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“Help in the Storms”

Jim Anderson
12/01/24 - Sun PM

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Good evening.

It's almost like I gave Tim an outline of my sermon.

Could have just stopped after those songs.

I, uh.

Really appreciate him leading those and, and Gary reading there.

I, uh, I grew up in New Mexico and I spent 25 years of my life there.

And, uh, Saturday felt like a normal morning here in Alabama, normal in New Mexico because it was so cold and frozen and I had to scrape my truck.

I used to look forward to those cold winter days because that meant snow skiing for me.

I was an avid snow skier, used to race and everything, and so cold days meant snow days, meant the winter, and I would look on the horizon in New Mexico and I would be able to see those storms coming and I would get excited.

And I know that's the opposite reaction than what we're talking about tonight.

But see, first in Albuquerque, my parents lived at about 1000 ft above above the city, and you could see for 60 miles, literally 23 miles to the west, and the storms always came in from the west.

And I grew up thinking, why do people have so much hard time?

Taking care and looking ahead and saying that storm's coming in, let's take cover.

You see, I grew up in a way where I could see the storms coming.

I knew the traffic patterns.

They always came in from west to east, and it was very unusual to not do that, and you could see them coming for literally miles away.

And I get excited in the winter, you know.

I think oftentimes we don't see storms coming.

As a matter of fact, I think that we often in our lives do our best to plan and we make our best decisions with the knowledge that we have now.

And sometimes when we make those decisions, we still get storms that just hit us right in the right right in the right in the center of the head.

And we, we can't see him coming because we've made all the best decisions, we've made all the best plans, and sometimes things happen in life that we just can't see.

I want you to turn with me to Acts chapter 27.

We're gonna read a, a pretty lengthy reading here, and we're gonna take some allegory from this particular passage, and we're going to talk about how to get help in the storm.

And in particular, I, I think the allegory here that I want to call out is The storms in life that we cannot see ahead of time.

And I think every single one of us have these storms that we, no matter how well we plan or what we expect, they happen.

So turn with me.

Acts chapter 27.

Let's start in verse 14.

It's going to be a little bit of a lengthy reading.

Let's start in verse 13 actually.

Now, when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete close to the shore, but soon a tempestuous wind, I'm reading from the ESV standard, uh the um English standard version, excuse me.

Um, called the nor'easter, struck down from the land.

It's interesting that the ESV uses that term there.

I actually did a little bit of research.

There's actually quite a bit of um tempestuous storms that come through the Mediterranean.

Uh, as a matter of fact, there's, there's now a nickname called Medicans.

And uh so hurricanes, Mediterranean, you know, Medicas that come through.

The last one stuck in stuck, struck in 2020, actually was a category 2 hurricane in the middle of that small ocean.

So these were, these can happen and they're, they're very uh uh tempestuous, they're very strong, called the Northeaster, verse 14.

And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and we're driven along, running under the lee of a small island called Clada.

Or caught.

We managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat.

After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship.

Then fearing that they would run aground on the surduce, they lowered the gear and thus were driven along.

Since we were violently storm tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo.

And on the 3rd day, they threw out the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands.

Now 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.

I'm gonna pause here for just a second.

Here is a violent storm that they obviously didn't see.

Now, If you go on here, what they're saying here is, as the storm worsens, they recognized how bad it was getting and they tried to take as much action as they could to save themselves.

It's very interesting.

Some of the terminology here is nautical terminology.

And we don't really understand exactly, exactly what they did, but there's some suggestions out there.

What they did actually was at one point they undergirded the boat.

What they did was they took some ropes and they actually strapped the boat together to hold it tighter together.

You see, when a boat comes apart, if it's wooden, it actually the waves can beat on that boat so hard that it starts to come apart.

What they did was they actually took ropes and they strung it together and they undergirded itself.

At one point, the waves and the wind drove so much that they let the boat go.

In other words, they let it just dry.

Sometimes when you're steering a boat in the middle of a storm, you're going to drive it into the waves and actually make things worse.

You can't keep up with that kind of tempestuous waves.

They're going to drive the boat.

And at one point, they just let it go and let it drive itself.

They're doing things there.

that are trying to save.

Themselves At one point it says that they took the tackle as the ESV version.

A lot of commentaries that I read actually on this said that it might have been anything that was just not useful, but I think that this word here is the tackle.

It's the things that actually that actually use the ropes, the things that would tie the boat together, the sails, and at 1.1 of the technical terms is the main sail was taken down so that it wouldn't rip apart.

In other words, they were throwing things overboard to make the ship lighter so that it would float more, so that it would actually gird itself up.

So they they tightened it, they threw everything over so that it would float better.

They're trying to save themselves.

And yet by verse 443, I want you to realize the level of despair.

It says there no small tempest lay on us is what ESP says.

All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

I uh I think there are things in this life when you recognize that they're happening to you, drive you to a point of despair.

That I think it's well captured here.

Can you imagine being in this storm?

They've done everything they can to this ship.

They have done everything that they believe is in their control, and then they recognize that the only thing left.

It's just to let go of control.

The level of despair and lack of hope sets in.

It says abandoned in ESV.

Hope fades There's an old fable That says that the devil went out to the marketplace.

And the devil took all of his tools, and he was going to sell all of his tools.

And on the table was hatred and and anger and malice and lying.

And all of these things that the devil uses to tempt us, and they were all shiny and brand new and over behind the table.

Here was this.

Tool that was well used.

And all of these were marked very cheaply, but this old useful screwdriver down here, this old beaten up, most weathered tool in the background.

Labeled despair.

Depression Discouragement I think it's interesting that Alan spoke this morning about those things, the criticisms, discouragement, depression, that well used tool of the devil, which is the most expensive, most used tool, is actually the thing that gets us.

When we view the, when, when we in this situation where we have done everything we believe in our control, and yet, this thing is still battering us to the point where we are just so discouraged that we can't lift ourselves up.

Have you been in that situation?

Maybe you are in that situation.

4 years ago, I lost my mom.

Right before COVID hits.

30 days before COVID hit, my mom passed on from a simple heart surgery.

That was a storm that my sister and I This time of year are still weathering.

It reminds us, she loved this time of year.

My sister, when it comes around, she hears that.

She hears what's going on and she becomes discouraged, like she has no control.

And those storms that you're seeing and you might be going through right now might be hitting you to the point where you don't feel like you have control, but I want to dissuade you of that tonight because no matter what storm situation is hitting you, no matter what is going on, no matter what loss of control you're feeling, There are things here in this verse that we're about to read that I believe point to us.

To things that we need to recognize to help us in these storms.

Don't fall prey.

To that old battered screwdriver here that the devil uses called discouragement.

Don't fall prey to it.

Let's read the rest of these scriptures here.

Let's start in verse 20.

21, excuse me.

Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, man, you should have listened to me and not have set sail and incurred this injury and loss.

Yet now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship.

For this very night, there stood before me an angel of God, to whom I belong and whom I worship.

And he said, do not be afraid, Paul.

You must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.

So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told.

But we must run aground on some islands.

When the 14th night had come as we were driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors suspected that they were nearing land.

So they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms a little farther on, and they took a sounding again and they found 15 fathoms, and fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down 4 anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.

And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.

Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

Couple of things in this paragraph.

When we start to look at how these things came about, Paul stood up and gave them hope, where they said, it said in verse 20 it said, at last abandoned, Paul stood up and said, you should have listened to me.

But here's another opportunity.

Take heart It says in ESV, for there will be no loss of life among you.

He said, Don't be afraid, Paul.

God came to him.

There was a little bit of a warning though that he gave the sailors though.

He said, We must run aground.

But even then, after verse 23, they go off and they start to make soundings and they're getting shallower and shallower.

That's what that means when it says less and less fathoms.

They're taking soundings, they're taking measurements.

And even then the sailors were still afraid that they were going to run aground, even though they had been warned that they would run aground by Paul.

And they were going to escape.

And Paul, however, he knew this from God, said, We will not be saved unless those men stay here.

And then the sailors did some or the Centurion had something done here that I think is very interesting.

See that boat that they're talking about, the ship's boat is a small, essentially safety boat that used to get pulled behind large boats in this time period.

And you know what its purpose was?

To save them.

They cut the lifeline, the ship's boat away so that the soldiers or sailors, excuse me, would not.

Lose heart and try to escape, but stay in the ship together.

We're gonna make some Noise about that here in just a second.

But look down with me.

Verse 33.

And as day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, today is the 14th day that you've continued in suspense and without food and have 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.

And when he had said these things, he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat, and they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.

We were all in all, 276 persons in the ship, and when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea.

It's very interesting, the actions that are taken here.

He gets to the point where there's been 14 days without this, without the strength, without this, this food, taking nothing.

When is the last time you have tried to eat nothing for 14 days?

I think all of us would Be a Not very strong at the end of 14 days.

And remember, they've done nothing but work hard to try to save themselves like undergirding the ship.

And I think it's very interesting that when he takes bread, he gives thanks to God, and then they all are encouraged by this.

They are believing what he is saying, and he, they, at this point in time, take meat, is what the, the, the word actually says their meat, and they had enough strength to actually take their load of wheat and throw it overboard.

If you skip down here, let's go down to verse 44.

Let's not, let's go ahead and read this.

Verse 39.

When it was day, they did not recognize the land.

All that means is that they didn't recognize where they were, but they did see the land.

But they noticed a bay without with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore.

So they cast off the anchors.

Remember the 4 of them that they had in the stern, and Left them in the sea and 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 aground.

The boat struck and remained immovable, and the stern was broken up by the surf.

In other words, the waves hit the back of the boat so much that it broke up the boat.

And the soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners lest any should swim away, but the centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan, and he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard and make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship.

And so it was that all were brought safely to the land.

This is a pretty vivid story.

And it's not something that is just an allegory, even though we are using things in it.

This is something that really happened to Paul.

I find it very interesting here when it finally came into land, when they finally came into view, they didn't recognize where they were, but they did everything in their power to get there.

To the point where they said, cut the anchors.

They cut them and it drove ashore.

It drove to the ground, it broke apart, it got stuck on the rocks, and they still swam on anything that they could hold.

And the centurion cared enough to say, no, don't even kill the prisoners.

Get everyone alive to the shore.

But see, here's the thing.

God's promise came true.

In front of all the 2 persons in the ship, God's promise of saying, no one shall die at that point in time came true.

There's a whole lot of lessons in here in this allegory, but I'm gonna keep it real simple this evening.

I want to talk about 3 basic points, and I think we sang through them, Tim, every single 3, all the 3 of them.

The first one that I would like to point out that no matter what storm in life is here, just like in this story here that Paul has told and lived through, God is with us.

Jesus is with us You are not alone.

You are not. Alone.

Do you remember that tool of discouragement that we talked about a second ago?

That's the lie that Satan would sell us.

Here in the middle of this storm, see, men who had not listened to Paul, men who ignored what he had to say.

And went off and set sail anyway where he was a prisoner.

The discouragement is You are alone.

The sailors obviously believe that.

Because they wanted to kill the prisoners at the end, they also wanted to just take off on the boat sail.

Remember when they started to hear that those fathoms, they wanted to take off and leave.

They wanted to abandon everything.

In Matthew 18 and also chapter 28 in verse 20, the, the, the, the end, it says, and lo, I am with you always until the end, and he was giving the commands to the apostles there.

The great commission is what we call that and lo, I am with you always.

Go and teach.

I want to focus on low, I am with you always.

Matthew 18, Matthew chapter 28.

Those are both repetitive in the sense that Jesus has said, I am going to be with you.

And more than that, turn with me to Hebrews real quick.

Keep your finger there in Acts chapter 27, we will come back.

Hebrews chapter 123, let's go to chapter 4 verse 15.

I think this is something that we're all familiar with, for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Let us then with confidence.

Draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

I want to repeat the first point.

No matter what storm you're going through, no matter how dark the sky, no matter what Medicane you're going through, Jesus is with us.

We are not alone.

God sent His Son.

Who lived a life and was tempted in the same way we are.

So that he would understand.

And with that we can draw near that when we need help in our times of need in this, we can draw near to him and understand what he is saying.

We can look at his doctrine, his life, and take encouragement.

And that's exactly what Paul did.

He went to God in prayer about what was going on in Acts chapter 27.

Go with me a couple chapters before this in Hebrews, Hebrews chapter 2, and look at this reinforcement here, verse 16.

It says, for surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Therefore, he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make a propitiation for the sins of the people.

For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

When life gets stormy, and everything around you is falling apart, and you have probably even given into temptation, you are not alone.

We have this perfecter of the salvation, the propitiation who lived and was tempted in every way and understands.

And yet we fall.

For all have fallen short is what we read in Romans.

I had a friend of mine.

Alex was catching today.

I had a friend of mine that came to me.

About 10 years ago, he was a very good friend of mine in high school.

And he disappeared from my life for about 5 years.

And I Had dinner with him down in Austin.

And uh We caught up for about 4 or 5 hours, you know how things happen when you get in the company of others.

It turns out that he had become an alcoholic in those 23 years.

And he actually um He was so drunk one night that he ran his car.

Through a concrete barrier.

And he was in the hospital for 9 months, and I didn't know it.

And I asked him, I asked, why Bill, did you not call me?

And he said I was ashamed.

I felt like I was alone.

But I needed help And I didn't realize it We feel ashamed and we listen to the devil when we think we're alone.

We need to recognize that God is with us.

Christ understands what we're going through and we can come back.

And we can ask him and God for help.

Go with me to Colossians, the 4th chapter, where I drive home this point here with this verse.

This verse is not talking about being alone, but I want you to read it from Paul's viewpoint for just a second about who all he describes in Colossians chapter 4.

Tychikus will tell you all about my activities.

He is a beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow servant in the Lord.

Keep reading with me.

I have sent him to you for this very purpose, verse 8 chapter 4 of Colossians, that you may know how we are, and he may encourage you, encourage your hearts, and with him, Onesimus, our faithful and beloved brother who is one of you.

They will tell you of everything that has taken place here.

Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, and Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, concerning whom you've received instruction.

If he comes to you, welcome him.

And Jesus, who is called justice.

These are the only men of the circumcision among my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort for me.

This congregation here.

Of men that he mentions that are encouragement and a comfort to him.

Do you think that he was alone?

Even from afar, he saw these people and he was telling the Classians, I had you too.

I'm sending these people to you, but they were all a comfort to me and they're going to be a comfort to you, and I want you to look out and look around and look left and look right and realize you have men and women.

You are not alone.

There are hard workers in the kingdom.

There are elders here that are guiding you spiritually.

You are not alone.

Sometimes more closely.

Then you realize, don't be ashamed.

Recognize what's going on, recognize the storm, and ask for help.

God is with us, Jesus is with us.

That's the first point.

We are not alone.

That's the first point.

The second point, That I want you to see, turn with me to Romans chapter 15.

And we'll see the allegory here.

That we see in the story Romans chapter 15 and verse 8, he's in the middle of describing in this practical side of Romans, the hope of the Jews and the Gentiles summing up here in Romans 15.

He says, for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcise to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs.

Now, skip with me down to verse 33.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing.

So that the power of His Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope.

The second point is very simple.

God, God Fills his promises.

You're not alone, and you have promises that will not fail.

You have promises of eternal salvation.

You have promises of eternal comforts, and you have promises of that hope.

That you can believe in because of a basic reason.

And the basic reason is Jesus Christ lived and died for you.

That's what it says in Romans chapter 15 verse 8, and then down in verse 13, he says, because Jesus came, he fulfills his promises.

He fulfilled the prophets that spoke of him.

He fulfilled those things, and you who are not alone in the storm, just like Paul wasn't.

You have a promise that God will save you, just like he saved those sailors.

And when Paul stood up and said, you should have listened to me, yes.

But here's an opportunity.

God has said, And spoken to me that you will be saved, not a hair on your head is what it says there.

Your soul will be saved.

We must cling to his promises.

22 Corinthians chapter 244 and verse 22, let me just read this for Nomady.

How many promises God has made, they are yes in Christ.

And so through him the Amen is spoken by us to the glory of God.

The context here is a little different, but if you take that verse, he essentially says the yes is in Christ.

The promises are there.

The amen, so let it be, is in the promises.

Do we understand that when we're facing the storm, we can look out and see God's promises are gonna come and happen no matter what happens to us.

The amen, which literally means so let it be.

It is about his promises.

I think it's very interesting.

When the fathoms of the ship in Acts chapter 227 got shorter and shorter, in other words, they were getting closer and closer to land.

They still couldn't see the land, they still couldn't see if you're ever out in the ocean, by the way, you can't see anything except for more and more ocean.

They threw the 212 anchors out the back.

Now, even in modern times we throw anchors out the front.

Sometimes in ancient times they threw it out the back.

Sometimes they threw it in the front, even in ancient times.

But in this particular case they threw it out the back.

And I think it's very interesting there because what that means is they think that they're aiming towards land.

And that's exactly what happened.

The question is, and maybe young men, you have another lesson in this allegory that you want to create.

In verse 22, it says that they threw out all four anchors.

I don't know what your anchors are.

I don't know what your stability is, but I know that one of them is promises.

The fact that God will fulfill his promises is an anchor for us.

We know that we will get to land.

We know that we will be saved because God will fulfill his promises.

He reassures us that time and time again.

Someone has counted that there's 33,23 promises in the Bible.

I don't know.

Uh, I have too many, I don't have that many fingers.

I can't get there.

But I do know that there's so many.

And the one promise that he has promised most of all is that his son will come again and save us.

I appreciate Brother Gary reading 227 Timothy.

If you would turn with me there for the 23rd point.

Not only are we not alone, Not only do we have the promises of God, To be reassured with.

That we know will happen, that we know we will be saved.

But I think that there's a lesson here in 2 Timothy chapter 1 that's also present in Acts chapter 27 in that allegory.

And I think it's there in that verse 12.

Now the context here as Gary eloquently put here.

He was talking about reminding them of what's going on in the in the gifts.

He was reminding Timothy there about the gifts.

Don't be ashamed of the testimony.

Don't be ashamed of the promises.

And then in verse there in 12, it says, for which I suffer as I do, there's that storm.

But I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I believed in, and I'm convinced that he is able to guard that.

Until that day, which that, excuse me, it's funny when you memorize a verse and it says it differently in the version you're rendering.

I apologize.

Let me go through it and I'll read it directly, which is why I suffer as I do, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that day that which has been entrusted to me.

We need courage when our faith is tested to recognize and stand up and say, I believe in God.

I will not take that discouragement.

I will not be taken down.

I know and have confidence that he is able to bring it.

He is able to guard.

He is able to bring back that day.

He is able to come.

In Job chapter 13 and verse 2, in the middle of his speech in the middle of that book, Job says, though he slay me, though he kills me, yet I will hope in him.

Our faith needs to be that strong.

Though I see this storm and it's battering, I need to let it finish, and I need to recognize that God will keep his promises, and I need to take courage.

There's that first song.

Be strong and courageous, we sang just a few minutes ago.

Though he kills me, I will remain faithful.

I will believe, I believe in him that his promises are true, and that I am not alone, and that confidence is one day.

One day we will be saved.

We don't need to jump ship like the sailors were going to.

We don't need to, to, to doubt.

We need to take the actions that are under our control, and I want, I want to say that for just a second.

This is not one of the main points that I wanted to, that I was going to bring out tonight, but I wanted to make sure that I said this in the hour.

You know, there are things here that that they acted within their control.

They did the most to correct what they could in their control.

And yet that storm still came.

We need to not, we need to just not give up.

We still need to do what's in our control.

Don't forget that part.

We need to still lighten our ship.

We need to still undergird the ship.

We need to still take the fathoms, right?

We need to not jump overboard.

We need to recognize that God calls us to act in certain ways.

Yes, that's what God's grace is about, like we just talked about.

We just read about God's grace.

Unmerited favor is there.

It's not our actions that will make that come true, but yet we need to be faithful.

That's what it's talking about.

That's what the actions taken that they had were about.

Would you be saved?

It is to say I have faith and to act in that faith.

Until he comes again.

That's what 1 John chapter 2 talks about.

That's what 2 Corinthians was really encouraging us about.

Don't jump ship.

Don't abandon each other.

Just because things are happening.

Just because you might have gotten some criticism, like we talked about today, just because something is happening that you have no control over, don't jump overboard.

Clean To God Believe in him and take courage.

Worthy Is Jesus' name.

Turn with me to Philippians chapter 2, and then the lesson will be yours.

In spite of difficult circumstances, just like in verse 44, we will be saved.

We can overcome with our faith intact.

And in Philippians chapter 2, I think there's some very encouraging words here that we see in Acts chapter 27, and I think we know these by heart.

Therefore, my beloved, in verse 12 and chapter 2, therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now not only in my presence, but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ, I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Even I, to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.

Likewise, you should also be glad and rejoice with me.

What he's saying is, be blameless.

Literally, it says, be blameless and be innocent, operate as you have been called.

We must show the world our God is the strongest influence, that we will not listen to the world of discouragement, that no matter what storm comes, we will shine as the light.

So that others can see us and take strength from us.

Because we're not putting our strength there.

We're pointing to the strength that is in Jesus.

When Paul stood up and said, Take heart, brethren.

Take heart, sailors.

The Lord is going to save you.

That is pointing the worth and the worthiness to God and His strength.

So the 3 points to recap.

God is with us, Jesus is with us.

You're not alone.

That's the first point.

No matter what storm comes your way, no matter what.

God will keep his promises, and he reassures us in that.

That's the second point, and we must believe and take courage.

And I'd ask you, what light are you shining today with that courage.

Of those 3 points, There are things that we go through in this life.

That happen sometimes we do our best.

We take actions.

It still happens.

Sometimes the memory of those things come up and hit us like a hammer later on.

Those of you that are young Younger You'll be listening to some music or worshiping God and hearing something from the pulpit that you haven't heard in a while, and it will remind you of a time where you're going through those things, and all of a sudden something will hit you.

And you recognize because you have done something, because you have kept strength, that will reinforce that you took those actions and you maintain, all of a sudden you're out of the storm.

Sometimes you don't recognize it until it's over.

Take heart, you're not alone.

God has promises, he reassures us with.

He will fulfill them.

Take faith And walked faithfully.

There's many allegories here, many other lessons to be mined in Acts chapter 27 and compared, but those are the three main points I wanted to share with you tonight.

If you're here tonight and you're going through a storm and somehow that storm has knocked you down, You're a Christian, but yet you somehow stumbled and fallen.

We stand ready to pray with you.

God stands ready to strengthen you and forgive you based upon your faithful conviction.

And your confession To him, we stand ready to pray with you.

If you're here tonight and you've never named the name.

You have no hope.

I wouldn't want to get on a ship at this point.

It's amazing to me.

Paul was shipwrecked 3 times before this one, I believe, if you look at all the timelines.

And yet I guess he was forced on the ship because he was a prisoner, but I don't know that I would have had the strength to get on there.

But you're, you're here tonight and you've never named the name of Jesus.

You have no hope You have those promises.

You don't have those promises.

You cannot be saved.

There is only shipwreck and death for you.

But you have an opportunity tonight.

To recognize that you're not alone, that God has sent his Son, and he died for you.

You need to repent of your sinful life.

Believe that he is the savior of mankind.

Confess that Jesus is Lord.

He's Lord of you and your life.

He's Lord of, of all.

Be baptized, washing away your sins, and rise to walk a newness of life.

And tonight, if that is what you need to do.

We stand ready to help you do that.

If any of this applies to you, don't stand in that storm by yourself alone anymore.

Please, please come to the front of the building.

Make your wants and needs known as we stand and as we sing encouragement.