God Is Not Done With You Yet

Would you very loudly welcome all of our campuses this morning that are worshiping together? So great to be with all of you. Hey, here in Inglewood, how many of you have been in a service in here before by show of hands? Cool. How many of you are sitting in almost the exact same seat you always sit in? How many of you are really disappointed? No, I'm just kidding. We're so glad that you're here. Renovations are coming. Great. Continue to pray. Our worship center has been completely gutted. All those chairs are out. Turns out. We're 53-year-old chairs, just so you know. They're gone. Carpet's gone. Praise the Lord. So be praying for us. We're ahead of schedule. The stage comes down this week with all those risers behind it. That's the most intricate part of our renovations. If that goes well, we'll be back in sooner than we hope. And so let's just keep praying, trusting the Lord for that. Secondly, this Tuesday is gubernatorial elections. First Christians, get out and vote. There's no political official that can save us or save our country. We don't vote for saviors. We already have a savior.

His name is Jesus. Amen. But we have a responsibility to vote our conscience before God so that those can be an office, can reflect his values to the best their ability. So you follow the Lord, you get out, and you vote, and you make a difference. Hey, we're going to finish the book of Acts. We're going to cover a lot of ground. We were able to do it in first service. It was awesome. But we'll be starting a new series next week that I know you won't want to miss. So please plan on being here for that. With that, let's go before the Lord and let's get ready to hear His word, Amen. Father in heaven, we do give you all the glory, all the honor, and all the praise for who you are and for all you're doing. Lord, we do praise you to be able to celebrate in this house, in this place. Lord, what a privilege it is. Lord, a room that is now part of our school that we get to use during the season of renovations. Lord, we pray that renovations will go quicker than we expect, better than we expect. We can be back in our home sooner than later, but until then, Lord, we thank You that church is not a building. It's a place where God's people reside, and we thank You for bringing this group of saints here today to worship You and get ready to hear You. Lord, we're excited to hear Your word this morning because we believe as a people that every time Your word is faithfully and accurately proclaimed that it is You who are speaking, so our collective prayer is Speak Lord, for we are ready to hear. So now for all those who have gathered a desire to hear the Lord Jesus Christ, speak directly to You who will believe what He tells you and who will by faith put into practice what He shows you. Will You agree with me very loudly this morning by saying the word, amen, amen. I want to start by saying this, God is not done with You.

Let me say it again, God is not done with You. If you've been a Christian for any season of time and you're following the Lord and you're doing what He says, I can promise You You've had hurts along the way. I can promise You there's been disappointments along the way. I can promise You that the enemy of Your soul has whispered lies into Your ear saying things like, "If Your God's so good, then why are You having to go through that?" Or You followed the Lord, You did what the Lord wanted You to do, and yet look at how bad it's turning out. You may even have other people in Your life that are saying, "Why are You following the Lord and doing this? Your life's not going the way that You thought it was going to go." Here's what I want to tell you today, God is not done with You. For some of you who are here today, you feel lonely, you feel isolated, you feel confused. The enemy whispers in your ear all these sorts of lies about why You are, where You are and all the disappointment that You are to God, but I got word for You. If God is for You, who can be against You? You have an enemy of Your soul and you need to hear this, God is not done with You. If you're still breathing, God is not done with You. He has a purpose and a plan for which He fashioned You, which He created You, that only You can accomplish, and He wants You to be the fullness of everything He created You to be. And the enemy of Your soul knows that, and so He works over time to discourage You, to frustrate You, to get You to believe. You're the only one that's doing it this way, and it's not working out, and it's really, really difficult, and why don't You just give in and go the way the world goes. I've got news for you this morning, I want you to stay the course. And I got news for you this morning, God is not done with You. And to tell you about how I know that, we're going to be in the book of Acts today as we finish this section. We're going to be in chapters 28 and 29. It's a long section, but they're really all together.

It's one big narrative, and I'm going to give you five truths about how God is still with You and God is not done with You. So I invite you to turn your Bibles to Acts chapter 27, and as you're turning there, just let me remind you that Paul is about ready to go to Rome. God gave him a word in Acts 2311 that he would do the same in Rome as what he'd done in Jerusalem, and here he's going to set sail and head to Rome, and this is where our story picks up. It says when it was decided that we would sail for Italy, they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustine cohort named. Julius is the commander. Julius is the one you're gonna wanna be aware of. And embarking in an Adramidian ship, which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia, we put out to see a company by Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica. Now, that may not mean a lot to you, but Aristarchus was a strong companion of Paul, was a good friend of Paul. You know in the book of First Thessalonians, we see him there, we see him in Acts chapter 19, in Ephesus when there's a riot. He gets dragged with Paul along with all the people. He's a faithful brother who stands with Paul. That's who he is. And it's interesting to know, he doesn't have to be on this ship. He doesn't have to go with Paul, and yet God's favor is still on Paul, that he would let Luke who's writing this book

and Aristarchus go with him. Why? Because we as believers in Christ, when we're going God's way, need encouragement from others. Amen? You've got to have it. And God is always working to bring people in your life to do this. And so Luke doesn't want us to miss the fact that Aristarchus is there too, as they set out. It says in verse three, the next day we put in at Sidon and Julius, that's the commander. Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends and receive care. So isn't it interesting Paul's receiving divine favor from God even while he's a prisoner? He's got people that are coming to see him and the guy that's in charge of his life is giving him extra favor. We see it all throughout the Bible. We saw it with Joseph when he was in prison. God gave him favor. It wasn't favorable circumstances, mind you. It doesn't mean that everything in your life is a favorable circumstance. It doesn't mean everything's gonna go your way. It doesn't mean you're gonna wake up every morning but I can't believe I get to live here with these people doing these things. It's so great, that's not what it means.

It means that God's favor is on you regardless of circumstance because you belong to him. Amen? And that's what we see here. So in this short little section that Luke's telling us about, he's got his friends, he's got Julius who's giving him care. And notice this, chapter, verse four, he's gonna tell about all the cities they're going to. From there we put out to see and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary. So notice what's beginning to happen in the first century they didn't have motor boats. There's no engine on the boat. So you were dependent upon the wind and how you set your sail for where you were gonna get and the winds were contrary. That means going the direction or going is going to be hard. If you're following the Lord, did you know going the direction the Lord wants you to go is gonna be hard? Did you know at times that you're gonna feel like you're going against the grain of what the world is doing? That's what's going on here. So the winds were against them, they were contrary. Verse five, when we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphilia, we landed at Myra in Lecia.

There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and he put us aboard it. So it's kind of like they took a regional jet like a smaller ship and now they're in a larger jet. But it's a larger boat, it's a larger craft. They're gonna set sail with that. So they're a different ship right now. Notice this, when we had sailed slowly for a good many days and with difficulty had arrived off snitis since the wind would not permit us to go further, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salomon. So check it out. So all we're hearing about is they're going in a direction and the direction that they're going is really, really, really difficult. It's opposed, notice this. When considerable time had passed, oh, with difficulty, hold on, with difficulty sailing past it, we came to a place called Fair Havens near which there was the city of Lucia. When considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, so now it's gone from being opposed to being a dangerous mission. Since even the fast was already over, Paul began to admonish them. Now you're gonna learn later, there's 276 people on this ship.

Paul's a prisoner on this ship. He has no authority over the ship and yet who's the one that's gonna speak to all the people on the ship? Paul, why? Because that's what he was put on the earth to do. He was put on the earth to be a spokesman for God. That's what he's gonna do. So he's gonna take advantage, no matter what his circumstances, to be everything that God wanted him to, to be. So he's gonna stand up and here's what he's gonna say. Men, I perceive the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss, not only the cargo and the ship, but also our lives. So here's what Paul says. You need to understand something. If we continue to go the way we're going, there's gonna be loss of cargo, there's gonna be loss of the ship, there's gonna be loss of lives. People are gonna die if you keep doing what you're doing. Now, who's the one speaking that? The man of God, the one that spends time with Jesus, the one that's been visited by Jesus, the one that's a spokesman for Jesus. Do you think Paul's telling the truth? Here's the question. Do you think they're going to listen to him? Why wouldn't they listen to him?

Because he's got no earthly authority. And we value oftentimes earthly authority, earthly influence, and earthly title more than we value someone who's speaking truth from the word of God. That's where we're at. So notice what happened. But the centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said, by Paul, why? 'Cause the pilot and the captain have been on this sea many times. Paul's a prisoner. He's one of 276. What authority do you have? What experience do you have? Here's the answer. No authority, no experience. But the God of the universe said, if we go, we're going to lose the ship and lose people. So you should probably listen to me. 'Cause I'm speaking on behalf of God. But they're like, no, we're not listening to you 'cause you don't have the credentials worthy of being listened to. We're gonna listen to the captain and we're gonna listen to the pilot. And so that's what they choose to do. Now notice verse 12. Because the harbor was not suitable for wintering,

the majority reached a decision to put out to see from there. If somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing Southwest and Northwest and spend the winter there. So the captain and the pilot say, now we need to keep going. This is not a good place for wintering. It's not gonna be convenient for us. We can press on and go. So it says this, the majority came to that decision. Guys, every time I read, the majority came to that decision in the Bible. It's a bad decision. Oftentimes when God speaks to you, you're not the majority. Oftentimes when God shows you something and his word he wants you to do, it's not gonna be the majority opinion. Young people listen to me. The majority opinion in our world is you can't live morally until you get married. The majority opinion says sex is just for you to enjoy and do whatever you want, however you want, whenever you want it. The majority opinion is it's impossible for you to save yourself to a marriage. The majority opinion is, is there are no virgins out there, so why even try? That's the majority opinion. The true opinion is this.

If you do things God's way and you remain pure until you're married, you have a much better chance of success, much more enjoyment in that relationship than anything else you could do that would go against God. That's a minority opinion. If you hold God's truth, it's a minority opinion, but here's what I wanna tell you about it. It's true and it will keep your life from being shipwrecked. It's just a fact. All the truths in God's word keep your life from being shipwrecked. God gives us the command to show us he's holy and we're not and we can't keep him, but as born again believers with the spirit of God in us, he shows us how to live because if we do it his way, it prevents us from being hurt. It gives us fulfillment in life. And what does the enemy of our soul always do? He whispers to get us to take shortcuts all the time. Listen to the majority. Listen to what everybody else is doing. Go the way they're going. Listen to me. If you're going the way everybody else is going and nobody has a problem with the way you're going, you may not be going the way God wants you to go. 'Cause if you go the way God wants you to go, there's gonna be a fork in the road where a bunch of people are gonna say, why are you going that way? That's not the way we're all going, right?

Don't listen to the majority. The majority is rarely right. God is always right. Amen? God's always right. And here's the other truth. You're never alone. You're never alone. Even when Elijah called down fire off a Mount Carmel and then was told he was gonna be killed by nightfall and ran off and tried to hide and tried to be safe. He said to God this, I'm the only one left in all of Israel. And what does God say to him? No, no, no. There's 7,000 that haven't bowed their knee. You just haven't met him yet. Listen, young person, you wanna remain pure until you're married? You're not the only virgin out there. I promise you. There's somebody else praying to God saying, "Hey, Lord, you lead me in the way I need to go." I promise you, right? If you're married and it's challenging, right? Stay in your marriage and fight for your marriage and ask for God's help. The majority of opinion, you'd be like, "Well, I would never live with that guy. I would have left her a long time ago." That's the majority opinion.

God's opinion is marriage is permanent. So hang in there and stick it out and work it out together and I'll bless it. Amen? I mean, here's the things. The minority opinion is usually what God says. I mean, think about the things that we believe here as a church, that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life and no one comes through the Father except through him. That means regardless of whether you're Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, whatever you are, if you have not repented of your sins and trusted Jesus Christ alone, you will go to hell That's a minority opinion. It's true. Do you understand what I'm saying? So when we teach the Bible or you're hearing a pastor teach the Bible, teaching you truth from the word, listen to the truth. And here's the truth. Point number one, nothing will redirect your course because God is not done with you. Nothing will redirect your course. I mean, Paul is thinking I'm going to Rome. I've been told I'm going to Rome and once he gets two years in prison and then when he gets on the ship, it's opposed. And he hears the Lord say, tell the captain, tell the pilot, stop the trip. And so what does Paul do? He's going to tell him, stop the trip. It's not good. This isn't the way. Nothing will redirect your course.

Proverbs 19 says, "Many plans are in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand." Psalm 3311, "The counsel of the Lord stands forever." And then you know this one, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths." What? Straight. And we read that and we're like, it's not what's happened to me. What it means is God's going to straighten the path to get you where you need to go at the right time that you need to get there. When you order a package off of Amazon and it arrives on your porch on time, you don't care whether it came by plane, by truck, by bus, by carrier. It doesn't matter. It got there. And here's our problem. We are so linear in our thinking. We think that we start a point A and then go to point B and then go to point C and then go to point D. And then we get frustrated. God, we're already at eye. I don't even know what to do with that. That's not the direction I thought we were going to head. I thought you were supposed to make my path straight. It means this. If you keep taking steps of obedience, he will lead you on the right way. That's what it means. It doesn't mean if you trust God, you have this path from now until eternity that's perfectly straight and goes just your way. Can I get an amen from anybody in the crowd this morning? Your life will not go the way you think it's going to go, but it's going exactly the way

God wanted it to go. If you live obediently, you're always on the right path. It's the wide road. It's the wide gate that leads to death and many are on that. That's a straight path. But small is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few find it. That's kind of a circuitous route sometimes going around, but as you're doing that, God straightened it out. God's taking you right where you need to go. Amen? Think about this. In the Old Testament, Moses went to Pharaoh like 10 different times. What did he say? Let my people go. What did Pharaoh say? No. What did God say? Ultimately. Go. Why? Because God told Moses, "Tell Pharaoh to let my people go. I want them gone." So what was going to happen? They were going to be gone. Why? Because when God makes a promise in His Word, it's always true. No matter how opposed it is, no matter what the majority say, and so here's what we see in this text. The majority are saying, "We're going," and God's like, "You're not going to make it. It's not going to work like that."

And here's the truth. You can't take a shortcut on God. You can't. When you know through the Word and you know in your spirit, this is the way to go and you choose to go that way. It never works. It never brings peace. It never brings joy. All of us have experiences where we try to do it our own way and it doesn't work. But here's the truth. When you're with the Lord, God is not done with you and nothing will redirect your course. Nothing. He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. 1 Thessalonians 5.24. Amen. God's not done with you this morning. It may feel like He is. You may feel like you're alone. You may wonder why it's not encouraging, but I want to encourage you today. God's not done with you and nothing will redirect your course. Second is this. Because God's not done with you. Nothing will sink your calling. Nothing will sink your calling. Sometimes we hear the Lord and we start going in a way and then we begin to wonder, "Well, this isn't turning out the way I thought. I thought God showed me this and now it's going this way. It doesn't change God's voice." Notice this in verse 13.

When a moderate South wind came up, supposing they had attained their purpose, they weighed anchor and began sailing along Crete close in shore. So here's what I want you to see. When you choose to live obediently to the Lord and you're like, "Okay, this is the way I'm going to walk in it." The devil will always give you another opportunity. I mean, God's telling them, "Don't go this way." And the captain of the pilot, like, "We can go this way and then guess what happens?" A nice breeze comes along and says, "See, I'll get you where you need to go." And everybody on the ships like, "See, Paul, we told you, here comes the wind. Where's your God now?" That's how they're feeling. And here's the truth. When you close the door for the enemy and you walk in the paths of righteousness, the enemy will always try to show you signs that you made a mistake by following God and you never, ever make a mistake by living obediently to the Lord Jesus Christ ever. Amen? You just don't. he said, but it's not working out the way Paul said, because here's a nice little breeze that's going to come and take him there. Notice verse 14, "But before very long, there rushed down from the land a violent wind called Eurekilo." They had a name for this. This was a Northeastern. This was like the most furious squall storm you could possibly have. It had its own name that I can't pronounce. I mean, everybody knew about this. It's not just a storm, it's not just rain. It's like this kind of storm is going to take out your whole life. And when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let

ourselves be driven along. Running under the shelter of a small island called Claudia, we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control. After they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables and undergirding the ship and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Sardis. They let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along. Let me tell you what's happening. So this ship has a rope coming back to almost like a lifeboat, like a smaller craft that you would get out and you would go to shore with. And that's been tossed around everywhere so they pull that up, they take the ropes from that, and they're winding it around the whole of the ship so that the ship doesn't fall apart. They weren't made like ships that we have today. The whole of the ship was going to come apart. So they're doing everything they can to survive. So check it out. They told Paul, he was an idiot. They told the captain and the pilot, you guys know what you're doing. Then they saw a life experience saying, yeah, you can go that way and now they don't feel that way anymore. Why? Because God told them not to go and they went anyway. And now they're experiencing that storm and now they're in the midst of all this and it's not going well and it says in verse 18, oh, then they let the anchors down just not because they wanted to park the ship, but just help steady the, steady the craft. Verse 18, the next day as we were being violently storm tossed, they began to jettison the cargo and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. Since neither the sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small storm was assailing us from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. Now, think about this, we're talking, we're not talking about being on a big cruise ship. We're not talking about being on a oil tanker.

We're talking about being on a craft that's about ready to pull apart and at any moment if that pulls apart, you're going to drown in the sea. It wasn't just for 30 minutes. It wasn't just for an hour. We've been on 72 hours now. It's been three days. We've jettisoned all of our cargo, all of our tackle. We're throwing everything overboard, doing everything we can to keep the ship as light as it can be so it doesn't crack so we can all stay alive. Now, think about this, if you had to try to keep yourself alive for just 30 minutes thinking you were going to die, that's a long time. This is three days. I mean, these guys are frightened. These guys are terrified. There's 276 people on this ship. They're all terrified. For three days and finally, the storm is so vast they can't even see the stars. All they see is black and rain and that's all they feel is wet for three entire days. Can you imagine what you feel like at a time like that? All hope is quickly dissipating. It's gradually going away and it's at this time. I love this first. When they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up there in their midst and said, "Now, what's Paul going to say?" What do you think? I mean, maybe with an encouraging word, maybe, "Hey, brothers, it's been three days." I mean, what can we do to rally together? Here's what the foremost missionary theologian man of God says, "Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Greece and incurred this damage and loss." What's he saying?

"I bet you wish you listened to me now. If you would have listened to me, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in. Pilot, don't you wish you would have listened? Captain, don't you wish you would have listened? Commander, don't you wish you would have listened? Hey, all 275 others of you, don't you wish you would have listened?" I told you I listened to God. He told me what was going to happen and you didn't listen and this is exactly what God said, what happened. So it doesn't seem very encouraging, doesn't it? However, he continues to speak. He said, "Yet now I urge you to keep your courage for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the ship." Just take courage, it's going to be okay. None of you are going to lose your life. We are going to lose the ship, but all of you will survive. And here's how I know this. For this very night in Angel of the God whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you. Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe that it will turn out exactly as has been told to us, but we must run aground on a certain island. So what's he saying? If I were you, I'd listen to me now. Because here's what God told me. God spoke to me through an angel that showed up and said, "I must testify before Rome." He's told me that before, I know I'm getting there, but he also said all of you would be spared as well

if you listen to what I have to say. And here's what needs to happen. We need to run this thing up on an island. You need to do what I'm telling you to do now. Are you willing to listen? And isn't that cool about our God? He gives him a second chance. Isn't it cool about our God? How many chances we've gotten over and over? I mean, isn't it true that there's times where we heard the Lord and we went the opposite way and God still shows us love and affection to us? That he never gives up on us, that he's not done with us. And as long as we're breathing, he still gives us opportunity to follow him. That's what's going on here. And nothing's gonna sink Paul's calling, 'cause if I was Paul, if you were Paul, you would be thinking, hey, what the heck's going on? You told me, two years ago, I was gonna be in Jerusalem. Then I was in prison for two years. Now I'm on a ship and I'm about ready to die. Like, what's up, God? It's not where Paul is. Paul says, I'm still listening to the Lord. I'm still hearing the Lord. And here's what we need to do, 'cause I know I'll be where I need to be, 'cause God already told me I would,

but your lives can be spared too if you listen to me as well. And that's what he was saying. So here's where the story continues. But when the 14th night came, okay, three days is a long time. Two weeks is even longer. I mean, they've been going through it and going through it and going through it. I mean, Paul's told him 11 days earlier what they need to do. The 14th night came as we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea. About midnight, the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some lands and they took surroundings and found it to be 20 fathoms. And a little farther, they took another surrounding and found it to be 15 fathoms. So as they're doing their soundings, I figure a fathom was like six feet long. So they found it was like 120 feet. And then as they got closer, it's like 90 feet. So they start noticing we're getting closer and closer to this island. Fearing that we might run aground somewhere on the rocks, they cast four anchors from the stern and wished for daybreak. So now they're casting four anchors from the back of the boat so that the front of the boat faces where they need to go. But notice this.

I want you to notice something. We think that when God is for us, it means everybody around us and every circumstance goes our way. And the Bible teaches just the opposite. The Bible teaches God may be for you, but he's gonna bring things into your life that don't look like he's for you. But he's always for you. 'Cause notice what happens next. Verse 30, but as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and let down the ship's boat into the sea on the pretense of intending to lay out the anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, unless these men remain in the ship, you yourselves cannot be saved. So here's what you see going on. You see the sailors now, they're letting that little boat back down into the water, they're closer like 90 feet away, like we can make it. We don't really care about any of the prisoners. We don't really care about anybody else on the ship. As long as we survive, we're taking care of us. And really what they were saying is we're just gonna go scout the land for you. We'll make sure everything's good. They were lying, they were just taking care of themselves. Paul sees what they're doing and he tells the commander and all the soldiers, if these guys get out of the boat, you're not gonna live either. I'd listen to what I'm saying, right?

And Paul's been right already before, so that's what's gonna happen. So notice this, the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away. Now notice this, until the day was about to dawn, Paul was encouraging them all to take some food saying, today's the 14th day that you've been constantly watching and going without eating, having taken nothing. Now that could mean that they hadn't really eaten in 14 days. It could also mean this, like when your kids come home, like I'm starved, I haven't eaten anything. Well, that's not really totally true. It just feels that way. If after 14 days, all they've had is minimal amounts of food. It feels like we've had nothing. You've eaten nothing. In other words, you haven't eaten enough for survival. So take some food, eat some food. You're gonna need it for what we're gonna be doing next. Today's the 14th day you've had nothing. Therefore I encourage you to take some food for your preservation, for not a hair from the head of any of you will perish. If I was on a ship, I don't know if that'd be encouraging or not, but what he's trying to say is, what he's trying to say is, you're gonna be remaining intact. You're not gonna have to fear for any part of your body. You're not gonna lose an arm.

You're not gonna lose a leg. God's gonna take care of all of you. And notice what he does. Having said this, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of all, and he broke it and began to eat. All of them were encouraged. So what does Paul do? Now, keep in mind, this is not a church service. These are not Christian brothers and sisters that are coming together. This is not a group of people saying, hey, let's remember Jesus. What does Paul do after he speaks to all these people? He takes bread, have we seen anybody else do that? And breaks it, has we seen anybody else do that? And gives thanks, have we seen anybody else do that? What's he doing? He's testifying for them on the ship that he believes in the living Christ. And he's giving thanks to his God publicly in front of all these pagan people. Here's the truth. You can be who you are wherever you are. You don't need to change who you are based on circumstance. Amen. (congregation applauding) Sometimes we think, we've falsely been taught by our society. They're secular and they're sacred and they're very different and keep them apart. There's no such thing.

If you're a Christian, you're a Christian all the time. You speak truth all the time. You live truth all the time. And it really doesn't matter what other people think, even if they're the majority because you wanna be right with God. So what's Paul doing on the ship? And it's all these people that are about ready to perish. He turns, takes bread, and he gives thanks to his God publicly. Verse 37, all of us in the ship were 276 persons. When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea. That's the grain. 'Cause they were gluten-free or anything like that. They were throwing out the grain to take the weight off the boat. And when they came, they could not recognize the land, but they did observe a bay with a beach and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could. And casting off the anchors, they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders and hoisting the for sale to the wind and they were heading to the beach. What are they doing? They're doing everything they can to get that boat up on the beach so they can be saved. They're all working together to save the ship and to save their life. But striking a reef where two seas met,

they ran the vessel aground and the prow struck fast and remained immovable, but the stern begin to be broken up by the force of the wave. So now the boat's about ready to break up. So you remember before the soldiers, they were gonna try to escape and just leave everybody? Notice what happens now in verse 42. The soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them would swim away and escape. Okay, God's got a call on Paul's life. Paul is totally favored. Paul spent two years in prison. Finally gets to go do what God called him to do. And on the way, they're in a massive storm. There's a shipwreck. The people are gonna leave him for dead. Now they're not just gonna leave him 'cause he called him out. Now they wanna kill him. And he's right smack dab in the center of God's will. Do you see this? We think there's something wrong when we experience fiery trials. We think there's something wrong when we go through circumstances. Nobody else had to go through. We think there's something wrong when it's like, why do I have to go through this? It's not wrong. It's God's sovereignty building something in and through you

that you wouldn't have ever been able to build if God didn't engineer circumstances that way. So what happens? So the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners so none of them would swim away. But the centurion wanting to bring Paul safely through kept them from their intention and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land. And the rest should follow some on planks, others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they were all brought safely to land. So what happens again? Well, Paul gets favored again from Julius who says, I'm bringing him to Rome. That's my job. I'm gonna make sure he gets there. Who put Julius there? God did. We wouldn't even know the name Julius if Julius wasn't there. He gets mentioned in the Bible a few times because he was faithful to what God needed to get done in that situation. We don't see that Julius was a brother in Christ or companion of Paul. He's just a commander, but God used him to get Paul where he needed to go. And then you end up in chapter 27 and verse 44 and it's like, and we all lived happily ever after, right? 'Cause now it's gonna go really smooth, right?

Because here's the truth. Nothing will redirect your course 'cause God's not done with you. And nothing will sink your calling because God's not done with you. Think about Isaiah 43. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. The fire will not consume you. The waves will not overwhelm you for I am the Lord your God. Or how about 2 Corinthians 4 verse eight, afflicted in every way but not crushed, perplexed but not despairing, struck down but not destroyed, right? Everything God said was gonna happen, happened. All 276 souls, some by holding planks of wood, some by grabbing other things that floated, they all made it to shore and they all lived. God's not done with you. Nothing will redirect your course. Nothing will sink your calling and listen to this. Nothing will end your assignment. Nothing will end your assignment. Notice this, we think it's gonna be happily ever after now. then we found out that the island was called Malta. So we learned that we landed at Malta. We didn't know that before. The native showed us extraordinary kindness for because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold, they kindled a fire

and received us all. Who prepared Malta? Who prepared the people of Malta? God did. Where did God want the boat to stop Malta? Why? Those people were gonna be nice to them and help them build a fire and take care of them. They would never have known to go to Malta. God had to get them there. And when they got there, guess where they were? They were in the exact spot that they needed to be in. Guess what? Today, you're in the exact spot that you need to be in today. And so you live obediently today and you let God direct your path and you let God direct your course. And you may not be comfortable with it. It may not be what you, quote, think you signed up for. But if you're living obedient to Christ, you're right where you need to go. But notice this, they're building this fire, verse three, but when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire. So what's the Apostle Paul doing? The foremost missionary theologian, the man of God, the one who's the authority, what's he doing? He's serving, he's picking up sticks. It's not like, oh, you guys are building the fire cool. I'll go warn myself.

It's like, I'll get sticks, I'll help out. What do you need me to do? Serve. If you can't serve, you can't lead. The reason Paul led well is because he always was serving. It was part of who he was. So he's going to pick up sticks, right? That's all he's doing. I'm trying to think of a brime in my head. Pick one, two, buckle my shoe, three, four. Isn't it five sticks, pick up sticks? Yeah, seven, eight, he's going to lay him straight. So here, I just had that in my head. It has nothing to do with the sermon. (congregation laughing) But Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire. And notice this, happily ever after, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. So Paul's just serving. Paul gather sticks, throws them in the fire. There's a big viper that's in the middle of the sticks that he didn't notice that when it hits the fire, jumps out and attaches to his hand. This poisoned his snake. So now he's in storms, he's in shipwreck. Now he's got a snake hanging off his hand. Notice this, when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they began saying to one another,

now notice this, they've never met Paul. They know nothing about Paul. They've never even heard of Paul. But when they see the snake on his hand, here's what they say, undoubtedly, this man is a murderer. And though he has been saved from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. Why? 'Cause he's got a snake on his hand. We know everything. We figured it out. If he's got to poison his snake on his hand, he must be a horrible guy. Like, we didn't have social media in the first century, but this is like multi-social media. It's saying very negative things about something you know nothing about. Like, that's all it is, right? So Paul gets bit by a snake, that's all that happened, and it's turned into this big thing that he's this horrible criminal. He's this horrible person. Oh, you can't even listen to somebody like this. It's clear that God's going to get him. Justice is going to be served for this man. They don't know anything about him. But notice this, however, he shipped the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm. So bit him and he's like that.

Now, notice what happens next. But they were expecting that he was about to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds. And they begin to say, he's a God. Social media, Malta. I mean, the guy goes from being a criminal that's getting what he deserves to be in a God in a matter of moments. Don't listen to what other people are saying about you. They're not right. No, don't turn your ears out. Don't listen. That's for everybody. People can give opinions. We live in a world where people are comfortable giving their opinions. And I'm great with your opinions and you're great with my opinions. It's fine. But so many people want to be hurtful to people they know nothing about. And it's wrong every time. Now, notice this. Now, in the neighborhood of that place, where lands belonging to the leading men of the island named Pubulus, who welcomed us and entertained us courteously for three days.

So the leader of the island is going to entertain them for three days. And it happened that the father of Pubulus was lying in bed affected with recurrent fever and dysentery. And Paul went to see him. And after he prayed, he laid hands on him and healed him. After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases were coming to him to get cured. They also honored us with many marks of respect. And when we were setting sail, they supplied us with all we needed. So guess what happened? What is Paul doing? Did Paul expect to go to Malta? No. Paul was expecting to go to Rome. I have no use here." Instead, what does he do? He serves in Malta, and he does what he's always been called to do everywhere he goes. He's an apostle, what does an apostle have? Apostle has on-demand healing powers given to him through God, so what does he do? He hears about the leader of Malta, whose dad has dysentery, and he's like, "Let me go pray for him." He prays for him and heals him. So what happens? All the sick people start coming to Paul,

and he's praying over them and healing him. Why? That's what the apostle Paul did. He was living out the fulfillment of his calling, regardless of the fact, that he probably wasn't in the right place to do it. Friends, there is no right place to do your calling, no matter where you are. You're called to be who God called you to be, so just do it. Amen. (congregation applauding) And because Paul did what God was calling him to do, all 276 got favor, so they were given all the supplies they needed, and they were able to get to Rome in the way God wanted them to, because God worked through the apostle Paul while they were on the island. Friends, I have to tell you this, 'cause we think there's a certain way. Like, once I go to college, then I'll get married, and then I'll have kids, and then I'll get a house, and then I'll get a car, and then they're gonna live, and then I'm gonna bank money, and then I'm gonna retire, and it's gonna go just right and smooth, and it's not. And if you wait for the right circumstance to do what God called you to do, you'll be waiting until you meet Jesus. Well, as soon as I get married, then,

as soon as we have a baby, then, as soon as we're done having kids, then, as soon as the job I have is really what I wanted to do, then, as soon as we banked enough money, then, as soon as I've taken the vacations I want, then, as soon as I can retire, then, the devil doesn't care what you do tomorrow, as long as you're not doing it today. Here's the truth, live it now. Live obediently today now. There's nothing you're called to do you can't do now, presently, amen? And that's what you see in the Apostle Paul. Nothing's gonna end his assignment. He can't be in the wrong place. I remember when we were gonna plant our church, we came out to Denver, I didn't know much about Denver, and then you start second-guessing yourself, and asking yourself, is Denver really a spot we're supposed to be out of all the places in the world? Did we really nail it? Did we really know? And I remember talking to a friend one time, and he was asking me like, well, what kind of church you wanna have? I wanna be a church, we preach the word, I wanna be a church where we can worship, I wanna be a church that really centers on prayer, I wanna do evangelism where we can get out, and it was just going on and on.

I wanna have community of people that genuinely love each other, and he's like, is there any city you could go to where God doesn't want that to happen? And I was like, no, he wants to do that everywhere. I'm like, okay, we're in Denver, we're gonna stay. So that's how it works. You can do whatever you're called to do anywhere that you go. 'Cause who you are goes with you everywhere you go. If you wait for the perfect circumstances, it will never happen. She agrees. I mean, it's true. Nothing will end your assignment. Here's the truth. Isaiah 54, 17, I love this. No weapon that is formed against you will prosper. No shipwreck, no storm, no snake, none of them prosper. And even if you end up giving your life, doing what God called you to do, that death won't prosper. We all know people that have died, whose lives are still a living testimony to Jesus. Some of them we know personally like a grandmother or a grandfather that lived for Jesus and even after their death because of how they live their life. It's still reaping rewards. We know people like Charlie Kirk, who was shot and murdered and his life is still testifying to Jesus, even though he's no longer here with us, right? I mean, we see this stuff all the time. No weapon formed against you will prosper.

If you're living obedient to Jesus, God will always get his kingdom work done in and through you. No matter what, amen? And that's what Paul's doing. He's just living his life. Nothing's gonna prosper against him. He's getting to do what God called him to do. And here's the interesting thing. Like everywhere Paul went, like when I read through the book of Acts, I'm like, I don't want that life. Everywhere he went, he was either gonna get beat up, stoned, thrown into prison, yelled at, mass riots, shipwreck, bitten by snakes, all these kind of things. That's all that happened to him. And here's what Paul would say about it. Yes, these light and momentary afflictions are nothing compared to the weight of glory that is coming. Hey, for me to live his Christ today is gain. I mean, he wasn't whining. He wasn't calling his friends like, you don't know what happened to me. Oh, it's so hard to be an apostle. He didn't act like that. He was thrilled that he got to be on Team Jesus so he didn't care what happened to him. Amen? And that's what this is about. Nothing will end your assignment. There's no other Christian that can end your assignment. There's no non-believer that can end your assignment.

What you've been called to do, you can finish, Amen? And then let me tell you this, nothing will stop God's timing. Nothing will stop God's timing because he's for you. At the end of three months, it says, we set sail on an Alexandrian ship, which we winter at the island, So now he's waiting another three months, which if you start calculating all this time, it's just longer weight, longer weight, longer weight. Hey God, I think I'm ready now. Wait. God, I'm ready to go. Wait. God, now I'm really ready. Wait. That's what's going on in his life. And then when he gets on the ship, it has the twin brothers on it. That was Castor on Pollux. It was a Roman God. So he's on this pagan ship getting to go to Rome. God will use any means he wants to get you to wherever he needs you to go. Amen. We put out in Syracuse, we stayed there for three days, and from there we went around and arrived at Regium, and later a South wind sprang up. And on the second day we came to Pertoli. There we found some brethren, and we're invited to stay with them for seven days. And thus we came to Rome. You hear that? God's word was true. He told them a few years earlier, you're going to be in Rome. Guess where he is?

He's in Rome. Now that's probably not how Paul would have thought when he got the vision standing by his bed in prison, he'd probably think, "The next couple of weeks we'll probably be there." It's been two-plus years with all sorts of pain and heartache, with all sorts of people that could have released him and didn't, with all sorts of discussions with all different people, people that wanted to take a hit out on his life, all these different things have gone on. And yet now he's in Rome exactly where Jesus said he was going to be, and it's the perfect timing when Jesus wanted him to get there. Why? Because he arrives and there's brothers there to greet him. There's brothers there to love on him. There's brothers there to encourage him, and notice this. In verse 15, "And the brethren, when they heard about us, came there as far as the market of Appius and three ends to meet us, and when Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage." Those two places are 30 and 40 miles away by foot. These people got wind that Paul was in Rome, and they start sprinting and running and walking as fast as they can to get to Paul. Because he's written a letter to the Romans, they're aware of who he is. They've never met him. We hear, "Hey, the Apostle Paul's here. We want to see him. We want to see him." They're walking 30 or 40 miles. They're spending two or three days just to come and see Paul. And then when he sees him, Paul takes courage. Now listen this, if you had an angel of the Lord speaking to you or Jesus appearing to you directly and nudging you in the side saying you're doing great, why do you need encouragement? I mean, that's enough, right?

No, because Paul's human just like us. And even when we hear the word, and even when we know it's true, we need other brothers and sisters in our life that can come alongside of us and say, "You heard the word now walk in it. You can do this." Why? Because we all need encouragement. You cannot live the Christian life by yourself. It's impossible. If I didn't have real relationships with real people in my life that challenged me, that loved me, that encouraged me, I could not do what I'm doing, you can't do it either. You can't get over your sin without other people in your life. You can't walk the life of righteousness without other people in your life. You can't fulfill your calling without other people in your life. That's why when you get invited into a cadre, it's not a, "Oh, I have to." It's, "I get to be with other people that want to help me be the fullness of who I am in Christ Jesus." Amen? You need it. I need it. We have to have it or we can't fulfill what God has for us. So notice this, when he entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier who was guarding him. I mean, it's amazing, the favor that God's giving Paul doesn't feel favorable to us by circumstances, but it was amazing favor that he had. After three days, Paul called, now what's Paul's calling? What does he do? Every city we've watched. He goes into. He calls the Jews together.

He preaches the gospel and then he goes to the Gentiles when they don't listen. So what do you think he's going to do here? He's going to do the same thing. So after three days, Paul called together those who were the leading men of the Jews, and when they came together, he began saying to them, "Brethren, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, and when they had examined me, they were willing to release me because there was no ground for putting me to death. But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation against my nation. For this reason, therefore, I requested to see you and to speak with you, for I am wearing this chain for the sake of the hope of Israel." So Paul in a nutshell tells a story. He's like, "I've been arrested. The Jews don't like me. They don't like me, but I didn't do anything wrong. I didn't do anything that they say that I'm doing. I'm for Israel. I'm for my people. I wish that my Israelis, brothers, would come to Christ. I want them to be saved. I was one of them. I love them, but they want me dead." And so he's telling them, "I want to talk to you about what actually happened." And here's what they said to him in verse 21. They said to him, "We have neither received letters from Judea, which is the area surrounding Jerusalem concerning you, nor have any of the brethren come here and reported or spoken anything bad about you. But we desire to hear from you what your views are for concerning this sect. It is known to us that it is spoken against everywhere."

We want to hear what you have to say about this Christian thing. We don't know much about it, but what we do know when we hear To be a follower of Jesus is a negative thing. Everybody talks really negative about it. We don't even know what it is, we just know it's really bad. So we would love to hear you tell us about who this Jesus is, that's what he's saying. Nothing's changed, nothing's changed. And that's what's going on. So notice what happens. When they had said a day for Paul, they came to him at his lodging in large numbers. And he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of God and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus from both the law of Moses and from the prophets from morning until evening. So where does the crowd come from? And Paul's a prisoner, where's the crowd come from? God brings the crowd, God will bring whoever he needs. If you're living faithfully, God will bring who he needs. Whether it's one person or a crowd, it doesn't matter. It's not like Paul's sending out a marketing strategy. Like I'm going to be here, come see me, it's not that. He's telling the leaders of the Jews, I'd love to talk to you. They go tell everybody and God is in that. And so they're going to come hear him, right? In the city in Rome, which has been his desire all along that he would be able to share the gospel with these very, very people.

And how long has he spent with him? For morning till evening. You know what that means? It was a long sermon. Can I get some appreciation for that? It was a long sermon. I mean, it wasn't like we're going over like we are this morning. It was long, all day long. Morning till evening, right? And so that's what was going on. And he's trying to convince them from the Old Testament, the Hebrew Scriptures, from the law and the prophets, that this Jesus is the Christ. He's the one that has always been pointing to. I'm not giving up being in Israeli. I'm not giving up being a Jew. I'm just a full Jew 'cause I have Jesus Christ on the center of my life. And everything that was prophesied through Israel is all about Jesus. And I'm a Christian, that's what he was saying. Some, and these are the only two responses you can have. Verse 24. Some were being persuaded by the things spoken, but others would not believe. That's all that can happen when you share the gospel. Some will be persuaded and say, "I don't want to hear more about that," or that's true. And some will say, "I don't believe that."

That's the only things that can happen. So Paul, the Apostle Paul, God's man speaks the truth. Some are persuaded, others are like, "We don't get it." And when they did not agree with one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word. So Paul is going to speak again. You know what his parting word was? It wasn't, you are loved. It wasn't anything like that. His parting word to them when everybody left, right before they left was the Holy Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers. He's going to quote Isaiah six, which Jesus quoted in the Pharisees in Matthew 13. Saying, "Go to this people and say, "You will keep on hearing, but will not understand. "You will keep on seeing, but not perceived. "For the heart of this people has become dull. "As with their ears, they scarcely hear, "and they have closed their eyes, "otherwise they might see with their eyes, "and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, "and return, and I would heal them. "Therefore, let it be known to you "this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. "They will also listen." When he had spoken these words, the Jews departed, having a great dispute among themselves. What does he tell him? He's like, Isaiah was right when he quoted your fathers

'cause you're just like him. You're totally hard-hearted. You can't see it, you can't hear it, you won't feel it. And here's why, 'cause you have a hard heart. Friends, let me tell you something. The reason people don't come to Christ is not 'cause they're too smart. I hear this all the time. Oh, my brother-in-law, my sister. Oh, she's so smart, he's so smart. That's not why they don't come to Christ. It's not an intellectual issue. Here's the issue. They're hard-hearted. They don't wanna believe that there's only one God. They don't wanna believe that Jesus is the way the truth in life. They don't wanna believe that they need to repent of their sin and trust him. They don't believe that his death in the cross and resurrection from the dead. It's sufficient for all their sins. They don't believe the word of God. And any intellectual argument won't help them. It doesn't mean you have to turn off your brain to be a Christian. You can be really smart and be a Christian. You can grow in your faith as a Christian. You can be as intellectual as you want and God has answers for everything.

You're gonna love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and your mind. Your mind is good. But that's not why people don't come to Christ. People do not come to Christ. There's nobody on judgment today that would say, well, Jesus, I would have believed in you, but I was way too smart. Not gonna happen. He will frustrate the intelligence of people who think they're intelligent. I mean, we're finite. God's infinite. What's Paul telling him? Those of you who don't believe, here's why you don't believe. 'Cause Isaiah prophesied right about your fathers and he's prophesying right about you. You're hard-hearted people and you're stiff-necked and you don't want what God's giving to you. You'd rather be steeped in your religion than have a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. So all the best to you, I'm going to the Gentiles. Nothing will stop God's timing. Nothing will stop God's timing. I mean, Habakkah 2 said, "Though it carries, wait for it." Like some of you have been waiting for certain things for God to do for months, weeks, some of you years. And when it happens, you realize, it was right on time.

This is exactly what God needed to do right on time. But it's not the way I would have thought about it. It's not the way I would have done it. But when you're in the middle of that, it always feels as if you're out of the will of God and you're not out of the will of God when you're living obediently to God, you're not out of His will. And you're not out of His timing. And His timing is always perfect, amen? But just like being running a marathon when you get to mile 19 or 22, sometimes you need other people to just encourage you and say, stay the course, you're close, keep going. And it just feels refreshing when you hear another brother or sister say that. Let me give you a final one, we'll go real quick. Because God is for you, nothing will silence your message. Nothing will silence your message. Look how this book ends. And He stayed two full years in His own rented quarters and was welcoming all who came to Him. So Paul's in rented quarters and people are coming to Him for two years. Notice this, what was He doing? Preaching the kingdom of God and teaching, concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And how was He doing it? With all openness and how does the book of Acts end? Unhindered, totally free.

Jesus told Him you're gonna go to Rome and you're gonna testify for me. Now what's He been able to do for two years? Be in Rome and testify for Him. Now for us, because we're American, we're like, what happened to Paul? What's His biography? What happened? What did He do on each? That's not the point of the book. The point of the book was the geographic spread of the gospel. You'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Sumerian to the ends of the earth. And it got to Rome where God said it was gonna go and then it went beyond that. And eventually it came to our country and eventually it came to Colorado and eventually it came to Denver. And that's why we're believers in Christ and God raises up church like Brave Church and elsewhere. Why? 'Cause the book doesn't end. The book continues with those who are for Jesus who are gonna continue to live and spread the message of the gospel. Brave Church exists to continue what acts in the first 28 chapters we're doing. Other churches that are faithful to God exist because that's what God has called us to do. You're not an audience watching this story.

You're in the story, called to do the very things that God wants you to do. Amen. (congregation applauding) That's the point of this book. And I wanna tell you today, God has not forgotten you. Jesus said in the Great Commission, I'll be with you always to the end of the age. In Hebrews, He said, "Never will I leave you. Never will I forsake you. You may feel alone. You may feel empty. You may feel like there's no hope, but I got news for you. Our God is still for you. He has purpose and He has plan for your life." And so today as we end, I wanna end kinda like the Apostle Paul did on that ship by taking communion today. I would encourage you to get your elements out. If you don't have 'em, raise your hand. Our ushers will bring you some elements and you can hold 'em in your hand. I'm gonna pray for this meal. If you're born again, if you trusted Jesus Christ for repentance and faith, you're welcome to take this meal. You're welcome to take this meal. I see some hands up. If you guys could help just distribute some of the elements, thank you very much. And you're gonna hear this song sung over you.

You'll have time to get the elements. And then we're gonna prepare our hearts. So however you wanna prepare on your knees or seated or standing or however you wanna do that, and then we'll come collectively take this meal together. Would you pray with me? Our Father in heaven, we do give you all glory. We give you all honor. We give you all praise for who you are. And Lord, we ask in these moments that we have together that you would remind us of our sin and remind us that through Jesus Christ, we are forgiven and we are free. Lord, do a work in and through our lives. Remind us that we are part of the body of Christ and we are on mission to advance your kingdom in this world. Lord, we love you and we praise you and we honor you. Prepare our hearts, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. (gentle music) (dramatic music)