The Apostle Paul is aboard a ship that rides into the teeth of a severe storm. Why did God take nearly an entire chapter and take us through a storm? This is what life is like. Sometimes the sun is shining and things are going well but sometimes we find ourselves in the midst of a terrible storm and things are tough. Paul saw opportunity in every difficulty. Even when in jail or a severe storm, he can rejoice and find opportunity to tell others about Jesus Christ.

1 – The reason for these kind of storms (vs. 9-13)

There are four basic storms in life:-

• It is part of normal life.
• There are ones we have engineered by our own foolishness. Jonah is an example.
• There are storms that God sends us into, for our development. This happened to the disciples on the Sea of Galilee.
• We are dragged into them by other people. This was Paul’s case. He had warned them not to sail. (vs. 9-10) It was a dangerous time of the year. You can sink a ship with bad decisions, such as:-

1. You can make your decision in haste.
2. You use worldly wisdom rather than Godly wisdom.
3. Take the easy way out. You will almost always get into trouble if you take this decision.
4. Just follow the crowd. Paul was outvoted and the ship sailed. The majority can almost always be wrong. The majority wanted Jesus to be crucified and Barabbas released.
5. Make your decision by circumstances. Everything looked calm, so it must be the will of God to sail. It turned into a severe storm that would sink the ship.

2 – The reaction of people in the storms (vs. 14-30)

How do you react to the storm?

• They just let it ride (vs. 14) – There is nothing they can do so and they are blown along by the storm. There are broken dreams and they find they are not as strong as they thought they were.
• They begin to labour with a desperate effort. (vs. 16). They try to get the tackle of the ship together. The Devil will tell you it is hard to be a Christian. This is not true. It is the way of the transgressor that is hard.
• Resources are wasted (vs. 18). They start throwing things overboard into the sea. These people work and they waste. What they thought was precious is not precious now.
• They lose hope (vs. 29). They throw out the anchor and wait for their death. All their navigation charts could not help them. They could not see the stars. (vs. 30)
• They become foolish (vs. 30). They attempt to get off the ship by using a small boat. They were selfish in their motives. Suicide is no way out of a storm. It never solves the storm.
• The response of the Christian. (vs. 22, 25). Paul is not afraid and extols others to trust in the Lord.

3 – The result of the storm (vs. 23, 42-44)

God was sending Paul to Rome. See also Acts 23:7. It was not God’s plan for this ship to go to Rome but he overrules man’s plans. We serve a mighty God. See Psalm 2. God’s plans cannot fail, he must prevail. The centurion believed the owner of the ship rather than Paul (vs. 11). Who are you putting your trust in? They then listened to Paul and all those on the ship escaped to land, including the prisoners.

Categories: Acts