Review / Introduction:
How Can I Be Fearless When I Have No Control?
- Surround yourself with other Believers. (Acts 27:1-8)
- Accept that you can't make all the Decisions. (Acts 27:9-12)
- Recite God's Promises. (Acts 27:13-26)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:48-00:52
Open up your Bibles with me please to Acts 27.
00:54-01:03
Can you believe, after the last three years of being in Acts, we are on the home stretch.
01:03-01:07
We will finish up the book of Acts, Lord willing, over the next four weeks.
01:09-01:17
The title of today's message is, "I Will Not Fear the Storm." "I Will Not Fear" is our theme this whole year.
01:18-01:25
Today, Acts 27, it's all one story, but we're going to be breaking it up into two parts this week and next week.
01:26-01:32
But just a quick review as to where we are in Acts, the context in which we find ourselves.
01:32-01:37
The Apostle Paul was falsely accused in Jerusalem.
01:37-01:38
Do you remember what they accused him of?
01:38-01:44
They accused him of bringing Gentiles the parts of the temple that were restricted to Gentiles.
01:46-01:54
Eventually, Paul was put into custody in Caesarea by the Romans, and he realized that he wasn't going to get a fair trial.
01:55-01:59
So, as a Roman citizen, Paul had the right to appeal his case to Caesar.
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So, it's off to Rome for Paul.
02:06-02:17
So for the next two weeks, we're going to discover how I will not fear, even when things are out of control.
02:19-02:22
By show of hands, who here today is a control freak?
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Yeah, raise them higher.
02:28-02:31
Some of you are like, I don't know if I am a control freak.
02:31-02:33
Well, I was prepared for just such an occasion.
02:35-02:37
We have the control freak quiz.
02:37-02:38
Are you ready to be really, really convicted?
02:40-02:42
Are you a control freak?
02:44-02:47
Number one, do you insist on having the remote control?
02:49-02:51
Okay, that pretty much answers it.
02:51-02:53
We could end the quiz right there.
02:55-02:59
You know you're a control freak when you insist on having the remote control.
03:00-03:12
And confession time, even if the TV's on the channel that I want it to be on and the volume is perfect, I have anxiety if I don't have the remote.
03:12-03:17
I don't wanna change anything, I just have this anxiety that I have to have the remote.
03:18-03:19
Is there anybody else like that?
03:20-03:22
Amen, thank you, thank you.
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I felt a kindred spirit in this room.
03:27-03:31
Okay, number two, do you like to help other people drive?
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They need it.
03:36-03:42
You tell people what route to take, when to turn, where to park, you tell them when the light has changed.
03:43-03:45
If you do that, guess what?
03:45-03:46
You are a control freak.
03:48-03:54
Do you have a hard time, oh I know this is true of people in this room, do you have a hard time delegating?
03:57-04:00
Because you think to yourself, well if you want something done right, you have to.
04:01-04:02
Oh see, I knew you knew that.
04:05-04:10
You also say things like, look, I don't have time to fix other people's mistakes.
04:10-04:16
And if I give it to somebody else, they're going to mess it up, and that's going to be even more time for me to undo the mistakes that they made.
04:18-04:22
And if you do delegate, you have to micromanage.
04:22-04:27
Like I can't, you know, Mark, I need you to do this, and then I'm hovering over Mark's shoulder the whole time.
04:27-04:28
No, no, do it this way.
04:28-04:29
No, we're going to do it this way.
04:29-04:30
No, Mark, we're going to do it this way.
04:30-04:31
And we're micromanaging.
04:33-04:37
If you do that, you are a control freak.
04:38-04:43
Number four, do you over plan simple activities?
04:45-04:47
Do you over plan simple activities?
04:48-04:50
I see some heads going, yeah, yeah, I do that.
04:51-05:02
Like you can't go to the post office and buy stamps without like an act of Congress and like a 28-page document on how this event is going to go down.
05:04-05:07
People that do that are control freaks.
05:08-05:13
Number five, you find it difficult to admit when you make mistakes.
05:15-05:16
That's a sign of control freaks.
05:18-05:22
That they have a hard time saying, you know what, I was wrong about that and I shouldn't have done it that way.
05:24-05:32
But also with control freaks, number six, do you lack compassion for other people who make mistakes?
05:33-05:38
Also true of control freaks, when somebody else makes a mistake, it's you're stupid or you're lazy.
05:38-05:42
I shouldn't, no, I can't believe I trusted you with that.
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I knew you were going to mess it up.
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Number seven, do you become angry, irritable, or anxious?
05:53-06:01
When someone or something makes you late, when things don't start on time, or things don't go according to plan.
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Oh, that is so me.
06:05-06:13
I have this idea in my head about how things are supposed to go down over the course of my day, and if something disrupts that.
06:17-06:18
Control freaks.
06:20-06:25
Number eight, do you spend a lot of energy trying to prevent bad things from happening?
06:27-06:30
And again, when they do happen, you just can't handle it.
06:31-06:34
All right, so let me ask you again, who here is a control freak?
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After taking the quiz, some of you dropped off, I don't think so.
06:41-06:47
Honestly, we all have a little bit of that in our lives to some degree.
06:47-06:59
Every one of us have this desire to want to be in control, to manage our lives by our own terms.
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But the hard reality is, control freaks, the hard reality is we actually have very little control over our lives.
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We have very little control over our lives.
07:17-07:19
For example, let's talk about the weather.
07:20-07:25
You know this winter, I've actually been angry about the weather.
07:26-07:27
First time in my life, I'm 42 years old.
07:28-07:30
I've been irritated by the weather in the past.
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I've been annoyed with the weather in the past.
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This year, literally, I confess before you, I have been mad at the weather.
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Anybody else?
07:41-07:42
I'm out shoveling my driveway.
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"Oh, I'm so sick of the snow!
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Stop snowing!" Like, who are you talking to?
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Surely you're not talking to your Lord like that.
07:49-07:52
Okay, so who are you talking to?
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I mean, I'm actually angry.
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I'm mad at the weather.
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Can you tell that's coming from a place deep down deep?
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Because it certainly is.
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We have very little control.
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We have very little control.
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Especially with things like in our lives, like autism.
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what it does to my son's health, how it affects our home and work, and how I see it affects Aaron.
08:25-08:29
Autism is my daily reminder that I have no control.
08:31-08:42
And if you've ever paced a waiting room of a hospital, as I know many of you have, you know the frustration of not having control.
08:44-08:45
So what is it in your life?
08:45-08:49
What is it in your life that you feel so helpless?
08:49-08:57
There's something that you desperately want to change, but you have no control over, like me in the driveway with the snow.
08:57-09:05
You're just, you're so angry, and you're so frustrated, and there's nothing you can do about it.
09:06-09:08
What is that in your life?
09:10-09:17
This passage we're going to look at today is all about Paul staring down circumstances that he has no control over.
09:17-09:19
You can just trace that all through Acts 27.
09:20-09:25
Everything that happens to Paul, and we've sort of been looking over his shoulder quite a bit, right, in the book of Acts.
09:26-09:28
These are circumstances he has no control over.
09:29-09:37
He's a prisoner being transported on a ship that faces a disastrous storm, resulting in a shipwreck.
09:38-09:53
And through it all, we're going to see is that Paul remains fearless, and he shows us how to be fearless when our lives are dominated by things that are not in our control.
09:54-10:01
So in your outline today, "Control Freaks." This is for us.
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The question we're going to be asking is, "How can I be fearless when I have no control?" I be fearless when I have no control." Jot this first one down.
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Surround yourself with other believers.
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Surround yourself with other believers.
10:24-10:27
Look at verses 1-8 in Acts 27.
10:28-10:42
"And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy," circle the word "we." You notice that in the book of Acts, sometimes it says "they" and sometimes it says "we." And when you see "we" comes back, that means Luke is back with the group.
10:43-10:44
Luke wrote Acts.
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And he sort of comes in and out of the story and he lets us know when he's with the group.
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You can catch it when he says "we." When it's decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.
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Keep Julius in mind.
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You're going to see reference to the centurion throughout this passage.
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His name is Julius.
11:10-11:29
Embarking in a ship of Adramidium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica.
11:29-11:32
The next day, we put in at Sidon.
11:34-11:41
And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for.
11:42-11:57
And putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus." Under the lee - that's referring to using the natural landscape as a shelter from the weather.
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You're going to see that phrase come up a few times.
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because the winds were against us.
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When we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.
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There the centurion, Julius, found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board.
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We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Canidas.
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as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmon.
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Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fairhavens, near which was the city of Lasea." Let's stop there for a second.
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How can I be fearless when I have no control?
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Number one, surround yourself with other believers.
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So Luke is back on the scene.
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Aristarchus is back. We saw him back in Acts 19.
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He first appeared during the Ephesus riot.
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Which by the way, Aristarchus and Luke, great buddies to have.
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They were willing to risk their lives by going with Paul to his trial.
13:20-13:25
And you don't have to do it now, but in the back of your Bible, usually, are some maps.
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You might even have a map in the back of your Bible that talks about Paul's voyage to Rome, so you can sort of trace this, as I've done with maps that I have this week.
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It's an interesting course.
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But for the safety of these smaller ships, they actually had to stay close to shore, because the dangerous sailing season was between October and February.
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And we know that that was the season they were in, Because we're going to see in a second in verse 9, they talk about the fast.
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And the fast is actually referring to the day of atonement and that took place in late September or early October.
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So we know our bottom line is they were in a dangerous sailing season.
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But I want you to note verse 3, says that Julius the centurion, he trusted Paul.
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Even though Paul was an important prisoner, Julius gave him some freedom.
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And what did Paul do with it?
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He didn't run to the bar, or run to the casino, or run to the arcade.
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What did Paul do with a little bit of freedom that Julius gave him?
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You have to note that he ran to his Christian friends, the Bible says, to be cared for.
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To be cared for.
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Here's a guy, and this is encouraging, because here's a guy that spent so much time, so much of his life ministering to and caring for other people.
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And it's just neat in this passage, seeing that there were other people that were caring for Paul.
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But Christians, I have seen this so many times in the past 20 plus years of ministry, and I don't quite understand it.
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But why is it that so many Christians often retreat from the church when they go through trials?
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Why is that?
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Here we see Paul running to Christians, but I'm just telling you in my experience, I've seen a lot of Christians retreat from the church when they're going through trials.
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Why is that?
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I don't want to talk about it.
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Is there a fear of being judged?
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Do you feel depressed and want to isolate yourself?
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It's like a man who knows he has health problems, but he absolutely refuses to go to the doctor.
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Like, really, you're not going to go to the one person that can help you right now.
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And that's what people do with the church.
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And here Paul, a prisoner, heading to the ultimate trial in dangerous conditions, He knew He needed surrounded by people who were going to lift Him up.
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We're going to see throughout this passage, spoiler alert, Paul faces some very serious, life-threatening things.
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And I just have to wonder how much of his boldness, how much of his fearlessness came from this time right here, that he was encouraged and prayed for and loved by these other believers.
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The Bible commands us, church, repeatedly, to humble ourselves.
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And part of that is, you need to let other people into your life.
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But sometimes we go through trials, and we're content to slip into church late, slip out early, we don't want to meet with the prayer team at the prayer sign, we don't want to meet with me or the elders back at guest reception, and then we leave feeling so alone and discouraged and unconnected.
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Let other people into your life.
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That's why we have small group ministry.
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You need to get in a small group where there are people who love you, and know you, and are praying for you.
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People that you can go to safely and say, "Look, I'm struggling with something here." We need each other, collectively.
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And you're going to find a direct correlation that the more you isolate yourself, when you're going through trial, when we're talking about life being out of control?
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The more you isolate yourself during those times, the more fear you're going to experience.
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But the more you surround yourself with God's people, encouraging you, praying for you, caring for you, the more fearless you're going to face your out-of-control trials.
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So how can I be fearless when I have no control?
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Surround yourself with other believers.
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Run to the church, not from it.
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Run to small group, don't look for an excuse to skip it.
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We are members of Christ's body.
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We belong to each other.
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How can I be fearless when I have no control?
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Number two, this is going to be a tough pill to swallow for some people, but we're going to get through this together.
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Number two, accept that you can't make all the decisions.
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Accept that you can't make all the decisions.
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Look at verses 9-12.
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It says, "Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over," that's the Day of Atonement.
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Look at this, "Paul advised him, saying, 'Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.' But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and the owner of the ship than to what Paul said.
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And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, not Arizona, a harbor of Crete.
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See how the Bible clarifies that for us.
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facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
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So apparently they had this meeting, and the apostle Paul was like, "Look, it's going to be too risky for us to keep on sailing.
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Let's just stay the winter here at Fairhaven." But ultimately, the call went to Julius.
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The Bible says that he paid more attention to the pilot And to the ship's owner, they needed DePaul.
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Phoenix was only about 40 miles away, and the consensus was, "We think that'll be a better place to spend winter." But here's a hard dose of reality that some of us need reminded of this morning.
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You don't always get what you want.
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Even when - write this down - even when you know better, even when you have experience, even when you are absolutely certain that you are right, you're not going to get what you want all the time.
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Now obviously, as a prisoner here, Paul wasn't the authority, but he certainly had the trust and go with the authority that wasn't placed over his life.
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But, for some of you, this is a scene that plays out in your lives every single week.
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And for some of you, this is a scene that plays out in your lives every single day.
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Your boss ignores you when you suggest what you know is best at the place where you work.
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Don't raise your hands. Does anyone have a boss like that?
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Anybody here have a boss like that?
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Like, I've been telling him, and he ignores me.
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Your spouse isn't listening when you're trying to determine the best course for your family.
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Not listening.
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Notice that Paul didn't throw a fit.
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He didn't complain.
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He said his piece, and he had to go with what was decided.
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Again, spoiler alert, we're going to find out that Paul was right.
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But church, many times, the struggles that we have in life are because of bad decisions that others make that directly affect us.
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And you can't control that.
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because people are going to make bad decisions.
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But, you can't assume that God isn't in it if it doesn't go your way.
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In Romans 8.28, we quote that verse a lot in the church, don't we?
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And we know that God works all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose, right?
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The key word there is "all." See, the bad decision that this group made, despite Paul's advice, didn't stop God's plans for Paul that God promised him back in 23.11.
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If you turn back there, remember, the Lord said to Paul, "You're going to go to Rome and testify about me." Now, do you think at this point in Acts, okay, they're all huddled up at Fairhaven, and Paul's like, "I think we should winter here," and the rest of the crew's like, "No, I think we should try to get to Phoenix." And Julius was like, "Okay, we're going to Phoenix." Do you think God was in heaven, like during that meeting, like pacing?
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Think God was in heaven going, "Oh, what are they gonna do?
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"What are they gonna do?
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"What are they gonna do?" And then you're like, "We're going to Phoenix." And God was like, "Oh no, now what are we gonna do?
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"My plans are ruined." How many people think that happened?
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Listen, in the same way, God's plans for you are not going to be stopped just because you're the victim of other people's bad choices.
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Just because someone else makes bad decisions that directly affect you, listen, God is still sovereign.
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So you need to accept that you can't make all the decisions.
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And you're going to have to trust God when things are out of your control and decisions are made that directly affect you.
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You need to trust God with that.
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And finally for today, how can I be fearless when I have no control?
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Recite God's promises.
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Recite them.
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Recite them.
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Look at verses 13-20.
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It says, "Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose." Basically what that's saying is they were looking at the wind and they're like, "Okay, This is our shot.
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We're going to go for it now.
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It says, "They weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore.
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But soon, a tempestuous wind called the Northeaster struck down from the land.
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And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along, running under the leave of a small island called Kata.
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We managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.
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That's the little lifeboat that would have been pulled behind the ship.
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After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.
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Then fearing that they would run aground on the Cirrus, they lowered the gear and thus they were driven along.
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Since we were violently storm-tossed, They began the next day to jettison the cargo.
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And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.
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When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned." So to paraphrase, the storm hit, the ship was out of control, they brought the lifeboat on board, they used cables to secure the hull, They lowered the gear and they threw all their non-essentials overboard.
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They said, "We're in trouble here." And then that last phrase when it talks about "When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days," that's telling us that they were unable to navigate.
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You see, they didn't just say, "Hey, where are we?
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Well, let's pull up our Google Maps here, and let's get the GPS going." They navigated by the sun and the stars.
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And when they couldn't see the sun and the stars, and they're in the middle of the sea, they had no idea where they were.
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Can you even fathom how frightening that must have been?
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Can you wrap your brain around the terror of being in the middle of the sea, out of control, and you have no idea where you're going, to the point that you're starting to throw stuff overboard to try to save the ship, to try to save your life.
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That's why Luke says, "All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned." That's how terrified they were.
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They were like, "This is it. This is how we die, right here." Look at verse 21.
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"Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, 'Men, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.'" Paul steps up, though he was formerly ignored and says you should have listened.
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No, Paul wasn't just like, "Hey, I told you so." What Paul was doing here, we're going to see in a second, he was establishing his credibility.
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He's stepping into a leadership role here.
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So basically, he was stepping up here saying, "Look guys, I know what I'm talking about.
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All right?
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Let's get a plan together." I just want to say parenthetically, this is grace.
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And this is a grace that you and I need to learn to grow in, in the way that we interact with people.
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How many times, how many times have you warned somebody that what they're doing is going to be harmful, they're making a bad decision, and they didn't listen, and then they found out the hard way that you were right all along.
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How many times has that happened to you?
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How many times has a mom said, this is not a great decision you're making, and they don't listen.
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And I can tell you it happens a lot as a pastor.
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Say, look, you're making a bad decision here, and this is going to end very badly for you.
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and they don't listen.
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And then they find out the hard way that I was right.
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But you know, at that point, it's easy to say, "Hey, you know what?
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"You made your bed, lie in it." Or, "You know what?
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"I told you and you didn't listen, "so I'm done helping you." But look at what Paul did and said, look at verse 22.
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He said, "Yet now I urge you to take heart, "for there will be no loss of life among you, "but only of the ship." Paul took this opportunity to encourage them.
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And this is a whole nother sermon.
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This is a whole nother sermon.
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But if I was preaching that, I would say something like this.
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Don't let hurt pride keep you from encouraging other people.
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It didn't listen to me before, you're on your own now.
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Don't let that hurt pride keep you from being a blessing to other people.
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Like Paul.
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Okay, now is my opportunity to step up.
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Look at verses 23 through 26, and then we'll stop there for today.
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Paul says, "For this very night, there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship." Wow. You need to underline those last couple of phrases in that verse.
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With the horrible ordeal, this storm, and the, "I have no idea where we are, and we're in the middle of the sea, and we don't even think we're going to survive." Do you see how Paul identified himself?
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He talks about the angel of God, of the God, excuse me, "to whom I belong." We've been talking about fearlessness this year, here it is.
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When you know to whom you belong, you will have no fear.
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And that was Paul, as everything looked hopeless, he said, "I belong to the living God.
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"I belong to Him." And God takes care of his stuff.
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He says, "And whom I worship." Okay, so this angel appears, and he said, verse 24, "Do not be afraid, Paul.
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"You must stand before Caesar, and behold, "God has granted you all those who sail with you.
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"So take heart, men, for I have faith in God "that it will be exactly as I have been told.
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"But we must run aground on some island." The bottom line is that Paul had no fear because he trusted God's Word no matter how catastrophic the situation was.
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That's the bottom line.
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He trusted God's Word despite how catastrophic things looked.
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Do you want fearless faith?
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Fearless faith is when you trust in God's promises and wait on Him to fulfill them in His way.
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And you're probably not going to have an angel show up and recite God's personal promises to you, but you do have something better.
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You have an entire book of God's promises written down for you.
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Too many times in the church, people get sideways because they're trusting God for things He never promised.
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Instead, we need to look at the things that God did promise in His Word, and like Paul, Lay the Word of God as the foundation of your life.
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Say, "It doesn't matter how bad things look, "because I know who I belong to, "and I know what He's promised me." And church, God's going to let things look out of control in your life.
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He's going to allow that.
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Because if you're going about your life, and it looks like, and it feels like, that you always have everything in perfect control, then what do you need God for?
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I think it's one of the greatest things that God does for us, is to allow us to be put in positions where everything looks completely out of control.
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So we learn to trust the only one who is in control.
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But things being out of control in our lives, that's never a great feeling, is it?
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Because a lot of times it looks like a job loss.
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It looks like a financial crisis.
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It looks like a relationship that went sideways.
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And you see, in that moment, you can be like these men on this ship, and you can look at your situation and say, "This is hopeless." Or you can look at God's Word and say, "Here is my hope." We just spent seven weeks on this.
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When Jesus Christ was on the cross, just imagine being one of those ladies that was standing there looking at Him crucified.
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Imagine being one of those ladies, and you're watching this whole scene unfold with that mock trial that He had, and the beating that He endured, and He's nailed to the cross.
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Imagine being one of those ladies.
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So on a scale of 1 to 10, how out of control did everything look in that moment?
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10, right?
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This is completely out of control.
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The most innocent man who ever walked the planet is nailed to the cross.
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Nothing's ever looked more out of control than when Christ was crucified.
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But God fulfilled every promise in Christ.
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And the resurrection once again proves that God is faithful and has never stopped, and he's not even slowed down by the bad choices of others.
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So as I close, you know, much of life - no, no, no, no.
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Most of life - no, that's not right either.
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I'm going to say...
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Hang on.
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I'm going to write this down in case I ever preach this sermon again.
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Okay.
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Let's try this.
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Almost all of life is out of our control.
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Or things we have no control over.
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And when the storm comes, you discover how little control you actually have.
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You can't control your circumstances, and you can't control other people's choices.
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Oh, I wish that I could.
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I wish I could make decisions for other people, don't you?
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I wish I could just step in and say, "No, you're not doing that. Here's what you're doing instead." But I find myself like Paul in that meeting.
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"This isn't a good idea." "Yes, this is where we're going." I can't control other people's choices.
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And again, I can't control my circumstances, but...
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there are some things that I can control.
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For all this talk about things being out of control, there are some things that I can control 100% of the time.
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And there are things you can control 100% of the time.
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First of all, you can control your attitude.
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You can control what you choose to think about.
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You can control who you are going to surround yourself with.
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In other words, who is going to have the most influence in your life.
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You can control that.
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And last and most importantly, You can control how seriously you're going to take God's Word.
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Next week is going to be the rest of this passage, and really the other side of the coin today.
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It's "How can I be fearless when I have no control?" Next week we're going to see how can I be fearless knowing that God is in complete control.
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Be by your heads, please.
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Father in heaven, our reality is, God, that we are such weak people, and our pride keeps us from wanting to acknowledge that.
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Father, the harsh reality for us is that we are not in control.
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Father, we are often victim of other people's decisions.
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We are often victim over things that we, as much as we would want to change them, we just can't.
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Father, I thank You for the example that we have in Your servant Paul today.
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We thank You for the example, Father, that he ran to the church, not from the church.
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The greatest missionary of all time saw the need to be cared for.
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Father, let us follow that example.
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Father, I pray that You would destroy any pride, anybody that's listening to this message, any pride that they have, that they have to guard themselves and they can't be transparent with their brothers or sisters in Christ.
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I pray, Father, You would tear that down.
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Father, I pray that You would give us the peace of Christ to guard our hearts when other people's decisions affect us, Whether it's in home or at work, on the team, wherever we find ourselves, Father, let us trust You.
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Father, I pray that You would help us to grow in being familiar with Your promises, so that we're able to recite them when the storms of our own lives hit.
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So many beautiful promises You've given us in Your Word.
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You've promised to never leave us or forsake us.
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You've promised to provide everything that we need.
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You've promised that You work all things together for good for those who love You.
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You've promised us a glorious future purchased by Your Son.
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Father, when our lives are out of control, might Your Spirit bring these precious promises to our hearts and minds.
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Thank You, Father, for Your faithfulness.
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We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.
Small Group Questions (Whole Group):
Read Acts 27:1-26
Why do you think many (not all!) Christians run FROM the church instead of TO the church during difficult times (Acts 27:3)?
Tell of a time that someone else’s bad decisions directly caused YOU problems / pain. How did you handle it?
What promises of God do you cling to for comfort during difficult times (which specific verses in the Bible)?
Do you think Paul ever doubted / was afraid for his life on this trip (Acts 27:21-25)? Why or why not?
Breakout Questions:
What is it in your life RIGHT NOW that troubles you, that you have no control over? Pray for each other SPECIFICALLY for that thing.