A Miserable Journey to Rome

Acts 27

“For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.”

Sermon Transcript:

Good morning. How’s everyone doing? Okay. We’re going to be reading Acts chapter 27. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me. And I will warn you. It is. A long passage. It’s a total of 44 verses. Um, and there’s some names and places in there that are really hard to pronounce. Okay? But, if there’s one thing I learned from Bible school, it’s that no one really knows how to pronounce these.

You just say them with confidence and you move on and no one really cares. But, first person to, to laugh at how I pronounce something, you have to come up and finish the passage. So, just be warned. Acts chapter, um, 27. It’s also on the screen as well. And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.

Embarking in a ship of Adramidium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica. The next day we put in at Sidon. And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be gareful. And putting out the sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.

And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra and Lycia. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days. And arrived with difficulty off of Nidus. And as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off of Salmone.

Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of La Silla. Since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives.

But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot, to the owner of the ship, than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.

Now when the south wind blew gently, supposing they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon, a tempestuous wind called the northeaster struck down from the land, When the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along.

Running under the, running under the lee of a small island called Calda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship’s boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship, then fearing that they would run around on the surtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm tossed, we began the next day to jettison the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship’s tackle overboard with their own hands.

When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.

Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.

So take heart, men, who sail, for I have faith in God, that it will be exactly as I have been told. But we must run aground on some island. When the fourteenth night had come, and as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding, and found twenty fathoms.

A little farther on they took a sounding again, and found fifteen fathoms. And fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern, and prayed for days to come. And as the sailors were seeking escape from the ship, And had lowered the ship’s boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow.

Paul said to them, 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 ship’s boat and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing.

Therefore, I urge you, To take the food, for it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. When he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, broke it and began to eat. Then they were all encouraged, and ate some food themselves.

We were in all two hundred and seventy six persons in the ship. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. Now it was, now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, and at the same time, loosening the ropes, they tied the rudders, then hoisting the force out to the wind, they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow struck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf.

The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners. Lest they swim away and escape, but the centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and make it for the land and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land.

Let’s pray.

Lord, we come before you this morning, God, and we’re, we’re desperate for you to speak to us. God, we spend time each Sunday and daily, Lord. In your scriptures because we breathe, we believe it’s the very words of God and that this word has the power to transform us, God. So we pray that your word would speak truth, God, that your spirit would move amongst us, Lord, that you would just take the blinders off our eyes, Lord.

That you’d give us ears to hear and hearts to receive a word that you have for us today, God. Not anything I could bring, Lord, or clever idea, Lord, but your spirit. Speaking through me, Lord, I pray desperately. God, I pray for each and every one of us in this room. God, we’re all coming from different weeks and different places and different ideas.

Lord, I pray that you’d put off all distractions in the name of Jesus, God. That we would be able to hear you clearly this morning. And that by the end of our time here, we’d know just a little bit more about who you are. And how much you care for us and love us, God. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus name.

Amen. I wasn’t kidding. It was quite the mouthful. 44 verses. I did pretty good on the names in case you noticed. That’s all I was worried about the whole time. So we’re good now. Thank you. Oh, that’s good. Now, before we get into this story, um, I just kind of wanted to back up and like, how did we get here?

We’ve been going through the book of Acts for like a year and a half now. So I just want to give us a little bit reminders of, of where we’re at. If you remember a couple of chapters ago and a couple of sermons ago, Paul made his journey Back to Jerusalem. He was going to deliver a gift there. And multiple people warned him.

People prophesied over him that if you go to Jerusalem, you’re gonna be bound. You’re gonna get arrested. You’re gonna be beaten. And he continued on his way to Jerusalem instead. And almost immediately, when he got there, he was arrested. The Jews got so angry, they attempted to kill him. So the Romans actually took him into captivity to protect him and put him on trial to see if he was guilty.

of what the Jews falsely accused him of. He had three different trials. He appeared before Felix, and Festus, and King Agrippa. And this was not including even his appearance before the council of the Jewish leaders. And then he finally appealed to Caesar. And because he appealed to Caesar, he was sent to Rome.

King Agrippa actually said, if you didn’t appeal to Caesar, we actually may have set you free. But now that you’ve appealed to Caesar, you must go to Caesar. So now we get to our passage as Paul begins his journey. To go to Rome, to go before Caesar. And the journey does not go as they planned. I, I label this journey the miserable trip to Rome.

If you just want to bring up the map, we can kind of see, um, where he traveled. Um, you can kind of see he starts over here in Jerusalem. They go off and immediately they hit wind. So they kind of go, try to go around Cyprus to find some land coverage from that wind. They’re sailing along. They go through Antioch, and Myra, um, and Nidus.

And they come to this place called Fair Havens, which sounds like a pretty nice place to stay in. But apparently it wasn’t for the winter. And it says at this point, actually, it was past the feast, which would have been the Day of Atonement. So it would have been the end of September, leading into October.

So winter was approaching where it was deadly, um, and terrible for sea travel. So although Fair Havens sounded like a good spot, the soldiers wanted to continue on a phoenix, because who the heck doesn’t want a winter in Phoenix? Different Phoenix, just in case you didn’t know, right? But Paul, he’s a seasoned traveler at this point.

He’s traveled this sea many of times, he’s gone to different places in his missionary journeys. And he actually, at this point of his life, because of 2 Corinthians 11, um, 25, we know, Paul’s been shipwrecked three times at this point. So he’s telling these guys, hey guys, listen, I’ve been on the sea, I’ve tried to travel at this point, let’s just stay in fair havens.

This is a good spot. You’re going to want to trust me. And the centurion says, you know what, Paul? You’re just some prisoner. I’m going to listen to the captain. I’m going to listen to the owner of the ship. We’re going to press on. Phoenix is only a couple miles farther away. We’ll make their fine. We’ll winter there.

Way more amenities there. We’ll be fine. But Paul knew what he was talking about. Right? He’s been here. He has experience. And not only that, right? He’s led by the Spirit of God. Here’s a man who’s spent a lot. of time with God. So they push on, and immediately, they hit a wind, the northeaster, the storm, and it drags them all the way back.

And you see it just kind of goes straight west. And they literally end up in Malta, which is just God’s provision, because it’s 400 some miles they traveled. If they missed that small island, it would have been a thousand more miles to the next place, and they probably wouldn’t have survived, and they probably would have starved or been shipwrecked in the middle of the sea.

So they’re forced out to the wind. For days, they could not see stars or sun. They had no navigation at this point. No Apple Maps or GPS to help them. And verse 20 actually says that they had lost all of being saved. They were ready to throw in the towel, to give up. And Paul stands up among them, and in my words, he says, I told you so, right?

I told you this was gonna happen. But he doesn’t sit there and beat him up, right? He moves on quickly, and he says, An angel has come to me. Man, do not fear. Take heart. That word, to take heart, literally means to make cheerful. Which is kind of hard when you look around. There’s storms, you can’t see anything, you’ve been lost at sea for days.

Seasick, you’re hungry. He said, an angel has appeared before me. And he said, I’m going to make it and appear before Caesar. Not only that, all of you men, all 267 of us, are going to make it to safety. But the ship we’re going to lose. From the centurions, to the sailors, to the merchants, to the prisoners, all on that boat.

Would be saved the mood had shifted and even by their measures they were approaching land Some sailors tried to jump the gun They they went into the rescue boat and said oh We’re just gonna lay down some anchors and they try to ditch out of there and Paul quickly Sniffs it out finds the Centurion says if these men leave this boat, they will not make it out of here alive So Paul went from being his advice Centurion saying oh, no way.

Let’s get these prisoners We’re listening to Paul now. They even cut the lifeboat away And Paul finally has some credibility as they saw his steadiness in times of trouble. He became a leader among all, even the centurion, even though he was just a prisoner on the ship. What he does with his newfound leadership is he doesn’t lord it over anyone.

He actually breaks bread with these men, giving thanks, sharing it with them, saying, let’s eat, let’s strengthen ourselves so that we can appear, um, be ready to swim to safety. When day finally appears, which must have been an incredible feeling, they see land and a beach they could sail up on. On their last effort to be rescued from the clutches of the sea, they hit a reef and the boat was getting torn to shreds by the waves.

The soldiers panic and they decide, we’re gonna kill all the prisoners so they don’t escape. And this sounds… Harsh, and yes it is, but it kind of makes sense because Roman soldiers, if they lost their prisoners, if their prisoners escaped, they were guilty of the same thing their prisoners were going to be accused of.

So whether that was lifetime in prison or even worse, execution, those soldiers were now accountable to their crimes. So they said, instead of letting them escape, we’re going to kill them. And the centurion, who wanted to spare Paul, puts a stop to this right away. And make sure each and every one of the prisoners, and the merchants, and the sailors, and the soldiers, get to land safely.

This is the miserable journey to Rome. There’s a lot going on here, I wasn’t kidding. 44 verses, a lot to unpack here, but I just want to take the time this morning, and I want to take three takeaways this morning as we look at this passage. Three things we learn about who God is, who we are. Firstly, God’s promises never fail.

What God says He will do, He will do. Isaiah 55 11 says this, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I propose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. Not only does God confirm to Paul on the boat, you will make it to Caesar, you will appear before him.

He also ensures him the safety of all the men. But God actually confirmed this. To Paul, before he even got on the boat. Acts 23 11 says this, the following night the Lord stood by him and said, Take courage, for as you have testified to the facts about me in Jerusalem, so you must testify also in Rome.

This was right after Paul was getting arrested and he gave his testimony to the Jews. Jesus says this, take courage, you will appear before Caesar, you will give this testimony to Rome. Paul knew. He was getting to Rome and God in his kindness confirmed the message again on the boat and blessed the rest of the 275 passengers with the same protection and promise time and time again in the book of Acts We see the will of God prevail against persecution against spiritual attack adverse weather Imprisonment beatings it seems like nothing can stand against the will of God his promises never fail And maybe you’re sitting here this morning, and you’re just feeling like, Yeah, well, I just don’t feel close to God, or I feel like I’m not in His will, or I feel like I’m not doing the things He wants me to do that.

Well, even if we feel like we’re not close with God, or are running away from Him, He’s still there. His promises still remain true for you. If you think about another story in the Bible about a boat, and a storm, and a big fish.

You guys are allowed to talk in church, it’s okay. Jonah, yes! Jonah, right? Jonah was not faithful to God. God said, go to Nineveh, preach this message. He went the opposite way. But God’s promise remained true. The word came to Nineveh. God sent a storm. He sent a fish. And God met Jonah in his wandering in the belly of a fish.

His promises rang true. God’s promises are not contingent on your behavior, or how you feel, or your circumstances. He is a promise keeper. That’s who He is. 2 Timothy 2. 13 says this, If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. It’s who He is. It’s His character. He is a promise keeper.

His word will not return void. God is who He says He is. Paul knew this. He said, the God who I belong to and who I worship, what He says will happen. I’ve seen it done. God’s promises never fail. Secondly, a steady God creates steady followers. A steady God creates steady followers. This is clearly seen through Paul’s calmness in the midst of panic all around him.

He advises the crew. He encourages the crew not twice, uh, not once but twice. And he keeps his cool. He’s breaking bread. He’s giving thanks. He’s leading these men. When all else of them have lost hope, they’re ready to die. They’re literally preparing themselves for death. He’s encouraging them. He’s saying be cheerful.

That’s a hard ask to these men surrounded by a storm approaching death. He knew who his God was. He knew he served a steady God and because of that, he was steady in times of trouble. And I know what you’re probably thinking, right? You’re kind of sitting there, you’re like, Yeah, that’s really cool for Paul.

Like, you know, Paul was a go getter, type A personality, he’s a leader among men. Of course he was steady, Jared. Of course he was steady among, you know, times of trouble. That’s, that’s a trait of a leader. That’s not me. I’m a background person. I like to sit in the back and support things. I’m a worrier. I’m emotional.

I, you know, that’s not who I am. This was not a personality trait. His steadiness did not become because he’s a type A person. His steadiness came from spending time with a steady God. So yes, God wants you to be steady because He is steady in times of trouble. Paul had been in these situations before.

He’d seen his God come through. He’s been beaten. He’s been in prison. He’s been accused of things. He’s been run out of town. And yet in every and all situations, he’s seen his God be steady. And it’s made him steady. Philippians 4, 12 through 13 says this, I know, this is Paul speaking, I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.

In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger and abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me. Paul found the secret in being content and steady in any circumstance. And the secret was where his strength came from. It wasn’t Paul. It wasn’t that he had a strong personality or a strong character.

It’s the God he served. It’s the God he served. The God he trusted in, the God he had seen in his personal life bring him through situation after situation, after circumstance, after trial, to where he was today. So yeah, a shipwreck? He’s already had three of these! He’s like, alright, fourth, we can do this.

God’s been with me here before. The more you go through with God, the steadier you’ll become. The more you’ll know Him, the more you’ll know His goodness and gentleness. And his sovereignty, even in the midst of chaos. I want to share a story of Harold Ebersole. Many of you know Sean and Harold Ebersole.

We’ve supported them for many, many, uh, years now. In Bangladesh in their ministry. Uh, many of you know Harold, um, has been diagnosed with cancer for many years now. And I remember he came in a staff meeting when his, um, diagnosis was pretty early on. And it was really dismal. He had actually just gotten some news that he basically was going to die soon.

And he comes into, um, you know, our staff meeting, and I’m thinking, you know, he’s, he’s coming in, you know, we’re gonna pray for him, we’re gonna pray over him for healing, and, and all this stuff, you know, I’m ready to support him and care for him. And he comes with a devotional about how good God is in times of trouble.

And I remember him outlining what the doctors and the nurses and the x rays and the scans have said. And I’m sitting in my chair, and I’m getting nervous, like I’m getting shaken, like oh my gosh, this is not good news. And he’s sitting there, talking about the goodness of God, and he’s smiling. And he literally said, he’s like, yeah I went on a couple mile run this morning, and I’m like, what’s wrong with this dude, like what’s going on?

And I walked out of that meeting thinking, wow, this is a man, this is a man who spent a lot of time with God. This is a man who spent a lot of time in uncertain situations, and he knows his God was steady. He knew exactly where he was going, and he knew exactly who held his future in his hands. It was God.

It wasn’t that he was strong, or powerful, or super positive. It was a God he learned to love and trust, and knew a God who loved him and was faithful to him in his ministry. This is what God wants of us. He wants us to be steady. In times of trouble. He wants us to bring us through things that are difficult, that are scary, and yet he’s a steady God.

And he doesn’t want shaken, scared followers. He wants steady followers, because that’s who he is. A steady God creates steady followers. Third, there are no setbacks with God. When we are following God, there really are no setbacks. And I, I hope you hear me. I don’t want you hear me say that You know, your life’s gonna be easy, easy, breezy, beautiful, cover girl.

It’s not. I’m not saying that at all. I’m actually saying the opposite of what I’m saying is, it’s gonna be difficult. It’s gonna be hard. You’re gonna face conflict, and loss, and disease, and sickness. You’re gonna face all these things. And from a worldly perspective, they all look like setbacks and roadblocks.

And if you look at Paul’s life, it looks like this guy just hit roadblock. After setback, after setback, after setback. I mean, look at this guy. He traveled around preaching God’s Word. Every city, every town he went into, he either got arrested, beaten, ran out, rejected, mocked. That looks like setbacks, but they’re not.

And Paul didn’t see them as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities, right? This is why I titled this, this sermon, A Miserable Trip of Rome, because it looks Miserable! Everything that could go wrong, does go wrong. But Paul doesn’t see it like that. A couple chapters before, Paul had to appear before Agrippa, which probably felt like his hundredth trial.

He probably could have been really frustrated and annoyed and been like, I’ve told my story, I’ve told my testimony. No! He doesn’t see it like that. What does he do before King Agrippa? He gives his testimony. He shares the gospel with this king. And King Agrippa literally, Calls him out on it. He says, are you trying to convert me, Paul?

And he said, yes, I am. I’m trying to convert all who here today, who are listening to me. I pray that you’d be like me besides these chains.

Paul didn’t see it as a setback. He saw, God’s put me in a room with an influential man who has a lot of influence. This guy’s gonna know Jesus. Same thing on this boat. He didn’t see it as a miserable journey. He saw, man, he probably got on that boat and he said, started counting up people. Luke didn’t even need to count, count the people.

He’s like, Luke, there’s 276 people in this boat. All of them are going to be saved by the time we get to Rome. And God gave him a little extra days and a storm to help him out. He didn’t see it as a setback. Paul was, all these men, when they were ready to die and hopeless, Paul makes a bold statement of faith.

Says that, that God who I belong to and believe in, He’s going to rescue us. He’s going to deliver us. There is no setbacks with my God. When I was in high school, you know, you get your quarterly, uh, report cards. And, you know, you’re like always scared they’re getting sent to your parents. And, like, I wasn’t scared about my grades because my parents knew my grades weren’t going to be good.

What I was scared about was, like, what the teachers were going to write in a little note section. And I, I’m telling you they had a meeting because it was all the same exact thing. Every single one of them. Jared’s a pleasure to have in class. He’s a joy to have in class. But he talks way too much. Very disruptive.

Very hard to teach with him in the class. Right? I’m like, my mom’s like, Did they have a meeting? What, what happened Jared? Like, what’s going on? I’m like, Yeah, sorry. So the teachers, what they would do to try to solve this problem, that was me, they moved me around class. They’d like put me next to different people.

And, in my, one of my uh, we had advanced writing class and it was like, all semester, all what is, semester, quarter, whatever it’s called in high school. You had to prepare for like one long paper, you had the whole thing, I’m like, dude, the whole, the whole semester, like, I’m gonna do this the night before, they know this, right?

So I’m like, oh, it’s a great talking period, and we’d sit at the computers and work. They thought it was a good idea to put me next to Eric Galloway, I don’t know where Eric Galloway is today, I hope he hears this, he’s probably running some part of our country. The man was brilliant, he was super smart, he was motivated, he was like valedictorian of our class, super quiet, super quiet, they’re like, we’ve solved it.

Put him next to, Jared, put Jared right next to him. It was like, me, the corner, Eric. What they didn’t know was, I don’t need someone to talk back to me! I’ll just talk to him! He’s the perfect person, he just listens! This is amazing! I turn my chair, I’m not even looking at my computer, I’m just talking to Eric, I’m like, Eric, how are you, man?

And he’s like, Jared, Jared, Jared, we really need to focus right now. I’m like, Eric, I’ve been trying to get to know you, you’ve been dodging me in the hallway! This is perfect! The teachers are scratching their heads. They’re like, no matter who we put this guy next to, he won’t shut up. They’d put me next to the teacher’s desk.

Now the teacher can’t get anything done. They’re like, no matter where we put this guy, he won’t shut up. This was Paul with the gospel. No matter where he was, no matter who he was with, whether he was in prison or free or on a boat in a storm. He was talking about Jesus. He was sharing the gospel. He was building the kingdom of God.

That’s who he was. That’s what he did. There was no setback. There was no change of seats, right? You put me next to whoever. That’s not a setback for me. I’ve been trying to get to know Eric. I got one thing out of him. He likes Neo, all right? I was like, okay, respect. I thought you only listened to gospel music.

My bad, Eric. Paul didn’t see these things as setbacks. He saw them as opportunities. I mean, put yourself in Paul’s shoes. I mean, sandals. How would you react? You’re on a boat for weeks at a time. It stormed the entire time. Everybody’s seasick. They haven’t eaten, whether they’re seasick or they can’t even eat because they’re like so busy trying to keep this ship together.

I would be miserable. You would probably be miserable. And yet Paul says, Hey guys, take heart. Let’s be joyful. And they listen to him. And they’re encouraged by him. He had spent too much time with God and hardship to know that this was not a setback, but an opportunity to trust God and build his kingdom.

Philippians 1, 12 through 14 says this, I want you to know, brothers, this is Paul talking to the Philippians. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And the context of his verse, like, unlocks it. So Paul’s talking to the Philippians. They’re worried about him. They’re worried about him because this is where our passage is leading up.

Paul’s going to Rome, and he’s gonna get imprisoned there, right? He’s gonna be on house arrest. He’s gonna be down, and he’s not gonna be able to go out and preach the gospel. They’re worried about him. And what Paul says here, what has happened to me, as in this imprisonment, this being locked in here, what’s happened to me, it’s not a setback.

Right? It’s not that I can’t go out, and I’m stuck in one place, and I can’t share the gospel, and I can’t go around town and plant new churches. No, no. It’s an advancement for the gospel. That the whole Imperial Guard, and everybody else here, knows that my imprisonment is for Christ. And not only that, the brothers back home, they’ve become more confident and bolder to present the Word of Truth.

He didn’t see it as a setback. He didn’t believe in setbacks. He believed in advances for the kingdom of God.

There is no setbacks with God. And what the world sees as setbacks, we see as advances for the gospel. This is who God is. This is how big He is. He’s a Redeemer. He redeems all things to bring Him glory.

While Paul was in prison in Romans, suppose that he wrote the book of Ephesians. Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. When else would he have had the time to do these things, these books that are so crucial to the Christian faith. God carved out time to say, I’m gonna put you in house arrest. You’re not gonna be able to go anywhere else, but write letters and talk to the people around you.

God knew. He orchestrated the whole thing. It hasn’t been a setback. He said it’s been an advancement. There’s no need to worry.

I just want to close this morning. And I know like this, you know, you’re like, yeah, I get it, Jared. There’s setbacks, you know, they’re not setbacks, they’re advances, whatever. You’ve said it a lot. But you’re like, you just don’t get what I’m going through. Or you don’t understand the difficulty I’m facing or the uncertainty of my future.

And you’re right, some of you I don’t even know your name. But I do know, in my life, some of the most difficult times that I saw as setbacks, that I wanted to get out of. Quickly, as possible. God didn’t see them as that. He wasn’t surprised by them He wasn’t shaken by them I want to spur you on to be cheerful and to take heart, just as Paul did with the 275 hopeless men on that boat.

That the God who I know and I believe in He’s fighting for you this very moment. He doesn’t see your situation as a setback. But he sees it as fertile ground to transform your heart and the hearts of those around you. It’s who he is. He’s faithful. He’s a redeemer. He doesn’t see it as we see it. Whether it’s a diagnosis, or bad news, or conflict, it’s not a setback.

This is when God’s ready to put his foot on the gas and propel you forward. This is who he is. James 1, 2 through 4 says this, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know That the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and lets steadfastness have its full effect.

That you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We’re going to close with a song and the prayer team is going to come up. I really encourage you to come up and receive some prayer. What, what other parts of your week or work week can you come up and actually receive prayer in your life? Whether it’s something difficult that feels like a setback or a storm or, or, or a difficulty.

Come forward. Whether it’s big or, or small or, or gigantic. Whatever it is. Come forward. Receive some prayer. And know that the Lord, just ask Him to just change your heart. And your perspective on the difficult things you’re going through. Let’s pray.

Lord, I don’t, I don’t know everybody in this room, but God, you know them. God, and not only do you know them, you knew their name before you laid out the foundations of the world. You knew their story. You knew the difficulty they’d face. The sickness, the disease, the addiction, the loss of life. God, you knew it.

And you don’t see them as setbacks. You don’t see them as dead ends. God, you see them as fertile ground to transform us. To bring us humbly before you to say, Lord, I got nothing without you.

Lord, don’t let us waste these moments. Change our perspective. Soften our hearts that we might see your kindness in this. God, your word says that all discipline seems painful at times. But it leads to a harvest of righteousness. So, God, we welcome your discipline. We accept it, God, and we ask that you lead us in a path of righteousness for your name’s sake.

God, open up our hearts, Lord. You are our firm foundation. You’re our solid ground. When everything else seems to fall apart, Lord, you are our steady, constant God. Allow us to trust in your promises and to be steady like you are. And we pray all this in Jesus name, amen.