An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 27:31-44, for Sunday, November 24, 2024, with the title, “Trust.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  Ask your group to share:  ??? What was the worst storm you have ever been through: hurricane/tornado/thunderstorm/blizzard? — and what was it like for you?

(You might also ask if anyone has ever been on a boat/ship during a storm …)

For example: Cheryl & I have hunkered down through a couple of hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. The last one was Hurricane Beryl this July. It was “only a 1” but it was a direct hit; our area was right in the eyewall. At one point I was standing in front of the big window in front of our kitchen table, watching the wind whip the big pine tree right in front of that window, back & forth. I was like, “Hang in there baby!” I did not want that thing crashing in on our house — and thankfully it didn’t. But there were some anxious hours there, and we lost power for a couple of days and had quite a bit of cleanup, as did a lot of our folks. 

After everyone has shared about storms they’ve been through, then you can say:  In today’s lesson in Acts 27, the Apostle Paul is a prisoner on his way to trial in Rome on a ship, when they get caught in an extremely violent storm on the Mediterranean Sea. But we will see in our focus passage today, that the Lord not only brought Paul through the storm, but also used him to witness and minister to the others who were traveling with him.

CONTEXT:

We will conclude our study of the Book of Acts today with this lesson from Acts 27. As you know, basically the second half of the Book of Acts deals with the three mission trips of the Apostle Paul, and then his arrest and imprisonment. Last time we saw in Acts 26 how he shared his testimony with King Agrippa and others, before he was taken to Rome for trial. 

As we pick it up today in Chapter 27, Paul is now on his way to Rome because he has appealed to Caesar. Verse 1 says they set sail for Italy. This is a LONG journey from Palestine to Rome. I have often read Acts 27 about all the stops they made, and wondered, WHY was it taking them so long? 

Of course, for one, these were ancient times and they had to rely totally upon fair winds to drive their sails — there was no engine power. And it was winter, and there were some bad storms.

But secondly, this is a HUGE journey in length. I had never really realized just how lengthy a journey this was, until I saw this MAP of the relative size of the Mediterranean Sea, compared to the United States. I just had NO IDEA the Mediterranean Sea this big. I think it might be helpful to your class’ understanding as we cover the passage today, to see just how long and arduous a trip this was that they were making: 

As you can see, the Mediterranean Sea is virtually the width of the entire United States — it would stretch from North Carolina to California! I had previously imagined it as being maybe only about 1/4 of that size. So this gives us a good idea of just how far they were sailing on this trip: basically as far as from the U.S. Atlantic coast, all the way to Montana — in ancient sailing ships, and with a lot of storms and difficulties along the way. 

And that is what they encountered. Verse 14 says “a violent wind, called ‘Euraquilo’ (Euro (east) Klydon (storm) so a “Northeaster”) rushed upon them and drove them off course. In :18 they start throwing everything overboard, and :20 says “all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned.” (Do you notice the “we” again in this verse? Luke is evidently still with Paul here, and he is writing about what he experienced with him on this trip.) 

So this is a hopeless situation from a human standpoint. Nobody thinks they are going to survive — nobody except Paul. He says in :23 that an angel of the Lord spoke to him, and told him that he would indeed stand before Caesar — AND that “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.” Verse 30 says the sailors let down the ship’s little boat into the sea, hoping to escape by themselves — and that brings us to our focus passage for today, Acts 27:31-44.

OUTLINE:

I. Ministering in Distress (:31+)

II. A Practical Word (:33-34)

III. A Personal Example (:35)

IV. A Spiritual Mindset (:37)

V. God’s Promise Fulfilled (:38-44)

TEXT:

I. Ministering In Distress (:31+)

31 “Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, “Unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved.” 32 Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship’s boat and let it fall away.”

One of the things that stands out to me, not only in these first two verses, but all through this passage, is how Paul was led by the Spirit of God to minister to others, even while he was in the middle of a time of personal distress.

It reminds me of Jesus in John 19:26-27 when He was on the cross, and told Mary and John: “Mother behold your son …” and “Behold your mother.” And it says “From that hour the disciple took her into his own household.”  That Jesus cared enough, and took the time, to make arrangements to care for His mother while He was suffering the greatest personal distress that anyone has ever suffered, is absolutely extraordinary! 

Another time in scripture when the Lord used some who were having a difficult time themselves was Paul & Silas in prison in Acts 16. Here they were, on mission in a foreign country, arrested, thrown into prison — this was a very distressful situation to be in! And YET they allowed the Lord to use them to minister to the jailer and the other prisoners, and many came to the Lord in Philippi. 

Like Jesus, Paul showed us that should always seek to minister to others, even in our own personal times of distress. God can actually use us in some great ways during times when we are hurting or in distress — IF we are looking for those opportunities, and open to letting God use us in those times. 

Some of us need to hear that challenge, because our natural inclination is often to “withdraw into a shell” when we are going through difficult times: don’t think about others; just take care of yourself. And that probably IS a “natural” response. But it is not GOD’S response. God causes all things to work together for good. So even in our times of distress, we should consider: what is God doing? How can He use even this difficult time I am going through, for His Kingdom purposes. Who is around me that I can minister or witness to for Him? 

My wife Cheryl shared a testimony recently that it was easy for her to feel sorry for herself, and become very self-centered after her stroke. While we were in rehab, she asked the Lord to help her focus on others who were there, and pray for them, instead of focusing entirely on her own troubles. One day in group therapy she said a Hispanic woman was there who did not speak English. A relative was trying to interpret, but it didn’t look like it was very successful. She said the woman looked very despondent. So Cheryl prayed for this woman, and she prayed that God would send someone who could speak her language, including all the technical details. Literally just a few moments later, someone who looked like a medical officer walked in, and began speaking to the woman in Spanish. Cheryl said this woman’s face just lit up. And Cheryl was thrilled at the immediate answer to prayer! 

But Cheryl said that one of the key victories for her was just that the Lord helped her get her mind off of herself, and start thinking about ministering and caring for others, even while she was in distress. This is what the Lord led Paul to do here in Acts 27, and it’s a great example for us to follow in our distressing situations as well. Let the Lord use you wherever you are; in whatever situation you are.

And again I’ll say that Cheryl did this in a great way those 3 weeks at rehab. I will be honest, this was an extremely difficult time for us: she had lost the use of half her body; we were in physical, mental, emotional, financial, every kind of distress — and yet she let the Lord use her there: quoting verses and sharing testimonies with therapists, nurses, and other staff. 

You can share other examples of people like that, that you’ve seen before too. God can powerfully use people for His purposes — even, and sometimes especially, in times of distress. Let’s be open to letting Him using us, even in our difficult times too. 

II. A Practical Word (:34)

33 “Until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I encourage you to take some food, for this is for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish.”

What stands out to me here is how “practical” Paul’s admonition to them here was: you haven’t eaten for two weeks, you are exhausted and famished — you need to eat. He didn’t share some “spiritual gem” here; he just told them to EAT!

Sometimes we need this. It’s not all “spiritual;” sometimes we need to do some practical thing: eat, take a nap; rest.

— +x Elijah when he ran for his life from Jezebel in I Kings 19. He told the Lord, “It is enough; take my life. He was done. What did he need? Verse 5 says he lay down and slept, and an angel gave him bread cakes and water, and he slept again, and then got up and ate and drank AGAIN! After all he’d been through, Elijah needed to eat and rest! Just a practical thing.

— +x Saul’ son Jonathan fighting the Philistines in I Samuel 14. Saul had foolishly told Israel that cursed would be the man who ate or drank anything until they’d won. But the men were worn out from fighting. Jonathan went ahead and dipped his spear in some honey, and it says, “his eyes brightened.” Israel’s army needed something practical that day; they needed some food to “brighten their eyes” and give them strength to fight.

— +x Jesus in Mark 6, after His disciples had come back from being on mission, He told them in :31, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” This was just a needed, practical word for them: after what you’ve been through, you need rest!

We have those same practical needs today too. My wife Cheryl’s stroke was the last day of August. We spent a week at the ER and the hospital, then three more weeks at rehab, then went home and spent about three weeks just trying to learn the ropes of doing all that it took to take care of her needs at home. Then finally we said, let’s try to go back to church on Sunday morning, October 27. So we went, and she went with me, and the church loved on us, and it was a sweet and emotional time, but also a very draining morning for us. After church we went home, ate lunch, and took a nap right after. I woke up just in time to meet someone from church who brought us dinner about 5:00; then fell asleep on couch immediately after dinner and slept till 10! Then I got up and got Cheryl ready for bed, and I went to bed and we both slept all night! I couldn’t believe it! After all the trauma and the grueling nature of all that we had been through, I guess we just needed that rest! (You can share that story if you’d like, or you may have one like that to share with your group.)

I’ve often seen or heard the quote: “Sometimes the most ‘spiritual’ thing you can do is take a nap!” It’s been attributed to a number of different people; Richard Foster may be the first from what I can tell. 

But you may want want to post that quote and DISCUSS it: 

??? Do you think this is true? Why?”

(Of course one answer is that God didn’t just make us “spirits,” He created us with a “spirit and soul and body” (I Thess. 5:23) and our body impacts everything else about us. We cannot be strong all around if our body is tired/sick/famished, etc. So sometimes the best thing we can do to be effective even “spiritually” may be to take a nap! Eat. Get rested and refreshed. Jesus and His disciples did that in the New Testament, and we need it too.)

So the point is: sometimes God wants us to take some “practical” step like Paul had the ship’s passengers do here: eat. Sleep. Rest. Take some medicine. See the doctor. Go for a walk or get some exercise. Sometimes doing some “practical” thing may be the most “spiritual” step God might lead you to take!

III. A Personal Example (:35-36)

We just saw that Paul had told them to do something practical: you need to eat. What did he do next? He became an EXAMPLE of what he had just told them to do! 

:35 “Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. 36 All of them were encouraged and they themselves also took food.”

So Paul DID himself what was telling the others to do. This is important. It’s one thing for us to “tell” people what THEY should do. It’s quite another to DO IT ourselves. (This is a good challenge for all of us preachers and teachers, by the way: don’t just “tell” your class what God says to do; you SHOW them by example how to live out His truth!) A personal example is often the very best lesson.

Former Union General and U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant wrote in his memoirs:

“I had been at West Point with (Alexander) Hays for three years, and had served with him through the Mexican war, a portion of the time in the same regiment. He was a most gallant officer, ready to lead his command wherever ordered With him it was “Come, boys,” not “Go.” (Elizabeth D. Samet, ed., p. 646)

Grant thought that Colonel Hays was a great example of an officer, because he didn’t just say, “go!” to others, but “Come” — come along with me! He SHOWED them where to go. He led his men by example. 

In I Peter 5:3 Peter says of pastors: “nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.” The best sermon a pastor will give his people is the example of his life! 

And it’s the same for you as a teacher — and for every Christian.

SHOW people what it means to be a Christian. SHOW them what it means to obey Christ. SHOW them how to persevere in suffering. SHOW them what Christian humility looks like. 

One of the most important things that any of us can do in any situation, is to be a good example personally of what everyone should be doing.

You might ask your group to help you apply this passage to us and our church today: ??? What are some ways that WE could be good examples in our church today???

(Some examples might include:

— If your church needs to be more friendly towards guests, YOU be an example and start being friendly and talk to guests. Don’t TELL people they need to do it; SHOW them what to do.

— Be an example of someone who doesn’t complain, but who just faithfully serves.

— Be an example of someone who submits to his pastor’s leadership.

— Be an example of someone who cares for others in the church.

And on and on. One of the best ways you can influence others for God’s kingdom, is by your own personal example, just like Paul here in Acts 27. 

IV. A Spiritual Mindset (:37)

37 “All of us in the ship were two hundred and seventy-six persons.”   

But when :37 says “two hundred and seventy six PERSONS, it is literally in Greek “psuche,” or  276 “SOULS”! These weren’t just “prisoners,” “soldiers,” “sailors,” “common, ordinary people” — they are SOULS! They are people whom God created with an eternal soul, and whom He loves; people for whom Christ died. 

This verse challenges us to see people as “SOULS;” eternal souls, whom God loves, and for whom Christ died.

I remember hearing the testimony of one of our SBC missionaries, who went overseas with her family to reach people for Christ. She said they tried to disciple their kids, and repeatedly told them: the people here are the people God loves. Let’s care for them; they are the people God loves. But as we all know, ministry is difficult, in the day-to-day grind. The people of the culture where they went were constantly coming to their house; the wife felt like she had no time to herself, no privacy. One day there was another knock at the door, the people were coming AGAIN! She had planned to open the door and really let these people have it — but on her way to the door, one of her kids said, “Who is it Momma, is it the people God loves?” She said her child’s question just stopped her in her tracks; and she remembered why they were there. These people were not “nuisances;” they were “the people God loves.”

This passage reminds us, that’s how we need to see people too! They aren’t nuisances; they aren’t a bother; they are eternal SOULS, whom God loves, and for whom Christ died. 

That’s how Jesus always was with people, wasn’t He? Even when He was tired, and needed a break. I mentioned Mark 6, how He told the disciples to come away for a break — but do you remember what happened after they left for their break? Verse 33 says “the people saw them going … and got there ahead of them”! They weren’t going to give them a break!

But what did Jesus do? Verse 34 says “When Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and He began to teach them many things.” And He ended up feeding the 5000. Why did He do all that? Because He loved them. And because He knew the value of their “souls.” 

We need to recognize that value of every soul too. C.S. Lewis has a good quote about that. He wrote in one of my favorite sermons, “The Weight of Glory”:

“You have never met a mere mortal … It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another …”

What a powerful message. You have never met a mere mortal. Every person you meet is an eternal “soul,” who will be glorious or horrific for all eternity. We need to treat people like that — seriously — EVERY person. Jesus did. Paul did. Luke calls them “souls” here for that reason. That’s the mindset we need to take with us as go into the world this week: everyone you meet is an eternal soul. 

Maybe your group will help you apply this if you ask them:
??? Where might it be difficult for me this week to remember that the people I am with are eternal souls???

(Some suggestions might include: at work; at school; at Walmart! Or  maybe even among your own family.) 

V.  God’s Promise Fulfilled (:38-44)

These verses tell how God brought them through this crisis:

38 “When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea. 39 When day came, they could not recognize the land; but they did observe a bay with a beach, and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could. 40 And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders; and hoisting the foresail to the wind, they were heading for the beach. 41 But striking a reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. 42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; 43 but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.”

“They were all brought safely to land.” It was an unlikely landing, through all the storms and shipwreck and plans to kill the prisoners, etc. But God kept them all safe, and not a life was lost, just like He promised in :23, “God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.” 

We too can trust God in our times of difficulty. “Not one word has failed of all His good promise” I Kings 8:56 says. 

Like many of you, Cheryl & I can testify to that. Not only in this recent crisis have we seen that He is with us, but over ten years ago when I was serving as a pastor in Louisiana, when I came down with an illness that left me unable to serve at our church any longer. I had to step down, we sold our home and 2/3 of our possessions and moved to a small apartment in Oklahoma to apply for disability. But instead over the next two years I would get gradually better, and in 2015 I was back in full time ministry again. Looking back, I saw that we never lacked God’s presence, blessing, or provision, the whole two years of that difficult odyssey. “Not one word has failed of all His good promise.” 

And that’s true not only of things like material provision. Most importantly, His promise of salvation does not fail. “I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (II Timothy 1:12) When we entrust our souls to Jesus, He will keep what we entrust to Him. Verse 44 says “They were all brought safely to land.” Just as He brought Paul and the crew safely through the storms in the Mediterranean, so He will bring all who trust in Him, through all the raging storms of this life, safely home to His heavenly Kingdom. 

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