Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #24493 - Be Sure To Pray in the Storms - Acts 27:26-44

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#24493 - Be Sure To Pray in the Storms - Acts 27:26-44 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through
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Abounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now.
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Here's Pastor Ed to take us into our study.
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Amen. Open your Bible is Acts chapter
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27. We are almost there at the
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finish line of our first by verse study in the book of Acts.
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This is study number 9393. We're going to finish the
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chapter today and then we have a couple of studies in the next
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chapter, and then we will be done with the book of Acts.
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And I've been taught at our Bible study today, be sure to
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pray in the storm. Be sure to pray in the storms.
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And we see Paul doing that here in a literal storm on a literal
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ship surrounded by literal unbelievers.
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And we take these lessons and these true stories and we use
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them in application where we may be in a trial or a difficulty,
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not a literal storm surrounded by real, unbelieving men and
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women whom we love and and work with and have in our lives.
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But we're not on a literal boat in the midst of the ocean in the
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middle of a storm. But certainly we have our own
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issues and storms are a good illustration and picture of
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difficulties all throughout the Bible.
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And here's one of the things that storms will do in your
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life. It will shake.
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They will shake you up and move you in the direction that God
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has for you. And it's important that we learn
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how to go with the flow and not fight what God is wanting to do
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in your life. As much as you want to jump out
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and as much as you want to move on and as much as you want as
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much as you want, it's important that you remember the call of
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Jesus to your life. He allows these things because
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it's just too easy to get comfortable.
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And which who among us doesn't like to be comfortable?
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Who among us doesn't like to have some predictability in our
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lives or, or some ease? I mean, none of us are praying
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for storms for sure, but being comfortable can be dangerous
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because even being comfortable can put the believer in a
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position where she's unusable for the Kingdom because you're
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trying to protect your comfort and ease and you're not really
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looking to the Lord for what's next and what's new.
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I can tell you this, when things get difficult, when things get
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difficult, you start to seek the Lord, Your prayer life changes,
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it becomes intensified. And we see that all happening in
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Paul's life. Where are we in Acts 27?
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He's on his way to Rome. Paul's headed to Rome because he
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asserted his citizenship in all these trials that he's been
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through, literal trials, like he's been in front of of
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governmental leaders, religious leaders, having to answer for
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his life. He's been in literal trials.
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And along the way he goes, hey, what are you guys doing this to
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me for? I'm a Roman citizen.
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I want to go to Rome. I want to I want my hearing
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before Caesar and God, Jesus comes to him in the midst of
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these this couple year trial he's been and says you're going
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to get to Rome, Paul. It's going to happen.
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And The thing is, is that it's going to happen through great
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difficulties. It's not going to be a first
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class ticket or a private jet. It's on a ship, ship to ship
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with storms and difficulties and threats.
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He he's got a hard life and this is one.
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This isn't what he expected. He expected to go to Jerusalem.
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I mean, he knew it. I was reading recently in Acts
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chapter 20 where he gathered with the elders from Ephesus and
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he's kind of sharing with them because I'm heading to
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Jerusalem. And I know, I know, I've heard
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the Holy Spirit said, is there's going to be chains awaiting me
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there. There's going to be
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imprisonments and raiding me there.
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But I'm ready. None of these things move me, he
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says. And now we understand some of
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the things that had the temptation to move him, things
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that I don't know if I would be able to handle, whether you, if
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you put yourself in the text yourself and I, I don't know if
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I could handle that. But again, when we look at
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things that we don't think we can handle, just remember, the
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Lord will give you the grace to handle it when you need it.
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He's not going to give you the grace right now to handle
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something in 10 years. He's going to give you the grace
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and the strength to handle it 10 years from now that he'll meet
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you where you are. We can overcomplicate things,
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which is a big problem for us. So I want to take you back
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before we even get into Acts. Hold your place in Acts.
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Go back to Matthew Chapter 9 because I just want to give you
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some simple reminders here when it comes to change, when it
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comes to difficulties, when it comes to especially this sense.
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I, I just especially on the holidays, you get this sense of
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you start evaluating your life and you look at your life and
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go, you know, this is not what I expected in the year 2025 or
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it's not what I expected at this certain age or not what I
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expected from my family. And it's, it's really your
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expectations need to be shifted. Otherwise the whole, your whole
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life is going to be like that. Your expectations need to be
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shifted to the point in time when you chose to follow Christ
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and you said everything is yours, Lord, I'm following you,
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which is what Matthew was told. Matthew had it all.
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Matthew, probably, he grew up, he had a priestly line, lineage,
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bloodline, religious family. But somewhere along the way,
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Matthew decided, I don't want to follow the religion of my
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family. I don't want to be spiritual.
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I want to collect taxes and make a lot of money.
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He's basically the person who goes, I just want to make a lot
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of money. I want to have a lot of money.
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I think that's the source of freedom.
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And he found his lane in doing that.
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He became a tax collector. But what becoming a tax
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collector meant that everybody would hate him.
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And you know what, you didn't care.
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Make a lot of money. Everybody hate me, I'll pay the
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price for that. And that's where he's at when
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Jesus meets him in verse 9. He's doing his own thing, living
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for the world, living in the world, happy.
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I'm sure he's happy and satisfied.
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Live in the high life. And as Jesus passed on from
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there, it says he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax
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office and he said to him, mark these words, follow me.
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And that's the invitation. Matthew got up and followed him,
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and his life completely changed that.
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That's the way your life should be.
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You should be living a changed life outwardly and inwardly
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because you answered the call to follow him.
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Jesus said follow me. I mean, all the complications of
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what we've made Christianity Today, we've missed the
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simplicity of it here. Here's the word of the Lord to
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you. You have great trials right now.
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Follow him. You have big questions in your
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life. Follow Him.
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You you wonder what the future is going to be, follow him.
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Just keep your eyes on him. How can you follow him if you're
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not looking to him? How can you follow Him if you're
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not in the Word? You go, well, I don't
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understand, what does that mean to follow him?
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Where is Jesus exactly? Well, Jesus has revealed himself
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through His word, so follow Him by reading your Bible and
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praying every day, just being open to a fresh work of the
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Spirit of God. What do you have for me this
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morning? Well, what's the status of my
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marriage? Follow the Lord.
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What's going to happen with my kids, Follow the Lord.
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I got a big court case coming up because I made Him.
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Follow the Lord and just know that whatever He brings you to
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and bring He, whatever He brings you to, He will bring you
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through. Don't forget that.
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Follow Him. If he turns left, guess where
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you should go? Stay with me.
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If He turns left, you're going left.
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If He turns right, you're going. If he stops, if he goes, pretty
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simple and you can take all your problems with you and all your
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hurts and all your pains, but your eyes on the Shepherd.
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He's leading you. He's not pushing you.
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He's not pressing you. He's not condemning you.
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He's not guilting you. He's loving you and you're
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following him. His life has radically changed.
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You'll see in verse 10, Jesus is at the table in the house.
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This is the Matthew's house. Some time has passed here.
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They didn't go from following him right to his house.
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There's some time passed. He's at the table.
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It's like Matthew's going away party.
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He invites all his sinful friends, all his tax collector
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friends and he invites Jesus to be in there, which is a major, a
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major change in his life. He invites now Jesus to his
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home, and the Pharisees saw it, and they're upset about it.
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Why in verse 11 does your teacher eat with tax collectors?
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Jesus heard that those who are well have no need of a
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physician, but those who are sick.
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So go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
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for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to
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repentance. Now Matthew's not the critical
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one anymore. He's not the one living for the
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world, He's not the one ripping people off.
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He's the one now bringing people together and wanting to see life
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change in their life and has Jesus in his house, a part of
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his life? And then Jesus, it says verse
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14. Then the disciples of John came
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to him saying to him and this, why do you, we and the Pharisees
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fast often, but your disciples don't fast.
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Now who's in the audience while they come to Jesus?
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Matthew. Matthew's life is completely
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different now. Matthew's with him, so he's
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hearing things and learning things and growing.
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He's within earshot of Jesus now.
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Matthew's there. Yesterday or last week or last
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month, he was taking me, living for the world.
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But now everything's changed. Why?
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Because he chose to follow Jesus.
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And so that means his life is going to be filled with changes.
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His life is going to be filled with storms and difficult.
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Whatever happens to Jesus going to happen to him.
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Whatever happens in that little group is going to happen to him.
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He, he's going to live a different life now.
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And so they come and they're upset with Jesus, and Jesus
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gives him the answer in verse 15.
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Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the
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bridegroom's with them? But the days will come with the
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bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will
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fast. So it's interesting, I'm not
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wanting to exposit this part of the text.
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I've done that before. I just want you to see Matthew's
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living different. It's a completely different life
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now. But he's also within proximity
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of Jesus now to hear verse 16. And Jesus has something very
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profound to tell us today. In verse 16 says no one puts a
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piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls
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away from the garment and the tear is made worse.
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Nor do people put on new wine into old wineskins, or else the
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wineskins will break and the wine is spilled and the
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wineskins are ruined. They put new wine into new
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wineskins and both are preserved.
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And you say, well, Ed, that's very, very clear.
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But Jesus is saying in a very clear way to his audience that
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Matthew and you complainers and you criticizers all his whole
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audience. He's saying you have to
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understand something. I have come to do something new.
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I'm not trying to preserve the old, trying to preserve the old.
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And what he's teaching on is the Old covenant, New Covenant.
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Why we don't have today a Passover meal instead, why we
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celebrate communion in the way that we do is because of this
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truth right here. Why we celebrate on Sundays and
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not Saturdays, although we do celebrate on Saturdays, or why
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we value all the days of the week as the days of worship is
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right here. Because Jesus said, I've come to
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do something new. Well, now we love that.
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Say do it new, Lord, do it new. Do it new.
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But sometimes new now means you're going to be on a ship in
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the middle of the ocean in a storm for your life.
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It's going to happen super quickly and that's new.
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And you remember, OK, God, you're wanting something.
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If you're going to do, you might want to jot this down, make it
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permanent in your mind. You have to have this attitude
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and so do I, that if God wants to Jesus, you want to do
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something new, then I need to be ready to do something new.
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I need to go with you. I need to follow you.
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I don't want to resist or fight or rebel against what God is
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doing new in my life. And that's where Paul is as you
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Fast forward these teachings are, I'm sure in his heart he's
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going to Rome. And yet it's one of the biggest
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storms of his life, literally on a ship.
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And he has this need to remember that God is going to get him
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there and that he can trust. It doesn't matter truly what the
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circumstances are. They require trust.
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A new wine, something new gets poured into something new.
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Now that doesn't mean you know that you aren't going to be used
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anymore because you're getting older.
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You know, sometimes people will read into the text, well, you
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know, I'm just that old wineskin and now God can't use me.
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He's only going to use the young.
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No, that that's kind of a cultural way to read the Bible
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because it when you look at wineskins in the 1st century,
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they didn't throw away things like we throw away things today.
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They just tossed things that were old.
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They would recondition them and with an old wine skin, which was
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basically just a leather pouch, they would take some oil and
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water and they would recondition it in preparation.
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If they didn't do the reconditioning and prepare it,
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then it would never be able to take the fresh wine.
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And so God is doing this replenishing and renewing of our
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lives and he uses all these situations, even the situation
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you don't want in your life is making you a new person if you
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respond to it well, or making you like a bitter person.
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And you have to ask today, did God bring you in the House of
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God? Did he bring you into his house
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today? Just so you could hear this
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question, How's bitterness working out for you?
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How's it helping you grow in Christ?
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How's bitterness helping you follow him?
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How are the people around you that love you affected by your
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bitterness? You know that it's not God's
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will for you to be bitter. And so embracing where you're at
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as hard as it is, you got to see Paul embracing his life here.
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And especially hard because we looked at this the last time we
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were together, how easy it is for us to second guess our
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decisions. We make a decision, we step out
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in faith. It doesn't turn out the way we
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want. And immediately we think I must
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have made the wrong decision. Whether you made the right
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decision or the wrong decision, we don't always really know.
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But we do know this. Wherever we end up, God's going
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to meet us there and He's going to be faithful to us.
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If it wasn't a sinful decision, then there's a very good chance
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that the Lord was leading you in that direction, giving you space
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even to make a mistake. So you might learn and I might
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learn how to trust in Him. But to live life with regrets is
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not going to be helpful to us. Now, why is that important here
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as we get into the text? Simply because of this, Paul, he
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had a sense in his life where he could have been let go.
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Remember, he could have been like, you know, I would have if
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he didn't ask for Rome, Agrippa said.
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If he didn't ask to go to Rome, then I, we would have let him
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go. And you know, here as you get to
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that place where you're like, what do you mean?
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I could, I could have avoided all this and the answer is no,
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you couldn't because you're in the middle of it.
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Here you are, you're in the middle of it.
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So pick up with me. With all that in mind, we'll
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close out the chapter. Go to verse 25, Acts 27.
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Paul is in the myths. God has put him in a leadership
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place in the midst of trials. Therefore, take heart men, for I
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believe that God, I believe God that it will be just as it was
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told me. However, we must run aground on
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a certain island. And when the 14th night had
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come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea about
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midnight, the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some
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land, and they took soundings and found it to be 20 fathoms.
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And when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings
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again and found it to be 15 fathoms.
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Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they
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dropped 4 anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.
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And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship when
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they had let down the skiff into the sea under pretense of
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putting out anchors from the prow, Paul said this to the
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centurion and the soldiers. Unless these men stay in the
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ship, you cannot be saved. There's a significant time of
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testing and Paul is standing up and he says, look, this is how
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it's going to go down in this difficult time.
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Look how hard it is. We looked at this again last
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time. So you put these studies
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together, but now on top of everything, they're driven up
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and down. It says it's the middle of the
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night, verse 27. They can hear it among the storm
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and everything that they can hear, they can't see, but they
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can hear that they're drawing near some land.
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They started taking soundings and they can now see by
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measuring taking soundings as measuring where they are, the
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seabed, they're measuring it. It's getting less and then
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they're notice it's getting so bad for 14 days.
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Notice what they're doing. And you might want to mark this.
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It says that they prayed for day to come.
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They prayed for day to come. There are times in lives where
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things get so dark, like you just pray for day to come.
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I just want this pressure to be relieved.
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I can't see what you're doing, God, I don't know what you're
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doing and you're just desperately praying for day to
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come. What's interesting to me is you
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pay attention to the text. Notice it says, it says in verse
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29, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they see
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that word. They dropped 4 anchors from the
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stern and prayed for day to come.
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So who prayed for day to come? They did all of them and we know
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later in verse 37, there's 276 people they prayed for day to
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come. Now these are like hardcore
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seamen. They're not church going people.
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They're hardcore men that work the docks and work the ships.
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And now they're in a position where they're crying out to God
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for day to come. Now the question that I have is
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where did they get this desire to pray?
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And I'll tell you where Paul, they got this desire to pray
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from Paul. And I believe Paul was praying
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all along and in his prayer time, praying all along.
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They're just now joining in joining in, in this time of
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prayer. Like the the impact, the impact
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that you and I have when we're going through something
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surrounded by people is I can't overstate it.
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I can't overstate the significance of where God has
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you in our, in our culture, in our society, how important it is
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for you to be there. These people are watching your
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lives and mine and they're learning from us.
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They're learning us from us what to do and where to go when times
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get tough. They they are asking for day to
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come, but they're also trying to escape.
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They're trying to get out of this, which makes sense.
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I I don't look down on them and anyone that wants to get off and
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try to take things into their own hands.
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But remember the word in verse 31 was unless these men stay in
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the ship, unless these men stay, which reminds of the Psalm that
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we read today. Be still and know that I'm the
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place of safety is staying put. The place of safety is staying
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still. The place of safety is abiding
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in Christ. The place of safety is following
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Jesus, following Him, following wherever he goes, following Him.
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If he goes, we go. He stays.
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We stay the place of safety. It reminds us all throughout the
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Scriptures you'll see this theme that salvation is one way.
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It's not 2, It's not 3, it's not ten.
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The way to be saved here was one way.
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This is how you be safe. Stay put.
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You think back to the book of Genesis with Noah, remember, is
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Noah's building the ark in the impending judgement of God.
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What was the way of salvation with the ark?
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You had to be in it. Only those that were in the ark,
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the animals and the humans in the ark would be saved.
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And so all the people that mocked and made fun of, they
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weren't saved. They were lost only in the ark.
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And then Jesus would say this, this ship, the ark, they become
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types of Jesus. There's only one way to have
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your sins forgiven. That's through the blood of
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Jesus. There's not two ways or three
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ways or five ways. There's only one way.
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And in case someone might relegate that to a church or to
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religion, Jesus would say it. He says that He is the way, the
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truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father except
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through Him. It's just one of those verses in
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the Bible that's easy to understand.
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We know exactly what Jesus meant, that the way of safety
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and salvation is only through him.
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And here Paul mentions that again.
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Now verse 33, as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them to
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take food, saying today is the 14th day.
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You've waited and and continue without food.
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So eat and you've eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you take
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nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair
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will fall from your head, the head of any of you.
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And when he had said these things, he took bread, gave
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thanks to God in the presence of them all.
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And when he had broken it, he began to eat and then noticed
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they were all encouraged and took food themselves.
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Practical Paul steps in and now says it's time to eat.
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And it just all his whole life. It's it's such a beautiful thing
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to watch his life. He's in one of the deepest
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trials of his life and God's using him in great ways.
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It's one of the hardest things physically, emotionally,
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mentally, spiritually he's ever been through.
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And he's just flowing with God, speaking to the ship, speaking
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to the leaders, being shown favor.
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Hey guys, not only do you need to stay in the ship, but you
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guys should probably eat too because we got to survive.
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It's been 14 days. You guys haven't eaten.
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It could be because of sea sickness.
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It could have mean that they've thrown some of their provisions
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overboard. They haven't eaten, that you
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guys need to eat. And you know, God is both
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spiritual and practical. Some of the best advice you can
24:12
give people when they come to you is very practical advice.
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You know, I've just been fasting and I haven't heard from the
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Lord. What do you think I should do?
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Well, have you tried eating? Maybe just time to eat and the
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Lord wanted you to have a time of, of just saying no to food
24:32
for a while, but now it's time to say yes.
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And why don't you just eat or, you know, you're in great
24:38
trouble. You know, I don't know, you come
24:40
in and it's like my wife is really mad at me.
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And you know, we just had this big fight and, and this, this,
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this, and you finally stopped me.
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Go. Have you ever just thought about
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asking for forgiveness? What you need to meet my wife,
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you know, whatever. Like like have you just have you
24:55
just done something practical? It doesn't always have to be
24:58
super spiritual. Many times the answer, you know,
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I'm just so hungry and I'm famished.
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Well, eat something. Well, you know, I just what's
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going to happen? Well, I don't know, but you
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should eat because it's good for your survival that that's you
25:13
want to survive. Eat something.
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And I think Paul is being very practical here, not just
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spiritual, because here's the thing, we see this over and over
25:26
again in this particular trial. But you have to remember, why is
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this all happening? Why are they?
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I mean, notice in verse 37, there's 276 persons on the ship.
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When they had eaten enough, they lighten the ship and they threw
25:40
the wheat into the sea, which was the way they made money.
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This is their cargo. I mean, now they've thrown
25:45
everything out. They got nothing left, not even
25:47
the wheat that we're going to deliver and they're going to get
25:49
paid for. And you're like, what is going
25:50
on here? And one of the things that's
25:52
going on here is God showing us something super important to
25:55
him. The men are trying to save the
25:57
ship, but God wants to save the people.
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And that is what we see in Matthew's life.
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Matthew's all about the buck, but God's all about Matthew.
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It's a big difference. God is all about saving people.
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He's not so concerned about saving ships.
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And you look at that in your own life where you just get caught
26:20
up in this world. You get caught up in like you
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just chasing after the buck, chasing after a career, chasing
26:25
after something. And you know God's not as
26:28
interested in what you're chasing after as he is in you.
26:31
He's interested in you. Now you, you think you, you want
26:35
to be successful in your career. You want to do what God's called
26:37
you to do. You want to be effective.
26:39
That's not the problem. The problem is not having a
26:41
career, and the problem is not after using your talents and
26:45
gifts in order to be useful in our world.
26:48
That's not the problem. It's always a problem of
26:50
priorities. These men don't understand the
26:55
condition of their life spiritually.
26:57
They're just concerned about the ship.
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The ship is going to crash. They're going to lose it.
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Just let it go. Just let it go and understand
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that I put a man in your life, God says that's going to give
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you direction, even if it's something simple just to eat.
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Don't worry about the ship, worry about yourself.
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Take care of yourself was the answer.
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And I pray that we have paws in our lives like this in times of
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crisis and that we too are like that.
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Men and women who speak the truth to us.
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You know you need that in life. You need someone that's willing
27:37
and brave enough to tell you the truth.
27:39
You want to be that. Men and women who fear nothing
27:42
but love God supremely and will listen to Him for others, not
27:47
just for themselves. We need men and women in our
27:49
lives that will care for us, lift us up, love us, care for
27:53
US, open the Word of God to us. We need men and women, men and
27:58
women in our life that are spiritual but also practical
28:03
because you can, I've met a lot of people through the years that
28:06
are super, super, super, super spiritual, but not very
28:10
practical. You know, they know a lot of
28:12
what the Bible says, but they don't know how to use it.
28:15
They don't live in wisdom. So you can quote me a verse, but
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like, what does that mean? Well, you know, and they, there
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are a lot of people that are hyper spiritual.
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When God doesn't want you hyper spiritual, he wants you simply
28:28
following him, simply following him so that 276 people will be
28:37
blessed by your life. It may not be 276, it might be
28:42
two, but isn't 2 enough or five? It'll be 276.
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One day you'll be in heaven and you will see the cumulative
28:49
effect of your life. It was 1 here and one there and
28:53
five there, and you'll see the cumulative, your legacy and your
28:56
heritage through your family and your friends and your work.
28:59
It's a beautiful thing. And so Paul's being used here
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and he's he's so impacted this group of hardcore unbelievers
29:10
that they're praying for day to come.
29:13
What was Paul doing through the storm?
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He was praying, he was seeking God.
29:17
He was following Jesus in the storm.
29:21
He was praying for those men and God heard and God answered.
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Notice in verse 39. When it was day, they didn't
29:28
recognize the land, but they observed a Bay with a beach onto
29:32
which they plan to run the ship. If possible.
29:35
They let go the anchors, let them in the sea.
29:38
Meanwhile, losing the rudder ropes, they hoisted the mainsail
29:41
to the wind and made for shore. But striking a place where two
29:45
seas met, they ran the ship aground and the prowl struck
29:48
fast and remain immovable, but the stern was being broken up by
29:52
the violent, by the violence of the waves.
29:55
Verse 42 Now the soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners lest
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any of them should swim away and escape.
30:05
But the centurion wanting to save Paul kept them from this
30:09
purpose and commanded those who could swim should jump overboard
30:13
first and get to land and the rest, some on boards, some on
30:17
broken pieces of the ship. And so it was that they all
30:21
escaped safely to land, just like Paul said.
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This is a wild scene here. You got to put yourself maybe
30:30
into a movie you saw once or something where, you know,
30:33
there's a group of prisoners in a van and the the van crashes
30:36
and the doors are wide open. And all the prisoners, they get
30:39
out of their handcuffs and everything.
30:41
And what do they do? Take off?
30:43
They escape. They see it as their opportunity
30:46
to get out of custody. And here you have some prisoners
30:50
among the 276 that are literally going to roam.
30:53
The same reason why Paul's going to roam, including Paul, that
30:56
could see this as the opportunity to escape.
30:59
So it makes sense that we want to take them out.
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Don't give them if they escape. If one of them escapes, those
31:06
that are in charge of them will pay the price and the penalty
31:09
for that escape with their lives.
31:11
So this all makes sense, except what doesn't make sense is none
31:15
of them run away. None of them run away.
31:20
They stay together, as you'll see in Acts 28, and they come
31:23
together on the island of Malta. Why?
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Because God said it would happen that way.
31:30
It's that simple. You know, God said it would
31:33
happen this way. And there is a supernatural
31:36
element here of God working in this situation.
31:39
It's not just spirit, not just practical, but supernatural God
31:44
working with them. And why?
31:45
Because he doesn't want to save ships.
31:46
He wants to save people. This is all part of the plan for
31:50
their lives, the race that they're going to run.
31:54
Listen, as we wind down here heading to the communion table,
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listen, in this fallen world of ours, this difficult time, there
32:03
are many who don't believe in God that are a part of your
32:06
life. I know you know that.
32:07
It's not. It's not an overstatement like
32:08
whoa, Ed, I didn't know that. I know you know it, but you got
32:11
to hear it again. There are many people in your
32:13
life that don't know God. They don't want anything to do
32:15
with God. There's some people in your life
32:18
that have run away from the church, they've run away from
32:21
religion. They've turned their back on
32:24
God, living a prodigal life. There are a lot of people in
32:28
this fallen world that want nothing to do with the one true
32:33
God whom you worship and adore and follow.
32:38
But thank God there's a believer next to him and near them that's
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praying for them. Thank God you're in their lives,
32:46
that God placed you there. You could be the tool that God
32:50
uses for their salvation. When you pray for them, God can
32:54
heal, and when you pray for them, God can deliver.
32:57
And when you pray for them, God can act.
33:00
And when you pray for them, even when their ship is running
33:02
aground, he can save them and they escape.
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How deep an impression this must have meant this must have left
33:14
on those men the the ship tossing and turning.
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And this guy, this rabbi, religious guy who's a prisoner
33:21
like us, having a word from God, just like God said, I'm a part
33:26
of his story. And it's not just about the
33:29
apostle Paul, though. There's 276 people.
33:32
This story is about the people that are around him, the ones
33:37
that are now floating to the island on a broken piece of wood
33:40
or a splendored piece of the ship.
33:43
This was not an antiseptic, clean situation.
33:46
It's very difficult and challenging, but God, the one
33:50
that told Paul or the one that Paul told them about his word
33:55
came to pass. That's what we see at verse 44.
33:58
So it was they all escaped safely to land and it we, we
34:05
started out in verse 25. He told the man, take heart, God
34:09
will be it'll be just like God told me there's going to be no
34:13
loss of life. Verse 22 but we're going to have
34:15
to run aground. And this is before they even
34:18
know what's going to happen. God gives Paul insight of what's
34:22
going to happen and they come to shore.
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I see so many parallels here, but one of them is our own life.
34:30
The journey of our own life, the journey of our own life.
34:33
This walk of faith is we're making progress and we're just
34:36
being tossed around and beat U and like like our whole life.
34:41
It can be really, really hard. Super hard, but God is moving us
34:46
forward and getting us to where he wants us to be.
34:49
The progress we make in life. We're always, we're always stuck
34:53
on how far we go, how much we get.
34:55
Although, but that's not how God measured things.
34:58
He doesn't measure our life by our transportation, right?
35:01
Our moving forward. He measures our life by our
35:05
transformation, what he's doing inside of us, how he's using US.
35:12
There are different times and different seasons, just like in
35:17
here in Colorado, we're in the winter season, It's cold, super
35:24
cold, really uncomfortably cold. We got off the plane on, we were
35:31
in our area where it was 80°. We got off the plane, it was 30°
35:38
and the Lord saying welcome home, Ed, welcome home.
35:42
But we all have seasons like winter.
35:44
But we were always counting the days down for springtime, aren't
35:47
we? Come on spring, get here fast.
35:51
Get here sooner. No more snow.
35:55
You may like the snow, but you don't like trials.
35:59
And so you may say no more trials.
36:01
I'm tired of this winter season. Come out from a beautiful
36:06
springtime, and then spring winds down into fall.
36:11
Well, really, spring goes into summer, and then into fall, and
36:15
then back into winter, and on and on it goes.
36:18
The cycles. Life's like that.
36:21
Life is like those different seasons in our lives.
36:26
Sometimes we're on a ship that's sinking, but we're not alone.
36:32
And I want you to remember we're not alone.
36:34
Not just that the Lord's with you, but other people are too,
36:42
and they need a man like you or a woman like you that prays,
36:48
that doesn't give up, that hears the word of the Lord.
36:52
And with great strength and stamina that God gives, you're
36:57
able to speak on behalf of Jesus into someone's life.
37:01
So, Father, as we come to the communion table and we yield
37:05
ourselves to you, remembering your faithfulness, the anxious,
37:11
the worried, the weary, the heavy hearted, we come to
37:21
remember You're finished work. Even when our ship crashes on
37:27
the shores, we've lost everything you're able to do in
37:34
fresh work, something new, pouring new wine into new
37:40
wineskins. All of these scenarios, they are
37:46
just used to grow us and Paul and the men on the ship, you got
37:50
them there safely, and that's the work you're doing among us.
37:55
You're going to get us home safely.
38:00
I pray over your church as we commemorate your broken body in
38:04
the blood that was shed on our behalf, that we would be
38:08
encouraged today, filled with your Holy Spirit in Jesus name,
38:13
Amen. We pray that you've been
38:15
encouraged by this Bible study delivered live from the
38:18
sanctuary of Calvary Church for prayer.
38:20
Call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223 to listen to this
38:30
message in its integrity or to join us for our live stream
38:34
services. Visit us online at Calvary Co
38:37
dot church Oregon. Download our free Calvary Church
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app. Be blessed as you worship Jesus
38:43
this week.