What Do We Do When Trouble Comes Part 1

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

They say champions are born in the ring, but I tell you, they are revealed in the ring because those that are disciplined to practice outside of the ring, when that moment comes where the challenge is before them, their discipline, their strength, their courage is revealed. Hello. This is pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church, and we are broadcasting from Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. We’re excited to have you today with our radio program, and we’re gonna be in the book of Acts chapter 27, and we’re gonna be learning what to do when trouble comes. Hey.

It doesn’t matter who you are. Trouble is coming. And so what do you do when trouble comes into your life? Well, let’s get our bibles and study together on this passage. If you have your Bible this morning, join me in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 27.

I wanna talk to you about what to do when trouble comes your way. When we come to Acts chapter 27, this section contains a detailed account of the apostle’s sea voyage to Rome. You remember that as we have tracked through the different chapters of this book, that the apostle has been having to defend himself before politicians and courts, and they have tried to accuse him falsely. His only crime was preaching and teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, helping people to come to the saving knowledge of the Lord. And in their effort to try to shut him down and to silence him, the apostle used his rights as a citizen of Rome to have an opportunity to go to Rome and to have his case heard before Caesar.

And so we come to chapter 27, and they are now sailing in dangerous waters headed to Rome. The apostle was a prisoner. We come down to verse nine of chapter 27. The Bible says, now when much time had been spent and sailing was now dangerous because the fast was already over, Paul advised them saying, men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss not only of the cargo and ship but also our lives. And the apostle is warning them saying, hey, we are headed towards disaster.

We are putting our own lives in danger. You will note in verse nine, he makes reference because the fast was already over. This is in reference to the day of atonement, which would identify the season because it was always, dangerous to travel in the open seas from mid September to mid November. The apostle knew this because he had been on the seas before. It wasn’t that he had received some kind of revelation.

He just understood the weather patterns and so he was letting them know that, look, it’s gonna be dangerous out there. We’re not gonna make a lot of progress on the sea and we’re putting our lives as well as our cargo in danger here and we need to probably rethink this. Well, that’s exactly what took place. This threatening storm caused tremendous problems, but you can read about that storm and the disaster that it caused. Reminds us that each and every one of us, we are going to face storms.

As believers, there’s going to be problems. There’s no child of God that’s gonna just simply skate through the journey of faith and never have to encounter any kind of storm in their life. Sometimes the storms that we face are storms of correction. God is correcting our hearts because maybe we have drifted, maybe we have gone down a path that is not honoring and glorifying to God. And so he uses a storm in our life to align our hearts with his.

But then there are storms of perfection. It has nothing to do with us or anything that we have or have not done. But here we are in this storm, following the will of God, obeying God, doing what God has called us to do, putting everything on the line for him, but yet we have what is often referred to as a storm of perfection. Meaning God is not using the storm to correct us, but to perfect us. That God uses the storms in this world to draw us closer to him and to help us to grow in our likeness to Jesus Christ.

You say, well I don’t like the way God does that and I don’t want him to do that. I hear you. But we’re not in charge. God is. Christians face storms of sickness.

People often ask me why. Why am I going through this sickness? Sometimes I visit some of the older saints of our church family and they say, you know, I’m ready to go. Why is God allowing me to still be here? To go through some of these physical health problems that I have?

Friends, we don’t know all the reasons of why we go through the storms of sickness. But we do know that he is our Jehovah Rapha. He is the God who heals and he is the God who works even in our sickness and he works through our sickness And that he is shaping our lives to be like him. There are storms of sorrow. There are many sorrows in this world.

There are many things that weigh heavy in our hearts. There are things that leave indelible marks upon us. Perhaps even change the way that we think or process the events and circumstances of life. But God uses these sorrows that we may look to him as our hope. Remember what was read to you, that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.

And that we are promised that he is near to the brokenhearted. Understand that God does not always take away our problem or our storm, but he always promises to be with us through the storm. You remember that the apostle prayed three times that God would deliver him from this particular thorn in the flesh that he was encountering. And he prayed and the Lord said, my grace is sufficient. Yes.

There are times that God can deliver us from the storm and out of the storm, but recall also that he delivers us through the storm. The psalmist said, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. God’s presence is always with us in our storms of sorrow. There are storms of suffering.

There are times that we are persecuted for our faith. There are times that there is resistance because we believe. That can take place in the family. It can take place on the job. It can take place in our own community or even in our nation.

But however it comes, we must remember that all that we sacrifice for God, all that we suffer in his name, all that we endure for the cause of Christ will be rewarded to us, the scripture says, a hundredfold. There is coming a time, and there is coming a place and a day, church, when you and I will be absent from all of this suffering and sorrow in this world. And that we will be in the constant presence of God. And the psalmist said, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Not half joy, but full joy in the presence of God.

In thy presence is fullness of joy. And at thy right hand, there are pleasures forever more. Friends, there is a day of hope for us who love the lord, who believe in Jesus Christ. When we come to this chapter, it is a very detailed and lengthy narrative from Luke under the inspiration of the spirit of God of what took place in this voyage to Rome. But I want you to see the overarching message that the apostle wants us to know, that God wants us to know.

And what you need to walk away with today is that God’s plan of salvation and the plan of spreading the gospel to the ends of the earth that we learned about in Acts chapter one verse eight will not be thwarted or hindered by the violence of nature nor even the actions of other human beings, that the gospel will continue to march on. There is no political government. There is no natural disaster. There is no person that can stop what Jesus Christ has set in motion. In that, he is wanting to reach every heart and he wants to reach every home for the scriptures teach us.

That he is not willing that any should suffer, but that all should come to what, church? Repentance. You need to memorize that verse. God wants you to repent of your sins. He wants us to come to Christ to receive him as our lord and savior.

And, friends, there are many challenges, obstacles, but they will not stop the ultimate plan of God. And when you read acts 27, I want you to keep thinking about that as you’re reading those verses. Now what do we do? Let’s learn this morning on what we can do when we’re in trouble. The first thing I want you to see is that we need to always spend time with God.

We need to always spend time with God so we’re in verse 20 of chapter 27. Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, we’re not talking about Upstate New York, we’re talking about here in our life. No small temptus beat on us. All hope that we would be saved was finally given up. Would you get there?

Perhaps you have been there. Perhaps you are there. All hope was finally given up. They had encountered this dangerous storm. It had caused them to throw all the cargo over.

They were in a mess. And the Bible tells us that there was no sun, there was no stars, there was no light. It was just darkness because of all the clouds and the storm and the wind and the waves were beating down on those in this ship. They had given up and they said there was no hope. Verse 21.

But after long abstinence from food, then Paul what does Paul do? Then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, men, you should have listened to me and have not sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night, an angel of the God of to whom I belong and whom I serve. Some translations say that an angel that stood to whom the God I worship, and the apostle is reminding us that he was a man who spent time with God, and it was his time with God that infused him with courage and strength for God when he was in trouble.

You know, they say sometimes champions are born in the ring, but I tell you that they are not born in the ring, they are revealed in the ring because those that are disciplined to practice, those who are disciplined to do the little things in their time outside of the ring, that when that moment comes where the challenge is before them, their character, their discipline, their strength, their courage is revealed. And so it is in the Christian life that each and every one of us are going to face storms. There will be storms in your life that’ll lead you to the point of hopelessness, and you will sense in your heart that it is time to give up. The apostle even said in second Corinthians that he despaired even life. His heart was so heavy that he didn’t even wanna live.

But friends, I tell you the one thing that made this man in the midst of this storm, the Bible says that he stood in the midst of them. He stood up in the midst of them. What is it that’s gonna help you to stand strong for God when you are in trouble? It is your time with the Lord. It is your time that you spend with God.

If you are rushing through your day and you are putting God on the back burner and you’re saying I don’t need God, I can do this in my own strength, then friends, when that moment comes when everything collapses and the rug is pulled from underneath your feet, you will be found anemic in your spiritual life. What I say to you this morning is spend time with God so that you can stand strong for God, so that you can be courageous for God. The psalmist said, as a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, oh God. Do you have a heart? And do you have a hunger?

And do you have a thirst for God? Like the deer is panting and thirsting for the rivers of water, the streams of water. Are you thirsty for God? Are you hungry for him this morning? If there is no passion in your heart for Jesus Christ, if there is no hunger for God in your heart, then you need to get on your knees and repent and ask God to forgive you and to give you a heart that longs for him, that loves him, that thirsts for him every day of your life.

Bible tells us, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for God, his righteousness. Are you with me? I know many of you are passionate and I’m right there with you. You’re hungry and thirsty for football. Understand that as much as you’re looking forward to that game, I need you to be that hungry for God almighty.

I need you to be that thirsty for Jesus Christ and his righteousness in your life. So how do we spend time with God? It always begins with prayer. It’s easy, church, to become apathetic in your prayer life. It’s easy to become methodical in your prayer life.

It’s easy to go through the motions of your prayer life. I’m challenging you to get plugged in to one of these prayer groups and let God work in your heart and revive you. Let us pray that God would revive our church in the power of prayer. Would it be wonderful if God would anoint this church with a new sense of prayer? A new hunger for prayer?

That’s how we spend time with God. It doesn’t matter where you’re at. It can be a special place. It could be as you’re going through your day. It could be as you’re winding your day up.

It could be as you’re encountering different circumstances and people. But you and I need to be always shooting up arrows of prayer to God, and we need to be spending time with God in prayer and seeking Him in our prayer life. The second thing that helps me spend time with God is just good old fashioned Bible reading. Good old fashioned just reading His word. Just opening the Bible up and reading it.

Picking a chapter, perhaps a book in the Bible. I know that some of you like to just open it up and just randomly pick a spot and claim that verse, and I hope that the Lord doesn’t tell you to do anything that you shouldn’t do, because the Bible records the good the bad and ugly of all his servants. So let’s be wise in reading the Bible, but we should open the Bible up and we should spend time. When I was a young Christian, a new believer in Christ, my pastor told me every day read one chapter of the book of Psalm and one chapter of the book of Proverbs and one chapter of the gospels. And so that’s how I began reading the Bible.

And then he taught and trained me how to read the bible through in a year. And we did that. And then he taught me how to study. And so for some of you, you’ve never really studied the bible, you’ve never really been engaged, and the bible’s just something on your little phone or your device that you have and it really doesn’t have priority. I mean you’ve got fantasy football apps that are on the front of your phone and you don’t have the Bible app.

Hello? Let’s prioritize and take time to read our Bible every day. Whether you’re old or young. I’m not against fantasy football. Okay?

If you wanna live in la la land, that’s fine. Alright? If it helps you. Deal with the stress of this world. I understand.

Okay? But all I’m trying to say is I want the bible to be more important to you. I want you to read it every day of your life. Did you know the Bible gives you a promise? And that promise is that if you read the Bible, you will be blessed.

And you think, well, it’s so insignificant. It doesn’t make the front page. It’s not newsworthy. Friends, in heaven, all of heaven is cheering you as you read God’s word. Another way to spend time with God is meditation.

In Joshua chapter one verse eight, we’re called to meditate on God’s word. And when you think of meditation, sometimes it can be very confusing. What is meditation? Well, it’s just focused thinking. It’s not that you’re drifting.

It’s not that you’re so open minded that you’re empty minded. That’s not meditation, it’s that I’m focused thinking about what God is saying. And I’m thinking about how it applies to my life. I’m thinking about what it means to me. I’m just kinda reveling as it is revealing who God is to me.

As I’m rejoicing in the greatness and the glory of our God. I wanna encourage you that if you wanna be ready for that storm that is coming, that you spend time with God. I like what a w Tozer said in the preface of his book, the knowledge of the holy, which you have not read yet, please get it. We have lost our spirit of worship, he says. And our ability to withdraw inwardly to meet God in adoring silence.

We always need noise. We always need something going, but God calls you to know him. The bible says be still and know that I am God. Someone once said that the complaint that church is boring is never made by people who are in awe of god. When you come, you might want to be entertained in the flesh.

Our goal is not to appeal to your flesh this morning. Nothing was designed to appeal to your flesh this morning, but everything was to appeal to your spirit, to awaken your heart to god, to use the spiritual means by which God has given us the tools to speak into your life, your need of not only knowing Jesus Christ, but growing in Christ and going out of this place and serving Jesus Christ. Church is never boring to those who spend time with Him and are in worship with Him, and they are in awe of God. The second thing I want you to learn, what do I do when trouble comes my way, is I need to learn to lift up others. You know, I know you’re saying to me, Mike, look.

Hey, we’re struggling. We’re going through trouble. Why would you call on us to lift up other people? Did you see what the apostle did again? I love this section of scripture because what I see is this dynamic man of God that in the midst of what we’ve already read about, that they were discouraged, the weather was not in their favor, there was no hope, Attitudes were down.

Everybody was ready to give up. And what does Paul do in verse 21? He stands up in the midst of them, and he said, men, you should have listened to me. I was trying to tell you. He already had revealed that in verse nine and ten that he was warning them that they were headed for disaster.

But here, look at verse 22. He says, I now urge you to take heart. I want you to be courageous for there will be no loss of life among you. Now that’s a promise that he is doing. He is declaring to them that they will not lose their life.

How does he know this? Verse 23. He stood by me, meaning that there was this angel that came to him and revealed himself in his time of worship, and he says, verse 24, do not be afraid, Paul. You must be brought before Caesar, and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you. You know, sometimes it’s good to hang around godly people.

Amen? It was good to be around godly people, but Paul stands up and he encourages them and he tells them to take heart, and he’s not like the power of positive thinking guy. He’s a guy who’s saying, look, I’ve been with God. I’ve been worshiping him, the God I serve, and he sent an angel to me, and the angel revealed to me that we’re all gonna make it. Now this ship is not gonna make it, but we are gonna make it.

And he encourages them in the promises of God. That is the key, is that you and I find encouragement in the promises of God. Sometimes the promises of God are all that I have to hang my hat on because my circumstances aren’t good and my heart is struggling, and the only hope I have is not in this world, but it is in what God has promised to me. That’s why you need a promise bible book. Go get you one.

And every time you find yourself distraught and in trouble, you wanna make sure that you’re hanging on to the promises because you will never be able to serve beyond what you are receiving, and you’ll never be able to lift up others unless you are being lifted up by the Lord and his promises, and you’ll never be able to help others unless you are under the fountain of his grace and his hope that is being poured out into your life every day, and the apostle could stand up because God already stood up for him. Jesus gave his life on the cross for the apostle, and he gave his life for you. And he sent the apostle an angel and said, tell him the promise that I have given them. Friends, we need to lift up others. And the way that we do that is in our personal time with God, but also we need to remember that God wants us to encourage one another as believers.

I want you to back up for me just a second in verse one and verse three. I want you to see the apostles supporting. Look at verse one of chapter 27. And when it was decided that we, circle that word in your bible, we should sail to Italy. For several chapters, Luke has not referred to himself nor of the team that is with Paul.

But all of a sudden, knowing that they’re getting ready to face disaster, he reminds us that the apostle was not out there isolated fighting the storms of life by himself. But he says, we and friends, god didn’t call you to be a Christian lone ranger. Look at verse three of chapter 27. And the next day, we landed at Sedan. And Julius treated Paul kindly, and he gave him liberty to go to his, what, friends and receive care.

The great apostle Paul, what a dynamic, godly man. Courageous, willing to take on the devil, look him in the eye, and take on the world for the gospel. But even he needed friends and even he needed care. But let me tell you something, all of us need care. We all need Christian friends.

We all need to learn to care for one another and lift each other up. The apostle was not isolated. The scriptures tell us in Romans fifteen one, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. Well, let me say this, that when the apostle uses this word weak, he’s not saying that there’s two categories of Christians, strong and weak. He’s just saying this, that there are times you might be weak in something and I’m strong in another.

And there might be times that I’m weak in something and you’re strong in another. But however it flows and rolls in our life, let’s help each other in our weaknesses. Let’s not beat each other up, let’s not hammer down on each other, let’s not burn bridges, let’s not separate each other, but let’s help one another and lift one another up in our weaknesses. In this verse, Romans fifteen one, he says an important statement, not to please ourselves. You see, friends, if you’re gonna help your brothers and sisters in Christ, if you’re gonna care for them, you are going to have to be willing to sacrifice.

It’s not always convenient to care for one another. Have you noticed that people’s problems and storms don’t always come right when you want them to? People’s problems and storms come when you least need it. Your schedule’s packed and you got to do one more thing and, friends, let’s care for one another and not please ourselves. Let’s put ourself on the back burner and say, I want to honor Christ by ministering to my brother and ministering to my sister in Christ.

We need people in our lives who will check up on us. We need people in our life who will pray for us. We need people in our lives who will encourage us. And that’s why it’s important for you to be in a prayer group. That’s why it’s important for you to be in a Bible study.

That’s why it’s important for you to be in a Sunday school class. That’s why it’s important for you to be connected to the local church. In second Timothy one sixteen, the bible says, the Lord grant mercy to the household or the family of Onesiphorus for he often refreshed me. He was not ashamed of my chains. Paul was in prison.

But Onesiphorus was not embarrassed to go visit Paul. He was not embarrassed to go minister to him and so we all need that ministering. Christian friendships are important, church. And when you’re going through trouble, it’s not that you should isolate yourself. It’s not that you should avoid the church.

It’s not that you should avoid Christian friends. And I know sometimes Christian friends don’t always say or respond the way that always should. But we’re human here, people, and sometimes people haven’t been trained. They don’t know what to say or how to say, but listen to me. God does not want you to stay at home, and he does not want you to close the blinds, lock the door, isolate yourself from others.

He wants you to receive the ministry of his body into your life. I know that’s hard when we’re grieving, when we’re hurting, when we feel hopeless, but we need Christian friends, church, And I’m gonna tell you that some of you feel like maybe you don’t have any Christian friends. I would first remind you what the scripture says in Proverbs, that if we want friends, we need to be friendly. You gotta be friendly. You gotta get out of your shell.

You gotta talk. We need each other, church. The Bible tells us to bear one another’s burdens and friendships are a gift from God and God gives you a friend. You remember that David was being persecuted and Saul was hunting for his life, but he was blessed with a friend, Jonathan, who loved him more than his own soul. We need Christian friends.

And church, we need to be Christian friends. And so many of you have done a great job at that, but let’s all continue to strive. How can we grow And being a Christian friends and lifting up our brothers and sisters who feel hopeless. People say, how can you be a Christian and feel hopeless? Because we’re human.

Because life is difficult. And so that’s why we need to support of each other. And I wanna encourage you to support one another and lift each other up. The third and final principle I want us to learn, I want you to listen in your time of trouble to God’s wisdom. I want you to listen to God’s wisdom.

Paul was a man of God, and he spent much time with God, and God was revealing his truth to the Apostle. And he had given the apostle already five other visions of what was to take place. And so God had blessed the apostle with great insight. What do we find is they didn’t listen. And the apostle Paul said to them, you should have listened to me.

As we walk in this life, we understand that even as a follower, there’s gonna be troubles. But even just because we live in a flawed world, there’s gonna be troubles. But how do we respond? Do we trust God? Do we look to him for wisdom?

Or do we react in the flesh? Well, I hope what you’ve been learning today has been a blessing in helping you to react in a way that honors Christ. This is pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having.