Shake It Off // Christine Caine

wow i am so honored to be here with you all at transformation nation you know pastor mike and natalie it is my honor to be with you and i've always wanted to come to your house and i know i'm here in tulsa oklahoma in our building in the miracle that is transformation church but i've always wanted to come to your living room wherever you are and i know this this church is a little bit like god we're just like omnipresent we are just like all over the world and i love that i love to see what god is doing through this house and let me just say i bring greetings as you can tell from my accent this is the queen's english from sydney australia this is how we speak english i bring greetings from my husband nick i want you to introduce you to my family right over here we have my husband nick and my daughters catherine bobby and sophia so catherine bobby is 19 and just about to go to college and sophia is 15. you know my husband is number 14 of 15 living children and so you've got to understand that um there was no television in that part of australia where uh you know where they were all conceived but my mother-in-law she did not even think you were a mother unless you popped out like 10 kids so i would take my my two daughters i would take catherine bobby and i would take sophia joyce and i would say to my mother-in-law this is katherine bobby my alpha and this is sophia joyce my omega and this is the beginning and the end of my childbearing years right here this is who i have so you know i have just been uh i feel like i've been part of the miracle that is transformation church and you you don't realize how connected you are to me whether you know it or not you know the bible says that where your treasure is that's where your heart is and can i just say on behalf of a21 i know that your heart is already with us because transformation church has been so generous in supporting the mission of a21 to abolish slavery everywhere forever and i want to thank you i remember when when pastor mike was was like did that miracle sunday we all you all are just not normal where you were giving away so much money my phone was blowing up everyone's like are you watching this are you watching this so on behalf of a21 i want you to know that during a global pandemic uh when it should have been impossible to see people rescued to see people set free to see traffickers go to jail i want you to know that we have seen more people rescued this past year than ever before in the history of a21 we have more survivors in our care and last week alone last week alone eight traffickers were put in jail in greece and let me just say it is your giving that has helped that to happen so i want you to know that you know your pastor's pastor pastor mike and natalie they are very prayerful about where they sow the seed out of this house into soil i want you to know that you're sowing into good soil people are being set free people are being delivered people are being rescued and let me just say when we started 8 21 people were saying to me christine this is impossible it is impossible for this to happen can i just tell you that what is impossible with man is possible with god with god all things are possible and nothing nothing is impossible with god you know the story of a21 is so very very personal to me and i just want to dive right in because this is the first time that some of you have been introduced to us in our ministry and i want you to know and you're on the other side of the screen today and you know the good news about uh this season in life where we're doing everything online that this recording is going to find you right when you need it to find you and i believe that it's a now moment for some of you but i want you to know some of you think things have happened to you you've gone through trials you've gone through struggles you've gone through just a lot of pain in your life and you think god can't use you god can't do anything with you because of what happened to you or what someone said about you or what you have done but i want you to know that often your greatest ministry can come out of your greatest brokenness i just want to start right at the outset and let you know from the beginning i was the kid that was born in sydney australia i grew up in the poorest zip code in my state and i grew up the daughter of greek immigrants second generation migrant uh you know i'm a second generation immigrant and i was very marginalized because of my ethnicity i was very marginalized because of my gender i did not grow up in a tradition where women were actually ever encouraged to do anything in life and pretty much most weeks of my life from the time i was very young until my teenage years i was sexually abused at the hands of four men i was a very broken young woman i was full of shame i was full of so much guilt i was full of so much anger so much bitterness so much pain so much heartache and the fact is that young women like me don't normally end up doing what i'm doing they end up either maybe drug dependent or alcohol dependent or maybe two or three different kids to two or three different fathers or confused about our gender identity but i'm here to tell you that your history does not need to define your destiny the 30 years ago i came into relationship with jesus christ and he has given me a life beyond my past and you know when i was 33 years old just two weeks before my 33rd birthday i got a phone call from my brother george because i said i'm greek and when you're greek or your brothers are george or nico or spiro or just the way that it is if you've seen my big fat greek wedding you've seen my big fat greek life and so you know it is that's exactly how i grew up so my brother called me and he says christina i just got a letter from the government i mean he was weeping and he says i got a letter from the government and it says that i've been adopted and i i first started to laugh because you know when you're growing up you always tell your siblings like you are not my brother you were adopted your mother's from mars you know you always say that to yours but can i just say when they call you and tell you that they really are adopted you freak out and so then suddenly i got really defensive i'm like no you're not no you're not you know we're really we're really related and i said george they've made a mistake call the government department in australia that's called the department of community services i said call them and tell them they've made a mistake so he calls them and then his wife calls me back maybe about 10 minutes later this time she is sobbing she's like christina it's true i i got a letter from i i talked to them they said that they've got a file on george they said they told me where he went to school when he was immunized who his biological mother is who his biological father is now you've got to understand i was freaking out this was not the phone call i was expecting and so i don't know if you know anything about greeks but greeks are a little bit cray-cray so we act first and we think later and so george goes i'm going to go see mum now my father had died when i was 19 so my mother was home a lot and she at the time was 61 and i'm thinking okay anything could happen and i'm not joking when i say anything could happen so i jump into my car go to my mother's house i go in i walk into the living room right at the moment that my brother and he's giving my mother this piece of paper from the government and um my mum just starts crying i felt like i was watching a movie and i'm thinking this is true my mom's crying she goes george i just need you to know that um all the adoption laws in australia that was at the time 35 years ago they were all closed adoptions we never thought you would find out and the last thing i promised your father before he died was that i would never tell you and so i tore up all of the paperwork and i threw it all away and i never thought you would find out now you gotta imagine church you could imagine this was like a big fat greek moment like my mother's crying my brother's crying the dog's crying i mean everyone's crying okay i don't know what to do at this moment so i'm thinking like i'm i'm greek what am i gonna do i'm gonna go to the kitchen and i'm going to make baklava i'm going to make some food i'm going to make some musaka i'm going to do something so i go in and then as i'm making some stuff my mother walks in behind me and she says these words to me christina since we're telling the truth today do you want to know the whole truth okay i i didn't see this coming i don't even know i turned around and i i said to her i go i've been adopted too now remember i'm two weeks out from my 33rd birthday i've been adopted too tears streaming down my mother's face she just starts nodding ahead starts saying yes i was stunned i just stood there and i mean i didn't even say anything for a few minutes which in and of itself is a miracle greater than the resurrection of jesus but anyway so i didn't say anything but then the very next thing that came out of my mouth in that moment i went well the first thing i said is am i still greek you know i thought i was called a lot of names at school for a lot of years for being greek so i wanted to know there was a reason but but after i said that the next thing i said to my mum right there my greek orthodox mother's kitchen i went oh well mum before i was formed in my mother's womb whosoever wound that was he knew me he knitted together my innermost party fashioned all of my days before us yet there was one of them i am fearfully and wonderfully made and can i just tell you that day every fact that i thought to be true about my life changed what my name was what my past was and you know as i talked to you today i still don't know the facts surrounding my conception i don't know if i was the result of a one-night stand i don't know if i was the result of an ongoing adulterous affair i don't i don't even know if i was the result of a rape but although i do not know the facts i'm here to remind someone today that there is a force on the planet much higher than the facts and it's called the truth of the word of god and ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 does not say that i am the workmanship of a rape or an adulterous affair it says that we are his workmanship and we've been recreated in christ jesus for good works that god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them you are not what happened to you you are not what they did to you you are not what they said about you you are created in the image of god you are filled with god-given destiny god-given purpose god has a plan and a purpose for you and wouldn't it be just like god to take an unnamed because that's what my birth certificate says child's name unnamed number 2508 of 1966 wouldn't be just like god to take an unnamed unwanted abused adopted chick from the back of sydney australia and not only save and deliver and redeem and set me free but say christine i'm gonna raise you up to open up those prison doors to let a generation of those that are bound and i'm going to use you to set them free can i just tell you every single time we put a trafficker in jail every time we see a young child rescued out of sex slavery i think devil you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it i bet that you wish you left me alone i feel like joseph in genesis chapter 50 verse 20 who looked at his brothers and he said you meant this for evil against me but god meant it for this very purpose to save many many people alive god can take what the enemy meant for evil turn it around and work all things together for your good and for his glory you've tuned into the right church service today i want you to know that god's got a plan and a purpose and a destiny for your life and that's not even my sermon that's just for free right now so we are going to dive right into i just wanted to say that because i wanted to thank you for your generosity to a21 i wanted to this is not just something i do this is an overflow of my life and what jesus has done for me and in 13 years we've seen god do miracles and you know what i can believe god can do miracles because god you'll look at that one right here this is a great miracle standing right here and you know what before before i even got to this planet when i was still in my mother's womb the enemy wanted to send an assignment to steal kill and destroy my life but i want you to know that no demon in hell and no person on earth could thought the plan or the purpose of god for your life if god said it god will do it it will come to pass on that note i want you to turn with me to the book of acts chapter 27. we're going to read a lot of bible because this is a bible-believing church i love that about this house you are a very well taught house can i just say in preparation i watched every one of the videos of crazy faith if you haven't watched them you need to watch them and get saved because they are just unbelievable all of forgiveness university i thought you just need to put those uh that on youtube on repeat every day of your life and you will stay a christian because it will just fill you full of faith but you are a very very well taught house you ought to thank god for your pastors mike and natalie because i'm telling you they are bringing you the word of god and there's just so just to watch this house mature is beautiful to this mother in the face but we're going to go to the book of acts and hopefully i'm going to give a little bit of clarity and maybe some language to what some of you have been feeling this past year and the pivotal moment we are at because i reckon there's been i i believe there's been a divine shift the spiritual tectonic pla plates of the planet have shifted and some of us if we haven't realized the shifts happen you can get caught in what was like a an earthquake and fall into the crevices and we don't want that because i think this moment is actually the most exciting moment on the planet for the church of jesus christ this was a moment for us to arise and step into what it is that god has for us so in acts 27 the bible says and when it was decided that we should sail for italy now listen we have uh you know 18 different officers around the world in 18 different countries and so normally when people say to me christine where do you live i go you know on an airplane and i just do laps of the globe we've done that we've taken our daughters around the world with us over 50 countries doing ministry and preaching and teaching and our work with a21 it's just what we do so for me this last year has been a little bit challenging because i haven't been able to go overseas so when i read in the bible and now we were ready to sail for italy i have got this picture of italy i'm thinking the amalfi coast i'm thinking positano i'm thinking ravelo i'm thinking you know just uh beautiful beautiful tuscany i'm thinking the mediterranean sea i'm already imagining a yacht and sailing around the mediterranean this is going to be awesome but i don't want you to have that picture because that's not what's happening here okay so italy so they delivered paul and some other prisoners so we know that this is not going to be a mediterranean cruise ship this is is going to be a ship that's carrying prisoners to a centurion of the augustan cohort named julius let me just give you a little bit of context what happened was the apostle paul had received an offering from the churches that were surrounding this area to bring an offering to the church in jerusalem which was undergoing great great trials great great heartache they they were they had great lack at the time so he received an offering and everyone said to him paul don't take this offering yourself to jerusalem because if you do they're going to kill you but paul wanted to take the offering himself he loved jerusalem obviously that's where jesus was crucified and because he had so persecuted the church of jerusalem he wanted himself to take this offering to them and exactly what they said would happen to him happened to him he became they tried to kill him and the only way he didn't die was that the romans and soldiers went and took him and they made him a prisoner now for two years he was a prisoner waiting for one thing he was going to go to rome now he knew that was part of his purpose the lord had told and this was part of his destiny he had so eagerly decided and eagerly desired to want to go to rome because he knew if i can proclaim the gospel of the lord jesus christ in rome from rome it will go into the then known world and the gospel will spread so he wanted to go to rome it was his purpose to go to rome it was his plan to go to rome it was the will of god that he was going to go to rome and he just didn't imagine that he was going to go to rome by being a prisoner see sometimes you can be in the purpose of god you could be in the will of god you can be in the plan of god but how god's going to take you where he's going to take you might not be how you think he's going to get you there and oftentimes you think god has changed his mind because your circumstances have changed paul knew he was going to go to rome but he was going to get there by being a prisoner so now we're on there and he goes through and it says and embarking on a ship of adremitium which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of asia we put out to sea accompanied by aristarchus a macedonian from thessalonica now our a21 headquarters are in thessaloniki and i know everybody wants to be greek everybody watching this i know you want to be greek and so it makes me excited when we're talking about italy but you've got to have greeks on the road so just throwing that in for nothing to all my greek friends that are watching this right now and the bible goes on and says the next day we put in at sidon and julius treated paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for favor is quite amazing favor means that you can be a prisoner and that the the person that is in charge of you as a prisoner trusts you so much that he gives you leave to go and stay with your friends and be cared for and putting out to see from there we sailed under the lee of cyprus because the winds were against us i want you to get this paul is on track with destiny paul is going to his purpose he's getting there as a prisoner and right at the outset right from the beginning what does the scripture tells us it says the winds were against us sounds like march 2020 doesn't it it's like when we had our plans we all had our purpose and this was what's going to happen with my business this is what's going to happen in that relationship this is what's going to happen with that course of study oh we we had started that we had heard from god this was the will of god this was the purpose of god and we started and whoa feels like the winds are against us so we go on and he says that when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of sicilian pamphlet we came to mirai in laissez 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 of knights okay so man we started on this epic journey in the purpose of god in the will of god and suddenly the winds were against us now we're told that there was difficulty so now we've gone from march 2020 to april 2020. i mean it it started off with regia feels like the winds are against us then it sort of got difficult and the wind did not allow us to go farther we sailed under the lee of crete of salmon coasting along it with difficulty oh now now we're in may so we thought we thought it was just winds against us then it got difficult then it got even more difficult and we didn't even believe this we came to a place called fair havens near which was the city of la cia since much time had passed whoa you mean it wasn't just a day of difficulty it wasn't just two days of difficulty and the voyage was now dangerous what do you mean just happened christine you mean we've now gone to june lockdown and july locked down and it's now dangerous i mean we thought it was hard when the winds were against us in march and then in april it got even difficult difficult and in may it got even more difficult and now we are in dangerous terrain he goes on because even the fast was already over and right here the fast of course is the day of atonement so now now we are in the september october we're getting into that season after the day of atonement and so if you've ever been in the mediterranean or the ionian or the aegean sea at this time of the year and we're often in in this region of the world during this time it's not a time to be out on the mediterranean sea in fact we had a rescue in this region where two girls were literally rescued where we had to send in someone that went and took them late at night and brought them across it was so dangerous i mean they were being rocked side to side the winds were up the waves were up i i don't want you to be thinking like a nice little summer storm i want you to be thinking like category 5 hurricane i want you to be thinking that this is like intense and so scripture gives us that detail this is this is after the fast this is after the day of atonement he goes on and says the fast was already over paul advised him sir i perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives just in case you needed some encouragement today i'm so glad that you came in and the bible goes on and says on the chance that somehow they could and because the harbour was not suitable to spend the winter in the majority the majority decided to put out to sea from there the majority i just want you to know that the majority is not always right the majority doesn't always make the best call but but there's the majority here the majority said we're going to go out to sea on the chance that somehow they could reach phoenix a harbor of crete facing both southwest and north west 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 yeah i mean you could google this the north east this is where we're talking a full on hurricane-style wind it came in off the land this is now so serious that when the ship was caught and could not face the wind we gave way to it and we were driven along now we're in august and september and october and we don't know where we're going with all this we're just driven along anyone felt driven along over the last year you're like man i felt a bit of resistance the winds were against me then it got difficult then it got even more difficult then there were times i felt so dangerous and then i just gave up man relationally financially spiritually physically i just felt like i've been driven along in fact christine i'm here in april 2021 and i feel like i'm just being driven along i'm just being driven along by the the ramifications of the storm that we've been going through and the bible says running under the lee of a small island of cauter we managed with difficulty just in case you didn't get it yet you're wondering why you're in april 2021 and you're going man it still feels hard still feels like there's difficulty he goes on to secure the ship's boat after hoisting it up they use supports to undergird the ship then fearing they would run aground on the cities they lowered the gear and thus they were driven along and i would say so many of us over this last season have just felt driven along chris has just been like out of control i just feel driven along i don't even know what's happening i don't even know myself anymore every sphere of my life has been impacted relationally and emotionally and spiritually and financially and physically chris i feel like i have no control i've just been driven along oh paul knew how this fell 2000 years ago dr luke is writing this in so much detail this is exactly how it felt since we were violently storm tossed i'd say that defines the last year don't you violently storm tossed side to side nausea throwing up paul wasn't exempt from any of this paul was on his way to his purpose paul was on his way to his destiny he felt the same nausea as everyone else he felt the same wind as everyone else he felt the same storm as everyone else some of us have thought god could you not have taken us out of this storm he's like no no i'm with you in it it's okay i know you're feeling it now they're violently storm tossed violently some of you feel exactly like that chris it's been brutal this year chris it's been brutal i feel violently storm tossed he goes on they began the next day to jettison the cargo you have to understand this is a cargo ship so now they have to throw overboard all of their economic provision because see they were going to take the cargo to the next place and that's what that was going to be sold and that's what would have been their means of income some of you have felt this past year i've just had to jettison everything overboard chris i i thought this promotion was coming but man with all the pandemic things have just changed chris i started this business enterprise and i thought it was going to happen and i feel like i've just had to throw everything overboard some of you have been feeling that your means of provision is exactly what has been thrown overboard over this last time and the bible goes on and says when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days for many days 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 all hope you think christine why would all hope be gone because sun and moon had not appeared it was pitch black they couldn't see the stars they couldn't see the sun they couldn't see them and this might not seem like a big deal to us because we have gps's in 2021 but back in these days the gps was the sun the gps was the moon the gps was the stars it's pitch black and they can't see and there's no direction and there's no compass anyone felt this you god where are you where did you go where did you go god god i i don't feel like there's any compass i don't feel like there's any direction god i'm being hit on every side financially and emotionally and relationally and spiritually god i can't even see ahead of me anymore anyone felt like you've lost your compass and all hope is gone paul despaired he was on track with his purpose some of you are like but chris i didn't even do anything i was on track with my purpose i committed to church and committed to the word committed to prayer and i haven't had some big backslide but i can't see feel god paul's like we've given up so many of us over this last year it's felt like i have to give up god i can't even see you somehow i've gotten blown off track i didn't plan for this god i i didn't plan to shift i didn't plan to drift i didn't plan to move god i've tried to find my way back to you but where are you and paul's in the midst of this dark moment and scripture goes on since they had been without food for a long time paul stood up among them and said man you should have listened to me i love the humility of the apostle paul i just have to say this is a lie no woman has ever said to her husband ever but anyway so men you should have listened to me and not have set sail from crete and incurred this injury and loss some of you you feel that chris i've gotten here because it's my fault chris i've messed up i i did what the lord told me not to do i went where the lord told me not to go i watched what the lord told me not to watch i hung out with people that the lord told me not to hang out with and you think you've blown it and you think it's over because you brought yourself here others feel that somehow they got here and didn't bring themselves here but i'm here to give you good news today whether you think you've brought yourself here or whether the enemy brought you here i want you to know that god is with you right here he has not left you he has not forsaken you he is with you he goes on and he says yet now i urge you to take heart i'm here today a transformation nation because i'm here to urge you to take heart oh i know it's been a challenging year i know it's been a hard year but take her he goes on for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship and i want you to miss that i don't want you to miss that paul's giving two sides of the same coin he's saying listen you're not going to die you're not going to die we're going to get to our purpose but but by the way the the ship's got to go the ship's got to go because see there are some ships that need to run aground in our lives there are some ships that some of us we didn't even realize before 2020 that our trust had become in the ship rather than the one that steers the ship and what god has said is us some ships have got to run aground for your good your purpose is still intact your destiny is still intact i'm still going to take you where i was always going to take it but the ship that you thought was going to get you there has got to run aground i never promised you the ship i promised you your purpose some of us without even realizing it if we've been walking with the lord for a long time we trusted the ship more than the savior some of us have been thrown overboard from the ship to remember that it always was jesus always will be jesus i i didn't get here because i built some organization i didn't get here because we've got a structure the same jesus that was with that unnamed unwanted kid in the hospital is the same jesus that's with me the same jesus that brought me here is the same jesus that would take me there a system doesn't bring you here a structure doesn't bring you here a person doesn't bring you here jesus is the one that takes us to our destiny jesus is the one that we are running towards we fix our eyes on jesus he is the author of our faith he is the finisher of our faith and some of us have been reminded this last year that it's jesus it's jesus it says but the ship must run aground some of you had some ships that had to run aground the bible goes on and he says for this very night they stood before me an angel of the god to whom i belong and whom i worship i want you to know when paul's saying this he's not saying this when the storm is over he's not saying this when he's no longer feeling nauseous he's not saying this when when he's no longer throwing up over but no no in the midst of the storm in the midst of it he's saying oh let's just have a praise break right now let me just tell you about this god that i worship let me just tell you about this god that i serve see i wonder when we go to our offices and we go to our jobs and we're around all of our other friends do they know that there's even a god that we serve in the midst of a pandemic a god that we serve in the midst of a storm see some of us we wait till after the storm to begin to give praise to god and declare our faithfulness and fidelity and our commitment to god but he's saying while you're throwing up overboard metaphorically speaking could you still talk about the god that you serve could you still talk about the god that you serve and see some of us we need this confidence that paul had in the midst of the storm to say let me tell you about this god that i worship see our world our world's out of control church our world is out of control our world is cray-cray it's lost its mind and one of the greatest witnesses that we can be as the church of jesus christ in this hour is is to hold our peace and continue to praise our god and worship our king again look i don't understand what's going on either man i'm throwing up just like you are i'm feeling the violent storm to us but but in the midst of it all can i just talk to you about this god that i serve about this god that i worship can i just talk to you about this faithful god but he's declaring this faithful god and he goes on for this very night this stood before me an angel of the god to whom i belong and i worship and he said do not be afraid he didn't say do not be nauseous or seasick because most of what we're feeling over the last year is actually not sickness it's fear it's fear it's fear that's taking more people out than anything else it's fear that the enemy has unleashed across the earth now it's manifest itself in so many different spheres but it's fear so he says paul do not be afraid paul you must stand before caesar you must i want you to get that paul you you must because see that's your purpose that's your destiny that's the prophetic word of your life you must let me just tell you when the pandemic all started last year first thing i did i went and got all of my prayer journals and prophecy journals from 1989 when i first came to the lord and i had 21 that's how old i am most of you weren't even born then but that's okay there was a millennium called the last one and so 1989 so i had 30 years of prophetic words and journals and i had a at the time my daughter was 18 and 14. i said girl sit down this is okay because i i want to show you something girls i i want to show you i don't know what's going to happen with this pandemic i don't know what's going to happen with the economy tanking i don't know what's going to happen with life and the ministry but i need you to see this i need you to see what the lord spoke to me in 1989 and i need you to see the prophetic words that were spoken over my life in 1994 and i need you to see the prophetic words in 2010 and and i want you to know this girl i i don't know what's going on ahead of me but but i've got a promise i might not be able to see but i've got a promise so in the midst of the storm what i hang on to is the word of god in the midst of the storm i hang on to the promise of god and i say girls the same god that prophesied this over me in 1989 and 1990 and 1991 and 92 and 93 and 94 that same god is with us now and i want you to know girls there's certain prophetic words that haven't come to pass yet oh no no no your mother must and once you've got your must from god oh i don't care what's coming in over the news i don't care what's going on in the world around i can see it but it doesn't move me oh i can feel it i feel nauseous like everyone else i might even be throwing overboard like everybody else but i must stand before caesar must i don't know what you must do some of you have forgotten you must some of you have forgotten the word that god has spoken over your life some of you have forgotten the promise of god over your marriage the promise of god over your children the promise of god over your future the promise of god over your finances the promise of god over your health and i'm here to declare and decree to you today you must if god said it no pandemic can stop it if god said it no pandemic can stop it he says paul oh oh i know you're being violently stop tossed but you must transformationation there's still a lot of must over your life still a lot of prophetic words that have got to come to pass you must and the greatest thing the church can do in this hour is hang on to the word of god hang on to the promise of god hang on to the purpose of god god says you you must so because you you must stand before caesar and the whole god has granted you all those who sail with you i've declared that to everyone in my orbit okay man stay close during this time because because you're you're coming with me you're coming with me this this favor this blessing oh no no stay in this orbit we're going to feel the storm but you're coming with me you're coming with me and we're going to get through to the other side because it's really got nothing to do with me the same god that brought me here is the same god that's going to take me there that's okay he could still do this in this hour so it goes on and he says so take heart man for i have faith in god that it will be exactly as it has been told and i'm here to tell you that today there's so much i don't know about what's going on in our world but i will tell you this transformation nation i have faith in god that it will be exactly as we have been told but we must run aground on some island whoa what do you do when you're in the will of god you're in the purpose of god you're being faithful to god and god says i'm going to get you to where i'm taking you but there's a detour that you weren't planning for we must run aground can we trust god to interrupt our plan with his purpose can we trust god even when we can't trace him in the middle of a storm some of us right now god i can't trace you he says i'm not asking you to trace me can you trust me can you trust me and even if it doesn't make sense in the natural some of us must run aground so when the 14th night had come and as we were driven being driven across the adriatic sea about midnight the sailors suspected that they were nearing land now they're freaking out so they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms a little further on they took a sounding again and found 15 fathoms and fearing that we might run on the rocks they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come sticking with the theme of anchored just in case you're wondering right now i hope you're remembering our word for the year as we go [Applause] and as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and lowered the ship's boat into the sea under the pretense of laying out anchors from the bow paul said to the centurion and the soldiers unless these men stay in the ship you cannot be saved i want to give someone a word right now some of you you have been so violently storm tossed you have been and all you've wanted to do is jump ship man i'm going to jump ship on this marriage i'm going to jump ship on this church i'm going to jump ship on this relationship and i'm here to tell you stay on the ship it might not seem like it makes sense in the natural the ship's about to run aground here but paul says the only way you're going to get saved is stay on the ship you tuned in today and the word of the lord for you is don't jump ship stay on the ship stay in that marriage or that church or they relate whatever it is that the lord's telling you stay on the ship stay on the ship it goes on as he says this then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go some of you got to cut away some ropes man you had your exit plan you had your exit plan i'm going to jump on this little boat i'm getting off this ship and i'm just going to go safely to land and the lord's like no no you that that's that's going to take you drifting so far of course i know the ship looks good i know those arms look good i know that new thing looks good but it's going to take you to destruction you're on the ship and you think man but chris i can't see any hope for this ship it looks like it's going to head to destruction and god says you'll be saved just down the ship stay on the ship cut the rope on what's taking you off the ship cut the rope it goes on as day was about to dawn paul urged them all to take some food saying today is the 14th day that you have continued in suspense and without food having taken nothing therefore i urge you to take some 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 oh he broke it and began to eat can i remind someone today man you've been so stressed out sometimes the best thing we can do in the midst of a storm that we can do nothing about in the midst of a situation that we can do nothing about when we're surrounded and he's surrounded by unbelievers he's surrounded by by people that don't even believe what he believes you know what he does in the midst of it all he just takes it and breaks bread some of you just need to take some communion and break some bread in the midst of your storm remember that jesus is with you in the midst of it and the testimony that is to a lost and a broken world around us it just blows people's mind he says you know i don't get this but that peace that surpasses all understanding he's with me jesus himself is my peace in the midst of a storm not just when i get through it on the other side and so sometimes throughout this last year with everything by god's grace that nick and i oversee you know we've never we haven't had to to we haven't lost any staff we haven't had to shift or pull back in anything you've got to understand we're in 18 countries around the world doing what we're doing and in the midst of it all is like i don't know what i'm going to do i'm just going to break bread i'm just going to go to the one that knows it's all about him and it's all for him and it's all with him and it's only in him and it's all through him anyway [Music] centering jesus in the midst of your storm not when it's finished in the midst of it says i'm trusting you i can't trace you but i'm trusting you and i'm doing this by faith this is like real faith and in the midst of all of that i want you to see what happens in this text he goes on and he says and then they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves we were in all 276 persons on the ship that's a big ship and when they had eaten enough they lightened the ship throwing out the wheat to the sea i want you to know the ship's about to go down this is what they're doing 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 remember we're anchored this year they cast off the anchors and left them in the sea at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach but striking a reef they ran the vessel are crowned so now we've gotten through the storm and now we're at the shipwreck anyone feel shipwrecked anyone feel like you just explained my 2020 coming into 2021. they ran the ship of ground and the bible says that the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners unless any should 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 for the land and the rest on planks i want you to picture this or on pieces of the ship and so it was they were all brought safely to land i want you to get this the the ship ran aground some jumped overboard to swim to shore and then others had to hang on to planks or pieces of the ship see some of you have come into 21 and you're like 20 21 i just got here on a plank i just got here on a piece of the ship i don't know how i'm in april but i'm just kind of like hanging on and after this massive chapter that dr luke writes the last line is and so it was that they were all brought safely to land i want you to catch this because some of you have missed this he has just described this most horrific horrendous traumatic storm and shipwreck experience which pretty much sums up our last year and in the very last verse of chapter 27 he doesn't rehash all of what happened in the last year he doesn't keep going over all of the pain and all of the loss and all of the suffering and all of the offense and all of the bitterness and all of the hurt he says oh no no we changed the narrative now we get our focus off what happened and we start remembering hang on a minute god brought us safely to land i'm still here god brought me safely to land i don't know how i got here but here i am in april 2021 god brought me safely to let i've said to my daughters nick and i have said to our girls oh the narrative over 2020 is not covered for us it's that our god brought us safely through that year our god brought us that's the banner over 2020 for me should the lord tarry my children's children and their children so what happened in 2020 man i don't know i think there was like some sort of pandemic thing but but but man my grandmother and my great-grandmother that all they say is that the banner over 2020 for them was that god brought them safely through whoever that god was and then as if that's not enough dr luke continues in chapter 28 some of you are freaking out this is more bible than you've read all year i've just brought you up to date on your bible reading plan because see some of you were going to do the one year bible this year and you fell behind so i'm just getting you up today that's exactly what's happening right now so it goes in verse 28 this is how we start the next chapter some of you need to do this in 2021 because you haven't done it yet you've framed this last year through a certain lens and it's time to get the lenses out put new lenses in reframe the narrative because he ends chapter 27 which says our after we were brought safely through not not after all the stuff after we were brought safely through that he starts the next chapter with after we were brought safely through just in case you didn't get it the end of that year our god brought us safely through how i'm gonna start this year after our god brought us safely through he starts right there we then learned that the island was called malta this cracks me up because they didn't even know malta existed they didn't even know where they had ended up they didn't know it wasn't see they were going to rome the epicenter of the roman empire and now they're like we we just learnt we're on malta hanging on to our plank some of you that's how you feel in april 2021 it's like i didn't even know this place existed if someone told me last year i would be here i wouldn't have even known what to call here because i didn't know here existed i i didn't know there was a a place called here you see i was on my way to rome i was on my way to purpose i was on my way to destiny i was on my way to the next big thing god had called me to i said i didn't even know there was a malta and now i just discovered in april what's the name of this place where am i i'm in this place i never planned to be i'm in this tiny little island 17 miles long nine miles wide nick and i've been to malta in europe it's it's beautiful but it's not rome some of you are carrying so much offense and pain and hurt because you're not in rome and you're in malta and your challenge in this moment is not to despise malta on the way to rome because see there was a revival waiting to happen in malta that they didn't know about but god had a revival planned in malta and so many of us we are so busy lamenting the fact that we're not yet in rome that we are missing what god has for us right here in our malta in this moment there was a revival moment waiting and so in this moment it says the native people showed us unusual kindness for their kindle to fire and they welcomed us all because it had begun to rain and it was cold and when paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the vip put them on the fire a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand now this is the best i could do at short notice so what they had done what did paul do what was paul complaining when he ended up in malta wasn't planning to be there there he was was he complete no he got to work he started to collect this is the apostle paul he started to collect some sticks he started to serve to build a fight you got to build a big fire for 276 people you know some of us the best way we're going to get out of the funk that we're in is to begin to serve and do something for somebody else and begin to do something right where we are and start to build a fire to warm some other people while we're waiting for god to show us what it is that is happening so he builds a fire so commentators say that vipers would have been in that wood and then when the fire got hot the viper came out and latched himself onto paul because of the heat so you start getting very fiery for god and start getting some serious energy for god and start heating up for the things of god oh don't be surprised if suddenly the vipers start coming out of that fire don't be surprised if they start coming out because this is the deal the storm didn't take them out the shipwreck didn't take them out and if the enemy will not take you out over the last chief he couldn't take you out by external circumstances if he couldn't take you out by the storm and he couldn't take you out by the shipwreck make no mistake he will send a snake to try to get venom into your heart to get you out from the inside out if he can't take you out from the outside in he's going to try to get bitterness and offense and disappointment and discouragement and anger and disillusionment and lust and greed and jealousy and oh he'll be like i'll get those toxins into you because i couldn't the storm i planned on the storm taking you out but that didn't take your faith away i i i planned on the shipwreck taking you out but you you hung in there and you stayed faithful so since the storm and the shipwreck couldn't take you out let me get a snake bite in you oh well let me try to destroy the church i tried to get you from the outside in that didn't work so now let me get you from the inside out let me get a snake to latch on let me get that venom into your heart because i couldn't i couldn't take you out with all the stuff that's happened so let me see if i can get it into your heart our church you know we're in a vital moment in the church right now we're in a vital moment it goes on and he says um the viper came out and when the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand and they said to one another no doubt this man is a murderer [Music] it's what the crowd always does very quick to judge who you had a snake hanging off you must have sin in your life man what kind of minister are you though he has escaped from the sea justice has not allowed him to live he however shook the creature into the fire and suffered no harm they were waiting for him to swell up i love that oh you've got a lot of haters waiting for you to swell up [Applause] i promise you there's a lot there just waiting waiting they're waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead but when they had waited a long time and they saw no misfortune come to him they changed their minds and said he was a god i just want to tell you how fickle people are you know the same people that said you were you were like the devil last week say that you are a god this week some people go you know christine what why don't you really pay that much attention to what they i'm going to listen the same people that they're the same people that like your post this week are going to cancel you next week so be very very careful about where you get your affirmation from and what you get your strength from and where you get your courage from we had easter service last week the same people that said hosanna one wait one day said crucify him the next day i'll be very careful about what the crowd says about you and what you listen to from the crowd but the bible says that that snake came on and what i love is that the scripture says that paul shook it off into the fire i want you to know he didn't shake it off on social media he didn't shake off his offense out there and his bitterness out there and his disappointment out there and his disillusionment out there but what i do want to say to you church is that what some of us need in order to step into the next season i want to remind you that before before taylor swift there was the apostle paul and some of us need to shake it off you need to shake some stuff out in your life right now you need to shake off that discouragement shake off that offense shake off that bitterness shake off that anger shake off that greed shake off that we need to shake it off into the fire there is so much division and there is so much chaos and there is so much pain and there is so much suffering and the enemy tried to divide us and take us out with the storm didn't work tried to divide us and take us out with the shipwreck and it didn't work and what he has done is latched a viper to us to say can i take you out from the inside out because if the church begins to understand who we are what god has called us to be that we assault on this earth that we are light on this earth that we are sons and daughters of god that we are representatives of the king of kings and the lord of lord and our job is to bring heaven to earth to represent our god to this planet that is what god has told us to do you are not representing god while you got vipers hanging off you gotta shake it off you gotta shake it off gotta shake it off why what's at stake i believe i truly believe with everything that is in me that we are on the verge of the greatest revival that we have ever seen in the history of the church over these last 2 000 years but unless we're willing to shake some things off we are not going to see it i want you to see according to the text what happened here the bible says it goes on and it says now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named publius who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days it happened that the father of publius lay sick with fever and dysentery and paul visited him and prayed and putting his hands on him healed him and when this had taken place the rest of the people on the island who are diseases also came and were cured see while you're despising malta god's got a revival ready to happen in malta right where you are pablius was the chief most influential person on this island and because his father was healed everyone was healed i believe this is a time where everyone in our sphere of influence can be healed or saved or delivered or redeemed or restored but it's going to take us to stop the spiesing malta and stop lamenting the fact that we're not in rome and understand that god's got a revival for us in malta on the way to rome this is the plan the purpose and the will of god might be a divine detour but it's not like god suddenly fell off the throne and thought oh i had no idea there was a divine pen and there was a global pandemic coming peter why didn't you tell me honestly thomas why didn't you tell me you're always doubting you could have told me just maybe just maybe you're in malta and you're missing the revival in malta because you're despising the fact that you're not yet in rome so he goes on this for some of you as you would they also honoured us greatly and when we were about to sail they put on board whatever we needed listen whatever you think you've lost whatever you think was broken whatever you think was taken from you when god's done with the revival in malta you'll get the ship that you need you'll get the supplies that you need you'll get everything that you need anything that the enemy might have taken from you god will restore it to you double god never ever ever leaves us with less than that you will get what you want stop lamenting all the loss stop lamenting the missed opportunity listen your god will get the ship to you he'll put the supplies on it and they ended up going to rome revival came and we today are serving jesus because of the faithfulness of these people do not resent malta on the way to rome there's a revival waiting right where you are in jesus name in jesus name let me pray for you wherever you are all over the world transformation nation [Music] i'm believing that we're sparking revival because we're all over the world right now and right where you are the embers of revival it's malta i know it's not rome i know it's been hard i know the storm was brutal i know the ship was wrecked i know the snake tried to take you out but your god's been faithful and there's a revival waiting right where you are [Music] on the way to where you're going storm didn't take you out shipwreck didn't take you out snake bite won't take you out our god has brought us safely through i know it's been tough but our god has brought us safely through so father i thank you i thank you for this phenomenal global church lord it's been tough and i know that you know that holy spirit i pray right now that literally through the lens of that camera you'd be going into homes and just wherever people are watching this and that your peace would be with people that your presence your manifest presence would be with everyone on the other side of the screen and that we would reframe this last year lord knowing that you never left us you never forsook us and no matter how far off course it seems like we are you're with us and we're still part of your plan just because we didn't know malta existed didn't mean you didn't [Music] so father i pray that you would encourage your people in this moment you'd remind them that the storm didn't take them out they're still here shipwrecked didn't take them out they're still here snakebite didn't take them out they're still here and that you're faithful god father let those that are freaking out about the future god what am i gonna do let them know in their heart of hearts right now that you've got a ship waiting and you've got the supplies on board and you've still got the destination ready that your purpose hasn't changed your word hasn't changed your promise hasn't changed so pray father all over the globe right now there would be a just a divine lifting of our eyes off our circumstances up to you remembering you're our source you're our provider you're our strength you're our hope you're our peace you're our joy you're everything we got you you're the one that brought us here and you're the one that's gonna take us there he who promised is faithful you've promised to never leave us nor forsake us father that's the most beautiful promise in the entire scripture so lord let your people sense your presence emmanuel god with us the the witness of god whether they're in the middle of a storm right now whether they feel like they're in the shipwreck or got a snake hanging off them or in the middle of revival let them know the witness of god [Music] your power is made perfect in our weakness holy spirit do for us what we cannot do for ourselves our ships are not strong enough our sense of control i don't even know what we think we can control our systems our structures lord we thank you for all of it but our hope is not in any of it our hope is in you we thank you for plans and strategies but our hopes not in that our hope's in the leading of the holy spirit of god it's not in our plans it's not in our purpose it's not in our strategy so holy spirit we say to you afresh after the storm of this last year after the shipwrecks of this last year of the all the snake bites of this last year we say holy spirit we need you we need you we want revival and we can't orchestrate a revival because lord we can't even take ourselves to where we think we want to go so we're going to go with the wind the wind was against them from beginning the wind blew them off course but the wind blew them on purpose so wind of god have your way with us have your way with our house blow us where you will take us where you will do with us what you will we want to be agents of revival we want to see revival wherever we are in our homes and our communities in our schools in our universities in our workplaces lord you've shown us this year it's not just the place that we go on sunday it's where we are monday through saturday that needs healing so use us lord let your wind blow us where he will and then use us to see revival on this earth i pray in jesus name amen amen amen god bless you we just stay in an attitude of prayer right now i don't know where you may find yourself after hearing an incredible message like that from pastor christine kane there are so many moments that i personally could relate to of things that i've regret or moments that i found myself in that i didn't even know what to name it or or lamenting over the past and where i thought it was going to be or how i thought i was going to get to my purpose or how i thought my life was going to go and you may be watching this and find yourself in a moment of disappointment where you're looking around and nothing seems recognizable and you've been through the storms of life you've been through the storms of relationship and maybe you're you're watching service today and you felt like you've went through the storms you went through the shipwreck the snake bites the comments everything even this last year and you felt like you've went through it alone what you need to know and what was so powerful in that story in acts 27 is that jesus was right with paul in every single moment he was able to declare his goodness he was able to stand confidently in the storm because he knew he was not going through the storm alone he knew that regardless of what tried to get him off track regardless of what tried to bite him regardless of what tried to get in his heart he knew that the savior of the universe was right there with him and there's somebody watching this right now that you need to know regardless of what you've been through regardless of who labeled you regardless of the difficult situation you find yourself in right now you may be watching alone right now but what you need to know is god is with you he loves you and he cares about you deeply what you need to know is that over 2000 years ago there was a man named jesus and the crazy thing is he wasn't just a man you see god in his love for humanity he sent his son his only son jesus and god put on flesh and bone and he stepped down into the middle of history and he lived a sinless and perfect life and then at the age of state 33 he laid his life down why did he die well in the old testament there was there was this thing you see the sin or are are wrong or are missing the mark sin is an archery term it means you were you were aiming for this and you just got a little bit off that sin it missing the mark when we mess up when we make mistakes that sin separated us from god [Music] and in the old testament in order to account for this sin there had to be a perfect sacrifice and jesus and god god said you know what i'm tired of these sacrifices that are just band-aids to the problem i'm tired of of people trying to do good things just to get to relationship with me i'm gonna send the perfect sacrifice just so i can have relationship with you the most common scripture you've probably heard it for god so loved the world that he gave his only son god gave his only son for you and he gave his only son for this moment so that you could come into a relationship with him wherever you are i want to ask you to close your close your eyes bow your heads just at a moment of focus not out of religion or out of i have to but just a moment to really focus in on where you are with your relationship with god some of you if you're honest you realize that you're not as close to god as you would like to be maybe you grew up in church or around church or you heard about this god or maybe you've experimented with different religions and that you see the thing about all different religions or even just life it's about you working it's about you doing good things to get to god but the story of christianity and of the bible is a story of a god that was so in love with you that he didn't say you come to me he said i'll come to you and that's what you need to know regardless of what you're going through right now god is saying i am stepping into your situation i'm stepping into your hurt i'm stepping into the lifestyle that you're living i'm stepping into the drug addiction i'm stepping into the broken relationship i'm stepping into the foreclosure he will step into that moment and he says i doesn't promise that everything will be perfect but i promise that i'll be with you [Music] right now i want to invite you into the greatest decision you could ever make and then as a decision to accept jesus i want to dispel some myths you don't have to be perfect for this relationship you don't have to have all the questions of life answered you don't have to do a certain amount of good things you don't have to wear a certain amount of certain type of clothes you don't have to go to church so many times a month you'd all you got to do is surrender and that's what i want to invite you into is a i want to invite you into a moment of surrender a moment to say i can't do it by myself i'm going to say that i need help that's you right now wherever you are i want to ask you to repeat this prayer after me i believe that when you say this prayer this is a moment significant that's beyond just words but it's cementing something deep in your heart it's anchoring your soul transformation nation no matter if you've prayed this prayer before all together would you repeat this prayer after me say dear god thank you for loving me dear jesus i admit i've made mistakes save me change me heal me transform me it's in your name i pray amen hey listen tc nation can you take a moment and celebrate that come on we just have people who gave their life to christ that is the most amazing decision you could ever make and i'm so proud of you i want you to i want you to do something specific i want you to write this date down grab your phone right now grab a piece of paper put it on your fridge text a friend text a family member but this is a significant day in your life this is the moment that the creator of the universe steps in and i'm believing your life is gonna change from here on out hey listen as a church we would love to walk with you following jesus is not meant to be done alone it's not meant to be done by yourself but by a community of believers and we would love to be that for you i want you to text the number on the screen text the word saved to the number 828282 and we want to send you some resources our lead pastors pastors michael and natalie have a special message for you and just want to help you along this journey i want to dispel the myth that following jesus is a possibility or a moment of arrival it's not an arrival it's a journey what we say here at transformation church is it's about progression not perfection i want to encourage you to keep coming back to cc set this time set a reminder invite your friends over to be a part of the services but i'm believing that this is the beginning of your life continually being transformed listen we love you so much we are so grateful from for you an amazing message today from pastor christine kane about how to shake it off listen this sermon is going to go up live later i want to encourage you to share it with somebody share it with a friend share it with somebody that's maybe been going through similar things share it with an aunt or an uncle but i'm believing god not only wants to do something for you and to you but if you'll surrender he will do something through your life we love you so much go out and live a transformed life

Channel: Transformation Church

Views: 85,103

Rating: 4.9572401 out of 5

Keywords: Transformation Church, Represent, Michael Todd, Mike Todd, Transformation Church live, Transformation Church Worship, Charles Metcalf, Sunday Service, Holy Spirit, Faith, God, Jesus Christ, transformchurchtv, representtv

Id: vRmt_MD92DU

Length: 72min 10sec (4330 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 13 2021