Text:
Acts 27:9-20
June 3, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
1) A modern-day fiction story: A woman won a huge fortune
in a state-run lottery. Upon receiving the good news, she called home to her
live-in boyfriend and told him, ¡°I have just won the lottery! Start packing!¡±
He boyfriend replied, ¡°That¡¯s fantastic! Should I pack for warm weather or cold
weather?¡± The woman answered without emotion, ¡°I don¡¯t care---just pack all you
can and get out of my house by the time I get home.¡± That man had a crisis for
sure.
2) An ancient-day true story: Paul was charged of
blasphemy by Jewish leaders and was tried by Governors Felix and Festus and
King Agrippa. They couldn¡¯t find proof of accusation filed by the Jewish
leaders, and decided to send him to Rome to be tried by the Caesar. (Acts
24-26) On the way to Rome his ship encountered a huge storm that threatened to
drown everyone on board. (Acts 27) In the midst of the crisis, Paul played the
role of a prophet that eventually saved everyone on board. (27-44)
DETERMINE THE CAUSES: Although most crises come
to us totally expected and they find us at the most vulnerable moments, few
crises, if any, just happen without cause or causes. Finding the root causes
may help us better prepared to handle them.
In the shipwreck
crisis in Acts 27 there are several obvious reasons that led to the scary
situation.
1) They ignored warning words: ¡°Much time had been lost
and sailing had become dangerous because by now it was after the Fast. So Paul
warned them: ¡°Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and
bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.¡± (27:9-10) Many,
not all, crisis come to us are results of our intentional or unintentional
ignoring of warning signs. Based on the experience in the past few days and the
season, (27:4-8 Paul gave the people on board warning of pending dangers of the
trip. But his warning got nowhere. Usually God will place warning signs or
words along the path of our life if we are on a slippery slop to danger. If we
are too proud to listen and heed the warning, chances are crisis is coming
soon.
2) They listened to bad advice: ¡°But the centurion, instead
of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner
of the ship.¡± (27:11)Some may think it makes more sense to listen to the pilot
and the owner because they are professional in sailing, but the centurion
should know that Paul was not merely a passenger, but a man God sent to deliver
His message of salvation to the world. Too many suffer crisis because they
listen to bad advices or advices from bad people. It is very important we seek
advice from godly people, those who have spiritual wisdom to tell us the truth and
point us to godly paths so we won¡¯t face crisis.
3) They followed popular
opinion:
¡°Since the harbor was un-suitable to winter in, the majority decided that we
should sail on, hoping to reach Phoenix.¡± (27:12) In America, we are so
addicted to democracy and follow opinions of the majority in many things:
politics, pull numbers, elections, etc. There are examples both in the Bible
and in practical life, majority may not always right when the majority doesn¡¯t
fear God and do things their way. We all realize that being popular doesn¡¯t
mean being right, but we tend to follow popular beliefs in our daily life. No
wonder, we also face crisis for that.
DETERMINE YOUR RESPONSE:
1) Confront the crisis: Few, if any, can solve a
crisis by ignore it, be it a sickness, a marriage conflict or a job situation.
It may take you lots of time, energy or sacrifice to handle the crisis, but
until you take your responsibility for the crisis, it can only get worse if you
ignore it. Usually crisis is only the surface of a real problem in your life.
The real cause is what you need to find out and do something about it.
2) Confess your part: If a crisis comes to you,
most likely you are part of the problem. So, be man enough to admit it and ask
for forgiveness from God and/or from people. Don¡¯t try to make excuses and
don¡¯t blame others even they have some part to play in it. Accepting
responsibility is a sign of being mature, sincere and being responsible. If any
damages had occurred, pay the price, do the repair.
3) Claim God¡¯s promises: There are over 7,000
promises in the Bible, some scholars had found and listed. Before you begin to
tackle the crisis, go to God for help and He is always there to help us go
through life crisis. God is faithful. He will come to your side to help you
handle your crisis. Remember that question asked by a Christian in the famous
writing FOOT- PRINTS ON THE SAND?
When the guy asked God why God had abandoned him when he was going through the
toughest time of his life. God answered: My child. That was the time I carried
you on my shoulders.
DETERMINE BENEFITS OF
TACKLING CRISIS:
1) Turning bad into good: Most people consider crisis
bad and will try everything possible to avoid it. But crises don¡¯t need our
invitation they just come. Instead of lamenting the bad luck, it is more
profitable to find out some benefits we may have from handling them. Don¡¯t just
focus on the hurts, damages caused by crises, look also at some good things you
may learn from going through the valley of darkness.
2) Counting some benefits: Managing or tackling crisis
may help us grow in things we otherwise can¡¯t or hard to grow. Things like
broadening our perspective of life. Real life is never as easy as we used to
think. It also helps us to sharpen our skills to face problems and difficulties
like military boot camp experience. It also helps us to purify our character.
Many crises come to us because of our character or moral defects. Going through
them helps us see our problems and provides us a chance to improve.
3) Time to get closer to God: Most people, if not all,
get closer to God when going through crises. Although we all feel we are close
to God in ordinary or good days. It is in those day in crisis we are willing to
get closer to God, to taste His mercy, to feel His presence, hear His voice and
see His working on our behalf. This is by far the most important benefit of
living through crisis. Many Christians thank God for allowing them to go
through the valley of death so they have seen the love and power of God at work
in their lives.
CONCLUSION:
1) Crisis is part of life: No one in planet earth may
live a life without crisis. Big or small, we all have experienced some sort of
crisis in our lifetime. So, do not panic when a crisis arrives with or without
warning. Don¡¯t try to run away from a crisis. Take a deep breath and find out
ways to handle it. Looking deeper into the cause of a crisis and try to mend
the net so you won¡¯t make the same mistake again. Use the experience of facing
a crisis to help yourself grow in perspective of life, sharpen your skills to
face life and find our areas in your character that need purify or improvement.
2) The best of all is God: It is in that stressed
condition, our spirit is better in tune to God and with God. Exercise the faith
we use to claim we have, pray harder as we need to and we humble ourselves more
in our relationship with God. God uses many kinds of method to draw us closer
to Him and crisis in life is a very effective one. It is in those ¡°helpless,
hopeless¡± moments, God becomes so real, so close and so powerful. Never leave a
crisis zone empty handed.