They All Were Brought Safely to Land

In one paragraph

The pastor worked through Acts 27, the account of Paul's sea voyage to Rome, as the next stop in the church's long walk through Acts. He traced the journey port by port, storm by storm, and kept stepping back from the text to ask whether anyone in the room had ever felt what those 276 people on that ship felt. The chapter opens with Paul having no say in any of it. He has been declared innocent by...

Read together

1. Acts 27:1-44 the primary text preached straight through as expository sermon
2. Acts 1 referenced as Luke addressing Theophilus, promising a detailed history for confidence in the faith
3. Luke (road to Emmaus) Jesus breaking bread with disciples who did not recognize him until he broke bread, invited in as a stranger

Talk about it

1. Pastor Nathan described moments in the passage where Paul and the others felt they had no control over their circumstances, and then just as they adjusted, things changed again. When have you experienced something like that in your own life, and how did you respond?
2. Pastor Nathan pointed to the moment the sailors gave up fighting the wind and simply let themselves be driven. Have you ever reached that point in a hard season, and what did giving up the fight look like for you?
3. Paul told the sailors that the angel had promised not only his own safety but that everyone on the ship had been given to him. Pastor Nathan asked the congregation to consider the people around them who are on the same boat but may not be believers. Who comes to mind for you, and what might it look like to pray for them the way Paul seemed to pray for his shipmates?
4. Paul encouraged the people to eat and keep up their courage even while the ship was breaking apart around them. Pastor Nathan connected that moment to the way Jesus broke bread. What does it mean to you that Paul could offer that kind of encouragement from inside the storm rather than from outside it?
5. Pastor Nathan noted that every time one obstacle was cleared in Acts 27, a new one appeared, right up to the reef at the end. How do you personally keep going when it feels like clearing one hard thing only leads to another?