Please turn to Acts chapter 27. We're back going verse by verse through this book. We're going to be looking at a situation where it's a little bit more difficult to give thanks. And yet I believe this was exactly what Paul was doing. Acts 27 beginning at verse 1. And when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan regiment. So, entering a ship of Adramidium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. And the next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. And when we had sailed over the sea, which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Snydus, The wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of Crete off Salmoni. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of La Silla. Amen. Father, we thank you for your word. It is our glory to worship you. is our glory to be sanctified by that word, and I pray that you would be pleased to receive the worship of our hearts and our responses to it. In Jesus' name, amen. May be seated. Well, we've come to a portion of Acts that may seem like a boring description of a boring trip. But there really is a lot more in this passage than meets the eye. In fact, there's a lot more than I'm even going to be preaching on this morning. But I will give you a couple of hinters that you could pursue, perhaps fruitfully with your children, applications. And I'm going to do this as part of the introduction as we give background, because we've got to look at the map. We've got to see what's happening here in order to really get a feel for what Paul was going through. And the first application, is having patience in pursuing our goals. We need to realize that the first eight verses cover about two months of time. We read it in a few seconds, but it covers two months of time. And the whole trip to Rome, which ends in chapter 28, verse 14, took six and a half months. That was from mid-August through the end of February. If you guys are keeping track in your Bibles of what the times are here, That's a lot of waiting for a goal that God has said, hey, you're going to be going to Rome. He's already been waiting in prison for some time. And so the question is, why does God make him wait there? Now, if you look in your map at the inset there, you'll see there's a whole bunch of little lines. Those are different Roman trade routes. And he was not taking the most direct route that was there. On the main map, you'll see a red arrow. That's the most direct route that you could take to Italy. But contrary winds forced them to go the long way around, and even that was painfully tedious. I read one account of somebody who actually sailed during this season against the contrary winds, and they are just having to constantly tack back and forth, back and forth. And something that ordinarily would have only taken two or three days took weeks. It's no wonder it took so long for Paul to make this journey here. In fact, you know, there were some days they wondered, have we made any progress at all today? They were working all day long. It didn't seem like they had made any progress at all. And perhaps some of you have felt that way from time to time, like your wheels are spinning and you're not getting anywhere. And God, you know, could have given pale winds to just make him speed along very, very quickly. But he chose not to. He chose to make Paul patiently wait for his goal. And the question could be why? You could maybe discuss that with your children. Okay, there's a second lesson that I'll fill in as I give a little bit more of the map background. And that is that we need to be willing to face discomfort without complaining. This is a lesson for me. I think it's a lesson for a lot of us. There is not the slightest hint of Luke feeling sorry for himself in these verses. He's writing this. And not the slightest You know, idea that he feels sorry for himself. And it's remarkable when you understand what he went through on this. Just think of the nausea and the tedium. I've read accounts of sailing in such winds and the large waves that it would have produced would have made many of the passengers feel so sick they wish that they could have died. You know, some of you have gotten sick on merry-go-rounds. OK, yeah, you can get off after two or three or four rides. But just imagine being on that merry-go-round day and night for weeks. And some people just, oh, they just feel horrible. Seasickness is a terrible thing to experience, and yet he didn't feel sorry for himself here. And think about the tedium of this trip as well. They're having to tack back and forth the whole way. Now, there were some exciting moments. Verses 7 and 8 give some hints that they were probably having their hearts in their mouth. They're trying not to get rammed into the reefs when they're trying to go into port there. But sailing was not nearly as easy as steaming or our modern methods of locomotion. And I read a book, just looking at the background for this and the upcoming sermons, written by a sea captain by the name of James Smith. You read it. He's an expert sailor. And he took this route during the season just to get a feel for what Paul was going through. He studied extensively other trips who had been through this area. And he wrote a book that's added hugely to the knowledge of what this trip was all about. And he points out, this would have been no fun. This was not a fun sailing trip for him. And if you think the Christian life is only about having fun, here's a passage you can discuss with your kids as to why that ain't so. It just ain't so. And there's a lot of other lessons you could look at. But we're going to go back to the beginning at verse 1 and just look at a few lessons here. Verse 1 says, when it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan regiment. Now it says, when it was decided. Who made these decisions? Wasn't Paul. It was Festus and those who had governed with him. And they not only decided where Paul was going to go, but they decided how he was going to get there, what ship he was going to take. They decided even what kind of company that was going to go along with him. And it's true that Julius ended up being a marvelous companion for Paul. He was a very noble, influential person of the Augustan regiment. Even his name shows that he was a person with a lot of status. But here was a man who I believe would become converted and would be influential in leading many other people from the Imperial Guard to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything that he goes through on this trip was designed to help this man, as well as other people, come to Christ. Now, what about all the low life that was crowded into the boat with Paul? If you look down at verse 37, you'll see that there were 276 people on board the next ship that they go to, and likely this one as well that was traveling up there, and a good number, probably the most of those, were prisoners who were headed to either their death or fighting with beasts, maybe successfully for a while, in Nero's Colosseum. Now, the reason that the commentators have jumped to that conclusion, we don't see that in the English so clearly, but the word other in other prisoners is not the Greek word for other of a similar kind, but it's other of a totally different kind, totally different kinds of prisoners. And so they're not like Paul, who's going to be tried and tried when he's not guilty of anything. These were criminals. Okay. And the reason that they were headed to Rome is commentators say this was very common all through this area. There's constantly these ships taking people to the Coliseum, Nero needs sport. So instead of executing him here, let's have fun with them. And the Coliseum is what was going on. And it helps to understand later on, why is it that the soldiers are so quick to want to just kill all of these prisoners? You know, when the ship is getting wrecked, they're disposable. So here's Paul. He's crowded onto this ship with a whole bunch of low-life characters that are probably not the greatest company to have, and yet they were answers to Paul's prayer. They were answers to Paul's prayer. And God continues to use even the ornery and hostile unbelievers that have made life miserable for you. Now, they may think it's all their decision in making life miserable for you, but God is the one who ultimately makes all of these decisions. Let me give you an example from F.B. Meyer. He was a very famous preacher. In fact, I've enjoyed reading some of his books. But he was taking a trip across the Atlantic, and he was asked at one point to preach the service to the first class, I was going to say prisoners, the first class passengers who are going across with him. And there was an agnostic who went into the service to listen to him. And afterwards, somebody asked, what did you think of Dr. Meyer's sermon? I didn't believe a word of it, he said. But that afternoon, he was going in to listen to more of Dr. Meyer's. I never did find out whatever happened to this guy. Maybe he's just going in to find some more stuff to mock. But on the way in, he notices this elderly lady snoring in a deck chair, just sound asleep. But she has her hands out like this, as if she is praying. So he thinks he's going to have some fun and play a trick on her. He'd been carrying a couple oranges with her, and he just put two oranges into her hands. She didn't wake up, so he just goes on into the service. When he comes out, he notices that she's eating one of the oranges. And he says, you seem to be enjoying that orange. She said, yes, sir, my father is good to me. Your father? Surely your father can't be alive still, he mocked. And she said, praise God, he is very much alike. I've been seasick for days. I was asking God somehow to send me an orange. I suppose I fell asleep while I was praying. When I awoke, I found he had not only sent me one orange, but two. And the guy's kind of dumbfounded. You know, he didn't even know how to respond to this. But here is a guy who doesn't even believe in God. And he's made a decision to mock, and yet God uses that very decision to answer this lady's prayer. That's what God was doing with the decisions of these unbelievers in Paul's life. Now, there were other companions that would have cheered him up. First is Luke. The reason I say Luke was with him is because the word we in there. Luke's writing, whenever he says we, he's traveling with him. So he was one of the passengers. And then the second was Paul's friend, Aristarchus, that's mentioned in verse 2 and is mentioned again in Colossians 4, verse 10, as being one of the fellow prisoners with Paul. Now, I say that Festus decided all of that when, in reality, every companion that Paul had on that trip, the sweet and the difficult, were God's decision. God was the one who sent that. And in a similar way, God has arranged all of the companions that He has placed into your life on your trip to your Italy. That's your destination for this month or next year, whatever. He's placed us into your life. We're part of the body God has placed there. He's put you in with relatives and and friends and people difficult to live with. He's given you children who have sweet disposition and some not quite so sweet disposition. And yet they're all gifts from God's hand. And I think we need to begin looking at these kinds of things and saying, you know what? These people that God has put us into, the church he has placed us with, my relatives that I don't have any choice about, that's God's decision. It's not a chance event. God has ordained for them to be here. Some of the people that God has placed into your life, you know You just maybe would not have picked those companions and there were plenty here I'm sure Paul would not have picked either if he had a choice but rather than seeing these criminals as an unpleasant situation Paul sees them as an opportunity and What we need to be saying is Lord. Where are we going? Let me get on board and I want to be sensitive to what you're doing in these situations. This trip proved to be an incredible blessing to all of these people who were on board with him. And we'll look at that in a future sermon. And I would encourage you to look at the decisions that God has made with you, for you, with an eye to his providence. And hopefully, you know, Providential History Festival has gotten you thinking along these lines a little bit more. But know for a certainty, it's not just your Italy that's been decided by God. We tend to think, OK, the final goal, the final destination, that's been decided. But everything along the way, how you get there, the difficulties, the finances, the people, the enemies, all of those things have been crafted by God for your good as well. And when you believe that that's really true, it can help you to sail against the winds with the kind of optimism that Paul had. And so we need to be able to say amen to God's providential people and circumstances that He gives to us. Psalm 107 goes through all kinds of difficult providences and kindnesses and says over and over again, oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Look at verse 2. So entering a ship of Adramidium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. Now it says, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. This is dealing with intentions. Where verse 1 dealt with past decisions, we can't do anything about. They've been made. This is dealing with God's sovereignty over our present intentions. Julius couldn't find a ship headed to Italy that was large enough to accommodate all of the passengers. He found one large enough that sailed up the coast. Okay, we'll just go from point to point until we can find a ship that is big enough. Because they didn't have travel agents back then. The only way you can get a ship is you wait long enough in this harbor until a ship shows up. that's uh... just right or you'd you travel to other places or hubs like mira mira was a major grain hub so he figured he could probably find something up there now in god's sovereignty they're starting this trip rather late in the season it's mid-august and it probably factored into julius's decision not to wait for an italian ship it might be waiting too late so he says okay let's let's go up uh... north and um... Let's see if we can find an Italy-bound ship up there. Now, initially, it looks great, because they've got great sailing weather. We're going to look at how quickly they make it to Sidon in one day. That's as fast as you could travel. So they're glad that they've made this decision, making good, good progress. But after Sidon, hour after hour, they're beginning to wonder if this was a good decision or a bad one. But it's too late. They really can't turn back at that point. And I think of Adoniram Judson. How many people here have read a biography of Adoniram Judson? What a remarkable, remarkable man. He wanted to go to India so bad. A lot of people don't begin at India. They just begin at Burma. But he was trying time after time after time to go to Italy. And he was constantly being frustrated. When he first landed there, the East India Company says, no, you cannot come here. And they kicked him out of the country. Go back to England. He thinks, well, I'm not going back to England. God's called me to go to the east. So he sneaks into the country at one point, and he immediately gets reported. And so they're coming to arrest him. They're fleeing to the ships. There isn't any ship going anywhere except to Burma. And of course, the rest is history. It was in Burma where God just did a magnificent job through this guy. And the entire Terran tribe came to a saving knowledge of God. But you see, God was using and overruling the intentions of Adoniram Judson to go to India. And here's an interesting thing to notice. If he had not had intentions of going to India, he would never have gotten to Burma. God was using precisely those intentions to steer him to the country that he dreaded to go to. He didn't even think that was a country anybody should go to. It was so bad. And if you read the biographies, you'll understand why. So man proposes, God disposes, and in these next verses we see God's handwriting all over the intentions of Julius and his crew. Everybody probably regretted this northward decision. It was becoming more and more miserable as they go along. And here's the thing, application I want to make. God is in even the stupid decisions that you make, that you wish you hadn't made, that you regretted having made. I'll just give you a couple of examples in my life. I went to a private college that cost a boatload of money, $12,500 a year. This was back in the 80, 81 period. And, you know, in hindsight, I think, you know, that that was wasted money. I could have spent that money a whole lot better, but God was in that intention because if I had not gone to that college, I would never have met my wife and I cannot imagine living life without Kathy. I can think of the Farnam property. It was not our intention to keep that property, and yet God overruled and He's used it for some rather neat ministry along the way. And we just need to realize God can take our intentions, and even if they're not the greatest intentions, He can use them for His glory. Don't keep regretting the bad decisions that you've made in the past. Repent of them if you need to repent of them, but don't keep regretting those decisions. Some people, they just live with regrets for years. They think, I wish, if only, I hadn't done so, if only, if only. Well, realize there are no if only's. And if you've suffered from those past plans, you need to realize God is sovereign over even our intentions. Certainly, we don't want to be lazy about our intentions. And we need to say, yeah, we've got to plan hard. We need to repent if we've made wrong decisions. But God uses even those miserable, wretched decisions that we have made, and He guides us to our safe haven. So we've seen past decisions in God's plan, present intentions in God's plan. Thirdly, God strews kindnesses into our lives as well. Look at verse 3. And the next day we landed at Sidon. Now that's the first kindness. Beautiful, beautiful sailing weather. If you read the books on the sailing that went on back, that's about as far as you could get in one day. And they got there. So they're moving along quite well. Second kindness, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. Now this was an unusual courtesy because here he is a prisoner, but what Julius is doing is he's letting Paul go to the church during the whole time that that ship is being unloaded and possibly being reloaded with something else. And it's such a great kindness that the Greek word that's used here is a word we get our English philanthropy from. Third kindness can be seen in the last phrase and receive care. When he went to this church, they're lavishing care upon him. You could say they're giving care packages to him. They probably give him his winter clothing and they give him food and money and all kinds of other provisions. They're caring for him and sending him on his way with their love. How good is our God? He is so wonderful. He could have just kept Paul going on without a whole lot of provisions, eating the scanty food that would have been given to prisoners over the next six months, it would be. A little over six months, actually. And yet God cared for him. And when you look back and survey your past life, don't just focus on the painful times. Yeah, there's been some pretty painful times in every one of your lives, because this is just the way God deals with us. He has to bring pain if we're going to be sanctified. But if you look carefully, you're going to see God has strewn all kinds of kindnesses into your life. He's brought along a relative who has just brought comfort to you. He's brought a friend. He's maybe had somebody give you a financial gift. And in other ways, he's showing he's a loving God who cares for you. Now, this is a two way street. It wasn't just his kindness to Paul. He was using Paul to show his kindness to other believers. For example, one of the reasons for this tortuous trip was because God cared about the saints in Sidon who would be recipients of Paul's ministry. God cared about the needs of people in Myra and the large body of elect who would get saved in the island of Malta. God strews his kindnesses into everybody's life throughout this whole trip. We tend to forget the bright days when we're going through times of despondency. Paul didn't seem to do that. He seemed to appreciate every kindness that God sent, and he used it to the max. And I think we can learn from that. Now we come to the heart of the sermon, that even the contrary winds are a part of God's plan. Here's another way you could say it. We're not supposed to just thank God in every circumstance. Ephesians 5.20 says we are to thank God for Things yes, even for the contrary winds look at verse 4 When we had put to sea from there we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary now my map maker Automatically put these arrows in there and it didn't do a great job The blue arrows show the trip that Paul went on at least in the first stage of the journey but he probably got a little bit closer, quite a bit closer to the first peninsula that sticks out on the east side of Cyprus, sailed along that up onto the coast, and then on the coast what happens is There is this current that runs westerly, okay? And so that would help them on their trip. What they're trying to do is avoid all of the distractions of this westward wind and the northwest wind. So they're either blowing northwest or straight west, which would make it almost impossible to travel. So they got two things that are their advantage if they go up to the coast. First of all, they can catch this westward current. Secondly, there's going to be occasional land breezes that are going to be counteractive and they can slowly tack their way. West so that's what's happening there But as they're passing this island think of all of the memories that would have come into Paul's mind and the prayers he would offer up This was a place of some very fond memories of ministry with Barnabas and John Mark. This was the place where elements received a curse of blindness this was the place where where Sergius Paulus, the magistrate, became a Christian. And I cannot help but think, as Paul went through that time, it took quite a while to go through there, all of the memories that would be in his mind, all of the prayers that would be offered up. And here is my encouragement. When you're going through tough times, contrary winds are coming against you, you feel like you're spinning your wheels and not getting anywhere, remember the faithfulness of God in the past. It will really help you out enormously. So anyway, passing Cyprus on the port side, they continued slowly onto the mainland. Verses 5 and 6. And when we had sailed over the sea, which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. There the centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board. Now, when you put the timing of the whole chapter together, here's what you come up with. Despite the fact that there is this westward current of water Because of how strong the west winds and the northwest winds, which means it's driving them the other direction, because of how strong that those are going, it takes him a long, long time to travel. Now, you can cross-reference chapter 21, verse 3, where he makes the same trip in four to five days. It takes him five times longer, 20 to 25 days, somewhere in that range to make this trip. This is a long time. W.M. Ramsey in his book St. Paul the Traveler said, The Adramidium ship crept on from point to point up the coast taking advantage of every opportunity to make a few miles and lying at anchor in the shelter of the winding coast when the westerly wind made progress impossible. Now they stopped in Myra for a brief time and God had a plan for that city because tradition tells us that The short time Paul was there, he preached the gospel. There were a few people who got saved. He goes on, but those few people end up planting a church. And that church survives and prospers for centuries. God has a plan for even those meaningless layovers in an airport. I remember one time I had a long layover in Chicago. And the next day I need to preach and I wasn't quite prepared for my sermon and I've been preparing it, working on it, and then I have to practice it. So I got my Bible in my hand and I'm walking back and forth, back and forth in front of everybody in the place. And I must have been moving my lips because people were looking at me like I was crazy. I noticed it and I said, don't worry, I'm not crazy. I'm just practicing my sermon for tomorrow. And one of them said, well, why don't you preach it to us? And several others said, yeah. So here I am in the airport preaching the sermon that you guys heard the next day. You never know what's going to happen if you are sensitive to God's leading in the my reports that you're at. Now, what are your my reports? Your my report might be, you know, a time that you go to, you know, a homeschool convention or a cooperative or something like that. And people are talking about issues that you think, you know what? Our worldview perfectly answers what's going on here, and we want to bless these people. Or it might be you're at a political event, and the kind of questions people are asking you, wow, this is an open invitation to bring the blueprints of God's Word to bear in their lives. Or it might be a meter reader. She's come by, and you say hi to her, and how are things going? Well, my husband's sick. And you just stop and you say, hey, can I just take 30 seconds or a minute to pray that God would heal your husband? You never know what God could take and use in your My Reports, and you'd need to ask God, Lord, help me to be sensitive to opportunities for witness. Now, once they found the ship of Alexandria, Julius was perhaps a little bit more hopeful. Even though these are privately owned ships, they're part of a huge corporation that works for the government, because the government's wanting to supply grain all over the empire. The best of the best captains are sailing on these ships. That's one of the reasons why Julius listens to the captain rather than to Paul later on in the chapter, and they end up getting a shipwreck over it. But they really were respected captains, and they were massive ships. They were 180 feet long, 45 feet wide, a 40-foot draft. And the progress still, though, was very painful for this ship. Verse 7. Now, it must have been quite a wind for it to take many days for them to just travel that short distance there. Now, a number of commentaries have pointed out that ordinarily, once they get up to that point in the Snidus, they would just wait in port for the wind to be favorable to them. Because once you get out into the open sea, it is tough. Not only are you not going to have the westerly current to help you, you're not going to have the land breezes. You're just going to be driven east. I mean, it's just going to be the way it is. But for some reason, they don't stay in that port. A couple commentators say that there is one Greek word that gives a hint indicates that they were not allowed to stay in that port. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. Maybe it was full. We don't know. But they just decide not to stay there. Ordinarily, what they would do is they'd go straight across west to go north of Crete in order to make the shortcut. What happens is they go out into the sea, and they are just driven. They're trying as hard as they can to steer somewhat of a westerly direction, but they are driven south-east. And one of the things that a number of the books that have been written about this have talked about is that modern vessels can sail nearer to the wind than the ancient vessels can. In fact, the ancient ones, even if they strap them down with the cables like they did under the hurricane, The most that they can do, the maximum limits are about six points. And so they can tell a lot in terms of direction and everything about this trip. The first phrase of the next verse indicates it was a struggle to keep that ship on course and to keep it from going right on by Crete and being driven right out into the sea. And part of the problem of the steerage was the large waves. The further from land you get, the more fetch you have. And the greater the fetch and the longer that the wind has been blowing, the greater the waves are going to be out there. Now, I've looked in several sailing books and one of the sailing books said this, in relatively open water, 20 knots of wind could easily create 6 to 10 foot waves. Now, the longer the wind, it's been blowing for quite a while, hasn't it? The longer the wind has been blowing, the greater the waves are going to be. And many people think this is actually much more than 20 knots, because this is the beginning of the hurricane. Just in a few days, what's going to be happening is this hurricane system that's coming in, they estimate anywhere from 40 to 70 knots of wind. This is what shipwrecked them. OK, later. But right now, it's not that strong, but it's still going to be really picking up wind. So you can just think, you can imagine the nausea of some of these people as they're going constantly through these huge waves. It says it was with difficulty that they gained the southern coast of the island, but once they're past Salmoni, they think, okay, we can breathe a sigh of relief because they're going to be on the leeward side and not all of the wind's going to catch them. Now, verse 8 seems to indicate it's still going to be strong enough wind that they're going to be troubled by it. But it says, passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lycia. OK, we're done with the exposition. And let's make a few more applications. What do these verses mean? Well, I think one of the reasons God includes stuff like this here is to remind us that there's not something wrong with you. When you're experiencing contrary winds, some people are constantly psychoanalyzing themselves. What is wrong with me that I'm constantly having to spin my wheels? Everything's going wrong. There must be something wrong with me. And they can't think of anything wrong, but there must be something wrong with me. Now, it's worth self-examination, but only for a moment. If you're a Jonah and you are clearly disobeying God's will, He'll convict you of that. You don't have to psychoanalyze yourself. Not that psychoanalyzing does anything good anyway, but He'll convict you. But you know what? Sin is only one of 20 reasons that the Bible gives as to why God brings contrary winds into our lives. Sometimes it's for our growth. Sometimes it's to test our mettle. Sometimes it's to bring people who are loners to have the whole body come together and minister in their lives. You know, some of you, praise God, you're wanting to bear your own burden. But you know, we're to bear one another's burdens as well. And so sometimes God makes it so overwhelming that we say, OK, yes, I will receive help from the body. And that's a good thing. But I think, in part, God has brought these kinds of things into the scriptures to let us know that we should not think that bad things can't happen to godly people. They can. Don't judge people because they're going through all kinds of devastating issues. He includes things like this so that we can realize God uses bad things to produce good in his people. He loves them. Let me finish that story of Adoniram Judson, because I think it fits here so perfectly. He was a man of remarkable endurance, remarkable abilities and vision. He was the perfect candidate to open the work in Burma. Trouble is, he didn't want to go to Burma. He had no idea. intention, no desire to go there whatsoever. He'd heard about the lawless tyranny that was there, the dangers that were there. He's got a wife and he thinks that's not really a good idea to be going there. And so like Paul in this chapter, despite the decisions and intentions to go to India, God led him another way. Now, as I mentioned earlier, everything seemed to go against him. Let me explain what that meant. First trip he tries to take to India, they get captured by French pirates. all of the passengers get stuck in that stinky hold and Down there. Oh, they're so seasick He said that the stench was just perpetual the stench of sour smell of vomit You know, it was just excruciatingly miserable to be down in there when they get to France He's thrown into prison and he wonders if anybody's even going to know that he's there. I At some point, an American shows up and manages to get him sprung. He has no idea who he is. Maybe it was an angel who was sent. But he gets out, but he's asking, he's complaining. He says, Lord, why are you slowing me down? And yet God used that stay in France to minister to people he would not otherwise have been able to meet. His next attempted trip to India was also miserable with the winds against them. But you know what? That prolonged trip gave him opportunity to have intense ministry into the lives of sailors on that boat. And then almost immediately after arriving in India, he and his wife were kicked out by the East India Company. These guys, all they can think about is money. And they think if missionaries come in, they're going to mess everything up. And they wanted to have their monopoly trade there. and so they're the governors in india and they say no you cannot be here we don't want any missionaries in this country he tries again and again he's constantly rebuffed so they just sneak into the country as soon as they land they get reported and uh... somebody tells them hey there is officers on the way to arrest you they flee to the ships uh... can't find any ships except going back to england but they know god's called into the east so they get on a ship going to rangoon uh... rangoon uh... burma and i'm sure Let me tell you what happened even before that. For four months, waiting before he gets onto the land, he tries to minister on the Isle of France. I forget, is it Mauritius or something like that? It's a different name for it now, but it's not France. But the Isle of France there was taken over by the British, and so he's ministering to the British soldiers there. But while they're there, Mrs. Hudson wrote, oh, when will my wanderings terminate? I'm sure Paul felt that way. We're just wandering. When are our wanderings going to terminate? We're constantly zigzagging back and forth. And that's the way it seemed to Judson. It was just an endless, you know, packing against the wind. And he was always very seasick and miserable. And yet, you know, the godly way he handled that without complaining was not only a testimony to the sailors, it's been a testimony to missionaries who've read that biography ever since. Tried to make it to Pulau Penang, arriving a month later. And this was the place, you know, where they have to flee so that they don't end up in chains or end up being sent back to England. And he goes into Burma. And so God uses all of these miserable delays, not only to divert him to Burma, where almost the entire Karen tribe is converted, but all along the way he is ministering to countless people. Their son wrote about this time with these words. He was reminded of the missionary Cuthbert who was sent to England, not by himself, he wasn't planning to go there, but by a storm. He wrote, it is related that the old English missionary, St. Cuthbert, was driven by a snowstorm along the coast of Fife. His companions complained, the snow closes the road along the shore, the storm bars our way over the sea. But, Cuthbert said, there is still the way of heaven that lies open. And I want to encourage you guys to believe that no matter how miserable your present circumstances might be, you are on the road ordained by heaven. And you're going to get to your Italy. You're going to get to your safe haven. God guarantees that you will get to the destination that He has intended for you. Now, here's the problem. Even though we know God's going to fulfill His purpose, Proverbs says, hope deferred makes the heart sick, right? And so we want to get to our Italy, and it just seems we're never getting there, so we feel sick. So here's the thing. We've got to appreciate the process just like we appreciate the destination. When my kids were younger and they used to travel with us, they were always saying, are we there yet? Are we there yet? You know, they could see we're driving. We're obviously not there yet. And so we're trying to get our kids to not think that way. And what we had to do is we had to get them to appreciate and enjoy the process of getting there as much as the destination. So we had to bring games and conversation, help them enjoy the scenery, read a book. I mean, there was different ways in which we tried to help them achieve a sense of satisfaction while they are going there. We need to do that as well as adults. Some of you are frustrated as all get out with all of the zigzags that God has put into your lives. And let me assure you, they are there for your good. They are there for your good. Here's what Exodus 18, 17 says. Then it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. That was the shortcut. For God said, lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt. He takes them a long route around. Why? They're not ready for war. They're not yet ready to be able to be maturely handling the difficulties God might bring to them. And so God wants to bring them to the position where they would be able to say what the missionaries I grew up with said. Where he leads me, I will follow. What he feeds me, I will swallow. You know, that second part was a lot harder for them because there was some nasty food sometimes that we missionaries had to eat there. But I love the way that verses 8 through 9 show how God never gives us more than we can handle. Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens near the city of Lacea. Now, when much time had been spent, et cetera. So because of the winds, they don't dare go out. They're stuck here at Fair Havens. But you know what? That gives Paul an enormous amount of time to rest. This is his furlough. God, it really, what a wonderful name, Fair Havens. This really was a fair haven for him. And it rested him up to be able to handle the next difficult challenge that he would be facing. No matter how dark things may appear to you, you too will reach your fair haven in God's good timing. Let me read you Psalm 107, verses 23 through 31, which I think so aptly sums up what we're talking about here. 23 through 31. Those who go down to the sea in ships who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. So God is saying that even the storm is under His control. They don't belong to Satan, they belong to God. Verse 25, For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves of the sea. They mount up to the heavens. They go down again to the depths. Their soul melts because of trouble. They reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits' ends. Then they cry out to the Lord in their trouble, and He brings them out of their distresses. He calms the storms so that waves are still. Then they are glad because they are quiet. So he guides them to their desired haven. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. We can thank God in the midst of the storm, not just because he can still the storm, but because he creates the storm. And it's a knowledge of that that can give us the boldness to sail against the winds, just like Paul did. Let me end by giving a quote that I can't track down to its source, but I like it. It's a good one. It says, kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. You know, you're running with a kite trying to get it up in the air. You're not going to run with the wind. You're going to run against the wind. And if you guys want to press upward into the upward calling that God has given us in Christ Jesus, you cannot despise and run away from the contrary winds that God brings your way. It was sailing against the wind that enabled Paul to bring encouragement to Sidon, plant a church in Myra, bring the gospel to 276 passengers and crew, win this centurion to Christ and who knows how many others through this centurion, to build his own character and to bring comfort and encouragement to countless people who have read this account in subsequent history. Nothing was wasted. This wind was not wasted. The time was not wasted. You know, they're frustrated decisions and purposes in verses 2 and 3. And not they're being distressed in verses 8 through 9. Not they're being frightened in verse 18. Losing almost all hope in verse 20. Okay? Even though we might prefer the soft, gentle breezes of verse 13. I mean, who doesn't? Even though we might prefer that. Do not despise God's contrary winds. Instead, learn to ride out the storm with a total faith in God that gives you joy and hope and confidence as you're sailing. Learn that even though you might lose your ship, in other words, you might lose your house, you might lose your car, you might lose a lot of it, you can never lose your soul. That's an encouragement. And learn how to fellowship with God. Be sustained by Him through it all. Amen. Father, thank You for Your Word. We thank You so much for the reminders and the encouragements that it brings to us. And I pray that we would indeed be sanctified and ready and given boldness and courage to sail against the winds when You call us to do so. Father, may we not complain when we enter into these contrary winds. May we not lose hope, may we not be so discouraged that we lose all faith, but may we by faith overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. And we pray all of this in Christ's name. Amen.