The Whether Man [Part 2]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. Everybody's listening to that man. Just one person who could say whether or not we have food, we're not going to die. Whether or not this storm stops, it's not going to kill us all.

Whether or not, and so they listen to the weatherman. That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries. As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special author. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Now more on this later in the program, but right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. So my dad was a weatherman, and so I was talking about Laura, about, you know, my dad was a weatherman, and she just looked right at me and she said, I just heard the Lord say that he's made you to be a weatherman, but not a W-E-A-T-H-E-R man, but a weatherman. And I thought, that's really neat. But then as I got further into the sermon this week, I realized it was the word from the Lord for us today, and an invitation to all of us.

I'm inviting you to be also a weatherman. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. Whether it rains or whether the sun shines, we belong to the Lord. Whether there is a stormy sea or smooth sailing, we belong to the Lord. Whether or not things go the way we hope day by day, we still praise his name.

And that is in a sense what this incredible story is about. The greatest gift from God is not the calming of your storm. The greatest gift is having peace whether or not he rebukes the wind and the waves. The greatest gift isn't untroubled waters. The greatest gift is an untroubled soul. The greatest gift isn't smooth sailing.

The greatest gift is certainty that you will arrive at your destination because God has assigned it and he is on his throne. We are in Acts chapter 27 and I'm going to go section by section through this incredible drama and then we're going to see some principles emerge for us about, well, being a weatherman. Acts 27 verse 6. There the centurion found a ship of Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board.

Let me just pause here to say what's happened is Paul is a prisoner and he is on his way to Rome where he is eventually to make his case before the emperor. And what happened is that they transferred ships. This would be a grain ship.

It was a big deal. The grains that would come from Egypt would go to Rome. They needed definitely the food. So on this grain ship, they put Paul and some other prisoners on it to make their way to Rome. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off of Cnidus and as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off of Salmonee.

Coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens near which was the city of La Silla. So Paul's on this grain ship and in order for safety, they start going under the south part of Crete. So in the eastern Mediterranean island of Crete, they come down, they're sailing close to the coast and they come to a little harbor called Fair Havens near the town of La Silla. Fair Havens, we have a picture of, is a beautiful harbor and it actually, Fair Havens, it's literally in the Greek good harbor. So they come in here to this good harbor and Paul, who has been shipwrecked three times in his life, just in the natural knows a good bit about sailing because of his experiences.

And here he advises them, let's stay here at Fair Havens, but they're going to ignore him. We pick up at verse nine, since much time had passed, it's getting later towards winter time and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over. Speaking of the day of atonement, the fall festival, they called it the fast and it would have been on October 5th, I think it was, 59 AD. So we can pretty well date when these events are taking place. So it's past that time on up into October.

Paul advised them saying, verse 10, sirs, I perceive, this is not a word from the Lord, this is Paul in the natural giving wise counsel. I perceive that the voyage will be with any injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also our lives. So they're at this place called Good Harbor.

He advises, let's just stay here. We've gotten past the season. Generally, after September, people hesitated to sail in the Eastern Mediterranean.

By mid November, nobody did. It was just too unfavorable in terms of the way the winds and the nor'easters would blow. So sometimes in life, you get a good harbor and there's a temptation to think I need to press on and get a little bit more. And that's what they were going to do.

They're going to have to stay in Crete during those early winter months until the sailing conditions are better. But what they wanted to do was press on. It just is a story, therefore, that starts with the temptation to just be a little greedy for a little more progress when you've already had a spot that would have been a good place to stay. And that a big part of the secret of life is knowing when to be content with what you got for the moment. I've messed up a lot in my life when it's like, you know, this is good enough right here. But to just feel like I need to just do that little bit more, get a little bit more, and then everything falls apart.

That's what's going to happen. Verse 11. But the centurion, remember, this is a Roman official centurion from the fact of overseeing 100 troops, paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. So you can see the scene here. The owner of the ship and the pilot are like, no, we need to press on more.

We want to make more progress. Paul's saying it's ill advised to go on. Note well that it's Paul, who is a prisoner, who is in the conversation.

That's pretty amazing. They paid more attention to the pilot and the owner of the ship. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete, facing both Southwest and Northwest and spend the winter there. The reason that they didn't want to stay here at Fair Havens is that the closest town was La Silla, and it wasn't a big town.

And they thought it'd be much better to stay in a bigger town during the wintertime. But what happens is an unexpected and yet unsurprising storm arises. Remember, this is the season in which these types of nor'easters can just come up and they know it. And it's why sailors didn't sail during this time of year. So on the one hand, this is a huge surprise. And on the other hand, well, of course, this is the kind of thing that happens this time of year.

Verse 13, when the south wind blew gently, supposing that they'd obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete close to the port. It started out well enough, but soon a tempestuous wind called the Northeaster struck down from the land. Who of us have not experienced the suddenness of a storm in life? We've experienced them literally like you might just be driving down the road and suddenly a storm out of nowhere. But when it happens figuratively in life, and it's interesting when the storms come and they surprise us.

And yet sometimes we look back and go, well, it was to be expected. You don't almost feel that whole way about this whole pandemic because I can remember, I guess it was in January when we were seeing images in China of people walking around with masks on. And I literally remember having this thought go through my head.

That is so far away. It would never, I could never in a million years imagine that being here. And I remember thinking, could you imagine Americans walking around with masks on? It's like it was just a scene from some other world. And yet there it was, how could we be so surprised that it came? But storms are like that.

They, they still catch you by surprise and you feel like you're just sailing along smoothly and all of a sudden this nor'easter starts, starts blowing. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace-filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Alan Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastoralan.org. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, Pastor Alan and his wife Ann lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace-filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith-filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful, transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries.

This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Now these are the final days this offer is being made available to you this month. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. This teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. Verse 15, and when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, so now it's just being blown, we gave way to it and we were driven along. Sometime when you're sailing, if you just can't navigate into the wind, you have to just go with it and now you're really no longer in control. And running under the lee of a small island called Kalda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat, the lifeboat. They secured it. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then fearing that they would run aground on the Sirtis, they lowered the gear and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm-tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo. And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. And when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no tempest and no small tempest lay on us, all hope of being saved was at last abandoned.

Get this picture because this is a picture of what a storm will do to somebody in life. They lost the sense of being able to be in control. And what happened then was when you realize that I could perish and I don't have control anymore, you start getting rid of what is nowhere near as important as your own salvation. And it came down to the question, can we be saved? And they start jettisoning the cargo.

They start throwing over the non-essentials. Anybody I've ever seen who's really come to Christ in one way or another, they get to this point. It's like some kind of storm of life has brought a person to a place where they say, I cannot control this storm and I will perish unless somehow I am saved. And the things that seem so important no longer seem important and your heart can just begin chunking overboard all of the things that previously stood in the way of you hungering for God and now suddenly your heart is focused on the only one who can save you.

Paul's got this audience all of a sudden. He's the prisoner, but follow this at verse 21. Since they'd been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss.

Scholars disagree on whether the language here is conveying I told you so, or if it's a more gracious presentation of introducing his subject, but either way he was right. Verse 22, yet now I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. And here's why he was saying this with confidence for this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, do not be afraid. Paul, you must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.

So take heart men for I have faith in God that will be exactly as I've been told, but we must run aground on some Island. Can you imagine the scene? The sailors had not been eating. They'd been chunking their cargo overboard. The storm was relentless.

They had no control of the ship. And in the middle of it, a prisoner stands up and encourages them all. He stands up and says in the middle of the storm, are you ready for some good news? An angel of the Lord to whom I belong came and appeared to me in the night.

They don't know who Paul is and they don't know who his God is, but suddenly everybody's listening. Sometimes God will give you an opportune moment. I had one that I blew years and years ago. This was a very first year that I was at Ronaldo. So this is some 23 years ago, the time, our associate pastor, David Batey, who's now beloved pastor at River Oaks church, our daughter church. He and I traveled to some meetings in Brownsville, Florida and Pensacola, Florida at the Brownsville church, a big revival was going on. We were making our way back and we were flying together and the plane was supposed to stop in Tallahassee and then make its way on home. And so it was a short flight from Pensacola, Tallahassee. We got to the Tallahassee airport and I knew that something was wrong because we didn't land. We came in like we were going to land and we didn't land. Instead we ascended and we started circling and then we go like we're going to land again and we didn't land and we go back up and we start circling again.

And this went on for a long time. I said, brother David, something is bad wrong. And after a little while the pilot came on and said, here's what's going on folks. He said, the light that indicates whether our landing gear is properly in place is not coming on. So we don't know that our landing gear is, is properly operating.

And we have been making maneuvers to try to get it to, you know, the wheels to be secure. And we've been flying by the tower to see if they can tell us if they're secure. And he said, they cannot tell us.

And the light's still not on. And so we're not sure. And so we're going to go to Jacksonville and make an emergency landing. He was like, don't be alarmed when you see the fire trucks and the foam and everything out there. And we're like, and so we're sitting on this plane together and the plane at first gets real quiet. Then there are people that are crying. Some are kind of hysterical as we make our way to Jacksonville and David and I are just kind of praying.

You know what? Looking back on it, I really did have a lot of peace. I had a lot of peace that we weren't going to crash. And part of the reason was I was in my first year of ministry here. And as many of you have heard me tell the story I had spoken to by the Lord almost audibly about coming to be the pastor at Reynolda. And the whole time I'm thinking the Lord would not have spoken to me so clearly about going to pastor this church only to let me die in the first year. And so as I look back on it, David and I, we look back on it after the plane safely landed, the gear was in place and it was safely landed.

And after we looked back and we were like, man, we missed an opportunity. We should have stood up there and led that entire plane to the Lord. You know, and David's a real evangelist and we were talking to some of the people around us, but I should have stood up and said, men and women take heart. This plane is not going to go down because the Lord's not done with me yet and that means we're all going to live. I should have at least, I should have at least said, you know, and in case we don't live, if you died tonight, do you know for sure you'd go to heaven? I could have gotten everybody on that plane safe.

I missed my opportunity, but Paul didn't miss the opportunity. He stood up in the middle of a stormy sea on a ship that had been jettisoned of its cargo and was soon to crash. And he started telling them about his God.

Wow. And it's amazing to me what can happen when there's one unlikely person, a prisoner who's only on the boat because he's been incarcerated and he's being taken for trial in Rome. One person's got some good news and all of a sudden everybody's listening to that man. Alan Wright and our good news message, the weather man.

Now that's W H E T H E R from the series Unlimited. Hey, stick with us. Pastor Alan is back joining us in the studio, sharing his parting good news thought for the day. In just a moment, unlock the power of blessing your life. Discover God's grace filled vision for your life by signing up for Alan Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement get Alan Wright's daily blessing it's free and just a click away at pastor Alan.org. Would you love a better marriage? You don't need more good advice.

You need more good news. Marriages like people aren't changed by human effort or even by applying principles. Marriages are changed by the gospel of grace. In six video sessions, pastor Alan and his wife and lead you and your spouse into a fresh encounter with the God of grace. You'll learn a simple grace filled process that makes great communication easy. You'll discover the freedom of forgiveness and the power of celebration. You'll also learn how to pray for your spouse and how to bless one another with a faith filled vision for the future.

To help you grow, when you order the video series, we'll also send you two copies of the accompanying study guide. Whether your marriage is going through some special challenges or your marriage is in a season of health, you'll find powerful transformational truth in good news for your marriage. Make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. Now these are the final days this offer is being made available to you this month. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Back here with Pastor Alan to share our parting good news thought for the day to continue the play on words with the weatherman. You say the best place to be is in the midst of God's will, even if that appears to be somewhat stormy at times, less than calm. It's a little bit of a cliche to say I'd rather be in the will of God in a stormy time than to have calm and not be, but it really is true. Because the fact of the matter is, I think we can all attest to this, we can have joy and peace in stormy times whether God calms the waves or not.

We really can. But we can also have calm seas and smooth sailing in life and not have any joy or peace at all. So the more important thing is that God is with us. Whether you get the big promotion you're hoping for or not, whether you get the report you want from the doctor or not, whether your wavered child comes home soon or not, all these things, there is a way in which we can not live our life according to the storm, but according to the calm of the Lord, and that we're not overrun by all the circumstances, and we can keep on in hope. So I just would say to every listeners, you are safe in the will of God. Whether life's going really easily right now or things are really challenging, you're safe in the will of God. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.