Absolute Bartizan Established Amidst a Storm (Acts 27:20-25) 10/29/2023
Answer 25 of the 1st 2nd 3rd RUTC:
Absolute Bartizan Established Amidst a Storm (Acts 27:20-25) 10/29/2023
Storms do not only exist in waters. There are storms in the world, as well as within our individual lives. There are many comforting words we hear when we face these storms in life.
What does the Bible say about these storms? All believers face storms, but how must be interpret the storms that evangelists face? In the passage, Paul faces a storm that makes him lost hope of being saved (20). Evangelism can take place without storms. Quite honestly, we all desire to live as an evangelist without such heavy storms. However, when we do face them, what covenant should we hold onto? We may face a storm unexpectedly, be given a warning but still ignore it, or we may even expect it. In Paul’s case, he knew that the storm would come.
When Paul was put on the ship to Rome as he was taken captive as a sinner for evangelizing, he knew that the ship would face a storm. He told everyone that they should stop by the Phoenix port in the island of Crete to avoid the storm, but no one listened to him. Paul was an evangelist. He had lots of experience in the field, and he knew the flow of the world. He was a servant of prayer. There were things that he could see, hear, and feel spiritually. However, the centurion, the captain, and the shipowner had their own standards and ignored Paul’s words.
We are living in this world with people like them. Should we struggle and crumble along with them? We must hold onto one important covenant. God desires us to hold onto this time as the time to raise the absolute bartizan for the kingdom of God that does not crumble and God has no choice but to use. Only then, the answers and blessings we will receive are absolute (answer and blessing of 25).
- We must make this into a time of deeply enjoying and experiencing God’s kingdom(Absolute Power).
We will face endless storms as we live on earth (human greed, the work of Satan behind them). Then, we must possess the strength to surpass, overcome, and transcend them. That strength is the power of the throne.
1) What kind of a place is the throne? Is it a place where the triune God governs over all creation with his Kingship authority (Psalm 103:19). The Christ who died and resurrected for us sits at the throne, looking over us, helping us, and working among us. Especially when we live a life of holding onto the gospel and spreading the gospel, he delivers us from crises and changes them into evidence (Mark 16:19-20).
① the moment we accepted Christ and received salvation, our lives became the citizens of heaven with governance of the throne. We are living in this world, but we do not belong to this world. We belong to the Lord, and we are people of heaven (Isaiah 43:1, Ephesians 2:19). We were given citizenship of heaven (Philippians 3:20). We are the holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), and the kingdom of God (Luke 17:21). The highest place of God’s kingdom and the heavenly throne are the background and blessings that we, saved people of God will enjoy.
② People saved by Christ pray in the name of Christ to enjoy and experience this blessing of the throne. Even when we just realize Christ and pray, “whatever we bind on earth will be bound in heaven (Matthew 16:19).” When believers gather at the church and pray, same works will arise (Matthew 18:18-20). The great powers of the Jews and the Romans could not overcome the people of the Early Church who knew and enjoyed this authority of the throne. That is why when we pray, our prayers will be brought up to the throne in gold platters through angels (Revelation 8:3).
② The prayer by which we can enjoy this power and blessing of the throne in essence is the 3,9,3 prayer.
① Even after throwing out all machines from the ship, they lost hope of being saved. Neither was the skill of the captain nor the power of the Roman army useful. However, Paul was enjoying the power of prayer at this time.
② What kind of blessing and answer did God give? God sent his angels to comfort Paul and let him know that everyone on the ship will be saved. There is nothing greater, more complete, and more certain than the comfort and guarantee that God gives.
- In the storm, make this into a time of realizing and preparing for the absolute plan (absolute future) of God. God told Paul of His two absolute plans within this storm.
1) First was God’s plan of bringing Paul before the Roman emperor Caesar. What was Paul’s last plan before the storm hit? It was to see Rome, the end of the earth of that age (Acts 19:21). God had planned something beyond that. It was not just about achieving success in Rome. It was not even just about Roman evangelization. God’s plan was to stand Paul before the Roman emperor, share the gospel, and change history. This is the summit evangelization that saves summits. We are now living in America, the Rome of this Age, heading towards the absolute plan and future of God.
2) Second was God’s plan to raise people as witnesses for Rome evangelization and summit evangelization. God made the General and soldiers testify what the saw and experience when Paul went into Rome to evangelize. This becomes the first bartizan established before they even entered Rome. We must therefore hold onto God’s absolute plan in all the storms that we may face.
- The final important thing is our confession of faith within this storm(Absolute Faith).
Paul said before everyone on the ship, “I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me” (25).
1) When God is at work for world evangelism, what he desires from us is our faith. When we face difficult storms, if we can confess only Christ (Acts 1:1), God’s kingdom (Acts 1:3), and the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8), then that is true faith. God knows our faith, and he hears our confessions. Faith is what saves us (Mark 5:34, 10:52), and when we believe, signs that will save the world will follow (Mark 16:17-18).
2) The confessions of faith you make and the life you live in faith will be seen and heard by unbelievers and people around you. That will become an important door of evangelism. The day after Paul’s confession, they arrive at an island. The storm has not yet passed. Paul shared bread on that ship as he gave thanks to God, and the soldiers ate in relief (35-36). The number of those who ate was 276. The gospel had reached them before they landed in Rome.
Conclusion – They faced a storm, but it was not just a storm. It was a time of establishing the absolute bartizan for the kingdom of God that had no choice but to use and darkness had no choice but to crumble. May all the storms we face in these end times become blessings of this absolute bartizan.