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If you have a question for Dave and Tom to address in a future Contending for the Faith, stay with us, we will provide our contact information at the end of the program. You are listening to Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. Now our final segment.
UNDERSTANDING THE SCRIPTURES
We take up our excursion through the Book of Acts, here again are Dave and Tom: This is our Understanding the Scriptures segment, we are in the Book of Acts chapter 27, and we’re going to pick up with verse 10: “And said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with much hurt and damage, not only of the lading and ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship, more than those things which were spoken by Paul.”
Dave:
Tom, I would say that God gave Paul insight, prophetic insight, because Paul is accurately telling them what is going to happen. But…
Tom:
Would this be a word of knowledge, Dave?
Dave:
Well, I guess you could call it that, although it has to do with the future, so that knowledge is not sitting around there for anyone to grab. I would say this is prophetic insight, and they do not yet know Paul well enough to have complete confidence in him, because I’m sure the master, that’s the captain of the ship and the owner—well, look, we’ve been sailing this area for years and Paul is just an alarmist, don’t be worried about it—and then they are going to really regret that.
Tom:
Verse 12: “And because the haven was not commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain to Phoenice, and there to winter; which is a haven of Crete, and lieth toward the southwest and northwest.” That was a bad place to hang out, Dave. My wife and I had a sailboat for a while, it was a pretty good size, and sailing sometimes can be a precarious event.
Dave:
Right, so they’re using what they think is their common sense based upon their experience, and they know where they want to go. So let’s head for this other haven that is much better than this one.
Tom:
Right. “And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing thence, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon. And when the ship was caught, and could not bear up into the wind, we let her drive. And running under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come by the boat: Which when they had taken up, they used helps, under girding the ship; and, fearing lest they should fall into the quick sands, struck sail, and so were driven.” I assume “quick sands” they are talking about these vortexes that a storming sea can produce. What do you think?
Dave:
Well, I think it would be if you could get stuck, you know, run aground, they are very close to this island. By the way, here is an illustration of what we have been talking about. We’re being taken on a journey now. I don’t think you could map this out a couple of hundred years later, and an island named Clauda? I don’t know, it may not even be on a map, sounds like a rather small one. So, again we have proof. This is written by an eyewitness, and it is historically, geographically accurate, as it is spiritually accurate.
Tom:
Verse 18: “And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship.” This would be apparatus to, you know, to set the sails, do all kinds of work on the ship.
Dave:
They are getting desperate, obviously, they have given up any hope that they can guide this ship and they are just trying to lighten it to make it’s draft as small as possible in case they are going to run into shallow water.
Tom:
Right. Verse 20: “And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.”
Dave:
All right, you can understand that. I mean, we’ve done everything we could do, and this storm is in control. We have no longer any control over the ship even, so I guess this is it!
Tom:
“But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship.”
Dave:
Well, Paul has talked to the Lord, and he’s telling them it’s going to be okay. God is going to rescue us, but as I told you earlier, Paul says, there is going to be great loss to the ship, to the cargo, but no one’s life shall be lost. Well, that should have comforted them a bit. They should by now what Paul says is accurate. I love the next verse, Tom, let me read it. “For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.” Paul says, This is the God that I know very well. I belong to Him, I am His servant, and He has told me these things. So let’s be of good cheer, and this could happen, I believe God, it will happen even as it was told to me, how be it we must be cast upon a certain island.
Tom:
Dave, I’ve been, as I mentioned, and having a sailboat, it was about 35 feet, I’ve met some seas that just scared me to death. And, you know, as I think about this verse, here you’ve got the crew and everybody and nothing is working, yet a man offers hope. I mean, he offered the hope of the true and living God, but just to offer hope in a situation like that, it’s like—I’m sure they turned to him and said oh here is some hope here!
Dave:
But this is the man who warned them, so they know that he’s in touch with this God, of course they’re pagans, who knows what gods they worship, but we’re going to have to be cast upon a certain island. Well, I guess we’re going to lose the ship.
Tom:
Verse 24: “Saying, Fear not, Paul; (of course, he’s talking about the angel of God who stood by him) thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.” Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.”
Dave:
Well, that sure gave them some confidence, but it’s still a very scary situation. The Bible, I’m sure there are many more incidents like this that could be recounted for us. If you go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11, you remember, Paul says, “thrice was I shipwrecked, a night and a day I have been in the deep” just swimming for it. He tells you a lot of other things happened to him that are not recounted bit by bit. But this has some further significance which we’ll see as we proceed. They’re driven, and up and down, driven up and down, and the shipmen, they think they are going to escape, they’re not believing Paul. We’ll have to come back to that.
Dave and Tom will continue their discussion on the topic of salvation next week, we hope you can join us. This is Search the Scriptures Daily, a radio ministry of The Berean Call. And now to tell you more about our ministry here’s TBC Executive Director Tom McMahon: The name, The Berean Call, is taken from the Book of Acts, Chapter 17, verses 10 and 11, where we find the apostle Paul entering the synagogue in the Greek city of Berea after he had just come from Thessalonica. To these Bereans he preached that Jesus was the long awaited Messiah sent from God. They were commended for being noble or fair-minded, not only for their willingness to hear what Paul had to say about the matter, but more specifically, because they search the scriptures daily to find out whether or not what the apostle was saying was found in God’s Word. That’s what we hope to encourage through this ministry. Our mission is to alert believers in Christ to unbiblical teachings and practices impacting the church. We want to exhort believers to give greater heed to biblical discernment and truth regarding what they are accepting as spiritual. We hope to supply those who profess to be biblical Christian with information and materials that will encourage the love of God’s truth. Hopefully, we can help mobilize believers in Christ to action in obedience to the scriptural command to earnestly contend for the faith found in Jude 3. And finally, our prayer is that we can be used of God to stimulate Christians to look to the Bible alone as their of faith, authority and practice in living lives pleasing to our Lord and Savior.
Gary:
If you would like to expand your knowledge of God’s Word we offer a wide variety of items we hope you will find helpful from books and tracts to audio and video recordings, CD-ROM, our website and much more. For a complete list of materials, or to get a copy of today’s broadcast write to us at PO Box 7019 , Bend . Oregon 97708, call us at our toll free order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org . If you would like a copy of this broadcast on compact disk ask for Program #0208, and be sure to mention the call letters of this station. And if you would like to watch Dave and Tom, our weekly broadcast is available on DVD, ask about a subscription when you contact us. You can also download both audio and video podcast at our website. Get a pen or pencil ready, we’ll repeat our contact information in just a moment.
Next week we continue our series of programs addressing the latest spiritual phenomenon called, The Emerging Church, and, Is there a biblical mysticism? In Religion in the News, The holy leg, we’ll take a look at that story and address the question: Are home churches good or bad? We hope you can tune in. If you have questions or comments about this program, we urge you to contact our offices. Search the Scriptures Daily Radio Ministry is made possible by God’s grace, your prayers and your financial support. I’m Gary Carmichael and for Dave, Tom and everyone here at The Berean Call, I would like to thank you for joining us, and invite you to tune in again next week. In the meantime, if you desire to know God’s truth, search the scriptures daily. For more information about The Berean Call write to us at POB 7019, Bend , Oregon 97708. Call us toll free at our order number 877-882-4253, that’s 877-88Bible, or visit our website at www.thebereancall.org
