This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the Sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
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My message this morning, when the boat sinks.
When the boat sinks.
Go to Luke, the eighth chapter, please.
Eighth chapter of Luke.
Starting at verse 22, please.
Luke 8, 22.
Now it came to pass on a certain
day that he went into a ship with
his disciples, and he said unto them, let
us go over unto the other side of
the lake.
And they launched forth.
But as they sailed, he fell asleep.
And there came down a storm on the
lake.
They were filled with water and were in
jeopardy.
And when they came to him and awoke
him, saying, Master, Master, we perish.
Then he arose and rebuked the wind and
the raging of the waters, and they ceased,
and there was a calm.
And he said unto them, where is your
faith?
And they were afraid, wondering, saying one to
another, what manner of man is this, where
he commandeth even the winds and the waters,
and they obey him.
When the boat sinks.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the peace
of God in my heart.
I thank you for the touch of the
Holy Spirit that's been promised.
Lord Jesus, I come with what you have
prepared for me to give to this people.
And I pray, Lord, for that special unction
and anointing that comes only from your hand.
I acknowledge my total helplessness and total weakness
to get through to this people.
There's nothing I can say in my flesh
that will have any impact on anyone hearing
me.
Now, I pray, Holy Spirit, that that impact
come from you, that it come from the
marvelous work of the Holy Spirit in a
broken heart.
And I pray that the word of the
Lord will find its mark in our hearts.
In Jesus name, amen.
Jesus gets in the ship, in the boat
of the disciples, and said, here we go,
gentlemen, to the other side.
And they launched forth, the Bible said.
Automatically, we think, well, if Jesus is in
the boat, he can't sink.
Reminds me of an account I heard of
a gentleman who got on a plane going
toward Atlanta, and he noticed Billy Graham in
the front section of the plane in the
first class, and he was moving back, and
he sat down, and in a sigh of
relief, he said, I know there's going to
be a good trip, God will never let
this plane go down with Billy Graham on
it.
Must have been a good day when they
started out on this sail across the sea.
These were experienced sailors, and they knew how
to read the sky.
There was no dissent from anybody.
And so what if a storm comes?
Jesus is there, and nobody would believe that
a boat can go down with Jesus on
it.
You don't believe a boat would go down
with Jesus on it, do you?
Shouldn't have said that.
There came down a storm of wind on
the lake.
Sudden.
Wind intensifies.
The waves mount, pouring over the ship.
Mark recorded, said the waves beat into the
ship so that it was now full.
Full of water.
Folks, the boat was sinking.
Matthew called it a great tempest.
He said the ship was absolutely covered with
water.
And they were filled with water and were
in jeopardy.
This was life and death.
Their lives were at stake.
They were in great peril.
Now, you know the boats going down when
experienced sailors say, we are dying, we are
perishing, Master.
We're going down.
The ship is going down.
They awaken him.
He rises, faces the gale winds, and rebukes
them.
And, you know, the Father said, command ye
me.
He's commanding the Father, even though the Father
sent the storm.
And I'll prove that to you in just
a moment.
And the Bible said there's a great calm.
And they arrive at the safe harbor on
the other side and all is well.
Now, we love these kind of Bible stories.
We just love them because they have happy
endings.
Happy, happy endings.
We just love it.
It's a wonderful Bible story.
The kids cheer when they find out that
Jesus calmed the storm.
And we say, how could, looking back, how
could those disciples have ever doubted?
Why the terror when Jesus is in the
boat?
Don't you know a boat can't go down
with Jesus in it?
In our minds, we assure ourselves.
Now, look, the Lord is with me.
I'm his child.
I'm his servant.
I have all the promises in the word
of God.
He's aboard my ship.
The winds of adversity can blow, and these
problems that come to my life, that's well
and good, but I'm never going to be
cast into those swirling waters because Jesus is
on board my boat.
Jesus is on my boat with me.
Just at the right moment, the nick of
time, Jesus will speak the word, and I'll
be delivered.
He's going to calm my storm in my
home, in my life, my career.
He's going to be right on time.
We always sing about it.
We preach about it.
We talk about it.
You say, well, that's what faith is all
about.
Faith is to motivate Jesus.
Our faith, this is what it's all about,
to be delivered from our storms and from
the hardships and never to be overwhelmed and
never be dumped into the sea of adversity.
From our pulpits, we seem to be saying,
and at times I think I have seemed
to be saying, yes, a great storm is
coming in these last days.
There's going to be the storm of all
storms coming, and the winds and waves are
going to blow.
The economy of the world is going to
be broken.
The former finance minister of France yesterday said
that the United States stock market, in fact,
he said it in more blunt terms than
I ever have, that it is doomed.
He said, and the economies of the whole
world are doomed, setting us up, and he's
talking about not knowing it, setting up a
whole antichrist system of commerce.
You can make sure that it's coming, and
there are some people believe that we are
not going to suffer.
We're not going to, at the right time,
just the right moment, God's going to deliver
every one of His Christians.
We're all going to be delivered.
We're not going to suffer.
We're not going to lose our homes, but
that, folks, God forgive if that's the kind
of impression I've left in my preaching.
You see, the disciples, Paul talked about those
who lost everything, the spoiling of all of
their goods.
And the time is coming, folks, in this
storm that many, many people are going to
suffer.
But we Christians are like David, and when
it comes to thinking about enduring a storm,
he said, I would hasten my escape from
the windy storm and tempest.
And we perceive that that's what faith will
do for us.
It will deliver us from every tempest, every
moment of suffering that this nation has gone
through, that somehow we are going to be
delivered while everybody around us is going to
suffer, and we'll not have to suffer or
endure anything.
Now, please understand, it was God Himself who
whipped up this storm.
The devil had nothing to do with it.
I'm going to show it to you and
prove it to you beyond any shadow of
a doubt.
The Scripture said, He, speaking of God, commandeth
and raises the stormy wind, which lift up
the waves thereof, they mount up to heaven,
they go down again to the depths.
This is not the devil trying to kill
Jesus and His disciples.
God was going to use this storm to
teach the Lord's disciples some marvelous lessons they
could have never learned except in a life
and death situation.
They're going to learn, first of all, that
they have to be stripped of all confidence
in their abilities and their strength to get
themselves out of a mess.
You may be here right now in a
real mess in your life, you've got a
binding lust, you may be hooked on Internet
sex, it may be anything.
Two million Americans now hooked and it's getting
worse, they say it could be ten million
on the verge.
And what about this self-motivation that is
so common and popular today?
If you just motivate yourself, get the right
book, get the right tape, get to the
right seminar, you're going to be able to
pump up your flesh, you'll be able to
conquer anything.
That's a lie.
And sometimes the storm comes to teach us
that very lesson, and we are brought into
an absolutely hopeless situation where we are driven
to lesson number two, that if I ever
get out of this mess, if I'm ever
delivered, God has to do it by His
Spirit.
This is a hopeless situation, the boat is
sinking, it's about to go down, and they
are absolutely helpless, and the only thing they
have left, the only option left is a
cry to the Master.
And that's what the New Covenant is all
about, that's what the Holy Ghost has been
teaching us in this church, and all willing
to listen to it.
The psalmist confirms that the storms are sent
to bring us to our wit's end.
For He commandeth and raises the stormy winds,
they reel to and fro and stagger like
a drunken man, and they are at their
wit's end.
Then they cry unto the Lord in their
trouble, and He bringeth them out of all
their distresses.
Those who battle a besetting sin, those who
are entrenched in some kind of a habit
that has you bound, folks, it will bring
you to wit's end.
It will bring you to a place where
you say, Father, I hate this.
It will bring you, eventually, God will bring
you to your wit's end.
He'll allow a storm in your life to
bring you to that place.
He will bring a storm into your life
to bring you to wit's end.
And He does it out of love to
bring deliverance to drive you to the cross
and to the promises of His covenant.
I can assure you, if you've not yet
learned how impossible it is to conquer your
own sins, if you've not learned that you
can't do it in your flesh, if you
haven't yet learned that your willpower cannot see
you through the hardest temptations that are coming
to this world, then be sure a storm
is coming.
God's going to bring you to your wit's
end.
And then at wit's end, when you cry
out to the Lord, He said, I'll deliver
you.
That simple.
What if Jesus had allowed the boat to
sink?
What if God wanted to refine their faith
in even a greater fiery trial than they're
going through now?
Suppose He allowed the boat to capsize, and
you see the boat go down, and suddenly
everybody grabbing for an oar, they're grabbing for
anything, and now some of them are experienced
sailors, and I'm sure they could swim.
There may have been some that could not
swim, but suppose God, Jesus, had slept right
through, and it's going down, it's sinking, the
hull is already under water, it's going down,
and they're all bobbing in the water.
And Jesus is right there with them.
And the Lord says, brethren, swim.
Everybody swim.
You can't picture Jesus swimming, can you?
You can't picture Jesus sweating and huffing and
puffing and sharing the problem and the pain
and the suffering of these men now because
they're going through a storm and He's trying
to teach them something.
See, it's one thing to see the majesty
and omnipotence of Almighty God.
It's another thing when you see Him sweating
with you.
It's another thing when you see Him walking
through the storm with you, and you come
up the other side drenching wet, and there
He is embracing you with the same drenching
wet, and He went through the problem with
you.
I thank God for the omnipotence of God
who can speak the Word and calm any
storm.
And yes, you do learn of the omnipotence
of God, and it rejoices you praise God
you worship.
But it's another thing to so fall in
love with Him and see the human side
of our Almighty God in the flesh of
Jesus Christ who in your storm says, we're
going through this together, your boat's going down,
but I'm going to touch you and empower
you.
You're going to swim ashore, not in your
strength, but in mine.
Would it have been any less of a
miracle to be delivered from the storm or
through the storm?
To have survived the storm in a shipwreck,
and to know that you have experienced something
with Jesus of fellowship and suffering because He
is touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
and how is He touched with the feelings
of our infirmity unless He's swimming with us?
Hallelujah.
Am I saying to you this morning that
a Christian who's walking in purity and holiness,
walking in the Spirit, fully trusting God, can
end up in a sinking ship and cast
into a raging sea?
Absolutely.
That's exactly what my message is about when
the boat sinks.
You see, Jesus did go down with one
of His chosen, a boat that He allowed
to break up.
Jesus went down with a ship.
You say, heresy.
No, no, no.
One of the most exciting chapters in all
the Bible is Acts 27.
Go there, please.
Acts 27.
I'll show you.
Jesus went down in a boat.
27th chapter of Acts.
Just keep it open there, if you will,
please.
27th chapter of Acts is all about a
boat that sank with Jesus on board.
The same Christ who calmed the sea for
the disciples now allows the storm to continue
and finally sink the ship.
Now, folks, in this chapter, verse 1, when
it was determined that we should sail to
Italy, they delivered Paul and certain other prisoners
onto one named Julius, the centurion of Augustus'
band, and entering into a ship, we launched,
meaning to sail to the coast of Asia.
Now, the purpose is, he is to go,
he's appealed to Caesar, and the Lord has
said, really mandated him.
He said, Paul, be of good cheer, for
as you have testified of my...
This is Acts 23.11. For as you
have testified of me in Jerusalem, so must
you bear witness also in Rome.
Look at me, please.
Many scholars believe that Luke was with him,
and Luke was the one who recorded all
these details.
We do know that there are 276 people,
including Paul, on this boat, and they're headed
toward Rome.
Now, I want you to know that God
selected every prisoner.
He selected the captain, he selected the boat,
he selected the centurion, because he got a
purpose.
There's something going on here beyond anything our
minds can conceive.
There's an incredible plan unfolding in the 27th
chapter of this.
We know that before the ship leaves the
port to get to Rome, it's going to
land there, because God said, you're going to
go before Caesar.
Now, God can't lie.
If he says, you're going to go to
Rome, you're going to testify to Caesar, he's
going to end up in Rome, and he's
going to end up testifying to Caesar.
You know he's going to get there.
Now, you know now from what I've read
to you that God commands the winds, correct?
He's the one who lifts the waves and
lowers the waves.
He's the one that whips the storm.
He's going to go there, the Bible says,
to witness for Christ.
Oftentimes, and listen closely now, oftentimes the severe
storms are raised upon the most righteous.
Did you hear it?
The most severe storms are usually reserved for
the righteous.
Somebody going through a storm, you think the
devil's doing it.
No, no, no, no, no, God's doing it.
God's accomplishing something far beyond you can conceive
of.
When you see it, you'll rejoice in it.
I'm going to show you how Paul rejoiced
while the boat was going down.
You see, Paul is the one who unveiled
the new covenant.
Here's a man who's totally dead to the
world.
He's walking in full revelation power.
He lived for nothing but the gospel.
He's pure.
He's holy.
He's given to prayer.
He's full of faith.
He's obeying God.
He's in the center of God's will.
And yet a tempestuous storm is called, is
raised, called your Rockland, your Rockland.
And it swamps the ship.
Acts 27, verse 14.
But not long after there arose against it
a tempestuous wind called Eurocliden.
They must have named their hurricanes way back
then.
This was some hurricane.
Now, please fix it.
Mind that Jesus is on that boat.
Didn't Paul say, Nevertheless, I'll live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me.
Didn't he say he was joined to Christ,
bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh,
that he's a part of his body, the
body, the heads in glory, and he is
on the boat so that he's connected to
the head.
Jesus is on that boat.
How many can agree with that?
A good amen, perhaps.
Jesus is on that boat.
You say, If Jesus is on that boat,
he can never go down.
And being exceedingly tossed, verse 18.
And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest,
the next day we lighted the ship.
They lighted the ship, verse 19.
And the third day we cast out with
our own hands the tackling of the ship.
The ship is in trouble.
The ship's about to go down.
And verse 20, And all hope that we
should be saved was then taken away.
Now, folks, God is whipping up this storm.
He's allowing a furious agitation.
That's what a tempest means, a furious agitation.
Are you going through a furious agitation?
Your husband, you say, Yeah, he's, I've got
a furious agitation.
My wife, my family, my job, yeah, furious
agitation.
The tempest.
What's this all about?
Is Paul being chastened?
Absolutely not.
He is not being chastened.
Is God teaching him lessons?
No, God's not teaching Paul any lessons.
This man's been through this kind of stuff
before.
He's not being taught any lesson.
Now, if you doubt that God whipped up
that storm, then you listen to these verses.
Perfectly clear.
Psalm 135, 7.
He maketh lightnings for the rain.
He brings the wind out of his treasuries.
Psalm 147.
He giveth snow.
He cast forth his ice.
He causes the wind to blow and the
waters to flow.
Psalm 148.
Fire, hail, snow, vapor, stormy wind fulfilling his
word.
The storm is fulfilling his plan and his
purpose in Paul's life.
For he, the Lord, hath gathered the wind
up in his fist.
I could go on and on.
There's scripture after scripture proving that God controls
the winds and the waves.
At what point now, the boat's in trouble,
it's about to sink.
At what point is Christ in Paul going
to rise up, wake up?
And when is Paul going to go out
to the bow of the ship and look
into that gale's face and say, Calm!
Peace!
Enough!
And the calm comes just as it did
on the sea with the disciples.
What is that just nicotine deliverance?
No, instead, Jesus did appear to Paul.
He did speak to him.
And this is what he said.
Verse 22.
Now I exhort you to be of good
cheer, for there shall be no loss of
any man's life, but of the ship.
What he's saying, Paul, the ship's going down.
The ship is going to sink.
Uh-huh.
With Jesus and Paul, maybe Luke on board.
Uh-huh.
The boat's going to be broken into pieces.
So, he gathers everybody on deck.
He gathers everybody on deck.
And he says, there stood by me an
angel of God, whose I am and who
I serve.
All of the prisoners, all of the soldiers,
the centurion, the captain, everybody is there.
And Paul said, I've heard from God, the
Lord appeared to me.
He stood by me an angel.
Now, that is Jesus, because Paul's worshiping me,
and you don't worship an angel.
That has to be Jesus.
And he calls to me, he says, brethren,
everybody be of good cheer.
The boat's sinking.
Good cheer.
My boat, the captain says, my boat, tons
of wheat.
That's my livelihood.
All going down.
Good cheer.
The boat's going to sink.
But, not one of you will get lost.
Every one of you is going to come
out of this.
Good news and bad news.
Good news for those who can swim.
Bad news for those who can't.
Folks, I can't swim.
When I was a kid, somebody threw me
in the water, and I almost drowned.
They had to pump me out, and I've
been afraid of the water ever since.
I don't even like to look at it.
And if I'd been on that boat, and
I'll tell you that God led that boat
right into a sandbar, and the waves are
coming, and it's stuck, and the back end
of the boat broke, and the Lord broke
it in enough pieces to handle 275.
There had to be at least 275 pieces
of boat.
Because the command came from the captain, everybody
can swim.
Jump and swim for your life.
Go to the shore.
I would have grabbed the biggest piece of
lumber I could find.
And I'd be in that.
I'm not trying to be facetious, but I'd
be there in the water, and Paul's there
swimming, praising the Lord.
Thank you for the word, Lord.
We're all going to be saved, not one.
276 heads bobbing in those waves.
And if he passed me by, I'd say,
Paul, wait a minute.
This is not Luke 8, 22, 24.
Paul, what about Psalm 91?
All those promises that he'd deliver me.
This is not deliverance.
Paul said, David, thank God for your board.
You better kick and get to shore.
Came to pass, they all escaped, all safe
to the shore.
All right, folks, these things were recorded by
the Holy Ghost for our learning.
What are we going to learn from this
story?
Now, let me share what I believe the
Holy Spirit showed me on this.
I have sought God diligently.
You're not a storyteller.
There's a purpose.
What divine scheme?
What is this all about if it's for
our learning?
Now, folks, please remember the time frame on
this.
The devil already got his proclamation that God
was going to build his church.
And he's building a church on the testimony
of men just like Paul and the apostles.
The New Testament church was going to be
built on Christ the Rock.
His gospel was going to be preached to
all the world.
And Paul's been called to minister to the
Gentiles.
Here is the chief planter of churches.
A man with a divine purpose who's been
trained to suffer for the sake of the
gospel.
He's been chosen to go to the Gentiles.
And the Lord knows that the devil, this
is warfare.
He's going to come against the church.
He's going to come against every one of
God's chosen.
He's going to come against men like Paul.
He's going to come against every child of
God who seeks the Lord, every member of
his body.
Those who walk in righteousness and holiness.
The enemy is going to come with winds
of adversity.
He's going to come with all kinds of
difficulties and problems.
And try to kill and destroy with messengers
sent to buffet.
And I believe God has masterminded a glorious
theater.
Paul said, we are made spectacles to man,
to angels, and to the whole world.
That word spectacle in Greek is theater stage.
A play.
Now, once you know and listen closely, some
of you may wonder that you may not
see it, but I see it.
Because Paul is not being taught a lesson.
The devil's being taught a lesson.
This is a stage where every demon in
hell, every prince of power and Satan himself
is commanded to attend.
And God has the script all written out.
I call it sea spectacle.
Or Paul's trip to Rome.
And every prince of power and power of
darkness is called to watch this scene.
And they sit and watch as this is
not the devil at work.
The devil is being taught a lesson.
God's going to show something.
Because he knows the devil has plans and
devices against his church.
And he takes a man, just as he
did with Job, to set an example.
You talk about theater.
That was great theater.
Of Almighty God to show the devil and
all the imps of hell.
Even though you're slamming, you're going to trust
the devil.
You're going to trust me.
God sets this stage.
He puts Paul in the middle of this
sea.
And he allows a raging storm to come.
And these devils and demons and folks, surely
there's conversation in that spiritual world.
First of all, they see this stage, this
theater being opened up.
And Paul is getting on board with 270
-some prisoners and hard-bitten soldiers.
And a centurion who is determined to get
these prisoners to Rome.
And I imagine if they could clap, they
were clapping.
Good.
Paul's going to get mocked and stomped and
ridiculed by these.
Let's see how much religion he gets.
How much religion Paul has.
And the devil doesn't know the next scene
because he's not omniscient.
He doesn't know what God's about to do.
He doesn't know Paul's going to enter shipwreck.
But all the witnesses, the Bible said there
are witnesses in the spirit world.
These witnesses watch as the Lord takes every
device of the devil.
He's not using the devices of the devil.
He's exposing the devices of the devil.
And can you imagine the consternation when suddenly
every demon in hell, devil himself, said, This
is not fair.
This is not good fighting.
This is unfair.
Because now nobody's going to be ignorant of
our devices.
What does he do?
He puts him in the middle of a
shipwreck.
The Lord puts him right there in a
shipwreck and they say, Wait a minute, that's
our job.
We're the shipwreckers.
All hope is gone.
We are robbers of hope.
If you follow the story, you will see
every device of the devil being exposed.
All hope is gone.
That everything that the enemy could throw at
you is being thrown at Paul.
Shipwreck.
Can you imagine the consternation of all the
powers of hell?
And the boat is breaking and Paul goes
down to the water and the powers of
hell say, He's going down.
This will get him.
He's going to be overwhelmed.
And suddenly, hell is shaking because Paul's not
going down.
And they're getting the message now.
They're getting the message.
All hell is getting the message that God
is saying to the devil, You come against
my people.
I'm going to show you what happens.
When all through eternity till I return again,
every time you come against my people, every
time they go down in the waters of
swirling waters of turmoil, despair, whatever it may
be, I'm going to put a promise in
their hands and send them right through to
the shore.
They're going to reach their destination.
But that's only half the story.
Here's the real hooker.
Here is what sends shivers through all the
caverns of hell.
Every prince of power and power of hell
had to shake and tremble because Paul crawls
out of the water and he holds a
communion service and he begins to praise the
Lord.
And there are 276 people praising God.
Now, folks, I want you to listen to
me now and listen closely.
God really put this on my heart.
Paul is led to the house of the
leader.
This is just a little isolated island.
Melita.
And there's a little, I call him a
tin horn leader.
I'm not deprecating him.
These are the barbarians and they take him
to the leader to publish his house.
And Paul is asked to pray for the
father and he's healed.
And you know, for me, I said, Lord,
you said Caesar, not here.
You said Rome, senators, politicians, the leader of
the whole world, the most powerful leader of
all.
You said, I'm going to testify before Caesar.
And here you are putting me on an
isolated island with a bunch of barbarians.
And I want you to know that when
God detours you from some great plan he
called you to, and that plan seems shipwrecked
to you and you're on some detour.
I'm telling you that that detour is going
to be the greatest seeding time of your
life.
Paul doesn't know it, but he's seeding the
whole Roman Empire with the gospel because now
when he goes to Rome, he's got 276
witnesses to the healing power of Christ.
He's got 275, 276 witnesses to deliverance from
the powers of hell.
They have all seen how God can keep
his children.
And when Paul finally gets to Rome, it's
not just one man.
He's got an army of witnesses.
The captain goes to the owner of the
ship that was lost in all the hundreds
of tons of wheat.
And he tells the story, this amazing story.
And all the other captains gather around.
Can you imagine all the captains?
Can you imagine that whole seaport abuzz?
Can you imagine when the centurion goes back
to his captains and his leaders and his
sergeants and he tells this amazing story?
This man served a man called Christ.
His God was Christ.
This Christ delivered us.
Every prisoner, I'll tell you, there's an underground
in prison.
It spreads like fire.
It has nothing to do with prison, but
gossip.
And I'll tell you, that gossip went all
over every prison in Rome and every prison
in the Roman Empire, every trader that came
by, every ship that went out of port.
This amazing story, this amazing story was told.
276 witnesses.
You see, he was seeding the Roman Empire.
Paul never complained.
Through it all, he believed God.
Are you seeing what I'm seeing?
This spectacle unfolds now.
Everybody swam for the life.
And this final act of the spectacle, this
final act of theater now ending in a
healing crusade, they brought people from all over
the island to be healed.
Can you imagine those soldiers watching the cripples
walk?
Can you imagine?
I honestly believe that many, many of them
were genuinely saved.
No wonder Paul, when he was there, he
said, many are preaching Christ with contention.
Who were these many that were preaching Christ
with contention?
In other words, they were still contentious, but
they were telling the story.
Where would they have come from but from
this experience with Paul?
God is saying, you touch my anointed, you
put my anointed in the hospital, and they're
going to testify to every doctor, they're going
to testify to every nurse, they're going to
get the whole place all ablaze about Jesus.
You take away from my children their houses
and their lands and their furniture and all
their possessions, and they're going to take joyfully
the spoiling of their goods, and people are
going to see that good cheer in spite
of the loss of everything, and they're going
to want to know who this Christ is,
and I'll just use that experience to spread
the gospel to neighbors and to everybody else.
Devil, go ahead and try it, but you're
going to cause a revival.
You're going to cause a great moving and
stirring of my spirit.
A pastor friend of mine in Colorado sent
me newspaper clippings.
In fact, he's on my staff, works with
me in Colorado on our newsletters that go
out throughout the country.
He sent me a copy of headlines in
Colorado.
A man and wife, wonderful godly people in
their church, had two teenage daughters crossing the
road early in the morning.
It was still dark, a four-lane highway
to get to the bus stop, the school
bus stop across.
A police officer, a Christian, coming up over
the hill, didn't see them, killed them both
instantly.
And the newspapers came down on the policemen.
They came down, and everybody was saying, sue
them for everything you can get, make millions,
get after this guy.
You see, this police officer was a Christian
who went to schools teaching kids about drugs,
to stay off drugs, and also about traffic
problems.
And he was beside himself in despair.
You see, the boat sank.
But rather than sue, they asked him to
come visit their home.
And they knelt and prayed, laid hands on
him and prayed that God would comfort him.
Now, we got involved, this church got involved
to help some financially with some expenses.
They refused to sue.
Newspaper reporters came from everywhere, radio, television.
Everyone couldn't believe that this family, this police
officer who spoke at the funeral, with tears
of the grace of God and how God
brought them together through the whole thing.
And these people testified to all the school,
to everybody.
It hit the whole, it was on national
news.
You see, the devil tried to come, sink
the boat, throw them in the sea, destroy
them.
But God said, no, no, no, I gave
you an example, devil.
You remember, Paul?
You remember this?
I showed you what would happen.
And the gospel spread everywhere.
What a testimony it was.
Hallelujah.
Now, I want to get to the point,
and I'm going to close in just about
four or five minutes.
This spectacle is for our learning also.
This theater, this divine theater is for your
learning and mine.
You may be on a sinking ship right
now.
Your marriage could be sinking.
You may have already gone through this.
Your boat broke up a long time ago,
and you're still swimming for your life.
You're swimming, though you know it's not in
your own strength.
You know that God is giving you that
strength.
Did your marriage break up?
Did you survive the shipwreck of the loss
of a loved one?
Was a loved one taken from you?
I was on a plane coming from Florida
this past year.
And a lady, a young lady sat next
to me, and she was crying.
And I said, could I help you?
Is there a problem?
I said, I'm a minister.
I would like to help you.
And she said, well, my father is 75
years old, and I just visited him in
Florida.
He was healthy, never a sign of pain
or anything.
And suddenly, I find he's cancer ridden, and
he's full of cancer, and he's dying.
He just has a few weeks to live.
And she said, you're a minister?
I said, yes.
She said, I can't serve a guy who
does that to people.
Takes a healthy man.
He's a good man.
My father's never hurt anybody.
I can't understand.
I can't serve a God who would take
my father.
And she had a bitterness, and she had
an anger in her heart toward God.
Did God give you a word, and he
told you of some important work he wanted
you to do for his kingdom?
He said, I'll equip you.
You'll be able to do it.
And now, it could have been a dream.
It could have been something in your career.
I don't know what it is, but the
Lord has put this on my heart that
someone needed to hear this this morning.
All week, I felt that there would be
people in this service this morning who feel
like you're in a sinking ship.
Or maybe your ship is already broken up.
And you know God spoke a word to
you.
God made you a promise.
And something he wanted you to do or
something we're going to use you to do.
And here you are now detoured.
You're in an isolated situation like Paul.
Isolated.
And it's not that dream at all.
It's not even an image of it.
There's some ferocious agitation taking place.
There's a tempest that came.
And now here you are wondering if you
even heard right.
I want to tell you something.
Our part when that happens is to trust
in God completely that the goal is important,
but the journey is just as important.
Getting there and how you get there matters
to God.
You know you can get there if you're
going to go calmly and get there.
When you get there, you just praise the
Lord.
But oh what a powerful testimony.
When you've been tested and tried.
Isolated.
Your dream dies.
Everything seems to be gone.
And now you're in a very small circle.
Wondering if you're doing any good.
Wondering if you're ever going to reach that
goal.
I'll tell you what the Bible said.
If you will believe as Paul did and
be of good cheer.
Cheer up.
Let everybody around you see the smile of
the Holy Ghost in you.
Don't go around murmuring and complaining.
God made me a promise it didn't work
out.
Everything I do turns wrong.
It's never working right.
Everything is out of control.
That is not the testimony.
The testimony.
You and I are.
The Bible said we're spectacle to angels, to
the whole world, to the devil.
We are spectacle.
We are stage.
And they're watching you.
Men are watching you.
People on the job.
Your family.
They're watching how you react when your boat
sinks.
Can you get along with him as Paul?
And come out and say, I heard a
word from God.
No matter what happens, I'm going to survive.
And I'm going to reach my goal in
Jesus' name.
I'm going to reach it.
Will you stand, please?
Hallelujah.
Lord, we thank you for your faithfulness.
You will deliver your people.
Out of the storm.
Through the storm.
Through the waters.
Lord, there's some people that have lost their
job.
Lost their career.
People, Lord, that are on the verge of
losing their vision.
Some, oh Lord, who can't understand the path
that you're leading them into.
Lord, everything was going so good.
It looked like the goal was in sight.
And then suddenly this diversion, oh God, help
us to understand that that diversion is the
perfect will of God.
That the steps of a righteous man or
woman are led of the Lord.
God is leading.
God will not forsake.
Deliverance is not out there.
Deliverance is now, right now, in what I'm
going through, this hardship.
Jesus is with me.
God is with me.
The Spirit of God is with me.
And I'm moving on in faith.
Moving on in faith.
Hallelujah.
You may be here for the first time.
You may be a visitor.
Or you may be a part of this
body.
But you've been going through it.
You have been really going through a storm.
A hard time.
And you've had a fear that you're going
down.
That everything's going to be lost.
You just have a fear, that sinking sensation,
that you're going down.
And you need a touch from the Lord.
You need your faith to be built.
Your faith is just wavering right now because
you say, Pastor Dave, I am going through
it.
You know, you can be a tourist here,
visiting New York, looking at all the buildings
and stuff at Broken Heart.
You can have people all around.
You can laugh and they think everything's all
right.
But deep inside, you're going through it in
your home, your marriage, your job, finances.
There's something going on and God knows it.
He wants to deliver you.
He wants to go with you.
Pardon my expression, but swim with you.
Now, I know that there can be, sometimes
God allows storms to chasten us.
Because of our disobedience.
That's what he did to Jonah.
I don't care if the storm is because
of a chastening process.
I don't care.
If you're a holy, righteous person, you're going
through it.
If you'd like to have our prayers, step
out of your seat and come and stand
here now.
And with those that are coming, come also
those of you who are not right with
God.
Those who are backslidden.
Those who don't know Jesus.
Those who just say, Pastor Dave, something in
this service this morning was meant for me.
And I'm not leaving here until I have
the fullness of what God intended for me
to receive by coming here this morning.
Get out of your seat and come and
join these.
Move in tight and make room for those.
And in the annex, will you please go
forward and go between the screens right there.
So I can pray.
I'll pray with you.
Don't go in front of the screen, but
on the side.
So you won't block the view of those
around.
It never ceases to amaze me how the
Holy Spirit knows right where you'll be.
At the right time.
At the right place.
Hear just the word he wants for you.
I am amazed at that constantly.
Some of you hear it now.
God just wants to encourage you.
He wants to remind you of his faithfulness.
That no matter what comes, don't accuse the
devil of everything from now on.
Say, Lord, anything that comes my way.
The testing and the trials and everything.
You hold the winds in your hands.
But oh God, you also hold me in
your hands.
You hold me in your hands.
Hallelujah.
I'm going to ask all of those who
came forward.
In fact, everyone listening to me right now
before we close this service.
I want you to lay hold of most
of you who go to church and faithful
in the house of God.
You have scriptures that God gave you.
There may be a favorite one that you've
had.
You've forgotten.
I want you right now to lay hold.
That's called getting a hold of a plank.
Get a hold of a board right now.
Get a hold of a piece of a
broken ship, whatever.
And get a hold of a promise of
God right now.
And lay hold of that promise right now.
If you don't have one, I'll give you
one.
All things work together for good to them
who love God and are called according to
his purpose.
Lay hold of it and claim it right
now.
If you're here now to receive Christ, if
you're here now to confess that your faith
has been weak and you're asking the Lord,
touch my faith.
You know, that's what the man prayed, Lord.
Heal my faith.
Encourage my faith.
Give me faith.
He'll do that this morning.
Heavenly Father, I pray for a miracle now.
I pray that you will help us to
not worry about getting above the storm, but
just getting through the storm with you.
Getting right through the storm, Lord Jesus.
And let us not get angry with you
because the storm continues.
Lord Jesus, if it continues, if the storm
goes on, there's a greater testimony coming.
There's something glorious going to come out of
it.
Hallelujah.
If we will trust you, pray, seek your
face, you will deliver by your power and
by your grace.
I want everybody, everybody that's a Christian, everybody
going through a battle, everybody going through a
storm, just lift both hands, Lord, and pray
this prayer with me right now.
Dear Jesus, I've been in a storm.
I've been in trouble.
I've been abused by the devil.
But I know you're on the throne.
And the Bible says, you sit king over
the flood.
You're king of all the floods.
Take all fear out of my heart.
Put faith in my heart.
I believe you, Jesus.
Put cheer in my heart that I can
share it with others.
And be the testimony you want me to
be.
Now just thank him.
Give him thanks.
Lord, I give you thanks.
I give you praise.
Blessed be the name.
Greatly to be praised.
This is the conclusion of the message.