Acts 27: How God Speaks to Us in the Storm

Introduction

This message, preached on October 25, 2026 at CEP Lugano, closes the series "Listening to God," devoted throughout October to the voice of God. The preacher smiles: "And in November? We'll put into practice everything God told us." Then he corrects himself: we keep listening day after day, until the day we see the Lord face to face.

Recognizing God's voice is a challenge, but it is also "an enormous privilege" for his children. The Bible often says "God spoke" or "the word of the Lord came to," without saying how. That is this morning's question: how does God speak?

To answer it, the preacher takes his listeners aboard the ship carrying the prisoner Paul to Rome, right in the middle of a storm (Acts 27). Then he tells how God spoke to him in his own life, before inviting everyone to silence the other voices and listen to God's.

Outline of the message

1. God speaks, but the Bible doesn't always say how

God speaks to Noah: "build the ark." To Abraham: "step out of your tent and look at the stars." Was it an audible voice? A star that started talking? An inner voice? The text doesn't say.
For Moses, the burning bush catches his attention. But who is speaking: the bush, a voice, or a spiritual impression that he recognizes as the voice of God?
Sometimes it is very clear: an angel appears to Mary, or to Paul in prison. At other times, all that remains is faith: "God spoke to me." Everything these people did afterward, they did by faith, convinced that God had spoken to them.
In Paul's life too, the way varies: a great light and an audible voice at his conversion, an angel, prophets, and sometimes nothing specific, as when they were "forbidden by the Holy Spirit" to go somewhere (Acts 16:6). How? We don't know.
"Who has ever been visited by an angel? No one? Then there is still room for growth." The preacher admits he has never met one either.

2. "I perceive that the voyage will be with injury": a spiritual impression

In Acts 23:11, the Lord stands by Paul at night and tells him that he must bear witness in Rome. Paul was perhaps dreaming of a five-star cruise with an all-you-can-eat buffet. He went in chains, as a prisoner, but he did end up on a ship to Rome. What he had heard from God came true.
The journey is hard from Caesarea on. Midway, Paul warns: "Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives" (Acts 27:10).
"I perceive": what did he see, or hear? The text doesn't say. The preacher speaks of a spiritual impression, what 1 Corinthians 12 calls a word of wisdom, or perhaps a prophetic word. Since the Holy Spirit came down on the disciples, we have been equipped with spiritual gifts, that is, with the ability to perceive spiritually.
How is this impression received? The centurion trusts the pilot and the ship's owner more than Paul's words. "Who listens to a prisoner?" They set sail for Phoenix, a harbor in Crete, with the help of a gentle south wind.
Then Paul's impression comes true. That is often how it goes: when something is fulfilled, we recognize that it was God. Experience helps us discern the will of God (Romans 12:2).

3. In the heart of the storm, a word that reassures

"Fasten your seat belts." A violent wind, the Euroclydon, strikes the ship. They let it drift, they wrap cables around the hull, they fear running aground on the Syrtis, they throw the cargo overboard, then the ship's tackle. No sun or stars for many days, and in the end all hope of being saved was lost (Acts 27:20).
In the middle of a storm, we don't know how it will end, and despair can take over. Who was the most reassured on board, and why? Paul.
Paul begins by saying that they should have listened to him and not set sail from Crete (Acts 27:21). The preacher smiles: mothers know exactly how to do this, "I told you so." When we don't listen to God's voice, we have more difficulties. God goes with us through difficulties, but sometimes we are the ones who put ourselves in trouble, when he would like to guide us along straighter and safer paths.
Then Paul immediately turns constructive: he urges them to take courage, because none of them will die, and only the ship will be lost (Acts 27:22). Here is a new revelation: before, he was announcing a danger to people.
This time, the text says how: an angel of the God to whom he belongs and whom he serves appeared to him during the night and told him not to be afraid, that he must stand before Caesar, and that God had granted him all those sailing with him (Acts 27:23-24).
Paul encourages everyone: he tells them to take heart, because he trusts God that it will happen just as he was told (Acts 27:25).
The preacher wishes this for himself and for everyone: to experience listening to God so deeply that we can say to those around us, "Take courage, I know whom I have believed, and he will do what he promised." We can carry this encouragement outside our churches, to a world without hope.
The shipwreck takes place on Malta, and Paul finally reaches Rome. Listening to God's voice in everyday life brings peace, courage, perspective, direction and correction. Paul knew there would be a happy ending, he was the only one who knew, and he was able to encourage the others.
"Our destiny can change simply because we listened to his voice." A life can go from disaster to success by following God's voice. "But let's say it frankly": it can also go from a beautiful destiny to disaster if we don't listen.

4. The Holy Spirit, God's voice within us

The preacher picks up what Tania Harris said to the Church: listening to, recognizing and responding to God's voice should be a normal dimension of Christian life and discipleship, not an exceptional experience reserved for a few particularly spiritual believers.
We sometimes think: "God speaks to him, but not to me." The preacher wants to convince everyone that all of us are equipped to hear God. God can speak through audible voices, lightning and thunder, but much more often through an inner voice that we learn to recognize.
Another word from Tania Harris: we don't need the Church to hear God's voice, but we need the Church to recognize it. Hence the importance of discipleship, small groups and sharing: "I heard this, what do you think? Let's pray together."
God created the world and each one of us by his word. In Jesus, the Word became flesh (John 1:14). Then Jesus said that it was to our advantage that he go away so that the Comforter could be sent (John 16:7). When Jesus was with his disciples, he sometimes slept. The Holy Spirit never sleeps: he can speak to us even at night.
The preacher's image: we are like the old analog radios where you pulled out the antenna and turned the dial to find the frequency. God's voice is the radio wave, and our job is to tune in to it. The equipment is the Holy Spirit, received when we said yes to Jesus. "My sheep hear my voice" (John 10:27): make sure you belong to his flock.
God speaks even to those who have not yet accepted him, otherwise no one could be converted: "Look, I'm here, I exist." So no one can say, "God speaks to me less than to others."

5. God speaks through his Word, and beyond

God's Word written in a book is useless if it stays closed. When we open it, the Holy Spirit who lives in us makes those words alive, makes us notice them, and reminds us of the words of Jesus.
Psalm 139:14, which everyone "should have stuck on the bathroom mirror at some point": "I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well." Reading this verse, the preacher was convinced by the Holy Spirit of his worth to God. "When you think you are nothing, read Psalm 139."
Gideon (Judges 6) was his favorite story while he was growing in faith: an insecure man, hiding to thresh wheat away from the Midianites, whom the angel calls "mighty man of valor" (Judges 6:12). God told him things about himself before he even believed in him. Through his Word, the Holy Spirit built his identity in Christ.
God also speaks beyond what we read. The preacher is a twin, and he brings his brother up on stage. They were not inseparable twins: as children they fought constantly and their parents had to separate them. At school, people asked him: "But which one are you?" In the family, they were set side by side to look for differences, and he felt "like the little monkey at the zoo." Their grandmother gave ten francs to the oldest, ten francs to the second, and ten francs "to the twins."
As an adult, without quite realizing it, he held a grudge against God: "Why did you make me a twin? I have to share everything, even my identity." One day, in a moment of worship, he had a vision: he saw himself alone in his mother's womb. God told him that he was unique and precious to him. He was not "half an identity." That experience reconciled him to being a twin.
Another time, filling in for the head of the carpentry shop at a therapeutic center, knowing nothing about it, he found himself with a jammed planer and a job to finish. "Lord, what do we do?" God showed him where the fault was. "I cut a very fine figure, as if I were an expert."
The Word is very precious, he insists, but we need to hear God constantly, from rising to bedtime, and perhaps at night too. There is no recipe, and there never will be.

6. Four voices to discern

Knowing the sources helps us rule out the ones we don't want to listen to. Biblically, there are four. The first: God, through the Holy Spirit, through Jesus.
The second: our own voice, which can be influenced by the flesh or by the thinking of the world. We can have good thoughts as well as bad ones: we are not reliable.
The third: the voice of others, social media, friends, parents, what we were told and what shaped us. Like Job's friends, these voices can be good or only seem so. They have to be sifted.
The fourth: the devil, a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44). "Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are from God" (1 John 4:1).
A principle that helped him a lot: a very general voice with no way out comes from the devil. "You're worthless": what can you do with that? Nothing. That is condemnation. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, convicts precisely, with a way out. The preacher gives an example: "What you said to your wife last night wasn't very kind. Ask her forgiveness." Precise, and fixable.

7. Silencing the other voices and asking: "How do you see me?"

To put these weeks of the series into practice, the preacher takes five minutes with the worship team. Music helps us focus, "there is nothing magical about it."
We can't order the Holy Spirit to speak whenever we want. But God is good: he doesn't play hide-and-seek, nor does he leave us sailing in the dark to guess whether it was him.
What we can do is silence the voices we don't want to hear: the devil's, but also our own voice, even our good desires and good plans, and other people's advice, even when it is good. "I don't just want good advice, I want God's word for me."
The question to ask is simple: "How do you see me?" The way God sees us is often far better than the way we see ourselves. He sees us beyond the storm, beyond sin, at the end of the road, and he knows how to guide us. As with Gideon, he may tell you, "You are a strong and mighty man," "You are a strong and mighty woman of God," even if you don't yet see yourself that way.
He may put his finger on one specific thing to change, but always with love, with the aim of building us up.
In the closing prayer, the congregation chooses to die to itself, to its fears and its desire for control, places the advice it has received in God's hands, commands the devil to be silent in the name of Jesus, and then asks: "Father, tell me how you see me."

Key takeaways

God speaks in every situation, including in storms, even if the Bible doesn't always say how.
Listening to God's voice gives peace and courage, and lets you reassure those around you, like Paul on the ship.
Every believer is equipped to hear God: the Holy Spirit lives in them. The Church helps us recognize what we have heard.
God speaks through his Word made alive by the Spirit, and also beyond it, in a personal and precise way.
A general voice with no way out comes from the accuser. The Holy Spirit convicts precisely and always opens a path to repair.

Personal application

What storm are you in right now, and have you asked God what he wants to tell you in the middle of it?
Is there an impression God gave you that you didn't listen to, like the centurion who preferred to listen to the pilot rather than Paul?
With whom can you share what you think you heard from God, so you can discern it together and pray over it?
What general voice with no way out do you hear about yourself, and what precise word from God can replace it?
Take a moment of silence this week, silence the other voices and ask God: "How do you see me?"

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

How did God speak to Paul during the storm in Acts 27?

At first, Paul simply says "I perceive that the voyage will be with injury": the text doesn't say how he perceived it. The preacher sees it as a spiritual impression, a word of wisdom or a prophetic word. Later, in the middle of the storm, an angel of God appears to him at night and tells him that no one will perish. Paul can then reassure the whole crew.

How can you tell God's voice from the devil's?

There is no recipe, but the preacher shares a principle that helps him: a very general voice with no way out, like "you're worthless," comes from the devil, the accuser and the father of lies. The Holy Spirit convicts precisely and always opens a way out: "what you said last night wasn't kind, ask forgiveness."

Why do we need the Church to recognize God's voice?

The preacher picks up a word from Tania Harris: we don't need the Church to hear God's voice, but we need it to recognize it. Hence the importance of discipleship, small groups and sharing: "I heard this, what do you think? Let's pray together."