By Pastor Phil Stanley. May 28, 2023
You can have all the right motives, the right plan, but you must also have patience.
Fight the impulse to make something happen. Just because the conditions look favorable, doesn’t mean you’re in the right timing.
Fight the impulse to make something happen. Just because the conditions look favorable, doesn’t mean you’re in the right timing.
We need to allow God to turn our discouragement into determination.
9 We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall,[c] and Paul spoke to the ship’s officers about it.
10 “Men,” he said, “I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on—shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.” 11 But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship’s captain and the owner than to Paul. 12 And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor—a poor place to spend the winter—most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure.
The Storm at Sea
13 When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete. 14 But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (called a “northeaster”) burst across the island and blew us out to sea. 15 The sailors couldn’t turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale.
16 We sailed along the sheltered side of a small island named Cauda,[d] where with great difficulty we hoisted aboard the lifeboat being towed behind us. 17 Then the sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across to the sandbars of Syrtis off the African coast, so they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship and were driven before the wind.
18 The next day, as gale-force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. 19 The following day they even took some of the ship’s gear and threw it overboard. 20 The terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone. 21 No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 24 and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. 26 But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”
Acts 27:9-26
2 The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us. 3 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. 4 The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” 5 But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. 6 The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.
7 Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. 8 As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. 9 Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. 10 As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.
Acts 28:2-10
30 For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.[j] He welcomed all who visited him, 31 boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.
Acts 28:30-31
Last week I shared a message called “But God had a different plan” and mentioned that I felt like it was to be split into a couple of different messages. So today I want to briefly recap where we were in the story last week and press through as we continue to follow the story of the Apostle Paul’s winding road to Rome.
We left off last week with Paul being arrested for no good reason and a plot by some of the Jewish Leaders to have him murdered. God exposed the plot and used the very arrest they lobbied for to protect Paul and to get him one step closer to his mission. He was passionately pursuing the opportunity to visit Rome and minister there and beyond. I’m sure there were many different times where Paul planned how and when to get to Rome but God had another plan.
Following his arrest in Jerusalem, Paul was escorted by a massive Roman military outfit to the coastal city of Caesarea. Which is a must visit spot if you ever get the chance to go to Israel. I actually have visited there a couple of times so I figured I’d show a short video with you.
The Romans were amazing builders y’all. This beautiful amphitheater, the hippodrome, and Herod’s palace were all here when Paul was sent here. Honestly, it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The engineering is insane. I think getting to see this incredible place kind of helps set the tone of who and what Paul was up against. They were the only world superpower and they knew it.
Paul was in prison in Caesarea for over two years and if you’re looking for good news, he was basically under house arrest and maintained a considerable amount of freedom.
But can you imagine? Two years of legal battles and uncertainty of how any of it would play out. That probably wasn’t the plan.
I’m not sure that many of us would think of the Bible as a great source for a legal drama but this story has a whole Matlock type of vibe to it.
Paul regularly meets with the Governor, and Paul, being Paul, is trying to win everyone he meets for Jesus, and in the process, has to give a fairly intricate legal defense of his actions over and over again for a couple of years.
The story shifts when a new governor is appointed. Y’all think we have political messes now, it’s pretty clear bad politics has been around longer than we’d care to admit. That’s another sermon for another time. The new governor gets appointed and immediately looks for a way to look good and Paul’s case is the perfect opportunity to gain favor with the Jewish leaders. They certainly haven’t dropped their case against Paul.
It culminates with a courtroom showdown between Paul and the Jewish leaders. Each side presents their case and while the Jewish leaders embellish and manipulate to make their case stronger, Paul just sticks to the facts. Seriously, it really does feel like a movie or tv show.
By the end of it, the new governor doesn’t really think any of this concerns Rome and is pretty done hearing about it. But, again, his life is easier if the Jewish leaders are happy so he basically offers them exactly what they want, to send Paul back to Jerusalem to be tried there.
Now, the trick was that they were plotting to do the exact same thing they tried to do two years prior. Acts 25:3 says they had petitioned Festus (the new Governor) to send Paul back to Jerusalem so they could ambush him along the way.
We can look at what happened next in Acts 25:9-12
Then Festus, wanting to please the Jews, asked him, “Are you willing to go to Jerusalem and stand trial before me there?”
But Paul replied, “No! This is the official Roman court, so I ought to be tried right here. You know very well I am not guilty of harming the Jews. If I have done something worthy of death, I don’t refuse to die. But if I am innocent, no one has a right to turn me over to these men to kill me. I appeal to Caesar!”
Festus conferred with his advisers and then replied, “Very well! You have appealed to Caesar, and to Caesar you will go!”
Paul uses the Roman trump card to escape the second ambush plot and to also get him back on track to get to Rome. Finally, things were starting to go to plan. Right? Maybe not so fast.
How many of you like to travel? How many of you have experienced a long layover? It’s not particularly fun. I think all of us would be annoyed with a 1 hour delay no matter the mode of transportation we’re talking about. I think the longest layover I’ve had was 7 hours. It was part of a 36 hour journey to malaysia. It was brutal.
I think sometimes we breeze past these types of details in the Bible but travel was no joke y’all.
Imagine traveling by boat, a very small boat by today’s standards. And then imagine weeks and months of hopping one boat to the other for days at a time. Not a fun experience.
Acts 27 tells us that eventually, Paul gets placed on an Egyptian ship heading for Rome with a very important shipment of grain. Finally, Paul is on the path to get to Rome. They set sail and immediately, they run into difficulty and the plan changes.
I want to stop a minute to share what I felt the Lord spoke to me as I was preparing this message.
The sailors had a plan. They had good reasons for not wanting to stay stuck in Crete for the winter. The harbor was exposed and would be a terrible experience. But what jumped off the page to me was the line in verse 9.
We had lost a lot of time.
The very next decision they were faced with would end up costing them a fortune, and should have cost them their lives but they couldn’t listen to Paul’s warning because they were too caught up with the perception of being behind. Losing time.
How many of you have wrestled with this? Some of you, if you’re being honest, have been making decisions to press forward with life choices only because you feel like you’ve lost a lot of time.
It can be your career, your love life, the way you interact with family.
You can have all the right motives, the right plan, but you must also have patience.
Don’t force the issue.
Another thing that struck me was verse 13:
When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it.
Fight the impulse to make something happen. Just because the conditions look favorable, doesn’t mean you’re in the right timing.
There’s a delicate balance between boldness, and impatience. We have to ask Holy Spirit for wisdom and discernment or else we too will suffer losses we aren’t meant to suffer.
The other thing that stands out to me is that Paul did everything right and still got caught in a storm.
We were ministering to a lady a few weeks ago and she told us horrible things she had experienced in her life and she asked us why bad things happen to good people and why did God allow this to happen to her? It’s a question we all ask at some point in our life, and it’s not an easy answer to accept but in many cases we can get pulled into someone else’s storm even if we’ve done our best to avoid it.
And it’s okay to be disheartened by it. That doesn’t make you any less of a saint. Look at Paul, they were completely helpless and hopeless. They had exhausted all options and were adrift in a storm for almost two weeks. They had no control on where they were going or even how long they would be stuck in the storm. They didn’t even have a way to know where they were. No sight of sky, stars, or moon for over 11 days. Navigation was impossible. Sure, they could guesstimate for a while but not for that many days and nights
It was in that place of darkness, uncertainty, and exhaustion that Jesus showed up.
21 No one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, “Men, you should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. 22 But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. 23 For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, 24 and he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What’s more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.’ 25 So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said. 26 But we will be shipwrecked on an island.”
That’s exactly what happened next. The ship is trashed but everyone makes it to the Island of Malta. Things are looking up and then it just gets weird.
2 The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us. 3 As Paul gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake, driven out by the heat, bit him on the hand. 4 The people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and said to each other, “A murderer, no doubt! Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live.” 5 But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. 6 The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn’t harmed, they changed their minds and decided he was a god.
7 Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. 8 As it happened, Publius’s father was ill with fever and dysentery. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands on him, he healed him. 9 Then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. 10 As a result we were showered with honors, and when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the trip.
Talk about a rollercoaster.
You’re just trying to get to Rome, and you get wrongfully imprisoned, dragged through legal battle after legal battle, tossed around at sea in a two week hurricane, shipwrecked, you get bitten by a poisonous snake, but you get to minister to a whole people group and all your provisions are met.
God could have stopped the storm. He could have saved the ship. He could have gotten Paul to Rome 2-3 years earlier. But God had a different plan.
We have to stop looking at all the times our plans are delayed, derailed, or disrupted as the devil, and look for God’s Divine Destiny.
We need to allow God to turn our discouragement into determination.
Paul got to minister in Malta for three months. Spoiler alert, he does make it to Rome and God opens a massive door for him to minister.
The final verses of the book of Acts tell us:
30 For the next two years, Paul lived in Rome at his own expense.[j] He welcomed all who visited him, 31 boldly proclaiming the Kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ. And no one tried to stop him.
How wonderful of God to let Paul see His plan come to completion even if it didn’t
happen at all like he had planned.
It didn’t happen the way anyone would have guessed. But God had a different plan.
Thank God for his different plan!
This morning, I believe God wants to break off the expectations you have for the plan He has for your life. Some of y’all are struggling to see the plan in the midst of the storm. You’re struggling to find your bearings. You need to know this morning that He is with you. He is for you and so are we.
Don’t worry about the time you’ve lost. Look at the opportunities in front of you. God’s plan is bigger than what we can comprehend and if you’re not careful, you’ll be limiting what He can do through you.
