When God speaks it may be contrary to "group think" - Acts 27-28

We finish off the book of Acts today with a very important challenge as to whether we should listen to someone tell us what God says or those who are in the "know", or even the majority opinion. In Acts 27 we see that Paul is being taken to Rome by a centurion named Julius. Julius (in 27:2-12) has a choice to make about to sail or not to sail: Does he listen to the captian of the ship (a man who most surely was trusted and would know the sea); or to the majority who thought they should sail; or, to Paul who didn't know much about sailiing but was, by his own testimony, in touch with the God who made the sea. Before we look too deeply into this it is important to remember the seas and the storms when you are boating. Since we live on a boat we live by a quaint creed that goes like this: "It is better to be on shore wishing you were at sea than to be a sea and wishing you were on shore" (because of a storm). So, this decision is not an easy one. The professional opinion was to sail. The majority opinion was to sail. The prisoner who was "whacked out on God" says "if you sail there will be a shipwreck." Here is the dilemma most of us face everyday. Do we listen to the knowledgeable; the total; or, the radical? Juilius had a decision to make. Like most leaders today he went with the knowledgemable and the total. He was on willing to trust God's Word through God's messenger. Obviously the rest of the story shows the result: Shipwreck. This story is the prefect example of the world around us and their day-to-day choices. God's Word is different. Moses listened to God's Word and walked the nation across the dry floor of the Red Sea. Joshua and Caleb listened to God's Word an opposed the majority opinion and were allowed to enter the promise land. David ignored the "group think" of his brothers and slew the giant with a single stone. Nehemiah didn't bend to peer pressure and stood alone to finish the walls. God is constantly showing that "His ways are not our ways". Why do we constantly end up in shipwrecks? Because we follow the majority opinon and group think! (By the way ... keep reading. Juilus does listen to Paul later and it saves his life and others - see Acts 27:27-32)