The Word Made Plain

Guest (Male): Welcome to The Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter 27, verses 23 through 26.

Tony Clark: All right, let’s dive into the word of God together. Turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Acts, chapter 27. Acts chapter 27, we're going to be looking at verses 23 to 26 as we continue to go verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the New Testament on Sunday mornings. We find ourselves in the book of Acts towards the end of the book, and you know we're going to march right into the book of Romans afterwards.

On Wednesdays, we're going through the Old Testament. We’re in 1 Samuel, chapter 17. So, it's an awesome time to be in God's word. And so Father, we are so grateful that You've brought us here to the table of Your word. So God, we pray that Your Holy Spirit would teach us now. You will unclog our ears so we can hear what the Spirit of God is going to say to us, that You'll reveal the secrets of our hearts so we can leave here knowing that You're truly in this place.

So God, we pray that Your Spirit would enlighten the truths of Your word to our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen. Acts chapter 27, looking at verses 23 to 26. The title of this message is "Faith in the Storm." Biblical faith is defined for us in Hebrews 11, verse one, which says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is how we please God. In Hebrews 11, verse six, it says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." In other words, God rewards faith in Him, and we will see this in these verses through the life of the great Apostle Paul. By way of background, the last time we were together, we saw how Paul warned the men on the ship he was on heading to Italy not to take this trip at this time because a storm was coming.

The Centurion, or the Roman soldier, was more persuaded by the captain of the ship than the words of Paul according to verse 11. Also, the majority of the people on the ship wanted to take the chance and try to reach Phoenix, a harbor on the island of Crete, according to verse 12. They thought they made the right decision of leaving because verse 13 said as they sailed, a soft wind blew.

But as we saw last week, it was the calm before the storm because in verse 14, they ran right into a Nor'easter, a powerful storm called the Euroclydon. It hit, and they could not do anything but let the storm take the ship. They tried to batten down the hatches in verse 17 to no avail, and according to verse 20, all hope that they would be saved was finally given up.

I loved how Paul stood in verse 21 and said, "You guys should have listened to me." Now, he was not trying to rub it in—I would have—but he was not trying to rub it in, but to let them know that they needed to hear what he had to say. At this point, Paul was now in charge. He tells them in verse 22, "Take heart, for no one will die, only the ship will be lost." So what happened next? Look at verses 23 and 24.

"For there stood by me this night an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'" This is very key for us to see. As they were bobbing up and down on this ship on the Mediterranean Sea tossed by the storm, according to verse 20, it said that neither sun nor stars had appeared for many days.

In the midst of this, Paul was visited by an angel. Angels are very instrumental in our walk with God. In Hebrews chapter one and verse 14, it says, "Are they not ministering spirits," referring to the angels, "sent forth to minister to those who will inherit salvation?" In other words, angels are very involved in our lives once we become Christians. In Psalm 34 and verse seven, it says, "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him and delivers them."

So angels are involved in our protection and delivering us in many ways. Let me give you an example. In 2 Kings chapter six, the Syrians were in war against the Israelites, and every move they made, the Israelites knew about it. Finally, the king said, "We have a spy among us." One of his servants said, "Bro, we are with you. We are all loyal to you. There are no spies here, but there's a prophet in Israel named Elisha, and he is so close and intimate with God that he knows what you're saying and doing in your bedroom."

This captain said, "We've got to go see this dude." So the king goes to get Elisha with his army. The next morning, the house of Elisha was surrounded with the Syrian army, and the servant of Elisha said, "Alas, my master, what shall we do?" Elisha calmly prayed in 2 Kings 6, verse 17, and said, "Lord, I pray, open up his eyes that he may see."

Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. There was an army of angels ready to fight on Elisha’s behalf. I just wonder if God would just open our eyes to see into the spiritual realm. It is just as busy and involved as the physical realm.

We have an example of this in Daniel chapter 10. It said that Daniel had been fasting and praying for 21 days. Finally, on the 21st day, the angel gets to Daniel and says, "Oh Daniel, greatly beloved by God. The first day you set your heart to pray, I was sent with the answer." He said, "But I was hindered by the Prince of Persia, the demonic spirit overseeing the area of Persia, which is modern-day Iran."

He said they were getting some licks in. "He was getting me a little better than I was getting him, and Michael the Archangel had to come to free me to get to you with this particular answer." He said, "Are you good, Daniel? You got the answer? Because I've got to go back. He got some licks in, and I need to finish this fight because not only that, the Prince of Greece is coming," meaning the demonic spirit that will oversee the area of Greece.

Now here's the thing: the Grecian Empire did not come for another couple of hundred years, but in the spiritual realm, it was already happening. We get a peek of that of what takes place in the spiritual realm. We would be blown away at the things God has used angels to protect us from. It would blow our minds if we only knew. I was thinking about this. I remember, and I told this story to my wife, and I think I might have told it here years ago.

I remember when I first came back home. I just got back from being in Okinawa, Japan. I was in the Marine Corps, and I just got back to the States. So I came back home to Indiana. I was driving down the street, and as I was crossing over the intersection, I see an older gentleman coming out of the gas station that was right on the corner there. He's coming out, and as I see him coming, I said, "Surely he sees me. My light is green. Surely he sees me."

And he kept coming. I said, "Surely he sees me." And then I said, "He doesn't see me." And I know that he should have T-boned me right on the side. So I closed my eyes, and I grabbed the steering wheel. The next thing I knew, I was going down the road, and he was going to make a right at the light and kept going. I said, "What was that?"

I said, "Surely I should have been in an accident. Surely." What was that? I'll ask the Lord when I get to heaven because I know that I should have been in an accident. Right when I saw him coming to slam in the side of me, I closed my eyes and grabbed the steering wheel, and I just kept going down the road and he kept it moving. Old dude didn't have a clue what was going on, and I didn't either. I kept it moving.

So could that have been an angel intervening? We would be surprised at the things that God has used angels to intervene on our behalf. I could go on and on teaching on angelology, which is the study of angels. But suffice it to say, here in the book of Acts, we see that Paul was visited by an angel which he said, watch this, "to whom I belong and whom I serve."

Now it is this last phrase at the end of verse 23 that I need to clarify because there are those who have taken this phrase and said that we need to serve angels. No. This statement only means, seeing that the angel was sent by God and the message given to Paul came from God, it is like he is serving the angel because it was the instrument God used to bring the message to him. But he only served God.

See, angels are so powerful and fearful that whenever they appeared, people shook for fear and became like dead men, like the soldiers guarding the tomb of Jesus in Matthew 28 and verse four. They are so incredible that as humans, we would be tempted to worship them like John tried to do in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 19 and verse 10 and Revelation 22 and verse nine.

Each time the angel said, "Bro, don't do that. Worship God." So no wonder Paul used the terminology of "whom I serve." Or it is as if Paul was saying this angel was so powerful and incredible that I would do whatever he tells me to do. That's why he used that phraseology, "by whom I serve." It's not saying that we should now start worshipping angels. That's foolish.

So what message did the angel give him? He told him in verse 24, "Do not be afraid, Paul." It is very obvious looking at the storm and what was going on that Paul was afraid too. I love it how God comes to us in our storms and when we are afraid to give us hope. Jesus did this for his disciples on the Sea of Galilee while they were in a storm in Matthew 14, verses 22 to verse 33.

You've got to understand they were struggling in the midst of a storm and they were trying to row themselves out of it. These were experienced fishermen who knew the Sea of Galilee like the backs of their hands. And so what happens is that the cold air from the mountains would swoop down and meet up with the warm air over the Sea of Galilee, and storms would break out in a heartbeat.

It can be clear skies and all of a sudden a storm would break out. They were experienced fishermen; they knew that sea like the back of their hand, but they were trying to row themselves out of it to the point where they thought they were going to die. What's interesting about it is that when Jesus rebuked the storm, the word rebuke, the Greek word that is used there is the same word used to rebuke Satan, showing that Satan had kicked up that particular storm.

So here they are trying to row themselves out of it. And when they see Jesus, Jesus comes to them walking on the water, and they say, "It is a ghost!" And Jesus gives them hope and said in Matthew 14 and verse 27, "Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid." Jesus will always come to us in the midst of our storms to comfort us and give us hope like he is doing with Paul.

Did you catch how God encouraged Paul by reminding him of His word? He said, "Paul, you must be brought before Caesar." See, God appeared to Paul earlier when he was down and depressed in Acts 23 and verse 11 and says, "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."

So on the ship in the midst of this storm and maybe even doubting what God said, God comes to Paul and reiterated what He told him earlier. The last part of verse 24 blows me away. God told Paul, "And indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you." In other words, everyone on that ship will be spared because God was keeping His word to Paul and bringing him to Rome.

This is amazing here, and a lot of people don't even realize this. Many unbelievers and non-Christians are benefited by being around or connected to Christians. In Genesis chapter 39 and verse five, the Lord blessed the house of Potiphar, an unsaved Egyptian, because of Joseph's presence. In 1 Corinthians chapter seven and verse 14, it says that the unbeliever in a home or marriage, when they're in marriage to a believer, will be blessed by the believer being there.

Even the children who would be considered unclean will be considered holy or set apart for God to save them, all because the believer's being in that home. So there are businesses, there are companies, governments, and cities blessed by the presence of believers being there. Do you remember what Genesis 19 and verse 22 said? The two angels who were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah said that they could not do anything until Lot, his wife, and his daughters were safely out.

So Sodom and Gomorrah would have been destroyed earlier had it not been for Lot and his family living there. So everyone on the ship with Paul was spared because of God's plan for Paul's life. Look at what he says in verses 25 and 26. "Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island."

So Paul encourages the passengers in verse 25 by telling them to take heart. He said, "Take heart, men," and here it is: "for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me." Remember I said at the beginning, I quoted to you Hebrews 11, verse six that says it is impossible to please God without faith. Do you remember what the rest of the verse said?

It says, "For he who comes to God must believe that He is." He is what? Everything He says He is in His word. We sing about it—He's a Waymaker, Miracle Worker, Promise Keeper, Light in the darkness of our storm. That is who He is. We sing about it, but that is who He is. And this is the God Paul said that he believed, the God through whom nothing is impossible.

I just wonder, do you believe God in your storm? I've said it plenty of times, all of us are either about to go into a storm, in the midst of a storm, or just coming out of a storm. It is in the storms that our faith is put to the test because every storm we go through is teaching us something. God has something to teach us in all of the storms He allows for us to go through.

The storm Jonah went through was a storm of correction. God was correcting him for his disobedience. In the next few weeks, I will be hitting and missing on these different storms because there's different aspects, different facets of the storm that I want us to understand so we'll be able to identify the storm we are actually in. So the next few weeks, you'll hear me mentioning Jonah, you'll hear me mentioning some other storms so we can have a clear understanding of what's happening, what God is doing in our lives.

The storm the disciples went through was a storm of protection. God was protecting them from pride and from the success of ministry because Jesus had just fed the 5000, and in John chapter six and verse 15, after all those people had their bellies full, John 6, verse 15 said they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king. They were about to come and take Him. "You are King. You fed our bellies, you're good to have around."

They were also at the time the disciples were arguing over who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. "Oh, they're about to make Jesus King. I'm going to be on His right." "No, I'm going to be on His right." "You're going to be on His left." "I don't know about that." And they're arguing over who was going to be the greatest. Jesus said, "Let me get them out of here."

And He sends them right into a storm. See, while in the storm, no one was arguing over who was going to be the greatest. No one was thinking about the success of the ministry, how He just fed 5000, how they were just about to take Him and make Him King. No one was thinking about that; they were just wondering whether they were going to live or not.

And see, you have to understand, that's what storms of protection, that's what they do. They protect us from the success syndrome. These storms come right after times of success—times when we are promoted, times when we are given higher-paying jobs, new homes and cars, and all these things that the world, especially in America, look to as being successful. That's when God will send us right in the midst of a storm of protection. He's, watch this, He's protecting us from us.

Because we need protecting from us. We begin to believe the social media hype about us. We begin to believe, "Oh, you're so great. You're the best boss I've ever worked for," and all this sort of stuff. And then the pats on the back and the accolades, and you're exalted in the company, and you're promoted and all this sort of stuff. And God said, "Let me get them out of this mentality."

And God is protecting us from us. Sometimes we can forget that ministry is for an audience of One, which is Him. And sometimes we begin to think it's about us. You just don't know. You being a Christian, you living for Christ, you having the fruit of the Spirit and the joy of the Lord and all those sorts of things, that people are attracted to the Jesus in you and not necessarily you.

And so they exalt you, they promote you, they do all this stuff, and pretty soon you begin to think it's about you. And God will send you, and He will send me, into a storm of protection to protect me of me. Not to be mean, not to be cruel, but to keep me usable so I can continue to be a vessel of honor fit for the Master. So God will have to get us and allow for us to go through, because see, God knows secretly what's in our hearts.

We begin to believe what we used to say, my generation, used to believe the press clippings about yourself. And God said, "Oh no, I want to continue to use them, so let me send them into this storm so I can show them that it's not about you." See, this is what Proverbs 30, verses 8 and 9 says.

The writer says, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food allotted to me;" Why? Verse 9: "Lest I be full and deny You, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." See, it is during times of success and promotion and elevation that we're tempted to be full of ourselves and deny the Lord.

And some of you, I know what you're saying, you're protesting saying, "I will never deny the Lord." Isn't that what Peter said just before he denied the Lord not once but three times? He said, "If all these deny You, not I." Oh, there's that word, that little "I." "Not I." And he denied the Lord not once, but three times. So to keep this from happening, God will send us into a storm of protection to protect us from our own success and keep it from going to our heads. You are listening to someone who's been in many storms of protection.

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