Are you fighting against something God could handle for you?
some of the stuff that we put ourselves
through is not spiritual warfare
it’s a shortage of wisdom and when we
fight against things that we really need
to face at a deeper level we recreate
the battle with a different cast of
characters and we spend our lives in
cyclical conflict and so Paul
is trying to make a point like if you
would have steered this ship by the
spirit instead of by your senses we
wouldn’t have had to lose all of this if
you would have listened to some people
who loved you instead of trying to
impress people who weren’t even paying
attention to begin with and who have no
award to give you even if you win their
approval it didn’t have to be like this
so he says the reason for this disaster
the reason that the reason that we’re
going to survive this storm but we’re
going to lose the boat which to me is
hilarious we’re gonna make it nobody’s
going to die I know this because of the
assurance of God’s purpose in my life
but about the boat it’s not looking so
good for the boat but my hope is not in
the boat
if your hope is in the boat or the thing
that is carrying you you will always be
subject to despair and in this shift I
see Paul he starts with the reason it’s
hard to know the reason sometimes it
really is and it can be a trap to try to
calculate the reason that you’re in a
painful situation it can be a trap to
try to sort out is this something God is
doing in my life and I should embrace it
is this something that the enemy is
doing in my life and I should rebuke it
it can be challenging to know unless you
have a theology of God that finds its
crux in text like Romans 8:28 because
once you believe that all things work
together for the good of them that love
him and are called according to his
purpose it doesn’t matter whose hand it
starts from because even if the storm
started by the hand of my enemy it has
to pass through the hand of my God
before it gets to me so by the time he
finishes with this no matter who started
it
it will serve a purpose in my life that
felt good to me to say that because it
takes the burden off of me to have to
understand the reason for it and yet we
waste all of our time and our energy and
our brain cells trying to figure out why
am I going through what I’m going
through why is it so hard for me why did
they reject me why do people keep
looking at me like that why do people
keep overlooking me why do they get the
opportunity and not me but if I
understand that it passed through his
hand I don’t live by reason I live by
revelation
and this is the important shift in Acts
chapter 27 is that Paul moves from
reason to revelation the most important
moment of your life is the moment you
shift from living by reason to living by
revelation did you see it in the text I
want to call you back to it it’s
beautiful how he says if you would have
taken my advice this wouldn’t happen reason
but now keep up your courage because the
God to whom I belong and whom I serve
appeared to me that’s revelation if I
stay in reason I will stay confused if I
stay in reason I will stay stuck if I
stay in reason I will stay in resentment
but if I shift to revelation I
understand that every storm in my life
is a stage for me to know that he is
Lord of the storm and when he speaks to
it it has already been warned that it
must stop when his voice echoes forth so
Paul says now keep up your hope but not
in the boat not in the situation in
the revelation and not only does that
rhyme have you noticed how much preachers
love to rhyme stuff it is so powerful
for when you have run out of reasons and
why did it happen it shifts from
why to who I don’t always know
why and honestly it’s a waste of my time
to always try to figure that out but
when Paul makes the shift and says we’re
going to make it the boat isn’t
and we have to run aground on some
Island he guarantees the survival of
what’s important even at the expense of
what seemed to be necessary okay so
that’s not what I wanted to preach about
what I want to preach about is in the
next chapter after Paul and all of the
prisoners have gone through the
storm and the message is only
significant today I hate to preach
messages that don’t apply to everybody
but it’s only significant if you’ve been
going through something internally or
externally and wondering why and then if
that’s you if it’s an issue with your
children if it’s something in your body
if it’s something that’s
worn inside of you that’s too
shameful to even mention to other people
then this is for you because the Bible
says that even though the boat broke
apart in Acts chapter 27 in Acts chapter
28 once safely you got the scripture on
shore thank you we found out that the
island was called Malta and now I want
to do something and I need the camera to
follow me on this can I see your Bible I
think yours is Holly I want to show you
Malta on the map this will only take a
moment
for me to show you Malta because it is a
very tiny island Malta is a small place
Malta is a place that was not on Paul’s
itinerary for his trip Malta is a place
where you did not expect to land and the
meaning of Malta is refuge Malta was the
place that the wind blew the boat now
the wind blew the boat to Malta but God
blew the wind to blow the boat to the
place that Paul did not expect
to go and they didn’t even know the name
of it until they got there so Malta is a
small place let me show you how small in
Holly’s Bible if we can zoom in if you
see here where it says Italy that’s
where they were going
so Paul could stand trial before Caesar
now there were 275 other people on the
boat but what God really had to do was
get Paul to Rome touch somebody say it
had to happen so this is where the boat
was going but this is where the wind
blew the boat this is Malta it is so
minuscule on this map that the only
reason it’s even included on this map is
because the wind blew the boat to Malta
and the only reason the wind blew the
boat to Malta is because the sailors
made a mistake is it possible that God
is going to put your miracle on the map
through what you call a mistake and is
it possible that the place you never
expected to be come on I need somebody
to holler at me if you’ve ever been to
Malta I didn’t plan for this I didn’t
pack for this I didn’t expect this I
didn’t ask for this and I never thought
I’d be here it’s a small place it’s a
stuck place it’s a strange place but
it’s a strategic place the wind might be
blowing my boat
but God is in charge of the wind
it’s a small place it’s a strange place
it’s a stuck place have you ever been in
a stuck place I don’t want to be here
and I never thought I’d be here and
I saw other people’s kids do this and
other people’s marriages disintegrate
like this and other people’s reputations
and other people’s careers and other
people’s minds and I used to see other
people struggle with depression and I
thought they were crazy and I quoted
scripture at them from Philippians 4:13
until I went to my own Malta and I found
out that sometimes your boat will blow
to pieces and you won’t have any choice
where you land you’ll just be happy to
survive it
but if you’ve never been to Malta you’ll think
you’re in control of the boat and you’ll
be constantly giving advice to people
about how to steer their ship but when
you get to Malta it’s just like I’m so
happy that I made it I’m so happy that I
made it it’s confusing to you when you
see all of these people in this church
praise God you think that they’re
praising God because they haven’t made
any mistakes or you think they’re
praising God because they’re not
fighting anything you have completely
misunderstood the point they made it to
Malta
they made it to a refuge their bow broke
apart but somehow they swam
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