Sermon Overview & Discussion Questions: "Sovereignty on the High Seas"

Sermon Overview:
Acts 27 chronicles Paul’s voyage to Rome after appealing to Caesar. We see God’s detailed sovereignty, Paul’s trust and submission to God’s plans, and God’s prevailing purposes through hurricane-force winds, stormy seas, directionless nights, and human plans to abandon ship. Ultimately, Paul’s journey assures the reader that God’s sovereign goodness governs every detail of the life given to Christ’s purposes.

Discussion Questions:

1. Jeff reminded us that God is comprehensively and specifically sovereign. How has God’s specific sovereignty in Acts encouraged you?

2. Acts makes a massive contribution to a theology of suffering. What purpose does suffering serve in Acts and our own lives?

3. Paul wasn’t passive on his journey, but instead motivated to godly action while submitted to God (v. 10 and 31). What part does our obedience play within the context of God’s sovereignty and promises?

4. Paul was fully convinced and assured that God would bring his purposes to completion in Paul’s life. In what ways are you tempted to think that God won’t?

5. The same God who accompanied and acted for Paul does so for us. How has God’s faithfulness or Paul’s example in this chapter provoked your courage or faith in present circumstances?