"Overcoming the Storms of Life" | Pastor Steve Gaines

open your Bibles with me and I won't be able to say this much longer to the book of Acts and we're going to be in Acts chapter 27 today Acts chapter 27 how many of you have ever had a serious problem in your life raise your hand anybody out there all right I'm gonna call them storms today okay and I have had storms in my life the summer of 2000 was the stormiest year of my life I'll just tell you a few of the storms I was about to preach in Orlando for the very first time at the Southern Baptist Convention Don and I were just about to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and since it was the Southern Baptist Convention was in Orlando we have taken the children down there and took them to Disney World and all of that and the night before actually the early morning about 1:30 in the morning before I was to preach for the very first time is on a Monday I was to preach at the Southern Baptist Convention I got a call it was my mother telling me that my dad had died I saw a lot of you how many of you your father has died raise your hand all right probably many of not most of you I thought I was ready for that daddy had been very sick for a long time and I would come up to see dad from Birmingham and I'd always stop by here and see dr. Rogers on the way back or on the way up but it's still when they when when she said dad is dead and I I'm not I'm not I don't ever make up crime but I just started crying like a baby and Donna held me while I cried and when I mean I ugly cried alright I'm at it I didn't pretty cry when I cry cry ugly alright and I'm already a little bit that way anyway but when I cry I'm really ugly alright and I wept in her arms and I was not going to preach the next day I thought I said we'll just get in the car and go home and I got this call at two o'clock in the morning from a man named Adrian Rogers and he said Steve somebody told me that your daddy died and he always prayed with me when I'd go up to Dyersburg to see my dad and he said I just want you to know that I believe everything you've told me that your father is in heaven right I said yes he's in heaven he said your daddy would want you to preach tomorrow which was today and I said I don't think I can do it he said well I'll tell you what he said I know where you're coming on the platform I'll meet you there and I want to pray with you before you go out but I want you to preach tomorrow and I walked up there and he had somebody else there with him a guy named Jerry Falwell and they sent me down between them before I went up to preach and they prayed over him they laid hands on me and prayed for me and they said now when we get through praying we're gonna be on the front row and we'll pray for you the whole time you preach and I preach with an unusual freedom got off the platform hugged their necks got in the car and went to Dyersburg that same summer my brother went through a divorce in that same summer we were on vacation in my eye shut and I came back and went to a neurologist and found out I had a tumor in my chest that had to be removed I had my chest split open I know this is really a blessing some of y'all but one of the nurses went to our church he said I have seen his heart he has a heart I want you to know and I was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis I was shut I was put on all kind of medication couldn't preach for six weeks didn't know if I'd ever preach again couldn't even put deodorant on my arms wouldn't work they were literally just hanging at my side and I would do this I'd slap up my hand on the wall and Donna would put my deodorant on and help me get dressed that was the worst year of my life I simply say all that do you not to get you to feel sorry for me but to let you know we all go through hard times in life we all go through storms and some of you right now are in very difficult situations and you're asking and the devil is on your shoulder making you ask does God really care I don't know of a greater text in all of acts than chapter 27 Paul has been told by the Lord time and time again you're going to go to Rome you're going to go to Rome just as you were faithful to me in Jerusalem you're gonna go to Rome and Paul gets on a ship and he hits the Mediterranean Sea is just exploding and erupting in a storm his boat sinks but somehow he and everybody with him make it safely to shore they stay in Malta and then they wind up in Rome only God can bring you through the storms of life and I want to say this to you God does not promise to protect you from the storm but he does promise to protect you in the storm if anybody ever preaches to you that if you get saved you'll never have any more problems lovingly quietly stand up walk out of that church because that is not true Jesus went through hard times Paul went through hard times Peter went through hard times Adrian Rogers went through hard times Steve Gaines goes through hard times you're gonna go through hard times this world is sinful it is eaten alive with sin and selfishness and bad things happen here unfair things happen here you're gonna get treated like you don't deserve to be treated it is going to happen I'm not I'm not I didn't you say you know this is not what I want to hear you need to hear the truth but God will help you in the storm okay it's a long text fairly long so I'll just go through it as we go number one if you want to overcome the storms a lot how many of you want to overcome the storms of life anybody out there okay all right zone listen zero in on what I'm saying today all right stay with me you have to acknowledge the certainty of storms they are on their way I already guys say you're either about to enter a storm or you're in a storm or you just came out of one in there right you're about to go into one or you're in one or you just came out of one is that this is one of the most depressing sermons I've ever heard in my life welcome to life before you get to heaven verse 1 when it was decided that we would sail for Italy they proceeded to deliver Paul and some other prisoners to a Centurion of the Augustine cohort named Julius this man would prove to be a real strong asset to the Apostle Paul before this trip was over with Luke does not tell us that Julius became a Christian but he certainly came to admire Christians especially on this voyage and here Paul leaves from Caesarea the primary port there that serviced Jerusalem and other cities around the judean area and he's on his way to Rome verse 2 embarking on an eider Midian ship which was about to sail to the regions along the coast of Asia we put out we put out circle the we there to see accompanied by Aristarchus of Macedonia no Thessalonica note the extreme detail that dr. Luke puts in his writings especially when he is voyages in fact people have studied first century maritime works and how people sailed and they one of the experts one of them one of the the pieces of ancient literature that shows them precisely how shipping was done is Acts chapter 27 Luke was so precise and as we see here used him using the term we he is now back with Paul Paul is out of jail he Paul had been in jail for two or three years which goes back to acts 21 the last time we read Luke who wrote the book of Acts say we he had not left Paul he stayed in the Caesarea area but Paul was in prison and what was he doing Josephus tells us and others tell us that he was probably tall King with the prophetic daughters of the man Philip who was a deacon who was now evangelist in Caesarea a lot of them say that those prophetess is were telling him all the background of Judea and Christianity but he was writing he was studying he was a learned man and now he says we now he's back on the boat and you know how you got on that boat he had to tell them that he was a slave of Paul Paul a prisoner Luke the slave would you be willing if you wanted to help another Christian to take the posture of a servant a slave a bond slave so here he goes I don't care what I am I'm just a servant of Jesus I'm a slave of Jesus I guess I'll be a slave of Paul too if that will get me on the ship to take care of my best friend Paul I'll do it verse three the next day we put in at Sidon Julius treated Paul with consideration and allowed him to go to his friends those are Christians in Sidon and to receive care what is this Paul had an illness when you study the epistles when you study his Galatian epistle for instance he said in Galatians 4:15 where then is that sense of blessing you had for I bear you witness if possible you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me we read in 2nd Corinthians also that he had a thorn in the flesh something God gave him that he begged God three times to take away from him and God said no no no you're a better man with it if I took that away from you you wouldn't pray as much you wouldn't depend on me as much you know some of the things we're begging God to take away from us is exactly what God is using in our lives to make us more like Jesus and I Got News for you God's a lot or interested in you being christ-like than in you being comfortable so the thing that's rubbing you may be rubbing some of the wrong you off of you and God said I'm not letting that off that's the best thing you got going you said now you've really blessed me preacher thank you so much I think it was his vision I think Paul had been blinded the Bible says by the light that he saw on the road to Damascus and when he got saved his scales fell from his eyes but apparently when he said to the Galatians you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me now I've had problems with my eyes I mean I you know my eyes have crossed I've had diplopia and I've had ptosis where your eyes sag and all that you know it's kind of hard to drive when your eyes are doing bad you but I keep on doing it that'll bless your heart one I can remember one day bill bill Street called me I was in I was in Gardendale and bill said hey did you see that guy said what guy the guy on the bicycle I said which one the guy that you ran off the road just now and I was driving around like this all over garden there I said no is he okay said yeah he got up true story I got to start preaching y'all quit laughing art and verse four from there we put out to sea and sailed under the shelter of Cyprus because the winds were contrary how many of you ever heard the word coasting well he's just coasting where do you get that you get it from a ship going along the coast to avoid the wind that's coasting that's what they were doing because this ship was a ship that just went down the coast this was not and across the sea ship is he's going to get on one of those in a minute there's just a little little port hopper this is just going along stopping at every port and Julius is waiting till he can get to a place to get on a huge boat that's gonna carry grain all the way to Rome and that's the boat he's looking for verse 5 when we had sailed through the sea along the coast of Silesia Pamphylia we landed at Myra in lesya here he's going to get on a big look at verse six there the Centurion found an Alexandrian ship sailing for Italy and he put us aboard it we know that they had Rome had to have a lot of grain a lot of wheat they had to feed people and we know that this was that kind of boat because when they get in the middle of the sea storm they're gonna throw over the cargo which included wheat now Paul starts to hear from the Lord and he tries to warn them guys it's first of all it's the wrong time of year to be on the Mediterranean from the middle of September to the middle of November you're not supposed to be on the Mediterranean that is the worst time to sail that's when the worst wind is there the worst storms are there and he said look I'm a veteran when it comes to traveling guys I'm telling you I got a bad feeling about this look at what he says then the Centurion found out I was entering ship for Italy he was about to board it when he had sailed slowly for a good many days with difficulty had arrived offs night us since the wind did not permit us to go farther we sailed under the shelter of Crete off salmone and with difficulty sailing past it we came to a place called fair havens near which was the city of Lycia so it was in this this port of fair havens that God began to warn Paul about what was to come look at verse 9 when considerable time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous since even the fast that's the Passover was already over Paul began to admonish them and said to them men I perceived that the voyage will certainly be with damage and great loss not only two of the cargo and of the ship but also of our lives but the Centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain of the ship than by what was being said by Paul Paul was hearing from God these other guys were the experts look at me sometimes it's not the best thing to do to listen to the experts listen to people that walk with God if you know somebody that waltz with how many of you know somebody that hears from God I mean they just hear from God alright if you don't get to know somebody like that just get to know several somebodies like that okay but the Centurion was more persuaded by the pilot and the captain the ship than he was well what was being said by Poul because the harbor was not suitable for wintering the majority reached the decision ah a bunch of Baptist vote known everything Amen now that'll get you where you need to go majority reached the decision you know the majority reaches the decision every few years in American boy we're really going the right direction aren't we we just keep reading the majority the majority the majority I Got News for you the majority may be wrong a lot of times they are the majority reached a decision to put out to the sea from there if somehow they could reach Phoenix a harbor of Crete facing Southwest and northwest hit a double Harbor and spend the winter there so they leave fair havens and you can almost it's almost like God said fair havens this would be a good place to live guy this great place right Fair Haven oh no no no we know better than God boom we're gone and they're about to get in a mess when a moderate south wind came up that looks good supposing that they had attained their purpose they weighed anchor they began to sail along Crete close inshore but before very long their rush down from the land a violent wind called Yorick will oh isn't that just like life you think everything is okay they made their decision based on human reasoning rather than listening the voice of God through the man of God a moderate south wind came along oh that's a good sign yeah we made the right decision but before long they're rushed down from the land a violent wind called Urich willow now look at verse 15 and when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind we gave way to it we just have to give in or going to tear up the ship and let ourselves be driven along running under the shelter of a small island called claw de we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control after they had hoisted it up they used supporting cables lose all this detail here in under girding the ship and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of syrtis they let down the sea anchor and in this way let themselves be driven along their calculated plans had failed and failed miserably they did everything they could to avoid the storm and some of you are doing the very same thing I'm gonna put away all this money I'll never have to worry about a storm I'm gonna I'm gonna do this I'll never have to worry about a storm I'm going to get in shape I'll never have to worry about a storm I'm gonna eat right nothing wrong with that I'll never have to worry about a storm I'm gonna do this I'm gonna do this I'm gonna prepare my way all these other people may go through storms but not me man listen to me you can do whatever you want to but you're going to go through a storm because this world is filled with them you've got to get to know the God who can bring you through the storm that's what you need to focus on and really not much else calculated plans didn't work I was talking with a young pastor recently he said I know what's going on I'm in problems in my church I said do you have people in your church he's away yeah I said any place you've got people in a church you've got problems in the church because every person I know I am a people too by the way I'm a sinner aren't we all sinners and so if we're all sinners guess what sinners have senators have problems but he's got problems if you ever find a perfect Church don't join it you gonna mess it up you'll mess it up if you didn't get that ask your wife when you get home what I just said Jesus told us we're gonna have problems look at the screen just second John 16:33 is so good let's read it together words of Jesus the night before he died he spoke these words let's read it together these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace in the world you have tribulation but take courage I have overcome the world leave that on there you have to take courage it doesn't just come to you it doesn't just come walking up to you so I think I'll ride with you no you got to take it in the name of Jesus because you're going to have problems you're going to have storms Paul said this acts 14:22 strengthening the soul he was strengthening the souls of the disciples as he was going from town to town encouraging them to continue in the faith and saying listen to what Paul says through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God first thing I want you to know about storms you got to acknowledge the certainty of them secondly if you want to overcome storms of life you got a display courage during your storms you got to take courage everybody say take courage it's not gonna just walk up and just jump in your purse or jump on your back you got to take it in the name of Jesus you got to take look at verse 18 the next day as we were being violently storm-tossed can I get a witness out there he's I've never been violently storm-tossed let's come in it's on its way you'll know it they began to jettison the cargo you know when you jettison the cargo you you're throwing money overboard that's how that ship made money I'd say it's getting pretty serious and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle oh that's those are the the winches and the ropes and all the stuff that help keep the thing together now you're throwing away these heavy things that hold the ship together it's getting pretty serious with their own hands they did this verses 20 and 21 show you how dark and dismal it was becoming look at verse 20 since neither Sun nor stars appeared for many days - how would you like to know what time is that we don't know why we don't know we hadn't seen the Sun in days we've seen stars in days we don't know if it's morning or night it's all just dark around us all the time you ever felt that way in life you know when you get discouraged you get depressed you don't even know what time it is when it's morning you're hoping that it's night when it's night you're hoping it's morning and it all becomes that fog to you I've been there neither Sun nor stars appeared for many days no small storm was assailing us from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned that how the devil works on you he just keeps chewing at you keeps biting at you keeps pulling a little bit away from you gradually you lose all hope and then it says when they had gone without food for a long time dark moment I'm telling this this sounds like a country music song right here I'm just telling is it's bad but then look at look at the middle of verse 21 then Paul stood up in their midst look at the contrast everybody's just sitting around remember a little hee-haw song gloom despair and agony on me the dark depression excessive misery if it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all I could sing it but I'm not going to then Paul stands up the man of God had been with God everybody else was looking at the problem but there was one man on that boat at least that was looking to the problem-solver and he'd gotten a word from God I tell you one word from God in the middle of your storm will bring you through that storm one word from God one word from God in the middle of your storm Will's breathe fresh air into your soul one word from God Oh Paul do you have a word from God yeah I was with God last night he sent an angel look at this some of those beautiful scripts you'll ever read Paul stood up now you know he was a preacher he had to get onto them a little bit man you ought to have listened to my followed my advice don't you know that they were saying yeah that's right we will from now on whatever you say preacher you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss yet now let's get away from that now I'm not gonna rebuke anymore yet now I urge you keep up your courage for there will be no loss of life can you imagine a man standing up in the middle of a storm the boat rocking people obviously sink they're discouraged they're depressed they're throwing stuff overboard trying to save himself and all of a sudden a man of God has a word from God nobody's going to die I think even Julius was really listening don't you know loss of life now we're going to lose the ship only other ship how do you know that Paul how can you get up and talk like that ah cuz I walk with God the Living God verse 23 for this very night an angel of God to whom I belong whom I serve don't you love that he's not a showboat he doesn't have to have all this stuff he's I'm just a slave I serve this God he stood before me this angel did this messenger saying don't be afraid Paul you must stand before Caesar and behold God has granted you all those who are sailing with you I want to tell you something the good thing about being blessed of God is God blesses everybody around you go look at Joseph God blessed Egypt because of Joseph God blesses other people around you because God is blessing you as you walk with God as a spirit-filled believer in Jesus Christ God will just let that some of that blessing go off all these other people they'll just be blessed by knowing you and being around you then Paul encouraged them verse 25 one of the greatest verses to memorize in the Bible therefore keep up your courage men for I believe God I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I've been told but we must run aground on a certain Island God didn't stop the storm like they did when Jesus was in the boat on the Sea of Galilee God didn't say peace be still to the storm God said peace be still to the people in the store and that's what God is trying to say to you this morning I know the Lord is speaking to your heart right now he's saying look I may not take the storm away but I want you to have peace in the midst of the storm I want you to walk with me I'm gonna teach you some things through this storm that I never could have taught you outside of this storm this storm is nothing because I am with you you need to say with Paul therefore I'm gonna keep up my courage I believe God that it will turn out exactly as he has spoken to me in the Word of God that's enough to make a Baptist shower God gave the promise now look at verse 27 but when the fourteenth day came as we were being driven about oh wait a minute I thought the storm was gone away God didn't say that God says ultimately I'm gonna bring you through it but it didn't stop right then the promise was given but I Got News for You Time God gives a promise it's as good as done whether you see it right then or not don't worry about it anymore we were being driven about in the Adriatic Sea about midnight the sailors began to surmise that they were approaching some land they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms and a little farther on they took another sounding and found it to be 15 fathoms fearing that we might run aground against somewhere on the rocks they cast four anchors from the stern and wishing wished for daybreak but as the sailors were trying to escape from the ship and had let down the ship's boat into the sea on the pretense of intending to lay out anchors from the bow Paul said now Paul of a sudden he's the captain in the ship is he not Paul said to the Centurion and the soldiers unless these men remain in the ship you yourselves cannot be saved then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it fall away until the day was about to dawn Paul was encouraging them all to take some food saying today is the 14th day that you have been constantly watching and going without food what did they be they were so they were so afraid they were fasting nothing to eat for two weeks having taken nothing therefore I encourage you Paul says how many times is the word courage by the way come up in this takes I encourage you to take some food for this is for your preservation sometimes you're too fast sometimes you're to eat for not he says again for not a hair from the head of any one of you is going to perish having said this he modeled it for them he took the bread he gave thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it he began to eat all of them were in courage God put courage back into them that's what encouragement is and they themselves also to food all of us in the ship were 276 persons this is not a small group or a small boat friend I just want to tell you something God can bring you through a storm I can remember years ago about well Bethany was - so she's 25 23 years ago I was preaching a revival in the spring right about now in Milan Tennessee I'd come up from Gardendale Bethany had come with me she was - my mother wanted to see her so we were staying with my mom in Dyersburg going back and forth to Milan and as we left the church one night we've gotten Bethany out of the nursery and we were the three of us me and my mom and Bethany on the way home back to Dyersburg this storm came up I mean just lightning and all of a sudden hail started coming well I knew what that meant and so I was we were in the country man and so I pulled over right by a wheat field and parked right by some trees and just I told mother I said get on top of Bethany and we covered Bethany and I mean wind was rocking the the car was going back and forth my mother's car and and hail was hitting us and rain was coming down just torrential II and for about I'm telling for about 20 minutes I was thinking we may go up in some tornado or something and and we were just covering we were praying I was pleading the blood of Jesus over Bethany and just praying over her and all of a sudden then it just kind of went on by the next day we we woke up and I know when we woke up in Dyersburg okay we didn't wake up in the toilet I want you to think that we got sucked up in a tornado but the next day we found out a torn I did go right through that area we were in now that's a physical storm but I've been through a lot of tornadoes other than that what are you supposed to do when you go through a storm take courage I love Hebrews 10:35 and 36 therefore do not throw away your confidence it has a great reward you have need of endurance so that you when you have done the will of God you may receive what was promised some of you right now are going through a storm in your marriage look at me God can fix that storm some of you are going through a storm in your health I've been there done that look at me God can bring you through that storm some of you are going through a storm with your family you got some family member or maybe several they're not doing right look at me been there done that God can bring you through that storm some of you have been through financial problems and you're going through a financial storm you've lost a job whatever God can bring you through that some of you are having a really hard time forgiving somebody who has wronged you and it looks like they've gotten away with it been there done that look at me God can bring you through that storm or any storm out there any storm out there you've got to display courage hold up your head and say I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told that's courage look the storm right in the eye don't let that storm back to you down look that storm right in the eye and say storm in the name of Jesus I will come through you storm in the name of Jesus you will not me greater is He Who is in me than he was in the world I'm not letting you take me down storm I'm not letting you take my family down storm I'm not letting you get into me I'm not gonna stay discouraged I'm coming through you you are not going to defeat me you got to talk to storms and tell them what God says about them display courage tears last thing let God conquer your storm I'll just read verses 38 through 44 when they had eaten enough they began to lighten the ship by throwing out the wheat into the sea when day came they could not recognize the land but they did observe a bay with a beach and the in that great God even gives you a beach in it great and they resolved to drive the ship onto it if they could and casting off the anchors they left them in the sea while at the same time they were loosening the ropes of the rudders and hoisting the foresail to the wind they were heading for the beach but they struck a reef where two seas met they ran the vessel aground and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves so here there are stuck right before they get the land and the waves are beating the back of the boat into pieces the soldiers plan kill the prisoners so that none of them would swim away and escape because if those prisoners escaped the soldiers would be executed but the Centurion I told you he was going to be a great asset to Paul but the Centurion warning to bring Paul safely through kept them from their intention commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first go to land and the rest should follow some own planks others on various things from the ship and I love this last phrase and so it happened what happened they all were brought safely to land now if you're sitting there worried about those next seven lines of unfilled blanks that's a storm for some of you right now I can tell I'll just do that'll be my sermon tonight okay I'm being serious I'll finish that tonight okay because I don't want to I don't want to rush did they make it through did God promise them they'd make it through did God promise you that you'd make it through are you gonna make it through because of you because of who Jesus I've been through a lot of storms if I keep breathing I'll go through some more but I know one thing I know what to do when I hit a storm best thing you can do when you hit a storm is hit your face down on the ground I quit hitting my knees a long time ago I've gone through some stuff I if I could have dug a hole I'd get under the ground amen you got to get as low as you can to reach as high as you can to get the strength you need to make it through the storm I cannot promise you nor would I even try to tell you that God's going to remove the storm but I can promise you this if you will walk with Jesus I don't care what storm you face God will bring you through it I've seen lightning flashy I've heard the thunder roll I felt sins breakers dashing they were trying to conquer my soul oh but I heard the voice of Jesus telling me still to walk on he promised never to leave me never to leave me alone no never no never alone he promised never to leave me never to leave me alone no never oh no never alone Jesus promise never to leave me never to leave me [Music] father I pray in the name of Jesus that you just reach down to somebody's heart right now take their heart in your hand Lord pull them out of the miry clay set their feet on a rock put a new song in their heart Alleluia a song of praise to their God and let them know how much bigger you are then every storm out there in Jesus name and all God's people said

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 6,008

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Keywords: overcoming the storms of life, Pastor Steve Gaines, Bellevue Baptist Church, Steve Gains, Bellevue Memphis, Bellevue Church, Steve Gaines Bellevue, The Book of Acts, Facing a trial, Sunday Sermons

Id: JvKHebOyRCU

Length: 43min 25sec (2605 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 10 2018