 b) He shared this confidence with everyone charging them to keep up their courage. He believed it would turn out exactly as the angel told him (vs. 25). Later he showed the same confidence “not a hair from the head of any of you will perish (vs. 34b).
 c) All 276 people on board were saved (vs. 37), even when the soldier thought initially to kill the prisoners (responsible if they escaped, 42-44).
 d) You might be spared through a natural disaster because of God’s plans for someone you are with or others might be spared because of specific plans God has for you.
4. If God wants you somewhere, nothing can stop you.
 a) For Paul this process began with purposing in the Spirit eventually to get to Rome for ministry.
 b) In the early days of his captivity, the Lord stood by Paul charging him to take courage: He would solemnly testify to the Lord’s cause in Rome (23:11).
 c) The angel repeats this guarantee & extends deliverance for everyone on board (vs. 24)
 d) God rescued Paul from different threats of the Jews. Now he rescued him from a natural disaster. God will make sure that Paul gets to Rome to testify before Caesar. If God wants you somewhere, no one and no disaster will keep that from happening.