- See God in every day circumstances
- See God in the scriptures
- See God through great doctrines of living faith
Allow me to encourage you to read Acts 27 out loud, take the time and do it, you will thank me for it.
Acts 27 illuminates at least 3 great doctrines of a vibrant faith:
- God’s Sovereign Love
- God’s Providential Love
- God’s Gracious Love
v.1-8
God Has Special Friends
Paul goes through a difficult ship wreck, he knew what was coming, and yet could do nothing about it—but God had him in a tight grip.
Early in the voyage Paul meets a Roman Centurion named Julius. The text says he is from the “Augustan Cohort,” meaning he worked for King Agrippa. Julius has a soft spot in his heart for Paul, and in the port of Sidon allows Paul to visit with his friends.
Also named along for the ride is wonderful man named Aristarchus. He seemingly has a calling to be loyal to Paul and shows up in different portions of the New Testament.
- In Acts 20:4, Aristarchus is in Jerusalem supporting Paul
- In Colossians 4:10, Aristarchus is called Paul’s “Fellow prisoner.”
- In Philemon 24, Aristarchus is called Paul’s “Fellow worker.”
May God not only grant us such beautiful people in our lives, but may he makes us into those kind of people.
v.9-12
God Is Greater Than Stupidity
Paul’s words of advice are not listened to, his counsel is dismissed. Perhaps unknown to the Centurion and the others is Paul’s nautical history. As a rare world traveller, Paul knew those waters and what takes place during certain seasons of time. It seems those running the operation did not want to winter with a bunch of losers, people such a Paul, and chose to make a mad race for Italy, even though doing so was foolish.
If you read the text the names and places may seems foreign to you, so think of the voyage a bit this way. The boat will attempt to hug the coastal waters of Syria, Turkey, Greece and then Italy. The problem arises in that hugging the coast is not as easy as it sounds, there are nautical dangers that force ships away from the coast, and on top of that a series of violent storms do arise from time shutting down the shipping lanes.
v.13-26
Blessed Assurance
Paul brings assurance to those in the ship by sharing with them God’s promises, namely that God has spoken to him through an angel, and though the ship will be ruined no loss of life will be incurrerd.
I quoted a bit from the classic hymn Blessed Assurance, here is the first stanza in full:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.
Oh what a foretaste of glory. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song, praising my savior all the day long…
v.27-44
Common Sense
We often error and think the supernatural only works through the sensational, but in truth, supernatural power calls us toward a wisdom that works it’s way out as common sense.
God Apologetic
I’ve been working on tightening for us all an apologetic on God that I pray is useful and easy to recall.
Here is my latest work on the matter, all great goes to Dr. Craig Hazen from Biola.
- Why is there something when there is nothing?
- The universe had a beginning, this is in fact the dominant view found in the academy of Philosophy and Science.
- Humans have a conscience. Brain research continues to show the impossibility of consciousness coming from bio chemistry.
- Human biology has intelligence, found consistently in the sub atomic level of cells, is intelligence that should not be there, DNA is a classic example of this phenomenon.
- Global morality is desired by all humans and pursued.
- Miracles do in fact take place.
I would encourage you to work through the above list and memorize it. I pray you find it useful.
PRS
