Acts 27 Round Two: God is With Us Through Every Storm

A gentle breeze turns into a named storm, the sky goes black, and a ship full of prisoners and sailors runs out of options. We walk through Acts 27 with Paul, who steps into the chaos not with bravado, but with a promise: you will stand before Caesar, and everyone with you will live. That single word becomes a lighthouse. As cargo and gear splash into the sea, as ropes bind a groaning hull, as anchors drag and morale sinks, Paul models a different posture—calm, grateful, practical, and brave.

We set the scene with the seasonal risk of Mediterranean travel and the all-too-human choice to push past wisdom. From there, the storm teaches hard truth: skill cannot always save you, and speed is not the same as progress. Paul’s counsel is dismissed, yet when panic peaks, he serves the crew with clarity—stop the escape, eat to regain strength, and trust the God who speaks. His faith does not magic the storm away; it organizes hope. The sailors still run aground. The ship still breaks. But the promise holds, and 276 souls reach shore.

Along the way we draw out timely takeaways: how to read seasons and heed warning signs, how to lead when people are hungry and afraid, and how to anchor your decisions in the last clear word from God. We explore the gift of spiritual calm in public, why courage spreads person to person, and how past faithfulness fuels present resilience. If you’ve felt the sky erase your stars, this story offers more than inspiration—it offers a map for steady steps when you can’t see the horizon.

Listen now, share it with someone who needs courage, and if the message helps you, subscribe, leave a review, and tell us what promise you’re holding onto today.

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Theme: Storms And Faith
• 0:48 Community Updates And Calls To Engage
• 1:48 Setting The Scene: Journey To Rome
• 4:56 Paul’s Warning And Crew’s Decision
• 6:51 The Nor’easter And Desperate Measures
• 8:26 Angelic Promise And Leadership In Crisis
• 10:20 Shipwreck, Survival, And Safe Shore
• 11:59 Lessons On God’s Faithfulness
• 13:36 Prayer, Encouragement, And Closing Charge

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. Every day, we take one chapter of the Bible, dig deeper, and discover that the more we dig, the more we find. You can find out more at the BibleBreakdown.com. Now let's grow in God's word together. Well, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Acts chapter 27, and this is a fun one. I mean, this, you just get to see some miracles. In the past several chapters, we've been walking with Paul through the halls of power. Now we get to see him moving toward Rome. And if I were to give today a title, it would be God is with us through every storm. It doesn't matter where it is, God's with us through every storm. And we're going to get to walk with Paul as he is now walking toward Rome and the rest of his destiny. Before we do that, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like, share, and subscribe the pod uh the YouTube channel. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. And also go to the Facebook group, Bible Breakdown Discussion, and let us know what you're finding. Because the more we dig, the more we find. And my encouragement to you is at the end of our time together, we've been turning some music on and just kind of letting it play for a little while, just kind of letting it God's word settle on us for just a moment. And not everyone's able to take part in that. But as you are, many times God will bring back to your remembrance, your attention, some of the things you've been looking at. And a couple of you have told me that you're taking that time to investigate a couple of questions. And so we want to know what that is. Just that the more we dig, the more we find together. And you may answer questions that somebody else is asking. And so I just love building this community together where we are learning God's word and just seeing how we can grow in his presence. And today is one of those, just fun. Just walking with Paul. Because remember, Luke, being inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the doctor-turned investigative journalist who's writing about the birth of the early church. And as we're going through this together, what he is doing is he is now walking with Paul. So you're going to see a lot of these like we questions and or we statements, rather, because he's now with him. He was with him in these halls of power that we've been in. Now he's going to be with him on the journey toward Rome. And so let's dive in together. If you got your Bibles with us, going to be reading the out of the New Living Translation, chapter 27, got your cup of coffee ready. I want you to picture with us this idea of what's about to happen. And we're going to see what happens. You ready? Verse 1 says this When the time came, we, so it's Paul, Luke, whoever else is with him, we set sail for Italy. That's where Rome is. Paul and the other prisoners were placed in the custody of a Roman officer named Julius, a captain of the Imperial Regiment. Aristicus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was also with us, and he had a really hard name. We left on a ship whose home port was Adramitium, on the northwest coast of the province of Asia. It was scheduled to make several stops and ports along the coast of the province. The next day, when we docked at Sidon, Julius was very kind to Paul and let him go ashore to visit his friends so they could provide for his needs. Putting out to sea, from there we encountered strong headwinds that made it difficult to keep the ship on course, so we sailed north of Cyprus between the island and the mainland. Keeping to the open sea, we passed along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, landing at Mira in the province of Lessia. There the commanding officer found an Egyptian ship of Alexandria that was bound for Italy, and he put us on board. We had several days of slow sailing, and after great difficulty we finally neared Sandias, but the wind was against us, so we sailed across to Crete, and along the way we sheltered the sheltered coast of the island, past the Cape of Somene. We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens near the town of Lycia. We had lost a lot of time, and the weather was becoming dangerous, and the sea traveled because it was so late in the fall. So Paul spoke to the ship's officers about it. Men, he said, I believe there is trouble ahead if we go on. Shipwreck, loss of cargo, and the danger of our lives as well. But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship's captain and the owner than to Paul. And since Fairhavens was an exposed harbor and a poor place to spend the winter, most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and to spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor and the and only a southwest and a northwest exposure. Now, what's going on here? So where they started from, they have to go all the way through the Mediterranean Sea to get to where Rome is. And so they're having to go through. And what would happen a lot of times when you would get on these boats is these boats are going from port to port to port all around the edge of the sea because they're doing trading there. You know, and so you have people who are getting on and getting off. It would be like the idea if you've ever been in an airplane, you're taking an airplane from one country to another, but you're skipping and hopping along the way, letting some people on, letting some people off. They're doing that, except they're doing it with a boat, a big old ship. And they're getting on cargo, taking off cargo, all the kinds of stuff. But especially in this part of the world, there was a time of the year when it was good for travel, and a time of the year when it was just a stormy time and it was bad for travel, the winter time. You did want to travel because it's just a lot of storms. Well, there was a time frame that once you get to this time of the year, let's say October, you don't want to travel after October because it's just there are storms everywhere. And if you get caught out in the water, you could you could drown. And what's happening is they're getting right there at October. They're getting right at that time when they really need to stop for the winter. The problem is, though, is they're not quite where they want to go. The place that they are currently at is not really a good harbor. It would be like the difference between staying in a very small village or staying in a major city. Which one is going to be best to spend two or three months, right? Well, if you want a place that's got a lot of resources, a lot of uh just different things you may need, you want to be in a better location. So Paul is telling them, I think we might have waited a little too long. We may need to stay here. But the ship's captain and the owner is like, no, no, no, this is our job. We know what to do, it's fine. So that's why now, after they have waited too long, they're like, we're gonna make one more stop, and then we'll be good for the winter. So now let's pick back up. Verse 13. When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought that they could make it. Because remember, this is a sailboat, and so they need the wind. So they pulled up anchor and sailed as close to the shore, uh, sail close to the shore of Crete. But the weather changed abruptly, and the wind of a typhoon strength called a nor'easter burst across the island and blew us out to sea. The sailors couldn't turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale paused. And this is what they were afraid of. Because of this time of the year, this is why you didn't travel after a certain time of the year, but here they are now, they've been swept out to sea. We sailed along the sheltered side of the small island uh named uh Cauda, where with great difficulty we hosted aboard a lifeboat being towed behind us. The sailors bound ropes around the hull of the ship to strengthen it. They were afraid of being driven across the sandbars of the citrus and across the African coast. So they lowered the sea anchor to slow the ship. They were driven before the wind. Pause. So then they came out, and now they're back in again, but they're in a dangerous, treacherous part where if the boat um hits up against the sandbar, it'll tear the boat apart and they'll all drown. So here, verse 18. The next day, as gale force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo, cargo overboard. The following day, they even took some of the ship's gear and threw it overboard. The storm was so terrible and it raged for many days that it blotted out the sun and the stars until at last all hope was gone. Now, no one had eaten for a long time. Finally, Paul called the crew together and he said, Men, you should have listened to me, because and we wouldn't be here in the first place, and not even left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. Other words, Paul says, I told you so. Verse 22, but take courage, none of us will lose our lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of God to whom I belong and to whom I serve stood beside me and said, Don't be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand before Caesar. What's more, God in his goodness has granted safety for everyone sailing with you. So take courage, for I believe God, and it will be just as he said, but we will be shipwrecked on an island. So, about midnight on the fourteenth night of the storm, as we were being driven across the sea of Adria, the sailors sensed that land was near. They dropped a weight, uh weighted line and found that the water was 120 feet deep. But a little later they measured again and it was only ninety feet deep. At this rate, they were afraid that we would soon be driven against the rocks along the shore. So they threw out four anchors from the back of the ship and prayed for daylight. Then the sailors tried to abandon the ship. They lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. But Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, We will all die unless the soldiers all are sailors all stay aboard. So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away. But just as uh day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. You have been so worried and haven't touched your food for two weeks, he said. Please eat something now for your own good, for not a hair of your head will perish. So he took some bread, he gave thanks to God before them all, and broke off a piece and ate it. Then everyone was encouraged and began to eat. All two hundred and seventy-six of us who were on board. After eating, the crew lightened the ship further by throwing the cargo of wheat overboard. When morning dawned, they didn't recognize the coastland, a coastline, but they saw a bay with a beach and wondered if they could get to the shore by running the ship aground. So they cut off the anchors and they let uh that and that left them in the sea. They lowered the rudders, raised the foresail, and headed toward shore. But they hit the shoal and ran the ship aground too soon. The bow of the ship stuck fast while the stern was repeatedly smashed by the force of the waves against and began to break apart. The soldiers wanted to kill their prisoners to make sure they didn't swim ashore and escape. But the commanding officer wanted to spare Paul, so he didn't let them carry out their plan. But he ordered all who could swim to jump overboard first and to make for land. Then the others held on to the planks of or debris from the broken ship, so everyone escaped safely to shore. Wow, what a journey. What an amazing thing to happen. They started off, headed toward Rome, and they ended off like uh the people in Titanic hanging on to debris waiting for the next day, but it water wasn't as cold then. And it's amazing that all along the way, notice things are getting bad and getting worse and getting worse and getting worse. And Paul, the one who has been through more trouble than everybody else, is the one encouraging everybody. He's the one saying, guys, we shouldn't have done this, but it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. Isn't it amazing that in the middle of all of this tragedy, Paul, Paul's encouraged? He's he's doing fine. He's telling everybody to eat, he's eating in front of them to tell it's okay. He had heard from God that it was gonna be okay, but you know what else? He'd been there before. No, he'd never been, you know, in that situation necessarily. He'd been in trouble before. He'd been in difficulty before. And he wasn't surprised that bad things happened to good people, but he also had been with God long enough that he knew God has promised that he's gonna take care of me and get me to the next place. So, guys, I know it looks bad, but have you seen what my God can do? It's gonna be okay. And you know that's one of the things. Remember the title today is God is with us through every storm. And the reason why that's important is because storms will change from time to time, but you know what doesn't change? God's goodness, God's faithfulness. And so when bad things happen, we trust the Lord because He was with us before, and so He'll be with us again. And what ends up happening is when we walk with people who haven't been through as many storms, we become an example to them, and then they're gonna be an example to somebody else, and that's how we continually encourage one another. So I'm not asking you to enjoy a storm today. I'm just saying remember, no matter how big your storm is, remember how much bigger your God is. Let's pray together today. God, thank you so much that no matter what we face today, we're not gonna come up with anything that's gonna be bigger than you. So my prayer today is that every time something bad happens, Lord, that you, God, will show yourself strong in our life. Be real and present in our world today. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Don't forget, God's Word says in Acts 1, verse 8, Jesus said, You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You'll be my witnesses to the ends of the earth. Man, I hope you have a great day today. Experience the power of God, and it will make you a witness of His goodness to everyone around you. I'll see you tomorrow as we finish up with Acts chapter 28.