Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By remembering that Jesus is our safe harbor (11/08/09)

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Title: : By remembering that Jesus is our safe harbor   Text: Acts 27:1-14

Introduction: Chippie the parakeet never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problems began when Chippie’s owner decided to clean Chippie’s cage with a vacuum cleaner. She removed the attachment from the end of the hose and stuck it in the cage. The phone rang, and she turned to pick it up. She’d barely said "hello" when "ssssopp!" Chippie got sucked in.

 

The bird owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag. There was Chippie -- still alive, but stunned. Since the bird was covered with dust and soot, she grabbed him and raced to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, and held Chippie under the running water. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she did what any compassionate bird owner would do . . . she reached for the hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.

A few days after the trauma, the reporter who’d initially written about the event contacted Chippie’s owner to see how the bird was recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn’t sing much anymore." (Matt Condon)

Every felt that way? Sucked in, washed up and blown over? Like the men we’ll read about in our text, you’ve been on stormy seas, and if you haven’t yet, you will!

·       A man drives to work at 6:30 a.m. as he has for 14 years. He punches in his time-card and is soon met by his supervisor. John is called into his office and told that the company is downsizing and he is being laid off. STORMS

·       A widow faces an empty house and bed for the first time in 40 years. STORMS

·       Parents sit together on the couch. It is 3:00 a.m. and their sixteen year old son isn’t home yet. They fear he has been drinking. STORMS

·       A husband and wife just haven’t seen eye to eye for years, they no longer want the same things...including each other. STORMS

·       You work all week; and you still worry if you’ll have enough money to buy new school clothes for your children. STORMS

·       It takes everything you have to get out of bed each day...and even when you do, you’re not really connected to what’s happening around you. The gale force winds of depression are ripping down your sails and leaving you dead in the water, feeling overwhelmed and underpowered. STORMS

We all face storms. Storms are a part of life and yes, storms are a part of the Christian life. The right question is not whether they will come, or even when, but how we will respond to them when they do come.

Paul faced a life-threatening storm. He was on his way to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. For 14 days the ship he was in encountered a raging sea. As the crew panicked, Paul stood firm because he knew that Jesus was his safe harbor.

 

The lesson of Chapter 27 is not only that God delivered 276 men from the storm in the Adriatic sea. The lesson for you and me is that God delivers us from the storms of life.

Our text this Sunday and next raises important questions.

·       Can I trust God when my life gets stormy?

·       Can I trust God when things go unexpectedly wrong?

·       Can I trust God when my situation is so discouraging that I see no way out?

·       Can I trust God?                                   

Transition: (Pass out Scripture Texts) In Acts 27:1-14 we’ll discover that we enlarge our vision of God by remembering that Jesus is our safe harbor.

I.  Acts 27:1-13  The calm before the storm

Read: Acts 27:1-13

Paul appealed to Caesar and was now on his way to Rome. No direct flights were available so Paul had to take a couple of different cruise ships to get from Caesarea to Rome.

OK, so there weren’t airplanes or cruise ships in that day, but there were ships. Not like we are used to, but some could hold almost 300 people...in very close quarters. Paul, Luke and Aristarchus (a convert of Paul and one of his traveling companions from Thessalonica) were on a small ship headed to a number of the ports in Asia.

Sidebar: Roman Law stated that no prisoner could have his buddies accompany him...only slaves of the prisoner could do that.

So...Aristarchus most likely served as Paul’s slave just so he could travel with him, protect him and care for his needs. And Luke most likely took a job as the ships doctor. How’s that for Christian friendship?

Has God put people in your life who love you like that, people who would go the extra mile for you?

So, when the storms come, perhaps you are in the eye of one now, look around and see who God has placed beside you. He has given them to you because he knows you can’t make it through the storm alone and we are foolish if we try.

Paul, a prisoner, was under the care of Julius, a Roman Centurion. When the ship stopped in Sidon, he let Paul go visit his friends in town.

The weather was nice and they left port making a few stops until they found a larger ship from Alexandria heading to Italy.

Sidebar: Historical records reveal that for a ship to have carried 276 people it would have been about 120 feet long. 120 feet long for a ship sounds pretty big. But consider

·       A tugnboat averages 70- 210 feet in length

·       A mega yacht generally refers to any yacht over 100 ft and a super yacht generally refers to any yacht over 200 ft

·       The Carnival Glory, a cruise ship is 953 feet long.

276 people were on that 120 ft ship....not a lot of room, pretty scary if you ask me....and did I mention the ships were made out of wood? Certainly not built by our current safety standards.

Paul and the other prisoners were put on that ship not knowing the storm that was ahead. That got me thinking...

ILL: The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed. If not for the courage of the fearless crew the Minnow would be lost. The Minnow would be lost.

Sorry, as I was working on this message I couldn’t get the theme song from Gilligan’s Island out of my head. It’s will probably be in your heads all day now too.

Anyway, the weather did start to get rough and it got hard to navigate the small boat in the rough seas. As they get close to a port called ‘Fair Haven,’ Paul tells them they should stop there for the winter...it seems ships didn’t travel in the winter because of the extremely rough seas.

But, the ships captain and the owner of the ship said that it would be safe to travel further because Fair Haven wasn’t so fair in the winter.

Think about that for a moment. Isn’t that the way it is in our lives.

·       To stop at Fair Haven for the winter may not be a great idea because of it’s location in the storm belt.

·       But, to travel on, past the safe time for travel on the open sea, opens up a whole other bag of troubles.

Which way was best? Which should they choose? Many of the problems we face are like this; there just isn’t an easy decision, just two tough options to choose from.

The Centurion seemed to have had the last say in the matter and he agreed with the captain and owner, not listening to Paul’s warnings. The weather improved a bit and they continued their journey....but the storm is just on the horizon.

Has there been a time when you found yourself in a storm, simply because you failed to listen to the warnings from one of the people God has placed in your life?

·       Your parents, your spouse, your friends: godly people  were trying to tell you something but you just wouldn’t listen, you were certain you knew better.

·       You rejected their advice and the storm rolled in.

That’s what happened and it wasn’t because of the fearless crew that the Alexandrian ship was not lost. But that’s for another message.

Conclusion

ILL: On April 10, 1912 the. Titanic left her harbor in Southampton, England. This was the maiden voyage for the 882 foot long ocean liner that had been billed as unsinkable. She carried with her 2,228 passengers and crew. Most of the passengers had paid thousands of dollars to sail on that great luxury liner. Four days into the voyage, on April 14, 1912 severe ice warnings were received for the area through which the Titanic was sailing. These warnings were ignored, and the Titanic maintained her course for New York harbor.

At 11:40 PM the Titanic struck an iceberg on the starboard side of her bow. She began to take on water at an alarming rate and within three hours the Titanic and 1,523 of her passengers were at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Only 705 of the original 2,228 persons survived that great shipwreck. (Jimmy Chapman)

Since the Titanic’s sinking people have tried to figure out what happened. Most believe it was a combination of many things that were actually preventable.

The shipwreck Paul and his fellow shipmates are about to encounter could have been avoided too. The shipwreck was the result of several bad choices! Just as many of the storms in our lives are the result of bad choices on our part. What kind of bad choices?

·       Choices made in a hurry. The ships owner’s main concern was getting his cargo to port as soon as possible. And like the ship owner, when we get impatient, we make bad choices.

Making choices in a hurry leads to storms.

·          Choices based on human wisdom instead of Godly wisdom. Delay after delay forced a critical decision upon the Centurion. Should they continue or not? Paul tells them it would be dangerous to sail at this time. The centurion decided that the professionals should know whether or not it is safe to proceed. The advice from a humble believer, in touch with God, is ignored.

Making choices based on human knowledge and not on godly wisdom leads to storms.

 

·       Choices based on comfort or convenience. The port of ‘Fair Havens’ wasn’t a comfortable place for the crew to stay the winter. It wasn’t a big city and would be real dull for the three months they would have to say there. The decision to sail on was based on comfort and convenience.

And we often make foolish decisions because we are afraid of suffering a bit of inconvenience in order to do what’s right.

When you live by faith, you’ll have to make choices that are not comfortable, nor convenient.

Making choices based on comfort or convenience leads to storms.

Let me close this message with this piece of advice from our test. If you are in the midst of a storm,

·       look for the people God has placed beside you

·       make godly choices

Like the Apostle Paul, you’ll find that Jesus is your safe harbor.