Acts 27 - Faith at Sea

[SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, we're so very thankful.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's a wonderful gift of your word for your body.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, for your spirit that indulges us, for the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ, who died on a cross, to pay our sin debt and restore us to you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Lord, as we come to the study of your word in Acts 27, may we be undistracted.

[SPEAKER_00]: Undestracted by any sin, Lord, and our lives, undestracted by the events of the week past or the week to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe look with an unflinching gaze at your son Jesus Christ, at what you revealed for your us, in your word, that we might know you.

[SPEAKER_00]: In Jesus' name we pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.

[SPEAKER_00]: All right.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of the coolest things you can do in the world today is keep cool under pressure.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's become very prevalent on the internet to tell us what to keep calm and do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I think it's attractive to us because we all want to keep calm under pressure.

[SPEAKER_00]: We all like the idea and we all admire the person who can in the face of great difficulty or adversity

[SPEAKER_00]: face the challenges or the fearful situations around us and be calm and confident under pressure.

[SPEAKER_00]: But the question that we have to ask is how's that done?

[SPEAKER_00]: Is that done through ice cream, through bacon, through excessive watching of Disney movies?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well today we're going to see if the Bible has to say about how we're meant to keep calm under great distress.

[SPEAKER_00]: our journey with Paul has been a continuing battle with the legal and political offices surrounding his situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: He had been wrongly accused by the Jews and then wrongly held or kept

[SPEAKER_00]: by the various Roman governors, governors and leaders and rulers who kept him essentially just to pacify a volatile Jewish world and a volatile Jewish audience.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a very small price for them to pay to keep Paul under lock and key and it didn't hurt them at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, Paul finally made his

[SPEAKER_00]: And as we saw, the Roman leaders at the time expressly festists said, this actually works out well for me, I get out of having to make a decision.

[SPEAKER_00]: Either make a decision that I know is wrong because he knew Paul was innocent or having to make a decision that will anger or upset the Jewish people over whom I meant to be ruling.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it got him out of if you like some trouble or some difficulty or some challenges that might face, he might face.

[SPEAKER_00]: So his journey to Rome now begins.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a great opportunity for Paul.

[SPEAKER_00]: Wonderful, filled with the Lord promised him that he would be a witness.

[SPEAKER_00]: and Rome and two to do it on the government dime.

[SPEAKER_00]: So here the government is going to sail him after Rome and I do want to make a big note here and say that this is another one of our Wii sections which means that Dr. Luke is present for this section.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to notice that because as things get scarier and as things get uglier, his descriptions get more vivid and more real because you can imagine as anybody who's gone through some sort of life-threatening or high stress scenario, you can remember some of the strangest details and you can remember with such vividness some of the even just a visual elements of what you went through and this is going to be a several day, a 14 plus day adventure.

[SPEAKER_00]: that Luke goes through with Paul, and thus writes, we instead of Paul and he.

[SPEAKER_00]: So this journey begins.

[SPEAKER_00]: I'd also like to note that sea travel in ancient times was not as a surefire and an opportunity.

[SPEAKER_00]: Ships were lost frequently.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was a very common occurrence, and there was not ever any guarantee that sea travel was going to be a safe journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because of that, you would generally want to skip along the coast because that got kept you from getting too far away from land, should something bad happen.

[SPEAKER_00]: It didn't necessarily preclude, as we'll see in this case, that something bad wouldn't happen or things wouldn't get out of control, but at the same time, here's our situation that we have here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, this journey is going to be encapsulated.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're actually only going to go to the island of Malta today on Melita.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it takes us up from Cessaria to tell Mace Tyroside and goes up around the peak of the island of Cyprus to Mira and then around through to Crete and that's where things get difficult and we get turned about and on the way to Phoenix get thrown way off course and wind up all the way over in Malta.

[SPEAKER_00]: So that's the if you like the geography of today's account.

[SPEAKER_00]: If you're wanting to trace that along in the map in the back of your Bible, that's what this journey looks like.

[SPEAKER_00]: And you imagine this took a lot more time than it will take us to read.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was a long journey.

[SPEAKER_00]: This was more than 14, what far more than 14 days of travel.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that affects how we view this account significantly.

[SPEAKER_00]: So the other detail that we learned early on is that this Centurion Julius is kind of Paul.

[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to be a key player in keeping Paul alive and healthy and even recognizing Paul and is what he has to offer throughout this journey and throughout this trip.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I want you to note that we don't have any indication that Sinsurian Julius is a believer that he became convinced and put his faith in Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: But we do know that he had as respect for Paul and a respect for Paul's life that went above and beyond the call of duty.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a size a wonderful picture of God's way of providing just the right person at just the right time.

[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see it at certain points in this account, had anyone but Julius, had anyone with or were Julius's like respect for Paul and for the duties of his office, been there, Paul might not have survived this journey at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or Paul might not have had the voice to speak the gospel and speak the truth in the ways that he did.

[SPEAKER_00]: But God provided, not just Paul's journey, but also provided for Paul to have the right people around him to complete his mission.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's worthwhile in the Thanksgiving season to mention that the Lord's probably put a Julius, a convenience century in somewhere in your life, to be thankful for, to notice.

[SPEAKER_00]: But they're exactly who the Lord is going to use to bring about a more full and robust ministry in your life.

[SPEAKER_00]: Alright, so we see that as they continue on in this journey and again, much of it passes by seemingly rather quietly, but they board an Alexandrian ship and this would be an Egyptian grain ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, we're going to note later that there's quite a few people on this ship and we might be tempted to think based on some of the other ships of this era, we've seen that that number is exaggerated, but we'll find that that number is not exaggerated at all.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we have plenty of other, first, two specifically, other first century sources from around this age, talking about even more people being loaded onto ships of this size.

[SPEAKER_00]: But these Egyptian grain ships were of extreme import.

[SPEAKER_00]: in the ancient worlds, particularly the Mediterranean world, because Rome did not have enough farmable land around it to bring the grain that it needed for this bustling metropolis, and it relied upon Egypt to move tons and tons and tons of grain in order for the city simply to survive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so as these, these grain ships would make their way across the treacherous journey from Alexander, Egypt all the way up through the around the Mediterranean Sea and off to Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: It would be an easy place to barger a ride or get a lift in order to get to Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we see here in this large grain ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: So.

[SPEAKER_00]: We want to note that here we're told in the scripture that the continuation of the journey became difficult.

[SPEAKER_00]: In fact, we're told that it's past the feast in verse 9.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says, now, when much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them saying, man, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nevertheless, the Centurion was more persuaded by the Helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.

[SPEAKER_00]: And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, a majority arrive of advised to set sail from there also.

[SPEAKER_00]: If, by any means, they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, opening toward the southwest and northwest and winter there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, at this point in the account, we've done the large bulk of this red line, we've done the large bulk of this red line, and that leaves us here on the island of Crete towards the center, and they're going to make a giant to try to get to Phoenix at least, and Paul says, this is a bad idea.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, why after the feast?

[SPEAKER_00]: Well, that becomes important to us, because the feast

[SPEAKER_00]: The feast here was described as Yom Kippur.

[SPEAKER_00]: We know that Yom Kippur happened out to Ber 5th around 59 ADs.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's likely the time point if you're going to put in stakes in the timeline here.

[SPEAKER_00]: So October 5th puts this kind of into the autumn.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now the way that the ancient world worked again with the unpredictability of the sea and the change of the seasons was that to fail between about September 14th and November 11th was considered risky, very risky.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then to sail between November 11th and March 10th was considered suicidal, just ridiculously foolish.

[SPEAKER_00]: And so here we've got a lot of inputs.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to take a calculated risk, where this question where they're going to make a calculated risk.

[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a lot of good reasons for them to try to move on.

[SPEAKER_00]: One, Phoenix is not that far.

[SPEAKER_00]: Two, there's a better harbor, there's an opportunity for better harbor, which would be important as they got through or survived the winter.

[SPEAKER_00]: The Helmsman stated here in the New King James would be like the captain the ship and the captain the ship said look I've done this before.

[SPEAKER_00]: I think we can handle this.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's gonna be fine and undoubtedly many times We'll see in the past he had the owner of the ship also where the person speaking for the owner the ship said yeah This is a risk worth taking

[SPEAKER_00]: And that might surprise us.

[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, generally speaking, you might have some sort of adventurous yahu of a captain, is willing to try anything and go for anything, but the guy who actually owns the ship who's taking the risk is in greater peril of losing a lot more.

[SPEAKER_00]: But what we see is that Rome's need for grain was so great that they would, that the Caesar was willing to subsidize these grain trips, ships, and ensure their success, and help them if they were to encounter any trouble.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, essentially, which have his Rome's need being so great that it became more profitable, obviously, to take this risk.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that made more sense inside of the kind of the cost benefit analysis or the risk.

[SPEAKER_00]: But it also made more sense to follow in terms of the risk factor because they had likely some funding from Rome, or at least promised funding from Rome, in case something went wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now I'm sure they hadn't planned on it going this wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: But nevertheless, they're decision to ignore Paul, a Roman prisoner, and go ahead and take this leap.

[SPEAKER_00]: It sure makes a lot of sense from, again, from an earthly viewpoint.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Paul really isn't claiming.

[SPEAKER_00]: any divine revelation here he's just saying hey guys we all know this is a bad idea what's the worst thing or the best thing that happens we get there a few days sooner why take this risk why how are we coming out ahead but they decided to do it anyway because uh for the reason that the state and scripture i love it it's kind of a nice advantage to having loop there because he doesn't make this a simple and they were so stupid because they didn't listen to Paul

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no they had their reasons and they were good reasons for a man or speaking, in this case, the the the risk didn't pay off though.

[SPEAKER_00]: The things get rough here and we have this, you're oclidian, you're oclid on or the northeastern rolls in.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is a well-known stormy wind at this time is kind of like it could come and it might not and it did.

[SPEAKER_00]: And when it comes, it causes real difficulty and real pain.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is versus 13 through 20.

[SPEAKER_00]: It says the wind, the South wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to see they sailed close by creek, but not long after the tempestuous headwinter rose called the euroclitty, euroclitty on.

[SPEAKER_00]: So when the ship was caught and could not head to the wind, we let her drive and running under the shelter of the island called Clota, we secured the skip with difficulty.

[SPEAKER_00]: When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship and fearing

[SPEAKER_00]: or sands, they struck sale, and we're also driven, and because they were exceedingly tempest tossed the next day, they lightened the ship, and on the third day we threw the ship's tackle overboard with our own hands.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now when neither son

[SPEAKER_00]: nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved, which finally given up.

[SPEAKER_00]: So one of the fun things about this account, and again we get to go on this journey in a way through the writing here with Paul and Luke.

[SPEAKER_00]: as it looks starts to record things of remarkable, not a co-accuracy.

[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, they respond to the headwinds, it would have been a common thing to do.

[SPEAKER_00]: They respond to what's going on and they know when to, if you like, give up and stop fighting.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next thing that we're told that they do is to run chords around the ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: And essentially, this was an operation called frapping.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what it meant was that you were trying to wrap the cords around the ship to hold the ship together.

[SPEAKER_00]: So as you see the inside, or you imagine the inside of a large old ship, it has these big ribs.

[SPEAKER_00]: And what you would want to do is take rope or cords and hold that together so that when the sea twists and turns these huge ships,

[SPEAKER_00]: That they wouldn't be ripped completely apart.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was kind of a it wasn't a very terribly effective, but it was something that gave you just a little bit more chance that your ship might survive in this terrible thing Terrible storm.

[SPEAKER_00]: The next thing they do is strike the sales, which again is an accurate thing to do They bring down all the stales except likely for what was called the storm sale I don't think leaving this one sale up so that you're not so much blown around and tossed to and throw

[SPEAKER_00]: But you can maintain a sense of just enough to stay on board your ship and keep your ship from falling or turning over or being calf-sized So we see this wonderful accuracy of how they would have behaved and you get the sense of immediacy in this final word Says and all hope that we would be saved was finally given up This is quite a moment

[SPEAKER_00]: These are not novices, these are professional sailors and finally they come to the point where all hope is lost and they just are now beginning to ask not will we die but when will we die?

[SPEAKER_00]: I do wonder as the Lord uses our experiences to help us see things clearly if this wasn't

[SPEAKER_00]: what Paul was thinking of being tossed helplessly to and fro completely at the mercy of the immense power of the wind and the waves.

[SPEAKER_00]: It was this what occurred to Paul possibly just some years later as he wrote in Ephesians 414 that we should no longer be children tossed to and fro.

[SPEAKER_00]: carried about by every wind of doctrine, doctrine, by the trickery of men, and the cunning craptiness of deceit, plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up on all things into him who is the head, Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: A wonder if he had a chill run down his spine as he wrote these words,

[SPEAKER_00]: as you wrote about the terrible consequence of a believer, any believer not being built up in the Word of God and saying, if you're not built up in the Word of God, you're just like I was out in that ship out of the sea, every wind threatening to capsize us, every wave changing our course, not knowing which direction to head, if you're not familiar, if you're not built up in the Word of God, you're just vulnerable.

[SPEAKER_00]: to the fear and the terror of everything that occurs in the world today, whether it be your private circumstances or the larger circumstances of world affairs.

[SPEAKER_00]: There's no doubt in my mind that Paul remembered this experience while he wrote those words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Things continue to get rough and Paul stands up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Love this.

[SPEAKER_00]: because Paul's first words are the most spiritual words in all the Bible.

[SPEAKER_00]: I told you so.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I love it because it says that not even Paul's above going, you dummies, I knew it.

[SPEAKER_00]: I was right and you were wrong.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, that's essentially how he begins his speech.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, man, you should have listened to me and not have, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and lost.

[SPEAKER_00]: And now, I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: For their stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying do not be afraid, Paul, you must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Therefore take heartmen, for I believe God, that it will be just as it was told me.

[SPEAKER_00]: However, must run around on a certain island.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Paul really already had assurance.

[SPEAKER_00]: We don't know how he had fared up to this point emotionally, but we could guess there was some distress if not just for the pleasures of being on a very unsteady ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Nevertheless, Paul had received a promise.

[SPEAKER_00]: He'd been promised by Christ that he would testify in Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he knew he was making it out alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: at least in so far as he trusted, but fascinatingly, God saw fit to give him even more revelation about this situation.

[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe he just needed the encouragement.

[SPEAKER_00]: Isn't that the case at times?

[SPEAKER_00]: We know it got promised us, but we just need the reminder.

[SPEAKER_00]: I've been asked a good handful of times like people as saying things like, you know, I already knew that, darken I knew that, Messer had heard that, Messer had already learned about that passage.

[SPEAKER_00]: Why did I need to hear it again?

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because we're all forgetful people.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we need to be reminded.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so easy to have the truth of the Word of God or the promises of God be shuffled out of our immediate scope of attention.

[SPEAKER_00]: And that's why we need regular reminders and regular exposure to his word and your private reading and being taught the word in Bible studies.

[SPEAKER_00]: Just hearing it once sadly is not good enough.

[SPEAKER_00]: And whether just for Paul's sake or for the sake of everybody else who was on this ship with the revelation he's given, God feels that it's time to give Paul a little bit more

[SPEAKER_00]: And so Paul passes that encouragement on and he says, take heart, have courage.

[SPEAKER_00]: He encourages them in this, because not just because of some general vague, empty, positiveism, not just, hey, you're going to die, you're going to live, but be happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's not be whining about this, no, no, no, no.

[SPEAKER_00]: The encouragement of Paul is based upon the Word of God.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's not just, hey, if you're gonna be happier, said, choose to be happy.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's filled with the assurance of the truth and the promise of God's Word.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's very important because we oftentimes will make choices to maybe have a good attitude, not because of God's Word and God's character, but just because that sounds like a good alternative to being down in the mouth.

[SPEAKER_00]: And having a good attitude for the wrong reasons is just as useless as having a bad attitude.

[SPEAKER_00]: In other words, surviving the trials of life, just because you've decided you don't care, or you've found some other way to cope with it is not the same.

[SPEAKER_00]: In the ultimate spiritual perspective, as going through life's trials and life's joys relying on the Lord and learning and growing in Him, there's a vital difference and spiritual value, difference and spiritual value there.

[SPEAKER_00]: So Paul says, take heart, not just as rhetoric,

[SPEAKER_00]: But based on the truth of what's been revealed to him and we're told here and he gets special and jellic Accurrence said this night an angel of the God to whom I belong Who my serve?

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pause there These Egyptians and likely mostly Greek and Egyptian maybe Roman people would not have had a great concept or a permanent concept of the God whom Paul served

[SPEAKER_00]: They may have known something but possibly not much about Jewish religion and probably even less about this new starting Christianity.

[SPEAKER_00]: So he describes this the God that he serves in a very special way.

[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't say, my God, he says, which would be appropriate.

[SPEAKER_00]: He says, the God to whom I belong.

[SPEAKER_00]: You see all the other idols of the world are gods that you own.

[SPEAKER_00]: you own them, you possess them, you control them, you put them up on the manel, you pray to them, you put them away in storage, whatever it is, all of the pagan idols that the world had to offer was a God that you owned and you chose and you decided was going to be so important to you, but Paul says, this God is characterized as the one who owns me, is the creator of all things, he owns everything.

[SPEAKER_00]: And I've chosen to belong to Him and be identified to Him with Him.

[SPEAKER_00]: And not only that, He's the God that He serves.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's why He's on this adventure.

[SPEAKER_00]: Essentially saying, hey, you guys have the right guy on board.

[SPEAKER_00]: In any other circumstance, who knows what the Lord would choose to do?

[SPEAKER_00]: But because Paul was there, because Paul was there,

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul gives a secret to getting through trials, to flourishing in trials with confidence in a cool head.

[SPEAKER_00]: Verse 25, He says it so pointedly and so clearly, therefore take heart men for I believe God, that it will be just as it was told me.

[SPEAKER_00]: I want to tell you how proud I am to be a part of this body.

[SPEAKER_00]: For the silliest reason, maybe.

[SPEAKER_00]: I watched Facebook this election.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's about the only thing I've bothered to take in.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's so nice to see that you're not idiots.

[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody in their mother panicking and putting up every fear-based, closed, small-minded,

[SPEAKER_00]: reactionary thing that they can find, but from our little body, I don't mean this to sound like bragging, but from our little body, because it's, you know, honestly, we raised hands most of you probably don't even have a Facebook account.

[SPEAKER_00]: But I didn't see that panicked fear that the world had, whether it was for this or for that, if this person were because that person got elected or didn't, but the question is, is, do we believe God?

[SPEAKER_00]: is the sovereign of the ages.

[SPEAKER_00]: Do we trust in Him and His ability to pile up the course of this planet onto His ultimate goal?

[SPEAKER_00]: Are we trusting in Him?

[SPEAKER_00]: As He brings to bear His plan for the ages, and wait for His return for us in the church, ultimately to bring a brow to the reign of Christ on this planet.

[SPEAKER_00]: Or we still a little convinced, or even very convinced that this is all about what you do and what I do.

[SPEAKER_00]: And how important are tiny little measure of control we have at this world is.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul was able to go through this storm, this life-threatening storm with calm, and even squeeze out a good eye told you so.

[SPEAKER_00]: And it's been wonderful to watch as this election cycle's gone, as the world's gone mad in hatred for each other.

[SPEAKER_00]: And terrible, awful, mud slinging and divisive, hurtful language.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's been wonderful to see the people of this body, posting words of love, constructive words.

[SPEAKER_00]: Some people are smirkin' like, he's not subscribed to my feed.

[SPEAKER_00]: This is great.

[SPEAKER_00]: Good for you.

[SPEAKER_00]: Don't tell me.

[SPEAKER_00]: We can post, we can post, we can survive, we can get through these times, we can flourish in these times with the correct perspective if we believe in what God has told us in His Word about His plan.

[SPEAKER_00]: two weeks of this level of stress.

[SPEAKER_00]: Physically, I am confident that I couldn't handle it.

[SPEAKER_00]: Emotionally, I'm confident that I couldn't handle it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And these sailors doing anything that they can, and all the other people who are avoiding, anything that they can to remain alive.

[SPEAKER_00]: And yet, there's hope.

[SPEAKER_00]: Since when the 14th night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land, and they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms, and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again, and found it to be 15 fathoms, and then fearing, less we should run a ground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for the day to come.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the sailors were seeking to escape the ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: and they'd set off, let down their skiff into the sea, under pretence of putting out anchors from the prow.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul said to the centurion in the soldiers, unless these men stay on the ship you cannot be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: then the soldier's cut away from the ropes and the skiff and let it fall off.

[SPEAKER_00]: So we have some hope and they start taking soundings.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now this is a more difficult process at this point that it is now but essentially what they would do is they take a cord along cord with knots tied into it or markings put on it and then at the bottom would be you're waiting and one of these waning weights would be a large lead weight with a hole in it that they would

[SPEAKER_00]: wait over and you go down and especially in stormy waters it would be difficult to figure out when it actually hit bottom so you go down and pull it up and go down and pull it up until you found that you'd got sand in your greasy anchor and your stir okay so that's the final seven.

[SPEAKER_00]: So soundings one took time but two it shows that they had to give it up hope just yet.

[SPEAKER_00]: And they begin to drop anchors from the stern, usually the anchors would be dropped from the other side of the boat, but they're being blown so hard that essentially dropping them off the stern, bow stern, the back, dropping off the back, allowed them to essentially be slow there, being pulled or pushed about by the wind.

[SPEAKER_00]: And then there's an escape attempt.

[SPEAKER_00]: Gotta love these guys.

[SPEAKER_00]: Couple little weasels who are like, you know, this is our best chance if we can just get away in the lifeboat then we're gonna be just fine and everyone else can do for themselves.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Paul's interestingly, I really kinda like what God did with this.

[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not that shocking to think that there'd be a couple weasels on board who would look out for their own good above others.

[SPEAKER_00]: That's not that surprising, right?

[SPEAKER_00]: But God used this to do a couple of cool things

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul says, Paul sees that this is going on and says to the centurion and the soldiers.

[SPEAKER_00]: Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

[SPEAKER_00]: You notice what's not missing or what's missing there?

[SPEAKER_00]: I'm getting out of this either way.

[SPEAKER_00]: Your dad, if those guys don't do it, it shows a couple of really neat things.

[SPEAKER_00]: One of them is that this centurion is starting to, or maybe even just continuing to, put credence in God's word.

[SPEAKER_00]: And the next thing he does is it says the soldiers cut away their ropes and the skiff and let it fall off.

[SPEAKER_00]: So they put, they didn't just put enough confidence in his words to go stop those men from leaving the ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: They put enough to say, and we're taking this away as an option.

[SPEAKER_00]: It would have been a nice option to have.

[SPEAKER_00]: Certainly in this continued stressful environment, you want to keep every opportunity you have to maybe get away.

[SPEAKER_00]: Even if only some could survive.

[SPEAKER_00]: You'd want to keep that option available, but the soldiers here, under the command of this centurion, say, nope, we're with Paul, and what he said, or it's all over, we're all done.

[SPEAKER_00]: They cut away that option altogether.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's really neat to me to see how God used the circumstances to open up.

[SPEAKER_00]: Paul, or this centurion, Julius, more and more, to understanding the credence of what Paul said.

[SPEAKER_00]: and it would be a wonderful and interesting thing to meet this man as we will pass through heaven's gates and ask him what it would have been like to go for being a centurion, to seeing what God was doing through Paul to hearing his words, to finding out his character and hopefully to come to trust the Lord eventually, but we don't have news of that.

[SPEAKER_00]: Then they, Paul encourages them again, saying, hey guys, you can, you can trust in this, let's eat, you have an eaten in a long time, and let's lighten the loadie.

[SPEAKER_00]: Sees to their physical needs, and they throw everything else that is the food that was leftover overboard, having lost hope that they're going to be able to continue their profit.

[SPEAKER_00]: And we see here, Julius.

[SPEAKER_00]: This centurion who'd been caused to go on a difficult and uncomfortable, probably even annoying business trip, because the people above him couldn't figure out how to deal with a very simple issue by being honest.

[SPEAKER_00]: We likely would be annoyed at the very minimum, unless he just wanted to take a trip to Rome.

[SPEAKER_00]: Now, state stands up, because the soldiers wanted to do what would make the most sense, hey, the prisoners are all here.

[SPEAKER_00]: Bad fortune has been following us.

[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to escape if we just try to get off the ship.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's kill them all and go and Julie has speaks up on Paul's behalf.

[SPEAKER_00]: Again, God putting the right person

[SPEAKER_00]: in the right place at the right time, moving through the heart of Julius's soldier, to actively be the one who would from the human perspective it'd be saved in Paul's life.

[SPEAKER_00]: So, how to

[SPEAKER_00]: know what God has promised.

[SPEAKER_00]: Most of the time I see Christians having crises of faith, wondering where God has gone on an abandoned them.

[SPEAKER_00]: It's because they think that God promised them something that he didn't in his word.

[SPEAKER_00]: Knowing what God has promised you is the vital portion

[SPEAKER_00]: Know the word of God, and then dare to trust in those promises, and it sounds so simple, and it's so difficult, at times, but it's precisely what the Lord has for you, realize that God's care was not unique to Paul, only the degree to which He was aware of it.

[SPEAKER_00]: And everyone has placed their faith in Christ.

[SPEAKER_00]: I believe the very bottom of my heart is invincible until the moment which the Lord has finished with you and ready to take you home into your reward.

[SPEAKER_00]: Trust in that and trust in that alone can bring you confidently and securely and calmly

[SPEAKER_00]: all by His grace and provision.

[SPEAKER_00]: Let's pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Heavenly Father, we praise you.

[SPEAKER_00]: We thank you for your wonderful promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: We have not promised us that we will not become ill. You have not promised us that we will not lose all of our physical possessions.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have not promised us that we will not die.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have not promised us that we will not face tribulation or persecution.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have promised us that you will never leave us nor forsake us.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have promised us that we will be raised to a new quality of life.

[SPEAKER_00]: You have promised us that your faithfulness is an indignant will never fail.

[SPEAKER_00]: That your grace is the perfect provision for every need.

[SPEAKER_00]: We praise you for these promises.

[SPEAKER_00]: May we have wisdom to rely upon them.

[SPEAKER_00]: And Jesus' name we pray.

[SPEAKER_00]: Amen.