July 9

This sea of life is a troublesome place. It's a dangerous place.

1 Chronicles 7:1-8:40
Acts 27:1-20
Psalm 7:1-17
Proverbs 18:22

New Testament: Acts 27:1-20

Summary: Paul Sails for Rome, The Storm at Sea

Safety In The Storms of Life
Bible: Acts 27:1-44
By Fred Evans

And the title of the message is Safety in the Storms of Life. Safety in the storms of life. Now, in this chapter in Acts 27, we find Paul now sailing from Caesarea to Rome where he is to appear before Caesar. If you remember, he appealed before Caesar and Festus said to Caesar, you will go. And now then, the time has come, and he’s sailing to Rome and everything seems to be going well.

On this voyage, the Lord sent Luke and Aristarchus, which were fellow laborers of Paul. He sent them with him so that he would have fellowship on his journey. The Lord gave him a centurion named Julius who was who favored Paul and allowed him liberty among his friends. And so everything was going well until they came to Crete. Crete is a small island, and it’s a harbor where they were set to winter.

You cannot sail during these times. At the time the Apostle Paul lived, there was no compass or there was nothing but stars and moon and so forth to guide you. And when the winter came, you couldn’t do anything as far as sailing. So they were wintering there in Crete. And Paul said when they got to this place, the haven of Rest, there, they got to this harbor.

Paul said we should stay here. I have a word from the Lord. We should stay here and winter here. And the centurion believed the sailor instead of Paul. And so they would harbor about 40 or 50 miles along the coast of Crete at another harbor.

They figured, what could go wrong? Why listen to this man who’s a prisoner? We’re a sailor. We know what we’re doing. And we’re just going to stay close to the shore and go to the opposite side here of Crete and winter.

Then the scripture tells us that a northeasterner came in and blew them away from the coast. They couldn’t get back. And so the sailors, they started throwing all their stuff overboard. They saw a little island and said, hey, let’s go there. They couldn’t make it.

And so they put up the sails and just let it drift. Well, they were a drift for 14 days. 14 days with no moon, no stars, and no sun to guide them. They were lost. The Apostle Paul then stood up and he said, I’ve told you we should have stayed. I told you we should have stayed there. But you didn’t listen. And now here we are. But don’t worry, because the Lord has appeared to me and said everyone would be safe as long as you stay on the ship.

And as we find out, they came to this island and sure enough, the boat was destroyed, but everyone survived. Now, that’s the history lesson from Acts, chapter 27. But obviously, you know, I’m not going to stop there. You could have done that yourself and anyone with an atlas and a little time to read this chapter. You don’t need the history of this.

We know that the scriptures are given all scriptures given by the inspiration of God and are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. And this scripture is no different. This scripture is no different. We know that the sea many times is a metaphor for a picture of life’s journey to our desired haven of rest. We know that.

Job says this in Job 9. He says, for now, my days are swifter than a post. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as swift ships.

Is that not true of our life? They just pass away as swift ships on the sea of life. And this sea of life many times for us is calm, isn’t it? Sometimes we have moments of peace from the time that Paul sailed from Caesarea to Crete. It was a peaceful journey.

And sometimes we have storms, sometimes we have troubles. And this life, this sea of life is a troublesome place. It’s a dangerous place. If you go out to sea and you’re to be a sailor, you know, one thing that they cannot do is they cannot tell you when those sea swells are coming up. They just come up all of a sudden, many times.

There are many troubles in life that just come up all of a sudden and… (For the rest of this sermon please listen to the audio above.)