time constraints and but I want to give you my last verse. My last verse I have two verses are side by side. They're in Psalm 119, 161 and 162. Princes have persecuted me without a cause, but my heart standeth in awe of thy word. I rejoice that thy word is one that findeth great spoil. Some years ago, for the very first time, I had the opportunity to go see the Grand Canyon. It's one of my favorite things to do, not only to sit, but to hike it. And when you see the Grand Canyon for the very first time, you walk out on Mather Point, and you look, and you go, huh, because you've never seen a hole like that hole. It's 300-some miles long. From that point, it's about 18 miles across. And if you went straight out and dropped a pebble, it'd go about a mile before it hit the bottom. It's a big hole. Take your breath away. And I thought, you know, that's a description of awe. When David said, my heart standeth in of thy word. And in America, we have gone from the to the. Open your Bibles to. Instead of let's turn in the Word of God to and The Bible says in Psalm 32 8 that all the earth for the Lord that all the inhabitants stand in awe of him The law the Lord is perfect converting the soul the testimony of the Lord is sure making wise the simple the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart and The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is thy servant warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward. Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer." In the book of Acts, chapter 27, in verse 20, And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away." Would you notice that? All hope that we should be saved was then taken away. Then they had a stuck-in-the-storm time. And the ship broke up. And the Bible says, But the centurion, willing to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that they which could sin should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land. And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land. All hope was gone. But God did something. and all safe to land. And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita. And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness, for they kindled a fire and received us, every one, because of the present rain and because of the cold. And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat and fastened on his hand And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. And he shook off the beast into the fire and felt no harm. Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen or fallen down dead suddenly, but after they had looked a great while and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius, who received us and lodged us three days courteously. And it came to pass that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux, to whom Paul entered in and prayed and laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, others also which had diseases in the island came and were healed." who also honored us with many honors. And when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary. And after three months we departed in the ship of Alexandria, which had wintered in the isle, whose sign was Castor and Pollux. And landing at Syracuse, we tarried there three days. And from thence we fetched a compass and came to Regium. And after one day the south wind blew, and we came the next day to Petuliai, where we found brethren and were desired to tarry with them seven days. And so we went to Rome. And from thence, when the brethren heard of us, they came to meet us as far as Appii forum and the three taverns, whom when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage." And then before I read the next verse, I want to remind you of a verse in chapter 23 and verse 11, when God came to Paul. And the night following, verse 11, The Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome." Now, back in 28 and verse 16. And when we came to Rome, may it please the great God of heaven that forms all things, sustains all things, who wrote the book, stamped his divine approval upon the reading and the preaching of his forever settled in heaven Word of God. And would you pray with me and for me, please? Our Father, thank you for this opportunity. These are your people. Would you help us to be mindful of who they are and treat them accordingly? And we pray that you would help this preacher to preach, have your way in every life for Jesus' sake. The Lord said to Paul, you're going to bear witness in Rome just as you have borne witness in Jerusalem. And then we read that he finally got to Rome. But what God did not tell Paul was what was going to take place from the time that God said, you're going to do it to the time he actually did it. For we read on in Acts chapter 23, right after Paul was given that message from the Lord that he would bear witness in Rome, there were 40 men that put themselves under a curse that they would not eat nor drink until they had killed Paul. How would you like to leave here tonight and have a windshield wiper note that says, when you least expect it, I will get you signed the assassin? That'd be bad enough. You'd be looking at all those cars following you. But how would you like to have 40 people after you? Now me thinks that those guys finally broke off their little starvation diet because they did not kill Paul. But Paul, after that, was arrested. He spent time in jail. And he made an appeal to go to Caesar. Not because he had ought against his nation and the people who were in charge that could have set him free did not set him free. And because of the Jews, he said, I appeal to Caesar. And being a Roman citizen, that was his right. He exercised that right. He, in chapter 27, is on his way to Rome. There is a centurion who's been given charge over him. who's very kind and gracious, as most Roman centurions in the Bible were pretty good guys. It was somebody who was over 100 people, hence the term centurion. We get the word century from that word. And they start off with a south wind blowing, nice gentle breeze. Paul said, I don't think we ought to do this. And the master of the ship and the pilot, they were believed more than Paul. And so they started out. And the scripture says, not many days after, there arose a tempestuous wind. They named it back in those days. It was called Eurakladon. And they got into this storm, and it was so bad that for two weeks they did not see the sun by day nor the stars by night. It seemed like, and I read you the verse, all hope that we would be saved was gone. We're going to die here. And the truth is, there wasn't a person on the planet that knew where they were. They didn't know where they were. The master and the owner of the ship didn't know where they were. The pilot of the ship did not know where they were. Nobody knew where they were. The only person in the universe who knew where they were was God himself. And he dispatched an angel with a message. He was given the latitude and the longitude, and he found that vessel just like God said. And he gave a message to Paul, and Paul gave the message to the people, and here was the message. "'Cheer up, you saints of God, there's nothing to worry about, nothing to make you feel afraid, and nothing to make you doubt. Remember, Jesus never fails, so why not trust Him and shout, "'You will be sorry you were to talk tomorrow morning.'" You see, Paul made a little trip to Ireland before he He didn't give them the song, but he gave them the cheer-up. Be of good cheer. And he said, For I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. One day it occurred to me, that's one of the greatest definitions of faith in the Bible, as far as I'm concerned. He didn't say, I believe in God. He did. And it's one thing to believe in God, but it's another thing to say, I believe God. God had given him a promise. I'm going to give you all these men. There's not a hair of their head going to fall. Everybody's going to make it. He said, I believe God. You know, our God is such a great God. When you find the promise that he has given us in the Bible, just hang on to it. See, when God says you're going to be saved, and by the time you get saved, by the time you get to heaven, he didn't tell you everything's going to happen between those two times. There are some people probably would have said, if I would have known that was going to be my lot, I wouldn't have signed up maybe. But he said, I have a promise from God. I believe it's going to be just like God said. And when you find a promise in the Bible that God has given to us, you can lay hold on to that promise. You can cling to that promise. Our problem is we just don't get in the book and we don't know what the promises are. And when somebody finds some promises in the Bible, they think, well, where did that come from? What's been there all these years, and God invites us to look and search and study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. It's there for us. And those 276 people that Paul said, look, I know whose I am and I know whom I serve. It's not so much who am I, but whose I am. And whom you serve. And he was a servant of the Lord, and God said, you're going to make it. And the Bible says that when that ship broke up because they got stuck in a storm. You know, it's one thing to be in a storm, it's another thing to get stuck in it. I preached a sermon one time at our church on stuck on stupid. And I got that from some lady who was interviewing one of the generals, and he said to her in a public interview, are you stuck on stupid? And so I thought, stuck on stupid. And I thought, well, Pharaoh, he was stuck on stupid. God said, let my people go, and he wouldn't do it. That's pretty stupid. He got stuck there until God worked him over a little bit, and then he was ready to send them out. Well, here is this ship stuck, and it breaks up. And the Bible says some of them had swam out there, and then some on boards and some on broken pieces. Now, they didn't care whether they got there on a board or a broken piece. They were just glad to get to shore. You know, I'm convinced that we're just as saved as if we're there right now. We're seated together in heavenly places, and yet the Bible says, and I think sometimes God sets verses like this just sort of to balance out something, if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and the ungodly appear? Now, you can have confidence that God is going to save you, but don't be arrogant about it. You know, don't go around flaunting that. But you can have the confidence that being confident this very thing that he was yet begun a good work and you will perform it to the day of Jesus Christ. And so they all made it at the breakup of the ship. They were all safe when they landed on this island called Melita. You notice the behavior of sinners. These are people who've not been evangelized. They've not had the gospel been given to them. And yet they have some things that God just put in them. just by being born into the human race. You know, an unsafe person can be kind. These people were, Scripture says, they showed us no little kindness. Now that's just a backhanded way of saying they were pretty kind to us. And they kindled a fire, and I read it in your presence. Was it raining? Was it cold? Did they need a fire? It was raining, it was cold, and these people built a fire to warm up 276 people. We're not talking about a little bonfire. These people, in the cold and in the rain, built a fire to warm up these prisoners, soldiers, sailors, Got saved while I was in the Navy. I was stationed in the Norfolk area this happened before I got there But it was said they used to have signs in yards sailors and dogs stay off the grass Here's sailors and soldiers and prisoners and there's getting a fire warmed up for all those guys even though it's rain, you know you're coming down the road and You got on your your favorite CD from Fairhaven Choir, and everything's going real good. It's about 75. Does it ever turn 75 up here? It's about 75 degrees, and the sun is shining, and up ahead you see what looks like a car pulled off the side of the road. It looks like a little tilted there, probably a fat tire, and there's a little old lady there. And obviously you figured out she needs some help fixing a fat tire, and so you pull over and you help her. No big deal. But say it's one of those days up here when it's about 28, And it's the rainy, sleety, cold, and things weren't going so well at the office, even though you had on the good CD from Fairhaven, and you see the same car. Are you as apt to stop now? Be a little more difficult right now. But these people, they have, they have built this fire. These are unsaved people who have done that. Did you know the Bible says, Be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you? Did you know the kindest place in the whole area of Chesterton, Valparaiso, in this whole area up here, ought to be Fairhaven Baptist Church? The friendliest place around here ought not be a bar. It ought to be God's house, where we love one another and we're kind to one another. And then you go from the behavior of sinners to a bundle of sticks. You know, there's a principle that says where no wood is, the fire goeth out. No work, no wood. No wood, no fire. No fire, no sacrifice. If there is no wood for the fire, fire will go out. And so the Apostle Paul, Apostle Paul, missionary Paul, evangelist Paul, Christian statesman Paul is picking up a bundle of sticks. He did not take the idea, I don't do windows. I don't do sticks. Paul went to pick up a bundle of sticks. Did you know that Paul didn't start that fire? But he got warmed by that fire. And he understood that if this fire is going to continue, somebody's going to have to put some fuel on it and somebody's going to have to pick up some sticks. A number of years ago, there was a gospel fire that got started right here. It's called Fairhaven Baptist Church. And the gospel fire has been burning. And obviously, there have been a lot of people who've come around here who have gotten warmed by this fire. You didn't start the fire. You've come and you've enjoyed the fire. You've enjoyed the warmth of this place. And if this fire is going to continue, somebody who didn't start the fire, but who's been warmed by the fire, somebody is going to have to pick up some sticks to put it on the fire. Did you notice there are different kinds of sticks? Everybody can pick up a stick. There are twigs, and twigs burn rather quickly, and they're good for little starter fires. They're little bigger sticks. And kids can pick up sticks. Women can pick up sticks. Men can pick up sticks. You could even get a log. And you may have to have some help, or you would help someone. Men, let's grab this big log. Let's throw this on the fire. This would burn for a while. We could warm a lot of us with this stick. And you throw that on the fire. Now, obviously, I am not talking about, let's all leave the service tonight and go find some twigs. I'm talking about the things that you do around here that helps keep this fire going. When we left here today, I noticed that there was a lady driving the van out here. I was standing in front of it, and she sort of kidded me. She said, I got my license out of a Cracker Jack box. You probably all should move. I just took that word and moved. I saw a gentleman standing out there, and he was helping people, direct a little traffic and helping people on. And one lady got the steps out, and she put the steps so somebody could get in that van. That's picking up sticks. Do you realize when these people back here play these instruments and give us good music that helps this fire be enjoyed more, they're picking up a stick? When these ladies play the piano over here or the organ over here, they are picking up sticks. When our brother stands here and leads the music, he's picking up a stick. In just a few moments when the men come down the aisle and they usher and they take up the offering, they're picking up a stick. When someone took the children off to go skating the other day and were the chaperones, that's picking up a stick. When you come back on Saturday and go bus visitation, that's picking up a stick. When you drive those buses on Sunday, that's picking up a stick. When you come to Sunday school and you teach Sunday school, that's picking up a stick. When you come and clean this church, that's picking up a stick. When you work in the kitchen, that's picking up a stick. When you teach in the school over there or in the college over here, that's picking up a stick. Do you get the idea of what we're talking about? If you're going to keep the fire going, somebody's going to have to pick up sticks. If everybody at Winkler Road Baptist Church waited on me to do everything, I assure you, not because I wouldn't want it to, but it wouldn't get done. You know, every now and then you have to see those guys who walk around the church property and they got to, you wonder how they even walk upright straight. They got a thing of keys over here, just like this. They have keys to all the buildings, to all the doors. Thank God they do. And those guys are invaluable. There are just some people who have been picking up sticks and keeping this fire going for all these years. That's why you have a fire going here, because somebody's been picking up sticks. Now, just as a little side note, if you're not going to pick up a stick and try to keep the fire going, at least don't blow the fire out. Don't go looking around and say, oh, here's a piece over here about to get out of the thing. Let's go stomp that one out. Let's go get us a little squirt gun. Blow that one out. Let's go get us a bucket of water and blow the fire out here. There's enough people out in the world like to put this fire out. Don't help them inside it, because you've been warmed by it. Sometimes maybe a person gets a little too close and you get a little burnt. Well, just get healed up and go on. Here is Paul picking up a bundle of sticks to keep the fire going here. Don't you like the fire at Fairhaven that has warmed you all these years? You got warmed. Your mate got warmed. Your children got warmed. Your grandchildren have gotten warmed. But somebody's gonna have to pick up some sticks. Somebody's gonna have to do something. Then you'll notice that I read to you that there came a viper Paul is out picking up sticks. He's picking up these sticks, and he's getting these sticks and you know snakes are They are not warm-blooded critters They're cold-blooded. That's why you see snakes out from time to time sunning themselves now. This is terrible you heard about the missionary He was down on the Amazon River, and he was in the boat ministry He's driving down and a rain came up and his windshield wiper on the boat didn't work He thought what am I gonna do I can't see and all of a sudden he sees the snake just swimming along. He reached out and he grabbed it, and he crooked its tail, and he stuck it right up on the windshield, and then he had a windshield wiper. It's awful, isn't it? Paul's picking up sticks, and this one stick sort of looked like a stick just as he was picking them up, and it sort of felt a little stiff, so he picks up this stick, And he gets over to the fire. Remember, this is not just a little bonfire. We're talking about a big fire. We're talking about a fire that is warming 276 people at least. That's not even counting the islanders who were warmed by the fire. And he's got this bundle of sticks, and he gets up close to the fire, and this cold-blooded critter is starting to warm up. And so he throws the bundle of sticks, but one stick doesn't throw. And he grabbed him. Where did the snake bite the guy? On the hand. He bit him on the hand. So he's standing there now. I use my left hand while I go use the right hand now. I'm going to hold on with my left hand here. I don't want to fall off here. He's standing there and he's got this snake just hanging there. Do you know who the snake in the Bible is? How many of you think you have an idea who the snake in the Bible is? Who is it? You know, the Bible tells us in Revelation 12 and in Revelation 20, he is that old dragon, that old serpent, the devil called Satan. And he loves to bite people. And I tell you where he loves to bite people. He loves to bite people on the hand in places where there is a warm fire going. When things are, your pastor could probably tell you the times that the devil showed up trying to to destroy the fire here. You know where he bites people? On the hand. Did you ever study the hand in the Bible? The hand. In the book of Galatians chapter 2, when Paul went up to Jerusalem and he perceived that Peter and those guys were pillars, he said, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship. Did you know the devil loves to bite people's fellowshipping hands? He would love to have people over here mad at people over here. And there the twain shall meet. Are people up here mad at people back there? Just so like the lady she had gone down to the doctor and the doctor he came out. He said ma'am I don't know how to tell you this except just be right up front with you But I have examined you and I did it twice you have rabies She said what? You do all of a sudden this lady opened up her purse She pulled out a pad and a pen and she started writing. He said ma'am. Are you writing out of will she said? Oh, no, I'm writing the names of people. I want to bite and Did you ever read in the Bible that they bite and devour one another? Anybody you want to bite? It's like the... I took my wife to a boxing match one time. And the reason for it was I was on staff with a guy named Bob Ware in Orlando. He and I were in the Navy together. We both had gotten saved in the Navy. He used to be a boxer. And this was back years ago when Rocky Marciano died. And there was a guy in Orlando who knew that Pastor Ware had been a boxer and wanted him to come out during one of the boxing matches. And he wanted him to just say a few words. He got an opportunity to preach at a boxing match. So he gave him four tickets, one for that couple and my wife and I went. And my wife, now we're on about the second or third row. And folks, it could be embarrassing. I mean, my wife got into it. I'm telling you. Get him! Get him! Get him! When Kentucky Wildcats come on, it's just not safe to be in a room with her. She she loves sports and I used to be I'd stay up and she might all go to bed now I go to bed and she stays up and watches that stuff but this guy was down this boxing match and There was a guy sitting there and every time this one guy would tag the other guy. He said praise the Lord And then he'd hit him this way. He said well glory. He hit him against the hallelujah Well that went on about three rounds, you know, you hit him. Hallelujah. Hit him bang. Amen. Hit him again. Praise the Lord He's finally after about the third round the guy said man. I don't understand you This guy up there is beating the other guy, and you're back here praising God? I don't understand that. He said, fella, it's very simple. He said, when we have a church business meeting, that's what they do at our church, and they call that fellowship. That's sad, isn't it? Did everyone bite your hand in fellowship? How about this one? Paul said, in 1 Timothy, I would that men everywhere would pray, lifting up holy hands in prayer. A hand that prays. You know, we've seen those pictures that have this reverent look kind of thing. But he talked about holy hands. That you would lift up holy hands in prayer. You know, prayer is one of those things all of us believe in. We don't practice to match our belief in it, and we want to do it. And we do it, but, you know, there's probably praying, then there's praying. Did you know that Paul said, you helping me by your prayers? Had you thought, you say, well, you know, I really didn't have any extra money to put in the offering this week. Did you pray? If you prayed for this meeting, you helped. When you pray for your pastor, you help. When you pray for the ministry, you help. When you pray for the bus ministry, you help. Paul said, you're helping me with your prayers. Paul said, from the first when I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love to all the saints, I ceased not to give thanks in prayer to God for you, making mention of you always in my prayers to God. And he said, I'm praying that you might know what is the, this is in Ephesians 1, that you might know what is the hope of his calling and what the the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe, according to his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead." Paul said, look, I want you to know what the hope of his calling is. I want you to know what God's called you to do. Then I want you to know that God has all the riches necessary for you to do what he's called you to do. Then he said, I want you to know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe. One day when I saw that verse, I thought, here's a verse for anybody who struggles with addiction. Is there anything more powerful than the power of God? He said this power to us-ward is available. What kind of power? that raised Christ from the dead. If we could somehow, when I read that and it gripped me one day, I said, if we just knew how to tap into that verse, how to make that verse mine. Prayer. The devil loves to get us not to pray, just to bite your praying hand. How about this one from Ecclesiastes chapter 9? Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do with all thy might. I would suspect if I were to ask, Pastor, do you have anybody in your church that used to serve God, they don't do it anymore? The South, Florida, is full of used-to-wuzzers. Now, used-to-wuzzer is a term that doesn't mean anything except it was somebody who used to serve God up north, came down south, and said, I'm through, let them young whippersnappers do it now. And probably crossing over the border into Florida, there's a lot of bus ministry thrown over there, a lot of children's ministry thrown over there, and a lot of deacon ministry thrown over there, and a lot of usher ministry were thrown over there, and a lot of others because they just quit. Now, I realize people can get older, and you don't have the same energy level that you used to have, and you may want to switch gears. And nobody would find fault with that. Just don't quit. But especially when you're younger, whatsoever thy hand findeth to do. Do it with all thy might. And the devil would love for you to have your hand bent. And somebody said, you know what? We haven't seen so-and-so at one of the work parties lately. Oh, yeah, that's right. And as it used to was here. The devil bit his serving hand. He quit serving. How about this one? In Matthew chapter 6, he's talking about giving alms. He said, don't let your right hand know what your left hand's doing. There used to be a lot of people who used to give. And the devil bit their given hand. And so they quit giving. I tell our people, and I'll tell you, sometimes when a preacher just mentions money, people just want to shut him right off. But I say, if you knew what I know about what the Bible says about money, you'd beg me to tell you. See, you've been brainwashed to think all that creature wants is money. I could just tell you what God says. It is thee that giveth thee power to get wealth. Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give unto your bosom. Bring me all the tithe into the storehouse and see if I won't open the windows of heaven and pull you out a blessing that you cannot receive. Then he said, I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. And people used to do it. And then things got a little tough. The government is not your source. Your pension is not your source. Your IRA is not your source. Your piggy bank is not your source. God is our source. And he said, but seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. But the devil loves to bite people's giving hand. And they quit. They tithed. Things went well. And some people, this almost blows your mind, that they start making, they start tithing, they start giving more, and then they start thinking, that's too much to be given. Well, a tithe is just a tenth. What do you want God to do, take half of it away from you so you can get back down that little thing again? Well, no, I don't want that. You get your giving hand bitten. This one is sort of implied. Ephesians 6 says, take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. A sword has to be picked up with a hand. And the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God. And so you need to be able to pick up the sword of the Spirit. You know, there's really five things you can do. You can hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, meditate on it. Some people just hear it, and that's all they do. Some people hear it, and they read it. That's all they do. Some people hear it, read it, study it a little bit. Then some people hear it, study it, read it, read it, study it, and memorize it a little bit. And then some people do all five of those. They hear it, they read it, they study it, they memorize it, they meditate. And when you do, this is the kind of grip. You get a good grip on the Word of God. So the devil, Dipaw, but may I quickly say, When people saw that, they said, the guy's a murderer. Now, they thought, here's people who'd never been given the gospel. They believed in capital punishment. They say he escaped the vengeance of the sea, but he's going to get it, because murderers get it. He must be a murderer, because this snake's going to kill him. And so they're watching Paul. And the more they watch, he doesn't fall over dead. He just, I like this, he just shook it off in the fire. By the way, that's where he's going. The snake's going to the fire. He will be in the fire. He'd never been there yet, but he's going. And when he goes, he's not coming out. Tradition says that when Paul left this island, when he healed a guy, and they laid him with such things as was necessary, and they sent him on their way, and he came to Rome. Tradition says, the Bible doesn't say this, but it doesn't, it's not far-fetched, knowing what we know about Paul. that when he left that island, he left the church behind. That sounds like Paul, doesn't it? Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Dear Lord,