What Do We Do When Trouble Comes Part 3

Pastor Mike will be speaking on What Do We Do When Trouble Comes Part 3 . He will be reading out of Acts 27-1-44.

And you may not immediately see the results, but you know that God in heaven is standing up on his throne, and he is applauding every one of his servants, and he has not forgotten your good work on his behalf. And so let us, church, serve other people. Hello. This is pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church, and we are delighted to have you on Hopeworth having broadcast. And today, we’re gonna be in acts chapter 27, and we’re going to be finishing up our series, what to do when trouble comes.

So let’s grab our bibles, and let’s begin to study this morning. Want you to take your Bible and join me in Acts chapter 27 in the New Testament. We have been studying a series entitled, What to Do When Trouble Comes. The apostle Paul in chapter 27 ventures out onto a sea voyage. He is a prisoner on this ship, and he is being taken to Rome, Italy.

And there he is to stand before Caesar and to give an account and to give testimony of some of the accusations that are brought before him. What is it that the apostle has done that has upset so many in the world at this time? He has simply preached and taught the gospel of Jesus Christ. But wherever he has gone to teach the bible, to teach the wonderful good news of Jesus, there have been riots. There has been pushback.

There have been those who’ve been very upset. And so he has stood before religious courts, political courts, and now he is to stand before Caesar and to give an account. And as we have been going through this chapter Acts 27, we have been learning what do we do when trouble comes into our life. On this voyage, he encounters a violent storm, and this storm creates tremendous problems for those that are in the ship. And so we’ve already learned, first of all, that we should always spend time with God.

You know, one of the mistakes we make when trouble comes in our life is we tend to neglect our faith. We tend to kinda back away in our spiritual life. But the most important thing you can do is not to see God as an enemy, but to see Him as your refuge. To run to Jesus and look to Him when you are in trouble. But the second thing that we’ve already learned is that we should lift up others.

The apostle was not a negative person. He was not a person who was always claiming that somehow the sky was falling and everything was falling apart, but rather just the opposite. He was a person who tried to lift up, to encourage, midst of trouble, in the midst of every challenging circumstances in your life is not to focus on self and woe is me and have a self pity party, but rather to begin to lift up others. To always dig deep in your heart knowing that somehow, some way God is at work, and that your job is not to be a person who discourages others, but someone who is always encouraging to others. Now the third thing that we had learned was that we are to listen to God’s wisdom.

When we face trouble, sometimes we turn off our listening skills, and we tend to only think about or listen to what we’re thinking about. And I want to remind you of something that’s very important in your life. So important I would encourage you to write it down, and that is simply this, everything that you think and believe is not true. Everything that you feel in your heart is not always true. There have been times that maybe I thought something, and that in my anxiety or in my frustration, certainly it was never true, but from the way that I saw it, it was.

Or maybe a feeling, an emotion that I had as a result of maybe a person or as a result of a circumstance in my life, and it turns out those feelings were not accurate. And I want you to know that the most accurate and truthful thing in your life that needs to speak into your life is God’s wisdom. It is God’s truth. Everything that Mike believes and thinks is not always true, And that is also true for your life. So always make sure that you vet or filter your thoughts through the word of God.

Make sure that you vet and filter your feelings through the word of God and listen to God’s wisdom. That’s exactly what the apostle did. Last week we learned that number four, we’re to believe in God’s promises. How wonderful are God’s promises? In verse 25 of this chapter, we are reminded that God gave a promise to the apostle, and he reminded the apostle that they are going to make it.

They’re gonna be saved from this disastrous violent storm that has come upon them in their voyage, And the apostle has shared that with all who are on this ship, and he has reminded them that we are to believe the promises of God. I want you to hang on to this, and that is simply this, that God keeps his promises, and we should always trust those promises. Now there are times in my life that the circumstances are so difficult, it’s hard. It’s hard to move forward in life, but let me encourage you to hang on to the promises of God, because in the promises of God, you will find strength and courage to move forward in your faith, and so let’s believe in those promises. Now today, I wanna talk to you about the last three principles of what do we do when we are in trouble, and we’re gonna be beginning in verse 27 in the chapter today, and we encourage you to take time to read through this whole chapter so you can get full context to everything that is being taught, but we want you to remember that we have to stay on track.

Now let’s look at verse 27 of chapter 27 of the book of Acts. Now when the fourteenth night had come, remember they are in a very disastrous situation, and when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the sea about midnight, the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land, and they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms. And when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be 15 fathoms. Then fearing, lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off. Now let’s understand what’s going on here. Remember the apostle has received a promise from God, and God is saying that if you stay together, you’re going to survive, and you’re gonna be okay, and you’re gonna get to land, and everything’s gonna work out. And all of a sudden what we find is there is a group that begins to sense that they are nearing land. And for one group, it is an idea of fear because they’re thinking, man, what if we crash into the rocks?

And what if this ship is destroyed even further and we were to drown? And there’s another group on the ship that’s saying, hey, we’re near land. Let’s just bail out and swim to the shore and do our best to make it. So each of them are putting together their own plans and their own schemes to do what they feel like is best. The apostle Paul steps in and he reminds the centurion who is the leader, who is responsible for many of the prisoners that are on this ship that, hey, we gotta stick together and we gotta stay on track, and we can’t disassemble here and we can’t move away from the promise of God and the plan of God or else we’re not gonna make it.

And Paul reminds them that if you stay together, then you will survive. But if you disband and you begin to work in your own way or get off track and do your own thing, it will lead to disaster in your life. And so the centurion at first, here Paul is one of his prisoners. He has a lack of trust in Paul, but in the midst of this storm, Paul has stepped up and proven himself to be a man of courage and faith and leadership. And so now the centurion is listening to the apostle, and he begins to call the men to work together and to stay on track and to finish out what God is doing here in that he wants us to stay on track.

Now I thought about that in our own personal life. There are times we get distracted, isn’t there? And you might wonder why people get distracted. And I thought of a few things. First of all, people are going through transitions in their life, and it gets them distracted on the purpose and the plan God has for them, and even the promises that God has.

There are times you say, look, you know what? I’m gonna break away, do my own thing, and I’m going to just kinda figure this out on my own, but God is teaching us that we can certainly do a whole lot more together than we could ever do separately, and that if we would corporately stay together, and be a part of what God is doing, and bringing people into a relationship with Jesus Christ, if we would band together, stay strong as a team, together everyone accomplishes more. And that is so important for us that when we are going through different transitions in life that we not lose focus and get distracted from the purpose and the plan God has in in our life. But the second reason that we get distracted is because of our own triumphs. Yes, God uses our life, we have success, we get promoted, we accomplish a few things, we’ve got some experience under our belt, And it’s easy to forget that God has blessed us, and God has provided for us, and God has smoothed the way for us that we might achieve what he has called us to do.

But yet so often we get our focus on ourself and we begin to pound our chest and we say look at me, look what I did, look what I accomplished. How many times have I as a pastor seen someone come to Christ who hardly had 2 nickels to rub together and they could barely make it in life, but all of a sudden God blessed them in many ways, and they began to do very well. And as soon as there was a little bit of money in their bank account, they forgot about God. They forgot about His blessings, and they forgot how he gave them the skills and the health to be able to think through and do all that they have accomplished through his grace. And so friends, let’s not forget that God is the source of all that we have, and God is the strength of everything that has been accomplished in our life.

And we don’t need to give credit to ourselves, but we always need to give praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see? Some people can’t handle prosperity. They can’t handle advancement in their life because it becomes about them rather than bringing glory to God, and they get distracted in their faith. Another way that we get distracted is through our troubles and our trials.

Trials come into our life, and all of a sudden we begin to look inward instead of upward. We begin to think about our emotions and our struggles and all that we’re dealing with in our life, and as a result, we no longer are looking to God as a refuge and a strength, and we get distracted, and we get off track, and we begin to go our own way instead of looking to Jesus Christ. I wish as a pastor that I could somehow convince all of those who love Jesus Christ and follow Him faithfully that trouble will come your way, but do not let it pull you away from your relationship and your fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Church, you’re gonna have trouble, you’re gonna have trials. I wish I could protect all of you from all the sorrows and the sufferings of life, but it’s impossible.

We live in a flawed world. We live in a world that is sinful. We live in a world, and I hate to tell you this, but it’s filled with people who are selfish. But friends, we cannot give up. We have to keep moving forward, and we can’t be distracted.

What are ways that’ll help me to stay on track? Number one, I would write the word patience. I would encourage you to be patient. As I’ve told you before, I’ve often been asked, should I pray for patience, pastor? Well, it’s the fruit of the spirit.

And patience is not the idea that I simply tolerate everything, but patience is the idea that I continue to endure even under pressure. That I just won’t quit. God teaches us that we’re to be faithful. And I always tell people it’s too soon to quit. And the Bible promises us that we will reap if we do not faint.

And we don’t even have to look to the Bible to see great examples of people who endured, even in mistakes, even in their failures. They kept going, they kept taking a step, and they were blessed, and they were able to accomplish much. I would also encourage you to write down the word flexible. We talk about how do I stay on track? Well, be flexible.

You know the bible says that the heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. You see friends, I have to be flexible, and everything doesn’t work out the way you planned it. You sit down and you write your goals down, you write out your plans, what you wanna do, what you wanna accomplish, you have your next steps already put together. Now, I know some of you, you’re just trying to figure out what you’re gonna do in the next moment, amen? And you’re not even sure what you’re gonna do tomorrow, but here’s the key.

I gotta make sure that I’m flexible to the way God works Because man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps. And you know your plans are not always his plans, did you know that? And sometimes what you put together is not the way God wants to work it. And you say, Well, I want God to fit into my plans and I want him to fit into my calendar. No, no, no, no, that’s not the way it works church.

We are called to fit into the plan of God. And if his plans are different than your plans, if he changes directions on you and he sends you a different way, then you must be willing to be flexible in staying on track for the Lord Jesus Christ. But I would also encourage you to be cautious. To be cautious. If I’m gonna stay on track, I need to be cautious because you see, the devil is always trying to tempt me to get away from God’s will for my life.

The devil wants you to live a disobedient life. He wants you to live a selfish life, he wants you to live for what you want, but God is saying, I want you to deny self, take up the cross, and follow me. You see, to be a disciple of Christ is not always a life of pleasure. It’s not always a life of ease. There are many challenges before you, and there are many times that you need to deny self.

The greatest marriage advice I could give to each and every one of you that if you want a successful marriage, you have to be willing to deny self. You can’t be selfish in a marriage. I didn’t realize how selfish I was until I got married. We have to learn to deny self. Quit being lazy, Mike.

Quit being selfish, and work together as a team with your spouse, and let’s work together to stay on track on what we’re all about. Now I wanna present a question to you this morning that I want you to think about. As you drift down the ocean of life, are you ready for the storms that will come into your life? It’s not will they, it’s when will they. You need to know that you will face storms.

And as you consider this question, will these storms cause you to get off track for God? Will they cause you to retreat in your faith? Or will these storms draw you closer to the Lord Jesus Christ? Stay on track. The next principle I’d like you to learn is to serve other people.

When I’m in trouble, I not only need to stay on track, but I need to serve other people. We already talked about how the apostle was such a person who lifted others up, and that he encouraged others. I want you to note that he was also a man who looked out for others. Look at verse 33. The bible says, and as the day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food.

He was telling them. He was admonishing them. Take some food, saying today is the fourteenth day. You have waited and continued without food and eaten nothing. I want you to think about this.

They’re in this storm, it’s so traumatic that they’re not even thinking about their need to eat, they’re not even thinking about nourishment, they’re so distraught with what they’re encountering that the apostle, rather than thinking about himself and say, man, look at all this food. I’m just gonna eat it myself and make sure there’s plenty for me. He goes to all the people on the ship and says, look, you need to take care of yourself. You need to make sure that you are nourished. He begins to serve others by helping them to nourish themselves.

The opportunity was before the apostle to minister to others, and rather than sitting down, he stepped up. And I wanna say to you that opportunities to minister will come your way every day, And the question is, will you serve others? You say, well, right now I’m hurting, pastor. Friends, do you wanna heal? The height of your healing is not only to be an encourager, but the height of your healing in your hurt is to serve others.

You’ve been there. You know what it’s like. You understand when you’re dealing with grief. You know what it’s like when you’re struggling with losing a job. You understand when your spouse walks out on you.

You understand. And though these things may not have been caused by God, here you are in the midst of them, and the question is what will be your response? Will you use this as a platform to help others who are hurting? You don’t have to go far before you’ll find hurting people. People are all around us hurting.

There are people who are struggling. There are people who are lonely. There are people who feel very hopeless. You have the opportunity to minister and to serve others. I love John Wesley’s motto.

He was the founder of the Methodist denomination, and he said do all the good you can, by all the means you can, by all the ways you can, in all the places you can, and at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can. Isn’t that great? And I wanna encourage you to say, Lord, help me to be a blessing to someone today. Help me to serve someone. The Bible tells us in Philippians two four, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

If you and I really believe in the hope and the promise of the return of Jesus Christ, then our lives should reflect that. And we can reflect that by living our lives with hope, humility, and a servant attitude. I love what the scripture says in first Corinthians 15 verse 58, therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Over and over again as a pastor, I interact with so many people. And sometimes I’ll say, well, how did you find out about us?

And they’ll tell me stories about our members planting a seed years ago, and now that seed is bearing fruit in their life. You never know the impact and the influence that you’ll have on someone as you continue to serve others. And you may not immediately see the results, but you know that God in heaven is standing up on his throne, and he is applauding every one of his servants, and he has not forgotten your good work on his behalf. And so let us, church, serve other people. The final principle that I want you to learn this morning as we think about what to do when we are in trouble, it is to choose a thankful attitude.

I want you to look again at verse 35. Having already encouraged them to eat, we note in verse 35, the Bible says, and when he had said these things, he took bread and he gave thanks to God in the presence of them all. And when he had broken it, he began to eat. Church, do you understand that here in the midst of this ship, the apostle has not only served in making sure that everybody is getting something to eat, and by the way, how many people were on this ship? 276.

And what does he do? Having gotten them all set up to where they are nourishing themselves and helping themselves having not eaten for fourteen days, he takes time to be thankful and to give thanks to God for the provisions. The Bible tells us in first Thessalonians five verse 18, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Now he didn’t just say in the good times give thanks, but he said in everything give thanks. In everything, give thanks.

In your life, there will be good times and bad times. But I wanna ask you, will you give thanks to God? It’s a simple act that the apostle did. Before he ate the meal, he gave thanks to God. But no matter what, when, or how, may it be true of all of us that we take moments and times to give thanks to God for his blessings, for his provisions.

Thank you, Jesus, for what you have provided for us. Now there are two effects of being thankful that I want you to remember this morning, And number one is that our attitude determines our approach to life. You see, the apostle’s disposition in the midst of his trouble, in the midst of this violent storm that had come upon this many members on the ship, his disposition was one of thanksgiving. What is your disposition? You say, well, it determines how I feel.

Well, friends, it’s gonna be a roller coaster. When our children would get up, I would always go into their room to wake them up, and I would sing songs to them. And you know I’m not a singer, and so you know how difficult and miserable it was for our kids. But I loved getting up, and I love the new day. Now when it gets late in the evening, I start crashing, but I’m so excited for the day and ready for what the Lord has for us.

And I wanna ask you, what is your disposition? Do you have a negative attitude, or are you being positive and thankful that even in the midst of your trials you still are a thankful person? Philippians four four, rejoice in the Lord always, and again I will say, what does he say church? Rejoice. Could you say that word one more time for me?

One, two, three. Rejoice. I love that. I’m looking forward to more rejoicing in your hearts. The second principle I want you to learn about is that a thankful attitude affects other people.

Did you notice that the apostle gave thanks to God in the presence of them all? He was not ashamed to recognize God. He was not ashamed to give credit to God and give thanks to God. That was his testimony. That was his attitude.

Would you look at verse 36 for me of acts chapter 27? This is after having given thanks, then they were all what? Then they were all encouraged and also took food for themselves. I would like for you to jump down to verse 44, the last verse of the chapter. It says, and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship, and so it was that they all escaped safely to land.

You see, Paul’s thankfulness impacted other people. That as he was a thankful person, they were encouraged. And as they were encouraged, their confidence grew, and they knew that God was gonna get them safely to land. And so it is my friends that as you and I get up every day and we rejoice in the Lord and we give thanks to God even through the hard times and even through the tears and even through the trouble in our life, you are impacting other people. Consider this church, we live in a world that is hopeless yet this world is watching you.

Family and friends are watching you. Oh, you profess to believe. You’re a person of faith. But as they watch your life, they say, yeah, it’s easy to believe when everything’s wonderful. But what will be your attitude when trouble comes your way?

Will they witness faith, love, and hope? Will they see within your heart that even as you walk through the valley, that you will be a person who is thankful to God and a person filled with the joy of the Lord. Would you pray with me this morning? Well, this section contains a detailed account of Paul’s sea voyage to Rome and Paul is sailing in some dangerous waters. He’s a prisoner, and he finds himself in a mess.

They get in a wreck and, well, he’s in trouble. And we learn some valuable lessons and principles on how to handle trouble when it comes our way. And we just pray that you and I can continue to apply these principles and that they could continue to help us as we walk through the different adversity that comes into our life. I want to remind you and encourage you to check out our website, hopeworthhaving.com. And on hopeworthhaving.com, you can see a lot of good stuff relating to our ministry and opportunities to communicate, opportunities to read, learn, and check, some of the archives out.

And so we hope that you’ll go to the website and take advantage of the resources there. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.