The Essential Question (Part 10): Paul's Journey to Rome预览

A Titanic Ministry

Prepare: What is the greatest area of pressure in your life right now? How are you responding to this situation?

Read: Acts 27:13-26

Reflect: Paul's Mediterranean cruise turns into The Poseidon Adventure in this passage. Before it's all over, the voyage will seem more like the Titanic. The very thing Paul predicted (27:10) now begins to happen. Perhaps some crew members nervously recalled that old saying, "Things always seem the darkest before they go totally black."

How do you respond when things seem the darkest, especially when trying to serve God? Some people get mad: Why is God doing this to me? But as we've seen throughout the book of Acts, serving God takes us straight into spiritual battle, so it's rarely easy. Remember how all this started? The church in Antioch was committed to intense prayer, fasting, and worship before they sent out the mission team (Acts 13:1-3). We need to take spiritual preparation seriously if we expect to weather the inevitable storms of ministry.

As the situation on board spiraled from bad to worse, Luke says, "We finally gave up all hope of being saved" (27:20). Sometimes God takes us to the end of our ability to cope so we can more clearly see his power at work. In fact, for some people, disaster in their health, finances, career, or some other area can be the climax that redirects them to Christ. That's an important truth to remember when talking to anyone going through a tough time. But perhaps the greatest value of desperation is that it makes us ready to listen to God in a way that few other things can. Has that ever happened to you?

I love the detail Luke noticed amid the growing crisis: Paul "stood up" (27:21). Like Peter at earlier moments of uncertainty (Acts 1:15; 2:14), there's a time to stand and boldly articulate a spiritual perspective on the situations we're in--that is, to refocus the attention of the group "not on what is seen, but on what is unseen" (2 Corinthians 4:18). But when we do, it's important that our motivation is not to show off or gain personal attention. The last thing anyone needs amid crisis is someone on a spiritual ego trip.

In Paul's case, his confidence was based on his continuing encounter with God (27:23-24). As we've seen, what began on the Damascus Road had become a pattern in his life. God may not intervene in quite the same way for you. But we can all cultivate the habit of meeting God every day in the Bible and prayer, as you've been doing in this study. Over the years, I've discovered that prayerfully reading God's Word to get closer to him, not just to get more Bible information, is the best way to experience God and prepare for ministry.

Apply: Think again of the area of most tremendous pressure in your life. Jot down what you think God is saying and doing in the situation. What unseen purpose do you think is at work?