We Must Run Aground on a Certain Island
First B Jackson
2025-10-05

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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Thinking of it. And then all of sudden we stopped and was like It came to a screeching halt. Sorry, though. What's your favorite one again? Lord, I need you.

That one's been my favorite for, like, ever since I ever heard it, like, for the first time in high school. Yeah. I think my favorite one to sing as a band, as a like us, like, first be specific is we did it last week, I think, and it was Taste and See. That one, I love doing. Yeah.

Yeah. It's psalm, like, one yeah. Thank you. Psalm three four. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Mhmm. Yeah. But,

like, my favorite, like, probably contemporary worship song is Lord I need You. Yeah. Yeah. If you ever want me to lead on that one, I think it's low enough that I can I can do it? Yeah.

Yeah. Like okay. I'll let you know. Okay.

Singer told you guys,

just relax.

Just sit back. Yeah. Yeah. Some of them, I feel like it's too hard for them to follow along because it's too high, like, when I sing it. But that one is low enough where, like because chlorine would have sometimes when we do that, and I like, there were some that would work because it was low enough for them to follow.

But, yeah, with, like, the keys that they're I mean, we could always, like, change the keys, but, like, who wants to do that if we Oh, yeah. Yeah. No. Doing I cannot do both at all. I know how to play piano, but I cannot think and play.

I'm not very good though, so don't get any ideas. Don't get any ideas. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

Oh my God. No. Moreau is, like, auditioning for grad school, and they were like, like, so you play piano? And I was like, yeah. Absolutely.

Yes. And they're like, okay. So you could accompany people. I'm like, no. Can play the chords.

To practice. Yeah. And I can, like, study a piece and, like, play it fine, but, like Yeah. Anyway.

Good morning, First B. I hope you're enjoying this fall rainy morning. We appreciate you being here. Just wanted to to mention, you know, let's just take a deep breath and remember why we're here to meet with our living God. And would you stand and join us in singing Lord's Prayer?

Father, let you let your kingdom come. Let your will be done on earth as it is in heaven right here in our hearts.

Amen. Y'all can have a seat. We've got a few announcements, and we'll see what they are together. Hey. Praise his name.

I'm fixed upon it. Here we are. Awana, it's happening tomorrow night. So that's happening 05:45 to 07:30 tomorrow evening. Starting out in this room, around this game circle, we'll have pre k all the way up through fifth grade, Cubbies, Sparks, and truth and trainers.

If you wanna register, you can do that ahead of time with that little QR code or going on the website. But you can just bring the kids in at 05:45 and we'll get them signed up. And that is fun. It was it was a great Just a big old barrel of monkeys last week. It was wonderful.

It was nice to be here and see everybody together and just having a ball. The JH Women's Community Bible Study is happening ten to noon. This time, they're meeting at the Presbyterian Church at Jackson Hole. They're covering the book of Genesis and there is childcare provided. That's a way to sign up if you want to, but also you can just show up if you want to do that.

Sisters Saved by Grace is meeting here down the hall at the in the fellowship hall, Praying with Power is the book that they're going through together. That's happening. That's a great group of ladies that get together, and they pray together, and they love one another. They usually eat something together, and they just have a good time down the hall. That's fun.

This is a morning study. Thursdays at 9AM, sharpen your colored pencils and come in. It's inductive Bible study, the old precept inductive Bible study. This week, we had technical difficulty and they actually talked to each other. That's a good thing.

It wasn't a bad thing. Nobody complained. It was fantastic. They were there to study the word together and the little thing didn't work the way it was supposed to and so they just had a ball together. Stayed there, got together, it was wonderful.

Men's lunch study is happening on Thursday, 11:55 in the Fellowship Hall. That is, like I said last week, low calorie. There is no lunch served. It's just during lunchtime. So if you wanna bring lunch for yourself or for anybody else, bring it on.

That's great. But we get together and kind of feast on God's word. It's really good. We're in the book of John right now. John three is coming, and it's just a beautiful beautiful thing.

So is there anything else? Discovery class. The discovery class is today at 10:00. Gary Geek, who usually meets folks out in the foyer right out there, he's probably still out there. He will be leading that in my office down the hall, second door on the left, discovery class today between services at 10AM.

There is a Guatemala missions trip that that most of everybody is leaving before you see them again next week, they'll be gone. So some of them leave on Wednesday, some leave it on Friday, some Saturday. But I'm gonna invite them to come up to the front, if that's alright. Mike is leading this rogue band I mean, this band of missionaries. He's looking for others who are here.

Everybody is resting right now.

But I'll I'll be here to receive prayers on their stead.

Here they come. Here they come. Here they come. And so Guatemala missions trip is happening. The eleventh through the eighteenth are the official dates.

Some of us are going a few days early because have you all noticed it takes a long time to get anywhere from here? It it does. So I'm on this trip, but I will I'm planning on being here next week. So I have a funeral on Saturday. Laurie Grant's funeral is Saturday next week, 11AM, and I'll be here to preach on Sunday.

And then some one of y'all one of y'all take me to the airport? I'm leaving right after church on on Sunday, so thank you. Can I just pray for us? Yes. Okay.

Lord God Almighty, thank you for this team this team. This church that is sending this team and this team that is willing. Here am I. Lord, send me. I pray that you would work in each of our individual hearts, but collectively that we would accomplish whatever it is that you have for us to accomplish down there, Lord.

If it's if it's direct evangelism, if it's helping to build in this organization that helps so many with physical needs, humanitarian aid sort of stuff, Lord, would you use us in the way that you intend? May we question what needs to be questioned, and may we challenge what needs to be challenged. At the same time, Lord, can we just help what needs to be helped? I pray that we would be loving, merciful, and forgiving people towards all that we come into contact with, and that would be winsome and attractive, Lord, that you would bring people into a meaningful relationship with you because of the humble obedience of this this church, these that are going. In Jesus' name, ask your blessing.

Amen. Amen. Amen. Alright. Would you all stand?

If there are any other announcements, I don't know what they are. Would you stand up?

Once you greet one another, we'll bring you back with a song. God, we just come before you this morning, and we just pray that you would remind us why we're here. And and it's to come before the living God, the creator, and and worship you and and give thanks back to you for for what you've done on the cross and allowing us to to have a relationship with you. And we just come before you humbly and ask that you would touch our hearts this morning. Teach us us teach us something that you want us to know.

Each name we pray. Amen. I love you, Lord, for your mercy never fails me. You can have a seat for a minute. This is the worship through giving part of the service, and I'll invite the the ushers to come on forward.

We're gonna sing firm foundation, but before we sing, good Ray, would you pray?

Lord God almighty, we're so thankful, Lord, to be here, to be a part of a part of something that's larger than each of us individually, Lord. Something that's way bigger than that. I pray that you'd use this group assembled here in your name, Lord. Singing your praises. I pray that you'd use us throughout this week.

Lord, for the advance of the gospel that Jesus Christ saves. He is mighty to save. That his forgiveness is real. Those who are feeling hopeless and tossed about by life, Lord, will find their rest, find their safe harbor in him. Would you use us to help bring people into that safe harbor?

In Jesus name, I pray that you'd use this offering however you would, Lord. Your will and your way is what we wanna be doing. So that's what we pray for. In Jesus name, amen. Amen.

Y'all can have a seat. It's time for children's church downstairs. Sunday school teachers are waiting and excited, I'm sure. In light of the sermon today, this is gonna sound ridiculous, ridiculous, but I had the roughest night sleep I've had in a while, and that's saying something because I don't sleep much. And there was everything, everything competing with sleep last night.

We have a bunny for those of you who did did not know, Foggy. Foggy has been a rough little bunny lately. Foggy needed to be in her condo instead of just roaming about the house free range. And when bunnies are angry, they thump. That's nothing.

And about, I don't know, 01:15, foggy starts thumping. About 02:30, foggy keeps on thumping. I have just been a little sore, you know, not not sore like angry 1950 style, but sore like sore, physically sore. And I got up and when I did the to deal with foggy. When I got up, the fan turned on full blast.

I've never seen the fan turn on full blast before. It was lifting papers off of the floor. And I was like, good grief. Now I know what I have to preach this morning, of course, on Saturday night. I already am thinking about it, and I thought, the little inconveniences of life that happened.

And this is real. This is I did not plan on saying this. This is real. A little bitty inconveniences of life are just enough to just go, you know. And here we go.

Here it is. Now, when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, we, Luke is writing. Remember, Luke is writing an accurate account so that Theophilus, the friend, lover of God, the friend that he has sent this letter to would have faith that the faith that he has is real and grounded and good. And so, this is the understatement of all understatements. Now, when we last left Paul, he's in Caesarea.

He's been declared innocent by Felix, but kept in jail anyway. He's been declared innocent by Festus, but kept because he appealed to Caesar. He's been declared innocent by Agrippa and Bernice, and he's waiting to be shipped to Caesar. Now, when it was decided, it's out of his hands. I want you to notice that from the very beginning, it's out of his hands.

When it was decided, we didn't have any say so when this would happen. That we would sail for Italy. Paul's a prisoner. That's where they're going. The little Caesarea, the blue star down here is where they are, and Rome, Italy is where they're headed.

That's a lot of Mediterranean between, especially in those days. So here we're going forward. That's the trip. And so depending on what time of year you're going on that trip, there are different routes you might take. So they proceeded to turn Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion of the Augustine cohort named Julius.

Bless Julius. He's the guy in charge. A cohort is 600 guys at least, but he is one of the centurions, so he's handling at least a 100 guys in this cohort. And we boarded an Andromedian ship that was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia. So basically, Julius commandeers this ship.

I see folks in the navy looking at me. I learned more about ships and boats and stuff this week, and I cannot express it all to you. But, Andromedion's ship was not a huge huge ship, but it was a pretty good sized ship, and we'll see that at the end of this, how big it must have been. But it also was going to be sailing around the coast of Asia. So that's the coast of Asia at the time.

Turkey nowadays, Greece is right there too. But Asia is where they're going to be sailing, and it says, and put out to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, one of Luke's buddies, one of Paul's buddies. The next day, put in at Sidon. So they left out of Caesarea and they didn't get very far. Caesarea is right here, that's part of Israel.

If you go on an Israel study tour, you're going to end up being in Caesarea Maritima, Maritime Caesarea. But Sidon is not too far above that, it's in modern day Lebanon. And if you think, well, that's not very far, It's rough going. And they start off and they come into Sidon and Julius treated Paul with consideration. And he allowed him and his friends to go in and receive care.

Well, that was sweet of him. It it's unprovoked grace really. He may have been at Caesarea, the Augustine cohort was there a lot, and so he may have just been around and knowing Paul just thought, yeah, this guy's not a threat. He's been in prison for something he didn't do for a long time. I'm gonna let him out here.

And if you read the book of Luke and the book of Acts, both, you see Sidon is usually, although it's foreign, Sidon is where the Syrophoenician woman met up with Jesus. And he taught them a little taught his disciples a little lesson about their own racism. And Sidon is generally favorably looked upon in the New Testament and here again, friends receive him and give him care there. Now from there, we put out to sea and we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary. This is an understatement too.

So here we are leaving from Sidon and going up and around Cyprus because the winds are contrary now. They're coming over to Asia, we know that they're going to do that. So we see that we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia, Tarsus where Paul is from is a city in Cilicia and Pamphylia, and we landed at Myra and Lycia, and so this is their route that they took. Here they are, and they were staying close to shore because it's a little bit smaller ship, probably. And the Aegean Sea up in here is not nearly as deep as the major Mediterranean.

So they're sticking fairly close to the shore and not getting out in the middle for any reason. It looks like they could have just gone Caesarea straight on over if they were going to do that, but they're staying close to shore and playing it safe, playing it careful. Now there, the centurion, you all remember Julius, found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy. Alexandria is down here in Africa, but Alexandria to Rome is a very common trade route. They go back and forth, they carry things from Africa, things from Italy back, but that's a very common trade route.

And this would have been a much bigger ship. It's not The Andromedium was a little smaller, and then this one is much bigger. And so, he put us aboard it. He gets to say, he's the centurion. He's in charge of the Roman, you know, at least a 100 guys.

But he put us aboard this ship, commandeered that one too. And when we had sailed slowly for a good many days and with difficulty, we had arrived Alpha Kinetis. I don't know how to say that. I am from Georgia. You got a better guess than that, you use that in your mind.

Alright? But that's where Canidus is, right around there, somewhere. They're stopping, it's kind of the Southern Aegean Sea, not as deep, but Alexandrian ship, bigger ship now, and it says, since the wind did not permit us to go farther. Okay. I'm going to break away from the text for just a second.

Have you ever felt like the wind would not allow you to go farther? I felt it last night for crying out loud, the fan being on full blast. No. I mean, we can take this and it is absolutely great history and everything tracks. Everything tracks.

Luke is a great historian and he's telling about a journey he was on. But if you look at it metaphorically, you're like, you know what? There's a lot of stuff that I don't have any control over. When we when it was decided that I was going to do such and such, it was decided that I was going to do such and such, and I was just a slave to whatever happened. And then, just as I was getting comfortable in that one ship, I got swapped to another ship.

And then, when I thought, well, maybe this thing will be faster and easier. This is obviously better, higher powered. No. They're not powered. They're powered by the wind.

Oh my goodness. The wind didn't permit us. We sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmon. So they left from there, and this looks like they're going backwards, doesn't it? Well, they went around Crete because the winds were coming out of Well, let's just let the text say where they're coming from.

And with difficulty, we were sailing past Crete, and we came to a place called Fair Havens. And Fair Havens was named by the Chamber of Commerce. Not a Fair Haven, not at all. It was a terrible place to try to stay for long. And so, they came to a place called Fair Havens, was near the city of La Silla, and when considerable time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous.

Does it sound like the voyage has been kind of unpleasant already? It's unpleasant and now it's dangerous and we know it. Since even the fast was already over. This fast is Yom Kippur, the fast of Yom Kippur, which is next Sunday. So this is the time of year, and I know there are tons of y'all that are about to make an exodus to get away from Jackson back wherever in the South y'all live most of the time.

This is that time of year where travel is alright. You're getting out before the snow falls, you're getting out before the winds get to be too terribly unfavorable. The fast was over and that was a signifier for any of the Jews like, you don't sail the Mediterranean after Yom Kippur. You just don't. That's not a good idea.

Everybody knows it. Nobody would do it. Paul, had he traveled a lot by this point? Yeah. More than almost anybody that we know about, you know.

If you were not a sailor, you probably hadn't traveled more than Paul. So the fast is already over. Paul started to admonish them. Paul's good at admonishing. He was saying, men, I perceive that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss.

Not only of the cargo and of the ship, but also of our lives. It's going to be it's going to have a cost and you all know better than to get out on the sea. But the sailors generally listen to landlubbers? No. Hey, or preachers.

Centurion and his soldiers, we have on board prisoners, we don't know how many, and the ship's crew. That's the people that are on board. There may have been some other people who are paying for passage, not just like stowaways are possible, but you know, people paying for passage. This is the way people got around this time. The harbor was not suitable for wintering Fairhaven.

It was not fair for wintering. So the majority reached a decision to put out to sea from there. If somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing Southwest and Northwest, it had a great harbor, and spend the winter there. That was the decision, so they wanted to go to where the little red star is on Crete here from Fair Havens to Phoenix, and when a moderate south wind came up, this is what we're looking for fellas, Thinking that they had attained their purpose, I don't care what Paul says, they weighed anchor. Weight anchor, does that mean they put it down?

It means they lifted it up. Am I right, navy people? Yes. Okay. I knew I was right about that one.

They weighed anchor. They lifted the anchors and they began sailing along creek closer to shore. They didn't want to get out in the middle of the Mediterranean in the fall. But before very long, a violent wind called a Eurokilo. Can you hear Luke?

Like, he's a smart guy but he's not a sailor. And so he's describing it from the person that's on board. They call this wind a Eurokilo. Eurokilo is a word that's made out of two words. It's a Greek word, Eurus, the the God of the East is Eurus in Greek mythology.

And then the kilo or that way is either it means north or it means violent wind depending on who you listen to. But there's no doubt it means North Kilo does. Clydon is the other way. If you've got a King James Bible say, you're a Clydon. It's a difference of like a diphthong in in Greek.

It's not much different. Uraquila rushed down from the land. So this violent nor'easter, that's what we would call it as a nor'easter. It's a wind coming out of the Northeast. And when the ship was caught up in it and could not head up into the wind, we gave up, and we let ourselves be driven by the wind.

Okay. Let's back away from the text for a moment. Metaphorically, have you been overcome by a storm where you finally just threw up your hands and said, take me where you will. Nothing I can do about this. Spinning, running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we were able to get the ship's boat under control only with difficulty.

So here we are, and they're swirling, and there's a little bitty island off a creek called Cauda, and they're able to finally get it kind of calmed down. And after they had hoisted up the boat, now the ship's boat is like the lifeboat or the dinghy, and so they're able to get it under control. It had been apparently swinging off the side and bashing against the ship. So after they had hoisted up, they used supporting cables in undergirding the ship, and this is the way that they would have done it at this time. They take a couple of ropes and go around from the front and move them all the way to the back and tie them off and twist them together, and so it strengthens the hull of the ship.

So undergirding the ship, fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Sirtis. Doesn't that sound like Lord of the Rings? These are probably the shallows of Syrtis, is this shelf off of North Africa. It's a nor'easter, and they're thinking this is going to blow us right into these rocky, ugly lands, the shallows, and it's going beat us to death. So they let down the sea anchor and they let themselves be driven along this way.

So that's to slow them down, but they still found it would be more dangerous to root themselves down or to just let it go. So sea anchor is they're going but slower than they would have. The next day, as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to jettison the cargo. Now, what have Paul said? Hey, let's don't do this.

Fellas, come on. It's going to cost you like what you're trying to get to Italy with, you're not going to have by the time you get to Italy. And it's going to endanger our lives too. But the next day, as we were being violently tossed by the storm, they began to throw over the cargo. And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard.

Oh my goodness. This is getting serious. With their own hands, like a shipment who's throwing over the tackle with his own hands, Luke says. It's hard to see that happen since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small storm was assailing us. From then on, all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned.

Okay. Let's back away from the text for a minute. Have you ever hit a place where you had given up and let the winds drive you wherever they would, and then you hit a place and you just thought, I don't think I'm ever gonna get out of this. You hit a place of desperation. Luke is saying, we did this.

It wasn't just the ship's crew and it wasn't just the prisoners. All of us felt this way. So when many had lost their appetites, I think I'd have lost it before I hit Sidon, honestly. That's why I'm not a shipman or a navy person at all. I'm not a deep sea fisherman, that does not appeal to me in any way.

When many had lost their appetites, Paul then stood up among them and said, men, I told you so. Different commentators kinda some of them say, Paul is saying I told you so, and others say, no, Paul is being very gracious to them right now. Paul is pleading with them saying, I told you so, and I'm telling you again. Okay? Men, you should have followed my advice and not have set sail from Crete, and thereby spared yourself this damage and loss.

So this is probably some of the the ship's crew and maybe not maybe not the owner, but the ship's crew, the people responsible for the load getting to Italy now don't have the load. When you don't have the load, you don't get the don't get paid for the load. Right? And yet now, I urge you to keep up your courage. Okay.

So he's not saying don't do something, he's saying take heart. Take heart. Keep up your courage for there will be no loss of life among you. What I said before was damage to the cargo, it's going to be gone, damage to the ship and possibly our lives. There's going to be a price to pay.

Y'all keep up your courage, keep working hard, there's not going to be any loss of life among you, only the ship. Are you looking forward to the shipwreck? You're going to lose the ship. Oh, yeah. You've already lost the cargo, you're going to lose the ship, but you're not gonna die.

For this very night, an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom I also serve, came to me saying, do not be afraid. Paul, you must. Day in Greek is a is a divine necessity. So, when Jesus says, we must go through Samaria. It wasn't because it's the only way to get back to where he was going.

It's a divine necessity that this happens. It's a divine appointment. Do not be afraid, Paul, because you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has graciously graciously granted you all of those who are sailing with you. Amen.

Therefore, keep up your courage, man. For I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I've been told. I don't have any doubt about it. But we must, again, divine necessity. It's the same word.

We must run aground on a certain island. He doesn't say which one. We're gonna run aground on a certain island. But when the fourteenth night came, how many of y'all thought this was gonna be over in just a day or two? Goodness gracious.

Goodness gracious. Two hundred and seventy six hours, something like that. Yeah. Fourteenth night came as we're being driven about in the Adriatic Sea. I know that most of us think of the Adriatic Sea as just this side on the backside of the boot of Italy, but at that time, it was considered all the way down to the tip of Sicily was Adriatic.

So they're just being tossed about in there and doing all they can, but that's deep water, and so they're not worried about hitting up against the rocks during the time that they're being tossed about and the storm is blowing. The cyclone or violent wind, hurricane force winds, and they're just being drifting about in there. About midnight, the sailors began to suspect that they were approaching some land. Now, there's clouds all around them. They hadn't seen the sun or stars in days, that's the way they normally would have navigated, but they started to feel it.

And those are guys who've been out there before. They feel like we're getting close to something. So they took soundings, they found it to be 20 fathoms. A fathom is six feet. It's the kind of average length.

My my fathom is a little further than a fathom. And there are others in here who's a little bit less than a fathom, but 20 fathoms is a 120 feet deep. So that, for the size of ship that they're in, is okay. They're right. They're starting to feel it probably because they can hear it.

I know I've got some submarine guys in here who know what it's like to be underwater, and you can feel the difference. And that's what they were feeling. And a little farther on, they took another sounding, and they found it to be 15 fathoms. And it's fascinating how they did this at the time, but lowering ropes over the side and then measuring them when they come up, one fathom, two fathoms, 15 fathoms. So this is 90 feet deep.

So just in a little while, they've gotten 30 feet, gained 30 feet lost 30 feet of depth. Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern. Hey, do you all know what the stern is? I'm not a boat guy. It's the back.

They cast four anchors from the stern. Now the reason for it wanting to be from the stern, if they're losing depth, they're headed towards land, and they put it in the back of the boat so that they can head the front of the boat towards whatever they're getting closer to. Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and they prayed for daybreak. That wasn't just me and the bunny praying for daybreak this morning. Fourteen days.

Fourteen days. But as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship, what? These are the guys who were protecting everyone else's life. These were the ones that were protecting the soldiers' lives that had commandeered their ship. But they lost their cargo.

Paul says they're going to lose their ship. As the sailors are trying to scrape from the ship and they had let down the ship's boat, that's the lifeboat or the dinghy, the little lifeboat. They let it down into the sea on the pretense that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow, the bow being the front. They've already laid the anchors from the back. Oh, yeah.

We're just going to drop into the water and go hang the anchors from the front. And Paul said to the centurion, Julius and to the other soldiers, unless these men remain on the ship, you yourselves cannot be shaved. They're the guys who know what they're doing. Don't let them go. They're lying to you right now.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat. So the lifeboat's gone. No lifeboat. That would have been normally when you harbor, you send people in on the lifeboat and they come back. You know, it's like the marina.

Right? You just do that. No more lifeboat. They let it all fall away. No more dinghy.

Until the day was about to dawn, Paul kept on encouraging them. Do you have anybody like that in your life than when everything is looking dark and everything is looking like you're adrift or you're you've hit the point of absolute desperation? Do you have anybody that'll just keep on encouraging you? I pray that you do. And if you don't call me, I've been through a lot of stuff.

Paul kept on encouraging. Y'all eat, take some food. Today is the fourteenth day whether you've been counting or not, that you've been constantly watching and going without eating and haven't taken in nothing. Therefore, I encourage all of y'all to take some food for this is for your survival, for not one hair from your head of any of you is going to perish. God will protect you.

I believe him. Having said this, he took bread and he gave thanks to God. This is almost exactly the same. We're gonna do communion here in a minute, Lord's supper. This is almost exactly the same verbiage that it says that Jesus took bread and gave thanks to God and the presence of them all, he broke it and they began to eat together and all of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.

So, how many people? We were 276 people. How many of y'all are here? I bet they're real close to 276 of you. 243 chairs in here and there's some of you back there.

That's a lot of people. That's a lot of folks on a boat. Right? That's a lot of people with the ship's crew and the centurion and the soldiers and the prisoners. We don't know how many.

Luke puts them all on the same even keel. I can't help it. Sometimes the puns are just there. We're 276 people on the ship and all, and when they had eaten enough, they began lightening the ship again by throwing the wheat out into the sea. So shame for shame.

They had been fasting, now they were going gluten free. Sorry. That reminds me, the little the little cups right here, the muffin cups have gluten free wafers in them. I forget that every week. Now, when day came, they could not recognize the land, but they did notice a bay with the beach.

You see, they recognized that it was land, but they didn't know what land it was. And these are sailors, and they're supposed to know. I'm always amazed when I go up to Jackson Lake with somebody who's got a boat, that they know where they are. That's a big lake, and that's not a big lake compared to the Mediterranean. And they've been adrift for days.

So they saw land, they didn't know what land it was, but they did recognize a beach, and a beach is sandy. And if you're going to run your ship aground, you'd rather run it aground in a sandy spot. So they resolved to run that ship onto that beach if they could, that was the plan. And casting off the anchors, okay, now they've lost the lifeboat and they cut the lines for the anchors too. When I was in seminary, had a buddy named Sam.

He's he was an his first my first degree was bachelor of fine arts. His first degree was underwater archaeology specifically in Mediterranean. He had pulled up anchors from the Mediterranean from this time period. They cast off the anchors and they left them in the sea, while at the same time, and maybe back away from the text here, Ray, is there anything that's weighing you down that you just need to cut loose? Cut loose.

There's a great it's sometime in June. My utmost for his highest, you could Google it with this, cut loose from the moorings. Oswald Chambers says, cut loose from the moorings. Just let yourself go on God's grace. Casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea and while at the same time, they were loosening the ropes of the rudders because they wanted to steer this ship into the beach, the bay there, and they hoisted the foresail to the wind and they were head for the beach.

We are going straight that way. But they struck a reef. Just when you think it's gonna be alright. Right? And it's it's been like this over and over and over again.

And I know that Luke was just keeping an accurate record, but man, the metaphors are there, you know. Just when you think it's gonna be alright, there's another diagnosis. Or just when you think it's gonna be alright, there's a loss that you had not expected. They struck a reef where the two seas meet and they ran the ship aground and the prow, that's the same thing as the bow, that's the front because they were aiming for the beach, stuck firmly and it remained immovable. So the front stuck firmly and remained immovable while the stern, that's the back, started to break up due to the force of the wave.

So what Paul said was coming to pass. You're going to lose the ship, but you're not going to lose your lives. He had already told him that. Little individual revelation from God to Paul that he shares with them and he encourages them with it. Now, the soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners.

What? Goes It from bad to worse. Every time you think they're gonna get out of this, they're gonna get out of this, they're gonna get out of this. They're now they're stuck in a reef and the boat's being beaten to pieces and the soldier's plan was, well, we're soldiers. If one of them escapes, it's on us.

We've seen that elsewhere in scripture that a Roman soldier who allows the escape of a prisoner has his own life to pay for the life of that prisoner. So the soldiers plan, just kill the prisoners so that none of them would swim away and escape. But the centurion, remember Julius? Thank God for Julius, wanting to bring Paul safely through. Paul's relationship with this guy was enough that 276 people on board and and Julius was thinking about Paul.

I don't want. I want Paul to see Caesar. I want Paul to make it. The centurion wanting to bring Paul safely through kept them, the other soldiers, from accomplishing their intention. Direct order, don't kill the prisoners.

And he commanded that that those who could swim were to jump overboard first because they don't have a lifeboat, they don't have a dinghy. Those of you who can swim, jump out first, and you all get to land. And then the rest were to follow. Some on planks, others on various things from the ship, anything you know, when you throw stuff overboard, you don't throw over the stuff that floats. There's blotsam and jetsam.

You throw off the stuff that's heavy, not the stuff that floats. So that we were at the mercy of whatever is happening, and then we find it difficult to walk forward. I said this morning, I feel like I'm walking in deep mud just for having lost couple hours of sleep. When you got a diagnosis or when you got a difficult thing coming up, when you lose your job or whatever is going on, the storms of life that are on you feel like they're just insurmountable. And sometimes you just have to run and let it let it drift, and then other times you're under the shelter of some little island.

I pray that you have someone that will encourage you like Paul. I pray that you'll have God's protection in the midst of it. I pray that you do everything those sailors were doing everything that they could to make the right decisions. I pray that cooler heads will prevail that you don't like the soldiers just decide to do something rash or harsh. I pray that you'll lean towards the future that God has for you.

Now, when they had been brought safely through, then we found out that that little island, that certain island that we must run aground on some certain little island, hey, the name of that island is Malta. And they still celebrate Paul in a very very big way. There's more to the story. We'll get to it next week. I think I'm gonna finish the book of acts next week.

That's ambitious. But we're going into a time of communion right now. And I think of Paul on that boat, and I think of all of us and how God has been bringing us through whatever storms and I just pray that you would like those soldiers and sailors right here at this table that you would find some encouragement in taking this food. Jesus says, and I'll invite the ushers and the elders to come forward. We're gonna distribute this.

The band can come on up. We're gonna play a couple of songs, Darren. Lord God almighty, I pray that you would bless during the distribution that we would consider lord our way and we'd consider where we'd given up and we'd consider where we ought to give up, whether we are anchored to some mooring that is keeping us from you and we need to cut that loose or whether lord, we've just decided we're not doing anything anymore. In Jesus name, I pray that you'd draw us into the certain beach that you want us on, the certain ground that you want us on. I don't know what it is for every individual in here.

I I I'm glad that Paul did. Our common destiny, lord. Our common destiny. We're in this boat together, all of us are. And so lord, I pray that that you would that you would have your will way.

You would do your will and your way among us. As we consider this the Lord's supper, I pray Lord that you would forgive us of our sins. The first song that we sang today was on earth as it is in heaven, Lord, that you would forgive us as we forgive our trespasses. Lord, may we just be letting go of the things that we're holding against them. You said vengeance is mine.

I will repay. Every sin that has ever been committed will either be justly condemned by you or mercifully forgiven. We can do no better, Lord, than to obey your command and forgive them and let you decide. In Jesus name, I pray that we would, as a celebration of the life that Jesus lived perfectly, as we distribute this cup and we take this bread and we take it and we hold on to it and wait to all take it together. In Jesus name, amen.

This week, I'm thinking of Paul on that ship breaking that bread or Jesus at the end of Luke with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, being invited into their home and breaking the bread there and then recognizing him in this, the the act of the Lord's Supper. And I pray that we would remember him as he said. On the same night that he was betrayed, he took bread after supper and he broke it and he gave it to his disciples that were gathered there with him after he'd given thanks And he said, this is my body which is given for you. Take this and take it in and do it anytime that you will in remembrance of me. Thank you Jesus for leaving the glories of heaven and coming to this earth and walking out in perfect submission to the spirit, the plan of God.

The sinless plan of God. You did not fail in your probation like Adam and like every one of us. You have the perfect record that you offered, Lord, and you did so by shedding voluntarily and sacrificially your innocent blood. We celebrate that right now as we distribute this little plastic cup of grape juice. It's a representation of the blood that was spilled on Calvary by the lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.

In Jesus name, I pray that you'd bless this cup as we distribute it lord and if there's anyone who is not yet convinced and does not persuaded and has not believed lord and they let this pass. I pray that you would work upon their lives through your word and through these folks who are gathered here in your name. But Lord, for those of us who will partake, I pray that we will center ourselves and on you and follow you in submission to the spirit. Whatever the walk is that you have for us, whatever the storm is you have for us to come out the other side. I pray lord.

In Jesus name, would you bless this cup? Amen. Just in the same way that he had taken the bread, he also took the cup after supper. The common cup for them most likely, but for us is this little plastic cup. He said to them and his voice still rings to us.

This is the new covenant in my blood. Take this. Take it in. Do it as often as you will in remembrance of me. Lord God, we're we're thankful for the new covenant.

Amen. Would you stand with me? I think the band's up there. We're gonna sing through. We believe.

We believe in God the father. We believe in Jesus Christ. Quick reminder, quick reminder on the discovery class, the new member class is down the hall. If you're thinking about becoming a new member, you're welcome to join. Gary Geek in my office down second door on the left and the blessing for today is from second Corinthians 13.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all in Jesus name. Amen.