Take your Bible if you would please, we have a little bit of time. I'll try my best to not bore you to tears, to give you some things right from the Bible that I think is apropos for where we are today. A lot of thoughts of whether or not to give you comfort or try to help you to answer some questions that I don't know the answers to. I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, I couldn't tell you where the pandemic is going to go or what's going to happen. I personally am not enough of a Bible scholar to be able to look through the pages and give you some profound prophecy that would tell you that this is how the thing is going to end up. I have had this question come up repeatedly. And that is that many people are watching us during the storm. They're watching us during a time of difficulty. They're watching us during this great pandemic that goes on. This is what should separate us from everyone else. What should actually change us is that when this thing hits the world, they should look at us and not see panic-stricken faces and fear-mongering, nor should they see us taking great pride in the fact that, you know, kind of, well, we told you so, sort of a deal. The passage I would like to use today is Acts chapter 27. It's an older message that I have used before to preach some things that I'll maybe have some things you haven't seen before. But in Acts chapter number 27, if you would please just read with me for a few passages, or a few verses, verse number 9. Now when much time was spent, and when sailing was now dangerous, because the fast was now already past, Paul admonished them. And he said unto them, Sirs, I perceive that this voyage will be with herd and much damage, not only of the ladening of the ship, but also of our lives. Nevertheless, the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things which were spoken by Paul. And because the haven was not commodious, it wasn't convenient, it wasn't close by, it wasn't near, it didn't have all of the individual personal relics and things that they would like to have, the pleasures there, it wasn't commodious to winter in, the more part advised to depart thence also, if by any means they might attain from Phinehas. Notice He says, "...and there to winter, and the haven of Crete, and lieth toward the south, and the west, and northwest." And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, loosing fence, they sailed close by Crete. Father, would You please help us as we go over a very familiar passage of Scripture, but help us to mine out through the help of the Holy Spirit some things that will help us to know how to help others. as well as ourselves during a time of the storm. Help us, Lord, to keep ourself in check. Help us to realize, Lord, first and foremost, we need to do an individual inventory of our own personal life to make sure that we have things right between us and you. And then, Lord, might we also be used as an instrument, a shovel in your hand, a hoe or a rake in your hand, just something that might be able to be used to benefit other people. Lord, put a towel in our hand this morning and help us to wash the feet of others that are so fear-stricken and so panic-stricken right now, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. I'd like to say first and foremost, notice that Paul properly made the prediction that there was going to be trouble if they went down this path. In other words, Paul, who's not a sailor, but he'd been on enough boats to know he had already been shipwrecked before. He had been a day and a night in the deep. He had had some experience out on the seas. And though he was not an expert when it comes to sailing, and he didn't have any skin in the game when it comes to the cargo that was on the ship, Paul just said, hey, listen, don't be surprised here. We got a bad storm that's coming in. And what you might want to do is understand that even though it's just a short distance to where we want to go, because it'll be more commodious, it'll be more beneficial, it'll be more pleasurable to do that, there'll be great peril for us to get there. It was only about a day's journey from where they were to where they were going. But I want you to notice that 14 days later, they wind up in a place they never intended to go. The apostle Paul had some foresight, and guess what? He got overridden. Well, preachers have been overridden for years. We've said for years there's going to be difficulties, there's going to be problems, there's going to be things that are going to happen and take place. And now that things are beginning to take place, let us be careful not to have the I told you so attitude. Let us be careful that when the storm comes, understand we're in the storm with the other people and we shouldn't be gloating over the fact that some people are suffering and even dying because maybe it is part of God's judgment or getting man's attention as far as their own personal life is concerned. But here's where we need to be careful is, is what's God doing for us? What's God using this storm to tell us, those that are saved, individuals? Not that we should gloat over the unsaved being hammered right now. Not that we should gloat over the backslidden being punished right now. Not that we should take any pleasure, almost diabolically, some scheme as we sit there and gloat as Mengele would as people were tortured in front of him. He enjoyed watching people being punished. Let us not as Bible believers enjoy watching a nation go down or a world being punished because of their wickedness. Let's be careful to make sure that we turn inwardly and say, Lord, what about me? I want to notice or say, first of all, if you're going to help other people in storms, look in verse number 15. The Bible said, not long after there arose, verse 14, a tempestuous wind called a Eurycleidon. We would know it as a hurricane. And he said, when the ship was caught up, we couldn't bear into the wind, notice we let her drive. I've made this statement many times before, but oftentimes you don't realize and don't understand the storm that other people are in. You think you understand it, but you're on the outside looking in. Don't try to steer their ship in their storm. Don't try to tell them, well, this is what I would do. This is how I would handle it. This is the way you need to do this or do that. Pray for them, sure. Be there to help them any way you can, absolutely. But you don't know what storm they're in. And just because you've had an experience doesn't necessarily make you experienced enough to tell them how they ought to drive their ship. Can I say this about your own personal life? When you're in a storm, that's not the time to try to pick a GPS coordinate and say, well, I'm going from this place to this place. Because when you're in a storm, guess what happens? The coordinates don't matter. You're going to go where the storm decides to take you. God always, in the Bible, uses storms in order to take us places that we would not otherwise go. Paul winds up on the island of Melita because there's some people there that need some help there, and a snake that can't wait to get a bite out of him that's over there in Melita. Paul was never going there. Paul was on his way to Rome, but the Lord said, yeah, but you're going to go by here before I take you over there. You have to realize storms have a purpose in our lives. I was told by a meteorologist one time that one of the greatest things about hurricanes, and the lack thereof is, as he said, God uses hurricanes to flush the toilet. I said, I don't understand. He said, what that is, is the Lord brings it up and stirs up all the stuff in the ocean and takes all that stuff up and wrings it out through the clouds and filters all that stuff. He said, it's like a cesspool, it's God's cleaning agent. Well, sometimes God brings storms into our lives to clean some things up we wouldn't otherwise clean up. I don't know about you, but I've heard of a number of people that have kind of started to reconsider the importance or the emphasis that they had placed on things in their life, and because this has occurred, they've kind of started pulling things in a little bit and realizing, you know what? I need to maybe make some changes along the way. Number one, I would like to say this. Don't try to steer in the storm. Don't try to steer their ship in the storm. Here's number two. Be a Timothy to Paul. Be an Elisha to an Elijah. Watch what he says. Verse number 16, running under a certain island, they called Claudia. We had much work to come by the boat. I'll just say this briefly about it and move on. Storms reveal the weak spots in the boat. And there's a lot of work that has to be done in order for it to bear up. Verse 17, and when they had taken up, they used helps undergirding the ship. I have to stop there. Notice the word fear is there. You say, well, what are you supposed to do in the midst of a storm? You should be trying to help people. You should be trying to undergird people. You should be trying to strengthen people. You should be trying to help them, to hold them together. They used helps. That was ropes that they would run from the bow of the ship all the way underneath the bottom of the ship and bring it up to the stern, and they would tie that up until they literally wrapped that boat like a cocoon in ropes to try to keep that boat to be together. You know why the Bible said? It's because they were afraid. Whether you like it or not, and whether you want to be boisterous or bold or not, or whether you want to act like Braveheart, or you want to act like Rambo, or something during this particular time, nonetheless, people are fearful, people are afraid, people are acting whacked out, people are acting out of character, people are panicky, they're panic-stricken. You can yawn all you want to, but you have to understand, the people, ladies and gentlemen, that you're gathered around, they're scared. And what you need to do is be a help to those individuals. You need to be like Elisha was to Elijah, just pouring water on his hands. You need to be like Aaron and Hur was to Moses. Moses is up there on the mountain. He's an old man lifting up his hands. He has Aaron under one side and Hur under the other side, and therefore Joshua was able to get the battle done. One of the things you don't want to participate in is those things that would destroy helping them get over the problems that they have. They're scared. They don't know what to do. If you don't know what to do, then don't tell them that you know what to do. Don't act like you know what to do. Say, I don't know what to do, but let's pray until we find out what to do. But you know what happens oftentimes is that we forget that we're supposed to be an encouragement to individuals during times like this and help them not add to their load. Too often what we do is we begin to watch prophetic. And we watch too much of this stuff on TV, and too much of the stuff on the internet, and too much news junkies, and too many things coming through that are half-baked ideas and thoughts. And all that does is feed the flame. Look, I believe in the freedom of the press and the freedom of media. I don't believe in burning books and those things. But ladies and gentlemen, at some point in time you have to realize if you keep putting that stuff in your mind, you're feeding your anxiety. You're feeding your fear. You're not helping somebody by when you call them and you tell them, oh, guess what I just heard? I just heard 50 more people have it at so-and-so. Okay, but what about in your locale? What about where you are? What about what's happening where you are? All you did is just contribute to their panic. Let me say this, I would say secondly, to help strengthen them, undergird them, to try to encourage them, people need to be loved. I know that sounds nauseating coming from me, but they need to be loved in a storm. You're supposed to weep with them that weep and sit where they sat. The way you minister to people is not by screaming and yelling, you know, the sky is falling. The way you minister to people is, is that you stay right there with them when the storm comes. I'm not sure where this mentality came, but it's almost this idea of I'm going to try to escape, me and us four and no more, and I'm going to leave the people that I've been charged to minister to, I'm going to leave them on their own to fend for themselves. That's not leadership. That's cowardice. Leadership is, is I'm going to be here with you and we're not going to move faster than you can move. And if we wind up going together, we go together. But I'm not going to preserve my own self in order to just let you go. I'm going to stay with you. You say, well, that's what we're supposed to do. That's what a parent does. That's what parents do for kids. That's what friends do. And that's what family does. And what you should be doing now is, is not trying to utilize this as an opportunity to raise your reputation. This should be an opportunity for you to humble yourself and grab a towel and wash some feet. Help some people. Do some things for some people. Encourage some people. Strengthen some people. You might be surprised if you just give them a little help, a little bit of thing. They had a thing, and of course Zeke had already gotten old. That was our dog. I liked my dog. I loved my dog a lot. and he had him around for 16 years and stuff, but he couldn't stand loud noises. One of the greatest things that ever happened was when he lost his hearing, he couldn't hear the thunder or the firecrackers, but that stuff would scare him, he would just tremble and shake. And they had this thing, they said, if you get it, it's a thunder jacket or whatever, and you put it on him, and it wraps it around him really, really tight. and that makes him feel safe during the times of loud noises and stuff like that. Well, we didn't go buy a thunder jacket. It probably would have squished him in half by that time he was getting to being pretty old, but what Drina Lynn would do was go get a towel and she'd wrap him up in that towel and she'd just hold him real tight when all that thundering and stuff was going on. Later on, just sort of a funny story, he got where he couldn't hear anything. He always wanted to greet us when we came in the door. So he'd go lay down by the back door and put his back up against the door so that when we came in, we'd have to push him out of the way to wake him up because he wanted to be there when we woke up. But he got so deaf he couldn't hear anything. But here's the point. You know what it meant to that old dog to just have mama pick him up and just hold on to him during the storm, hold on to him during the thunder going off, and hold on to him 4th of July going off with fireworks, New Year's Eve, fireworks going off, just to have her holding on to him and feeling safe. You know what people need right now? They need to know that the church loves them. They need to know that Christians love them. They don't need to know that the church is here and that we're riding the horses of the apocalypse and that we're all for the pandemic and we can't wait for the world to get wiped out. That's just sheer foolishness. That's cowardice. That has to do with Hitlerism. That has nothing to do with ministry at all. But, lest I digress, let me move on a little bit quicker here. Notice what the Bible says in running under certain, where we have much work to come by the boat. And then He says, where they have taken up, they used helps, undergird, fearing, lest they should fall into the quicksand. So there are individuals that are afraid. Look at verse number 18. And being exceedingly tossed at the tempest the next day. Here's a tough one for you, ladies and gentlemen. They lightened the ship. That's a difficult thing. You say, why? Because generally speaking, when people are in trouble, we add to their trouble instead of taking away from it. Often times, I've been in hospitals, or I've had to be at funeral homes, and somebody has had a tragic loss in their life, and one of the things that transpires or takes place is, is invariably somebody walks in and says, this reminds me of the time when I, or you know, this is what happened to me, Well, now, I mean, this is really a sad thing, but, you know, I know when I lost Uncle Bobby, and the next thing you know, all you've done is just added to their trouble. I'm sorry you're sick, but you know, my corns is hurting me. I've been down in my back for a while, you know. I mean, I know you need money, but I've been out of work for a while. You're adding to what's already existing. And one of the things I'd like to encourage you to do is, is that right now people don't need anything added to their plate. There's economic fears and economic woes. They're worried about whether or not they're going to catch the virus, yeah, but are they going to be able to pay their bills? Are they going to have a job? Are the kids going to go back to school? Are they going to reset? Is this going to mess them up when they graduate without taking the SATs? What's that going to do for next year? And yes, some people are worried about because they put their whole heart into sports and all that. Oh my God, what's this going to do to me about my scholarship? And am I ever going to have a chance for the pros and all that? Well, none of them are playing now. I guess they'll have to get a real job maybe. I don't know. But that's up to you to decide what you want to do. But here's the point I'm trying to make to you is, try not to add to their load. Try not to inject yourself into their problem. Where when you're there to try to help them, don't you become part of the problem. You know, one of the things I learned years ago, and I had to be taught this because it's not natural, during hurricanes and stuff like that, and going through all these seminars that they sent us to, and all this preparation, storm preparation, and emergency evacuations, and all the stuff, and just school after school after school, hours and hours and hours of stuff. Here's the thing that they said consistently across the board, we have more people hurt trying to take care of people that refuse to listen and thereby add to the overall problem. than we do people that are actually injured by the storm itself. You know what the statistics were? More people were actually injured trying to go rescue people that refused to listen and became part of the problem as opposed to just doing what they were asked to do and then not having to send somebody in there after them. I know they always tell you and you're required to tell them, now if you get out there and you're on your own and if this happens and that happens and so on and so forth, we won't come get you. But unfortunately, I hate to tell you, they always still try to come get you. And you know what happens? The collateral damage oftentimes is the person coming to get you because you didn't have enough sense to listen, they become the statistic and you wind up walking away from it. All I'm suggesting to you is, ladies and gentlemen, don't add to their problems. Don't add to the difficulty of things by making this whole situation about you. And whether or not it's about your freedoms and your liberties, and whether or not it's the right to symbol, and whether or not it's a religious freedom and different things like that, don't become a part of the problem. Look in verses 19 and 20. That was real popular. It was very quiet there. You didn't even get a single amen even over the internet on that one. Look in verse number 19. In the third day we cast out our own hands the tackling of the ship, neither sun nor stars, and it appeared no small tempest lay on us. Watch, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. Can I say this about that? This is something you want to consider. Don't participate in their panic. Don't become a naysayer. Don't become nanny negative. or Nelly negative, or don't become, you know, the little chicken, the sky is falling. Don't become, you know, there's just no hope. Don't take hope away from people. You don't know the outcome of this. You can't speak just because you read it on one of your websites and you happen to think you know more than everybody else does, or you wouldn't run your mouth the way you do about it. Don't become that way. You don't know the answer. You don't have to say something. And if you can't say something positive, can you just keep your mouth shut? You know, well, negativity makes the world go around. Oh, okay, but this isn't the time for it. You don't know what the outcome of this is going to be. You don't know how many hundreds, thousands, millions, ten millions, or whatever is going to be affected by this. You don't know whether or not this is the proverbial end of the world as we know it and all the other kind of stuff that's getting jacked up and put out as fear porn everywhere in the world. Why would you participate in that stuff? There's no hope. The sun's out. Okay, they see there's no hope. You don't have to jump in on top of it. Bible believers jump in, and instead of having the great opportunity, like after 9-11, to help people, it's all this, you know, we're going to go get the raghead terrorists that killed us, and we're going to do this, and the world's going to break out in war, and this is going to be the end of everything, and you miss an opportunity to minister to people. That's what we're here for. We're not here to fight a war against an unseen enemy except the devil. We're here for the purpose, ladies and gentlemen, of trying to minister to people until the Lord calls us out of here, to see people get saved so that they can get on the ark and get out of here when we get ready to go home. You're saved. You shouldn't be participating in that. Okay, there's no hope. All right, well, thank God there's hope in Jesus Christ. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus Christ and righteousness. I'm not panicking like everybody else is panicking. I'm not all down because I can't go to my favorite hamburger joint, or I can't get a lobster, or I got to be inconvenienced, God forbid, I have to get a takeout, I can't sit in a restaurant, I can't go to a movie theater, I can't, not that I do anyway, I can't go to anywhere but Walmart. That's like being in the tribulation. I mean, I don't understand. It's like, hey, the hospitals are open, the grocery stores are open, and now you all got a vacation. And maybe even the government's going to pay for it, for all I know. But here's the bottom line. Don't participate in the naysaying, and the fear-mongering, and the panic that everybody else is in. That's for lost people to do. That's for backslidden people to do. Saved people should be able to say, well, the Lord's got it. You remember the story I told you several years ago when I was coming back from a plane trip, just a short one, wherever I came from out west, and then I landed in Atlanta, and I was coming from Atlanta to Jacksonville, and we were getting ready to go, and there was some kind of a downburst that took place there, and man, that plane fell, I don't know how many hundred feet really, really fast, and it was enough, I fly quite a bit, It got my attention. I mean, it scared me real good. And the captain flew around, you know, and then he said, we can't land. And they landed us in another spot and got us off the plane. And Mr. Big Shot was over there, Mr. Diamond Traveler, and why didn't you vector here and vector there and vector this and vector that? And, you know, the co-captain there stood up there and told co-pilot, he told the guy, he said, listen, if this captain who's been flying for years and years and years was a military pilot, if he said it couldn't be landed, it couldn't be landed. And the guy said, well, you know, I fly a lot and this and that and the other. And that co-captain said something real important. It was very profound. He said, there's a lot of difference in flying around and flying the plane. I thought, that's pretty smart. But at any rate, he's standing up there. He's arguing with the captain and stuff like that. And all these people are getting by. And finally, an old man tapped the guy on the shoulder. And he said, would you shut up and get out of the way? I've got to pee. They wouldn't let us off the plane first. I shouldn't have said that. Pardon me. Go to the bathroom. I'm sorry, cover your kids ears, I apologize, I shouldn't have said that. But at any rate, and so we get ready to go, we take back off there again, the thing gets going, and there's a kid sitting in the back right behind me, right back here, and him and his mom and his dad are sitting there. And the first time we got ready to go through that thing, the captain comes along there and the plane starts bouncing like it did the first time. And the kid got pretty anxious and got pretty excited about it and stuff like that. And his daddy said to him, he said, kids, he said, son, he said, don't you know that the captain's got it? And he explained to him about the captain flying it, and the captain's not going to let us be harmed or anything like that. Well, we flew around for a few more minutes and started coming back in on the final approach. And they came in a whole different way than I've ever come in before. And they're bringing the thing around. And man, that thing bounced around again. And that started falling out of the sky again. And I thought, man, we are going to go down. I said, go back to Atlanta. That's what I first thought. Just take us back to Atlanta. I'll drive home. I mean, it was that bad. And the lady behind me got real, real scared. She got real, real frightened and it just made her panic and stuff like that. And that little boy, he had on his belt there. He squiggled up out of that belt and he grabbed his mom by either side of the face and he looked right her in the eyes and he said, Mama, don't you know the captain's got it? Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to tell you right now that I realize this is an unprecedented time in our lives, and this country's been through depressions and wars and flu epidemics and things like that. We've never seen anything like this ever before. Nothing even compares to what we got going on. But you know what I know? I know the captain's got it. I know He knows what He's doing. I know He's got everything under control. I know you're His bride, and He'll take you out of here by death or rapture. Either way, it's to your benefit, so don't participate in their panic. Don't get caught up in, you know, but what if, and I don't know, and I'm not sure. I mean, look, if you feel like you need a hazmat suit, then get one. But don't be upset that everybody else doesn't decide to panic the way that some of you may be panicking. Relax, the Lord's got it. He'll take care of it for you. Look down, if you will, please, in verse number 21. I've got to pause just for a moment here. After a long absence, Paul stood forth in the midst of them, saying, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me, and not loosed from Crete, to have gained harm and loss. I want to say this about that real quick. So often I have heard this used as the Apostle Paul saying to them, I told you so. The Apostle Paul is not at all saying, I told you so. The Apostle Paul is simply establishing his credibility, his authority, saying, look, I told you this happened, and because this happened, you should know that I know now what I'm talking about. And so as a result of that, the apostle Paul says, listen, you should have listened to me. He's simply drawing their attention to, if I was right about that, I'm right about what I'm fixing to tell you. You should have listened to me. Now, will you listen to me now? It's important to understand Paul's not gloating over the fact they're in the storm. Remember, he's in the storm with them. Understand the apostle Paul is not flexing his muscles and doing a double bicep pose and saying, I told you you should have listened to me, and then hammering them like most independent Baptist preachers do. I told you I was right about that. Okay, you want a pen or a metal or a chest to pin it on? I mean, okay, you were right. Yeah, that's right, I was right. Okay, but that's not what Paul's saying at all. That doesn't fit what the apostle Paul's saying. Paul is saying to them, listen, I should have some credibility with you now, because I told you this was going to happen, and by the way, notice, before he even catches his breath, Look in verse 22, look in verse number 24, look in verse number 25. The Apostle Paul says, I've been down in the hold of the ship with somebody, talking to somebody, and I exhort you, I encourage you, I want to tell you, be of good cheer. Now, they're in the midst of a storm. By this time, they've been at it about 13 days in a storm. No sun, no moon, no stars, nothing to guide them with. No wind, the tackling's down. Everything else has been thrown aside there. You know what the Apostle Paul says to them? He said, I exhort you, be a good cheer. You know what people need right now? Some encouragement. Listen to some good sermons, listen to some good songs, listen to some good scripture verses. Turn to the verses, and turn to the verses where the Lord says that they wait upon the Lord, shall mount up with wings of eagles, they will run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint. Listen to those kinds of verses that give you the encouragement. The ones that talk about having your mind stayed on the Lord, because He said, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee. Keep your mind on Jesus Christ. You say, Preacher, you're just trying to be Mr. Positive. No, I'm saying in a very negative world it doesn't hurt to be positive. It doesn't hurt to encourage people. I'll get you some good illustrations or some stories that have an encouragement to them. Think about the end of this, folks. The worst case scenario is we have to stay here longer. The best case scenario is by death or rapture we go to the house. And that's good for a Christian. Paul said, for me to die is gain, but for me to live is Christ, so I'll do it if that's what He wants me to do, but if He'll let me have the chance to get out of here, I'd just as soon get out of here. I'm not looking to make up a load today, but if the Lord takes me today, my problems are over, my difficulties are over. Why shouldn't I live like it doesn't matter to me unless I'm so heavily invested in the world in which I live that my life is crumbling based upon all the material possessions and my activities around me. Why would a Christian be so upset to have those physical things, those frivolities taken away that we have enjoyed for so long, and yet many of us are at the point of saying, you know what, I don't even want to go to church anymore, God took away all my playthings. God took away all my toys. God took away all my liberties. We had them for a while. You enjoyed them for a little bit. Maybe it's just time to realize that He's helping us to get our mind back on what's important. Our minds are too easily distracted from that which is spiritual and turn to that which is down here on the earth, earthly things. It's sad to say that Christians get really upset and get very distraught over the fact that they're losing material freedoms. and material possessions and things like that. And now all of a sudden the Lord's like, okay, well, can't do much with that if you're laying in a hospital on a respirator. The apostle Paul said, I exhort you, I encourage you, be of good cheer. Paul comes out in Max chapter number 28, when he gets over there in just a little while, when he comes out and he's standing there preaching, you know what he says? He says, I've been in prison. And guess what he says? He said, I think myself happy. Don't tell me a positive mindset doesn't matter. I'm really worn out with, oh my God, what's going to happen next? I really don't know. I take it one day at a time right now. I watch just enough of the news to see what I need to know that affects me here locally. I'm not trying to make some kind of a political worldwide statement. I'm not trying to make a statement for the whole Bible believers in the United States. I'm trying to take care of the people that the Lord's given me the privilege of being a pastor over. I'm trying to minister to a few people that may log in and watch us here and there. I'm trying to just do what I can do to maintain my relationship with the Lord and help them along the way. You say, why? Well, that's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to be here to help. We're supposed to guide them, not participate in their panic and then say, I told you so, this is what happens and you don't listen to me, this is all your fault. Listen ladies and gentlemen, this pandemic is not someone else's fault. That fault-finding, that blaming somebody else for why we're in the state we're in, that's a weak, that's a mild-mannered Christian. The bottom line is, is you guess what? We got the problem, and we have to deal with the problem. You can take time to blame somebody a little later on, but even if you could have fixed the blame, it's not going to change anything. I hope you're staying with me. Probably time to go to the bathroom or maybe get you some more hot chocolate and change out those footie pajamas. Maybe you're having a sweat, but I'm just getting started up now. Notice what the Apostle Paul says here. He's talking to the Lord and he wants to point them to the Lord. Now watch verse number 27. The fourteenth night was come and was driven up and down the Adria. About midnight, the shipmen deemed that they drew near some country. They sounded 20 fathoms. A fathom is 6 feet, so 1 fathom is 6 feet, so 20 fathoms, that would be 120 feet. I think in just a little while they found it to be 15 fathoms, that would be like 90 feet. So they know they're getting closer to the shore. Now here's the thing that starts to come up in this particular part of the message. It's very important for you to grab a hold of it. Right when they're getting ready to get close to the shore, they have an opportunity for certain individuals who are self-serving and they're all about themselves. They're wishing for day to take place there. Notice what happened. The shipmen were about to flee out of the ship when they let down their boat to the sea under the color as though they would cast anchors in the foreship. Now they've already put some anchors out in the back to try to keep the thing from driving on to the beach there or on to the reef there. But you know what happens? There are some individuals that are all about themselves. There are some individuals that could care less about who else gets off the boat. All they want to do is save themselves. They're supposed to be there to help other people. They're the shipmen. They're the ones that are taking care of the ship. You know what they're going to do? They're going to jump off the ship. and leave untrained individuals to try to man the ship while they preserve themselves. Boy, are you seeing that happen nowadays. Boy, are you seeing people turn inward. And boy, are you seeing people be selfish. And boy, are you seeing people holding on to their own things and their own stuff and making sure that we can escape. Now, it's under color. That's the trick of looking like they're putting out anchors. But the fact is, you know what they're doing? They're dropping a lifeboat overboard. I don't know why it is, but during times like this, you know what you're going to find? You're going to find a lot of people that want to jump ship that shouldn't jump ship. But some people are going to want to jump ship during a time like this. They're looking for the excuse and have been looking for it for a long time, and now they're going to use, like they're using their head to say, well, I better not go to church anymore because I might catch something. Trying to escape under color of putting out the anchors, something that'll bring stability. Trying to escape looking like they're being hyper-spiritual, but they're ditching people and ditching their responsibility, and they don't care about anything but self-preserving rascals. They're saving themselves. Well, the Apostle Paul has enough sense to see through that. And here's something I'd like to emphasize, and I've emphasized it many, many times before. But the Apostle Paul doesn't go to try to correct them. You know why? Because Paul knows he has no authority with those shipmen. You know what Paul does? He goes and appeals to the same man he appealed to in the first part of our story. He goes and appeals to the centurion. The centurion didn't listen to him before, but Paul recognizes the chain of authority, the chain of command. And Paul doesn't go try to tell those guys what they ought to do. He didn't have any clout with them. You know what he does? He said, I'm going to talk to their boss. Which reminds me, if you're a pastor, if you're a preacher, if you're a Christian trying to help somebody else, you have to understand, ladies and gentlemen, sometimes it's above your pay grade. And I don't mean to be harsh or rude with you, but sometimes you don't know everything there is to know about what's going on. And just because you're a pastor doesn't mean that you're supposed to know everything. You're supposed to have enough sense that if you don't know the answer, you can point to somebody else that does. Or that you have enough sense to go consult with somebody who's got more experience than you. The very idea of a 20-year-old trying to tell people what to do about life and marriage and things like that when they haven't even had any life or marriage. You say, well, that makes sense. You'd rather have a 20-year-old doctor, a 40-year-old doctor, or a 50-year-old doctor. You'll take the 50-year-old. You say, why? Experience. Experience. You know what Paul does? Paul does something we don't do. Paul recognizes he's not the answer to everything. He's not the bride at the wedding, the corpse at the funeral. He's not the center of attention, the pinnacle of the temple, the poster child for I've got the answer to everything. Paul's in touch with God. Paul spoke to God. And yet Paul understands that sometimes you know what you need? You need a doctor to give you answers. You need a lawyer to give you answers. You need some other person to give you answers that you don't know what the answer is. Sometimes you have to have enough courage to admit, I don't know! I don't know what to tell you to do. I'm just a preacher. Sometimes you have to claim the ignorance that you know you have. You're not required to do it. Some of you are going to get in trouble one day because you're recommending all this stuff. You won't be any better than Jim Baker recommending some kind of bottle of silver stuff he's selling, saying, oh, well, it kills the virus. I wonder how many people drank the thing, thought it killed the virus, and died of the virus. You can't make a statement like that. Take a little bit of bat and wing and newt or whatever it might be and have a little peroxide or try this or try that or whatever if that's what you want to do. But you've given that for advice to somebody? Well, how about the repercussions of giving bad advice? Here's a good one for you. How about you giving legal advice? How about you giving divorce or marriage advice? You have to live with the repercussions that you just dumped on somebody, and maybe their marriage winds up a wreck, maybe their kids wind up prodigals, because you just felt like you had to put in your two cents worth. Why couldn't you just say, I don't know, ask somebody that does. Ask the preacher. If he don't know, he'll tell you somebody to talk to. Paul knew that sometimes you have to appeal to a higher authority than yourself. And Paul also knew, as smart as he was, Philippians chapter number 3, he doesn't know everything. Nobody knows everything about what's going on. I'm preaching the Bible to you this morning. Why? That's all I know to tell you that I can help you with is the Bible. I don't know what will be the cure for your respiratory ailment today, or for whatever the virus is. Do what they tell you to do. That's their area of expertise. That's not my area. When it comes to governmental things and stuff like that, you better be very, very careful about trying to take it upon yourself to all of a sudden think you've become the expert in civil liberties. And at someone else's expense, you exalt your reputation and you ride off in a full gallop while you put endangered people around you because they can't take your rights. Boy, what an arrogant, obnoxious donkey you are. You can fill in the blank any way you want to. That's not leadership. That's a coward that doesn't know anything about what he's doing. You're like Howard Yellowhair, Custard, Stuart Custard, going over there and they get ready to go to Little Bighorn. And those boys load up the Gatlin guns, they're getting ready to load up the Gatlin guns, and instead they take off at a full gallop and Custard hollers at them famous last words, hold on there boys, there's plenty of Indians for everybody. And they leave the Gatlin guns behind. and they get out there and Custer didn't realize they were riding at a full gallop and he thought they were experienced horsemen and he didn't realize it was because they were untrained and couldn't handle the horses. And they got over there and they got slaughtered. You know why they got slaughtered? Because they got in too big of a hurry. And some people are doing that nowadays. You're jumping to all kinds of conclusions, and getting into all kinds of conspiratorial things, and, well, I just think this is probably, and this is going to be it, it'll be the mark of the beast, and then will be this, and then will be that, and changing your doctrinal position now to fit the sign of the times. Well, if that's the case, you should have changed it in 1918 when the flu pandemic hit, or in 1914 when World War I broke out, or in the 1930s and 40s when World War II was here, or when Vietnam was around, or when the Holocaust took place. You can make that change from now on. You jump around, you make people uncomfortable because you're constantly changing your position. You know what Paul said? He said, hey boss, I just want to let you know, if they get in those boats, they're going to die and there's going to be a lot more that are going to follow after them. You say, why? Collateral damage. They need the shipmen because of where they're headed. They need you to stay put. Put your roots down. Have a little bit of intestinal fortitude. The old preacher used to say testicular fortitude. You can fill that one in later. But have enough ability, a backbone, to stand your ground! And don't be panicked and ready to run and ready to point the finger at somebody and all that. You don't have to have the answers. I'm praying, I'm asking God. All I know is right now, what are we doing? What we're doing today? What are we going to do tonight? Run another service. What about after that? We'll see after that. That's all I can tell you to do. I don't mean to be hard on you. I realize times are difficult and hard, and I'm trying to be an encouragement to you. But ladies and gentlemen, sometimes you have to realize there's some things that are beyond your pay scale, and there's some things that you need help with, and that goes for whether it is your marriage, that goes for whether it is your business, and that goes for even your spiritual life that you need sometimes to go to somebody that's a better example to you. Let's hurry up here. Well, shoot, man, I'm doing really good. I forgot we didn't have no singing today. Notice the Bible says, under the color of darkness, verse 31, Paul said to the centurion, except you abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. And the soldiers cut off the rope from the boat, and that would remind me just to say, make sure you cut off things before they drown you. Don't be around these people that are just always dragging you down. You know, you're having a good day, and they say you're ugly and your mama dresses you funny. Right now in the day and time in which you are, a little bit of sarcasm goes a very long way. People are on edge. They're nervous. You're just adding to their problem. Be positive. Be kind. Notice what Paul does here. I like this. Paul said, I tell you what we're going to do, boys. He said, now that everybody's on board, he said, let's eat something. They haven't eaten for 14 days. It's not just because they're trying to fast to be spiritual. The water, the waves, the wind, the hurricane and all that is so rough. They can't eat. They can't sleep. They're doing everything they can not knowing what moment the next one will be their last moment. And Paul says, you know what, let's get some bread out and let's sit down and eat. You know what's a good thing for you to do to help other people? There's two things here, two applications. Number one, Dad, if you're at home, your kids, your wife, you know what they need? They need spiritual nourishment during a time like this. They need to know that God's got things under control and that you're not panicked by it. Don't let your kids see you panicking, wringing your hands, wetting your diaper. I just don't know, I'm just not sure what we're going to do and how we're going to do it. Don't let them see the panic on that. Be a leader in your home. Be the trendsetter. We got this. Don't be nonchalant, but don't be a panic. Don't be panic-stricken. But then also, He says, you know what, give them something to eat so it's not just spiritual. Give them something physical. Sometimes when people are sick and sometimes when people are going through things, you know, we have a custom in the South here that when somebody dies, we take them food. And I know that people don't understand that, but there's nothing like comfort that gives you comfort more than being able to have food, to be able to break down and have a meal with somebody, to be able to have that fellowship one with another. I recommend that when it comes to a time or a storm in life and maybe you have to set aside your dietary practices and come off a keto for a moment or two and have a bowl of ice cream, as low-carb as possible, but at any rate, sometimes you know what you need to do, you just need to sit down and have a little something to eat. If you're trying to help somebody, take them a bowl of vegetable soup or take them something to eat and try to encourage them, give them something to eat. Now notice Paul doesn't have them just gorge themselves because they threw the rest away because a little bit goes a long way. When you're going through stress and strain and troubles a lot of times, and I know especially with what we went through last year, there's times because of what you're going through you just don't really feel like eating. But then there's times where you have just an appetite for just a little bit of one of your favorites. And it kind of tends to brighten your day a little bit. So there's a two-fold application, even for us as preachers. The Apostle Paul, or Peter, is told by the Lord, he said, Peter, do you love me? Lord, I love you. Feed my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I love you. Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Lord, you know I love you. Feed my sheep. Why does he say that? He says, feed the lambs, feed the sheep, feed the sheep. You say, why? That's the most important thing we can do right now of everything I've mentioned to you is feed the sheep. Don't feed them with headlines. I'm just suggesting to you, gentlemen, if you're listening to me today or you listen to this, don't feed them with headlines. Don't feed them with anti-war, anti-government stuff. Don't feed them with our Patriot Act and the rights that we have and the right to bear arms. Don't feed them. That doesn't meet their nourishment or their necessary requirements. They need a diet that has spiritual substance to it. Give them the Bible. Don't be such a cheapskate and a sellout that you go to the headlines of a multitude of different news wires and news services and you preach a sermon on the president, or you preach a sermon on the government, or you preach a sermon on Congress or the Senate. Look, I'm as patriotic as anybody. Unlike some of you, I spent over 20 years of my life being willing to lay my life down for that. I believe in all that stuff, but there's no place for it in the pulpit. And I know we just probably dropped 200 people off the internet right there. Well, I just think, you know, you see you're too locked and loaded in the here and now. Give them something spiritual. You know what people need right now? They need to get reconnected with the Lord. Saved people need to get reconnected with the Lord. How do you know? I can tell by their reactions. I can tell where their mind is. I can see. You say, what do they need? They need something to eat. Not just physically. Isn't it interesting that one of the first things they did was they closed the restaurants and the bars? Don't you find that interesting? Don't you find that sort of an amazing thing? That the first thing they do is they say, you know what we need to do? We need to stop these people from congregating for the purpose of eating. Well, guess what happened in the church? The devil's for a long time been trying to disrupt the food chain. I told you in Sunday school this morning, that thing about food is connected all throughout the Bible. And so you know what we need to do? We need to give them, number one, spiritual food. Number two, bring them some physical food. Give them something they like. I know some of you probably like those green drinks and stuff like that, but I hate to tell you this, when you're really hungry, a green drink just doesn't do it. Bring them a steak or something like that. Alright, notice what he says in verse number 35. And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and broken it, he began to eat. Two things there. Number one, it's not the Lord's Supper, but two things that you want to grab a hold of there. Number one, he's thanking God for the bread they have in the midst of a storm. I think that's profound as far as his testimony is concerned. That in spite of the storm, he's still pausing to thank God for the minuscule things like bread in the midst of a storm. And Paul's eating there with them. He's a part of it. He's participating with them during the storm. He holds up that bread. I don't think he's thanking God just for the bread. I think he's thanking God for the storm. Because Paul's already been told that he's going to make it off of that ship. Do you ever thank God for what's going on right now? He said, in all things and everything give thanks. He said, Preacher, that's ridiculous. That's what He said in the Bible. This is the will of God and Christ Jesus concerning you. And all things give thanks. That's what He says. Okay, if that's the case, would I thank Him for that? Yeah, the Lord's going to make a mess out of this whole thing around here, but eventually, you know what will happen? He'll make something good out of this. at least for a Christian will be. The apostle Paul now gets ready. They throw the rest of the food overboard, indicating they're not planning on staying any longer. And then they get ready to go. When they had eaten enough, they lighten the ship. They cast the rest of the wheat into the sea. Hope you're still with me. Verse number 38, you that's on the couch with your feet propped up on the end, just roll off the couch there and wake up. And then notice what happens. They turn loose of the ship there in verse number 40 and 41. They had taken up the anchors. They committed themselves into the sea and loosed the rudder bands and hoisted up the mainsail in the wind, which I might say would be a difficult task because they had already thrown the tackling off, and the ship runs aground. Now you've got to give me just a second here to get a hold of that, because first of all, they were in a stable place, a stable position, and when they realized there's a little bay here for them to go into, They recognized, I've got a chance to pull in there and I might be able to make it and even save the ship for that matter, but I've got to be able to get there. But the waves and the wind had overpowered them from being able to visually see the reef that they were about to hit. The Lord had already told them the ship was going to come apart. But you know how we are, we think that maybe we've got a way around it. And so they go ahead and loose the rudder bands, they loose those anchors, and they turn loose of the rudder, and now they've got steerage, and now they're starting to steer it, and they've hoisted the mainsail by hand, and that wind is now behind them, and it's pushing them at breakneck speed toward what they believe is going to be a safe haven, and that thing runs into those rocks, and it begins to come apart. And it's being torn to pieces. Now I don't know about you, I've never been in that bad of a situation. I know a lot of years ago we were out on a fishing trip a lot of years ago and it got real still and fish were hitting all over the creation and things were going so good and we got so busy catching so many fish and having just a great time, we didn't recognize that all around us a real bad storm had come in there. And I know that we started kind of getting a little because all of a sudden the boat went from being almost completely flat to it starts doing this and the next thing I know he's got it in high gear and we're rolling in the gear and stuff like that and we're getting ready to head back in. There was another Mako that was running right beside us, a 27 footer I think it was, and a 36 foot Chris Craft over here that was running. in the same direction and they'd disappear. The waves were so big they'd disappear, including the tops of their outriggers, and then they would come back up and go back down. One of those waves hit the front of the bow of that thing and literally just a deluge of water came across that, went all inside the hatch, all inside the boat, and all in things and stuff back there to the pilot area, the pit area back there where the captain's chairs are. And I thought to myself, Doreen Lynn was with me and her dad was with me at the time and a bunch of other people, I thought to myself, I didn't really think I wanted to go this way, but it sure didn't look like it was going to change. And we're running in between those waves, and then trying to face them, and then go, and then have that fall, and then that thing go all the way down and come back under. And we finally do get inside the jetties there and get a little bit of break from the storm. And the cross guard cutter is going out, and they stop us and said, you know, we thought you were the one that turned over, because the boat that we were running inside over there capsized in the waves. I don't know if you can imagine what it must have been like even for these sailors and for these prisoners. Because you know what he says? He says, the ship's coming apart. Now I've got to show you one more thing here and I'm almost done. You know what happens? Those Roman soldiers say, well you know something? If we're going to come apart in a ship, you know what's going to happen? Our prisoners are going to escape and they're going to take our life for it. So let's go ahead and kill the prisoners so that we can have our own life if we manage to make it to the shore. Once again, you see human nature rise to the top. I don't care what happens to anybody else as long as I survive, even in a time of horrible tragedy where you should be saying, every man for himself and do the best you can to make it to the beach. And instead, all they're thinking about is, well, if I survive, if my prisoner escapes, they're going to kill me, so let's just kill the prisoners. Well, you know what happens in the story. I'm sure you don't know any Christians that way who think of themselves at a time like this instead of others. who don't care who they kill and who they hurt and who they destroy, long as they stay alive, long as they keep their reputation in line, long as their political agenda gets heard, and long as they can use the pulpit for their own prejudices and for their own preferences. I'm sure you don't know anybody like that. But at any rate, the captain of the ship there, the centurion, he says, no, I don't want you killing anybody. He says, as a matter of fact, those of you that can swim, I want you to jump in first. Now the story gets good. You say, why? That's a good time for a Christian to jump in there. It's a good time for you to be the leader that jumps in. You're not panic-stricken. You jump in and lead the way and help people during the last moments here. You don't try to kill your prisoners. You try to save your prisoners. You don't try to show them by, I'm jumping in the water and I'm headed out of here. You jump in the water to set an example for them. You may be the one that might be holding the pieces of the ship for somebody that can't swim. You know what that Bible says? That Bible says, and they jumped in and those people that couldn't swim, which is an odd thing. They're on a ship. You would think everybody on a ship should know how to swim. Maybe some of them are prisoners. I would think maybe so, but probably a lot of that Roman garrison that was traveling, 276 souls on board that boat, I would imagine some of those Roman soldiers didn't know anything about swimming. But you know what? He said, those of you that can swim, you go in the water first and the rest of you, when this ship comes apart, you take the pieces of the broken ship and you hold on to it and you float until your feet hit the sandy beaches over there and we'll take care of you on the other side and then you get into Acts 28. Preacher, what's the meaning of all the stuff you told me today? It's how to help other people in a storm that's unprecedented. Your nation's in a Euroclidon right now. Your churches are in a Euroclidon right now. Families are in a Euroclidon right now. They're in a hurricane. There's turmoil. I don't care who it is, nobody has the answers to what's going on or where it's all going to come out. All I know is, the captain of the ship's got it. And all I can tell you to do is, is try to help as many as you can help until the storm is finally over. We'll get to the beach eventually. When's it going to be? I don't know. I heard one preacher say, we will get through this. Oh, okay. And how do you know that? You can't say that. We will get through that. Well, that's positive. I believe in being positive. But you can't say that. I'll tell you what we will do. We will go through this. We will see what we can do with this. But whether or not we come out of this, I say this, whatever happens, we will forever be changed. Life as you knew it ten days ago. will not be the same ever again. Sure, there may be a reset. I have no idea. I don't know what the length of this thing is going to be or where it's going to be. But here's the thing. But what if tomorrow is your last day on earth? Will what's happening on earth right now really matter to you? Will it really make a difference in eternity? Whether or not we lasted another week, a month, or ten years? Will that have an impact on eternity? Only if what we do during this time we seize as an opportunity to help other people. People are scared and we shouldn't be. And people are panicked and we shouldn't be. And we should be praying for each other and we should be praying for all the people that are involved in trying to come up with an answer. We should also be introspective. Paul's long enough to recognize or to realize we could face Him tomorrow. And if that's the case, Acts 27 lays out how I can help other people in a storm. Heavenly Father, I thank You for Your many blessings. I thank You, God, for how good You've been to us. Lord, I pray for not just my folks that are here in this church, but churches all across the country, Pastors all across the country, people who are unknown and uncertain, don't really have direction, don't have experience, don't know much about leadership. God give them wisdom of Solomon. Help them to know what to do in their families, even the husbands or the single mothers. The older, elderly folks that don't have anybody that are there. Adrenaline's dad who's over there by himself and can't get in to visit him because of the lockdown. Would you stabilize him, be with him, be with his mind, be with her mind, be with the minds of the people that are panic stricken, that are worried, that are concerned, and help us to have the peace that you promised us if we keep our minds stayed on you. be with all of our military people and National Guard and first responders and doctors and nurses and people across the country that are doing the only thing they know how to do and what to do. And as our paths cross with them, help us to be a help and encouragement and not add to their trouble or their problems. Lord, help us as a body, as the body of Christ, to not make this about us. Help us not to turn the spotlight on us. Use this as an opportunity to sort of have our way about certain things. But help us, Lord, to help others during this time of tragedy. We have something they don't. And pray God that you might give us wisdom to know what to do here locally as well as worldwide. We look for you in these matters and we'd ask for wisdom from above. Please help those that are sick and those that are struggling. We pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ.