Welcome to Books of the Book.
I'm Pastor Mark Howard. I'm here
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with my co-host, my brother,
Pastor Jim Howard. I'm glad you
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have joined us for our study in
the book of Acts. This has been
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an exciting study and it will
continue as we're going to see
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as we go through today's study.
We're going to start in Acts
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chapter 27. Before we do that
we're going to ask the Lord to
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bless our time as we study his
word. I'd invite our viewers to
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bow their heads
with us as we pray.
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Father in heaven, we thank you
so much for the Holy Spirit to
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guide us into truth and to
change our hearts and transform
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our hearts. We thank you, Lord,
for the testimony we see in the
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book of Acts of the power that
you have worked in your church
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in times past and that same
power that's available for us
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today as we seek to spread the
gospel, the good news of Jesus
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Christ. Father bless our time
now in study, we ask in Jesus'
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name, Amen. Now,
Jim, we finished up last
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time in chapter 26. Paul was
there appearing before Festus
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and Agrippa, King Agrippa,
and now he's heading on to Rome.
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Of course, this has been in
process for a little bit of time
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as he's appealed to Caesar. So
we're picking up in chapter 27
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of Acts, verse 1. The Bible
tells us here that when it was
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decided that they should sail to
Italy, they delivered Paul and
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some other prisoners to one
named Julius, a centurion of the
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Augustan regiment. It tells us
in verse 3 that Julius treated
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Paul kindly and gave him liberty
to go to his friends and receive
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care. So Paul had a little bit
of liberty there under Julius
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and the next few verses just
tell us how they went from one
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place to another getting ready
to get on the right ship to take
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them to Rome. That's
right. You know, this is
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amazing that it's even gotten
to this point; just thinking
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back to where we've come from.
First the apostle comes into
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Jerusalem and thinks he has
an opportunity to witness to the
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Jews and from the very start
he goes into the temple and they
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begin to accuse him of
things, pull him out, beat him.
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Then immediately he's brought
before the commander there and
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after the commander he is passed
along to Felix and then Felix
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holds onto him for a couple of
years and then he's passed along
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to his successor Festus. Then
Agrippa comes to visit Festus
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and he has to stand before
Agrippa. It's just amazing to me
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that so much time has gone on
and it seems like such an easy
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case. You know,
Jim, it reminds me of
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what Paul writes in
II Corinthians chapter 11
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talking about some of his
experience. He says in verse 23
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Are they ministers of Christ.
I speak as a fool. I am more. In
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labors more abundant, in stripes
above measure, (that is being
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beaten), in prison more
frequently, in deaths often,
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from the Jews five time I
received 40 stripes minus one
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(which was the most beating they
could give a person, the most
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stripes). Verse 25 it says,
Three times I was beaten with
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rods, once I was stoned, three
times I was shipwrecked, a night
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and a day I have been in
the deep, in journeys often, in
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perils of waters, in perils
of robbers, in perils of my own
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countrymen and perils of the
Gentiles and perils of the city
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and perils of the wilderness
and perils of the sea and perils
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among false brethren
and weariness and toil and
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sleeplessness often and hunger
and thirst and fastings...
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Seems like it will never end.
That's what it's been like as
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we've gone from trial to trial,
from city to city, uprising
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after uprising. It's amazing
he's still alive. And here we
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are coming to the end of
the book of Acts and he's on his
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journey to Rome and here's
one of these shipwrecks that he
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refers to that we're getting
ready to dive into. So in verse
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9 it says, Now when much time
had been spent and sailing was
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now dangerous because the
fast was already over (this was
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speaking about the day of
atonement, which would happen in
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the fall so it was probably
around October time when the
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waters would begin to get rough.
There were potential storms that
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would come through) Paul advised
them saying Men I perceive that
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this voyage will end with
disaster and much loss, not only
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of the cargo and ship but
also our lives. So Paul is here
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saying I don't think it's a good
idea for us to go now. As we
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look at this, he says, I
perceive. We need to recognize
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that Paul is not here
prophesying per se because
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ultimately we'll find out that
no lives are lost, but he is
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a very well-traveled man and
he's got a pretty good idea of
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what is about to come.
Unfortunately he wasn't listened
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to. Why are they going to listen
to this Jewish sect rabbi here.
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Instead the centurion was
persuaded, says in verse 11, by
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the helmsman and the owner
of the ship more than the things
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spoken by Paul. Because
the harbor was not suitable to
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winter in, the majority
also advised them to set sail.
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So they decided we're going to
go ahead and go. And in verse 13
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it says, When the south wind
blew softly supposing that they
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had obtained their desire, they
put out to sea. And back earlier
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it said something about the
winds and that slowed them down
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so now they're saying they've
found their desire. They are now
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ready. The winds are favorable.
But unfortunately not long after
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that it says but not long after,
verse 14, a tempestuous head
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wind arose called Euroclydon.
So apparently they're naming
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these storms similar, I suppose,
to how we name hurricanes and
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such today and this is bad news.
From here things start to go
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downhill. The next thing that we
see happen is there's the need
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to pull the lifeboat that's been
trailing behind and hoist it
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onto the ship. Then after
that they have to take cables of
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ropes and they end up tightening
up or wrapping up around the
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hull of the ship, around the
outer shell of the ship. Then
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they find that they still are in
trouble so they start throwing
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cargo overboard the ship.
And when that isn't enough,
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lightening the load that way, it
says in verse 19, On the third
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day we threw the ship's tackle
overboard. So things are not
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going well on this trip, one
thing after the other, and it
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looks like they're
headed for disaster.
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Yeah, absolutely. In fact, it
continues on. It's not getting
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any better. If we come to
verse 20 Luke writes now when
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neither sun nor stars appeared
for many days and no small
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tempest beat on us (that's
Luke's way of saying it was a
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big storm, no break in the
clouds, no break in the storm)
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he says, All hope that we would
be saved was finally given up.
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And this is Luke writing now.
It's not just the people in the
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ship but it just didn't look
like we were going to make it.
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It's interesting that at this
time period Paul addresses those
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on the ship. Verse 22, he says,
Now I urge you to take heart
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for there will be no loss of
life among you but only of the
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ship. For there stood by me this
night an angel of the God to
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whom I belong and whom I serve.
I love the way Paul brings that
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out, the God to whom I belong.
Let me ask you viewer. Do you
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belong to the Lord Jesus. You
know he has purchased us and he
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has purchased us with an
infinite price, the price of his
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own precious blood and we are a
blood-bought possession. We need
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to acknowledge that. Paul
acknowledged that. The God to
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whom I belong and whom I serve.
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You get the sense when he says
to whom I belong that he has a
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debt that he owes. He doesn't
belong to himself. He is totally
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at the service of his master.
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That's right. Another thing
it makes me think of is the Lord
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God is the King of heaven
and earth, right? And to be a
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belonging of somebody of such
influence means that I must be
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something precious as well.
There's a value there. So I
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think Paul sees a value in
being the belonging of God.
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Peter writes that we are God's
own peculiar people it says in
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the King James Version, but in
other translations it tells us
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the real meaning of that;
his own special people, talking
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about possession, being a
possession of God and a special
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possession. So I think of that
when I read the words of Paul.
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But he says to them that this
angel of God stood by. The God
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to whom I belong and whom I
serve, verse 24, saying do not
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be afraid Paul. You must be
brought before Caesar and indeed
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God has granted you all those
who sail with you. Therefore,
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take heart men for I believe God
that it will be just as it was
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told me. However, we must
run aground on a certain island.
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Now a couple things here. The
Lord told him and he tells the
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people that God has granted him
all who sail. That tells us that
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Paul has asked for the lives of
all who sail with him. It just
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shows us the passion he had
for souls. And as he prayed, God
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gave him that promise, but
he also told him you're going to
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run aground. In other words,
I'm going to deliver you and God
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could have delivered the ship
had he deemed to do so, but he
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allows the ship to come to
destruction. The ship's going to
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run aground, but, he
says, not one life will be lost.
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That's right, that's right. When
we get to verse 27 we find that
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this was not any ordinary storm.
It says, Now when the 14th night
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had come as we were driven
up and down in the Adriatic sea
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about midnight the sailors
sensed that they were drawing
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near some land. You know, I
think about bad storms on land.
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Just the other night there was
a bad storm and the electricity
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went out. It was a question of
how many hours is this going to
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last. Here they are, this is the
14th night, just cast about as
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if there's no way for
them to control their own ship.
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And you have to imagine the
amount of sea sickness going on
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there and everything else.
Oh my goodness, the despair too.
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All of a sudden seemingly out of
nowhere at midnight they sense
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they are drawing near some land.
It doesn't give us a clue as to
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what they saw or what it
was, but they sensed they were
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drawing near some land, so they
took soundings. They let down a
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rope with lead at the bottom
to kind of measure how deep the
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water was and they found it to
be 20 fathoms and when they had
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gone a little farther they took
soundings again and found it to
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be 15 fathoms. So it's getting
shallower. They're getting
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closer to land. And it's
interesting. It says, Then
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fearing lest we should run
aground on the rocks... Now
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they're thinking wow we may come
in too fast on the rocks and
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this is going to break up the
ship and the waves will take us
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out to sea. Exactly, exactly.
So it says, They dropped four
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anchors from the stern
and prayed for day to come.
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That's interesting. Essentially
they're praying for daylight
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so they can see how to navigate
the ship to get on a beach and
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avoid the rocks. They are in
great despair here. And as the
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sailors were seeking to escape
from the ship, when they had let
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down the skiff or the life boat
into the sea under pretense of
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putting out anchors from
the prow. So here there are some
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sailors and they're giving the
sense, pretending if you will,
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that they're putting anchors
down, but they're actually
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putting a life boat out and
they're going to get out and
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they're going to escape. In
verse 31 Paul says, Unless these
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men stay in the ship you cannot
be saved. He tells the centurion
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and the soldiers. So the
soldiers cut away the life boat
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and off it goes. They
had gained some confidence
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in Paul. Well, of
course, he's the one
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who told them that they would
arrive safely and they're still
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kind of banking on that. In
verse 33, it says, And as day
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was about to dawn, Paul
implored them all to take food
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saying today is the 14th day
you have waited and continued
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without food and eaten
nothing. Therefore I urge you...
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can you imagine
they're starving here.
00:12:47.52\00:12:49.58
Well it tells us there how
fearful they were. They were
00:12:49.62\00:12:52.80
trying to conserve...
And how busy they were, yeah.
00:12:52.83\00:12:55.95
Trying to prevent the ship from
being broken up. Anyway verse
00:12:55.98\00:13:00.05
34 says he urged them to take
nourishment for their survival
00:13:00.09\00:13:03.53
and in verse 35, it says, When
he had said these things, he
00:13:03.56\00:13:06.75
took bread and gave thanks to
God in the presence of them all.
00:13:06.78\00:13:10.17
All of a sudden you get this
sense that it's in the casual
00:13:10.21\00:13:15.01
setting. He stops, takes a
moment, gives thanks to God.
00:13:15.05\00:13:18.87
You can see, it's almost like
Jesus standing up and saying
00:13:18.91\00:13:23.10
peace be still to the storm.
There's no fear here and he
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gives thanks to God for the
bread that they're about to eat
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and then in verse 37 it says,
In all there were 276 persons
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on the ship. And when they had
eaten enough they lightened the
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ship and threw out the wheat
into the sea. So here we see
00:13:37.77\00:13:40.61
this incredible fate at the
end of this portion where the
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Apostle Paul is sure that God is
going to deliver them just as he
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promised. One thing I want
to point out here though that's
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interesting to me. Back where
you were reading in verse 22
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where he first explained how God
told him that he was going to
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deliver them, they could have
just kind of stopped there I
00:13:58.05\00:14:01.58
would think and said Oh good.
But that's not what you see.
00:14:01.61\00:14:05.07
You see them going to work and
putting forth their energies and
00:14:05.10\00:14:09.90
I think there's a lesson in that
for us that when we pray and
00:14:09.93\00:14:13.87
we are claiming the promises of
God, we don't just wait to see
00:14:13.91\00:14:17.62
it happen. When we pray that God
will deliver us from some habit,
00:14:17.66\00:14:21.34
we don't just wait to see
it taken away. We put all our
00:14:21.37\00:14:25.63
energies toward the
answer to that prayer.
00:14:25.66\00:14:28.44
Because we believe it.
If we believe it we'll go to
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work and that's why the Bible
says that faith always works.
00:14:32.17\00:14:35.60
Well we've got an exciting
chapter coming in chapter 28,
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but we have to take a break.
So at this time let's take a few
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moments and we'll see you
back on Books of the Book.
00:14:42.56\00:14:45.00