The Whether Man [Part 3]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. I think that somehow we got to sort this out in our lives as Christians, is that every day you get up and you go, my circumstances might be stormy, and I may not have much standing in the world right now, but in Christ, I've been blessed with every spiritual blessing, and I have the mind of Christ, and I have not only something to offer this world, but in a very real sense, I think we live with this certainty. You will one day reign with Him forever.

You are princes and princesses. You are spiritual warriors, and so though it looks like you're not in charge with Christ, you are. 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.

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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 they realize it's getting more shallow, and fearing that we might run on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship and had lowered the ship's boat into the sea under pretense of laying out anchors from the bow, Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat and let it go.

We've found archeological evidence of shipwrecks that are exactly like this. They had four anchors, and they let down the first anchor, and then when it starts tugging too much, they let it go. They put down the next anchor, and it starts tugging too much.

They let it go. They put down the third anchor, and then it tugs, and then let it go. They put down a final anchor. What they're doing is it's basically it's their way of putting on the brakes as they come in because they're going to crash, and they just don't want to crash as violently. And they have found these four anchors in a row and then a crashed ship.

That's exactly what happened here. And while the ship is preparing to crash, some of the people say, we're going to go sneak around and steal the lifeboat and get in it because they're like, you know, if we crash, we're probably all going to die. But they're like, now we're in shallow enough water. We're going to get in the lifeboat. We'll be able to safely navigate the shore. And Paul realizes just in the natural, no, this has got to be one for all and all for one because we need every hand on deck. We've got to manage this crash together. And Paul just knew in his spirit, it's like, we're going to make it if we all do it together.

But if we don't do it together, we're probably all going to die. And so here's the prisoner telling the centurion what to do. And they listen to him. By now, the centurion's listening to him. You know, it's amazing to me if you can just find one person who's not panicking in the middle of the storm, almost everybody will listen to him. Well, that guy's in chains. He's going to jail.

Yeah, but he's the only guy that's not out here panicking and he seems to know what he's talking about. What do you think we should do next, Paul? So Paul gets them to take food. It feels like communion here.

It's at verse 33. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying today is the 14th day you've continued in suspense without food, having taken nothing. Therefore, I urge you to take some food for it'll give you strength for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. And when he said these things, he took bread and giving thanks to God in the presence of all, he broke it and began to eat.

I love this. It's like, OK, now it's time to eat. OK, whatever you say, Paul. And he takes it. And I just got a feeling I don't know for sure. But it says after he gave thanks, I got a feeling he did, you know, like a preacher. I say, preacher, you know, you want to bless the meal. And like there every most of the time, I'm very curious.

I'm like, give two sentences because we go ahead and eat. But every now and then you're in a group of unbelievers and everything. And they say, you know, bless me.

I say, absolutely. And you get a small sermon in the middle of your of your of your of your prayer. Lord, I just thank you so much that you made the heavens and the earth. And, you know, I'm afraid I just got a feeling Paul just prayed the gospel down here. And they're all they're all listening, getting ready to get the food. And then the ship is being so battered that they decided now to lighten the ship even further. Verse 38, when they threw the wheat into the into the ocean, it was the last thing to go because that was their profit. That was their product. That was the reason for their trip. It was the one thing they were holding on to. But now they realize we've got to lighten the load even further. And the thing that we have been relying on for our livelihood, we're going to throw that away, too. And the people are just finding courage just because Paul fed them and prayed and told them to take heart.

And you know what? Sometimes people need if they're going to let go of the idols of their life and the stuff that keeps them from God. Sometimes all they need is just a little bit of encouragement, just a little food. And they found enough strength to let go of the last thing that could have killed them.

Verse 39. Now, when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on which they planned, if possible, to run the ship ashore. So they cast off the anchors, left them in the sea at the same time, loosening the ropes that tied the rudders, then hoisting the foresail to the wind they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground.

The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. The soldiers plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any should swim away and escape. But the centurion, wishing to save Paul, kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and to make for the land and the rest on planks or pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to land. They had lightened their load, they had dropped their anchors, and they were going to crash. And as per custom, the thoughtless Romans were just going to kill the prisoners so they couldn't swim away, but the centurion said, no, for the sake of the one prisoner, Paul, we will spare them all. He couldn't say, we'll kill them all, except for Paul. We're either going to kill all the prisoners or we're not, and so they all were spared because of the one man.

Wow. What a story, and it's just a dramatic, you know, don't lose sight of that. It's just a dramatic shipwreck at sea that followed days and days and days of being tossed about. Tremendous amount of fear amongst the sailors, and here's Paul at the center of it.

What do you notice about, here's some things I noticed. First and foremost, whether the storm, this is what made Paul the weather man, the W-H-E-T-H-E-R man, whether the storm was calmed or not, Paul had the calm of the Lord. Do you remember, some of you remember Scott Crapain wrote a contemporary Christian song some years ago, whose words said, all who sail the sea of faith find out before too long how quickly blue skies can grow dark and gentle winds grow strong.

Suddenly fear is like white water pounding on the soul. Still we sail on knowing that our Lord is in control. Sometimes he calms the storm with a whispered, peace be still. He can settle any sea, but it doesn't mean he will. Sometimes he holds us close and lets the wind and waves go wild. Sometimes he calms the storm and other times he calms his child. The greater gift is not untroubled waters, the greater gift is the untroubled heart.

It just is. Secondly, I notice this as I've highlighted throughout, whether he was a prisoner or not, Paul was the leader. Think about life and your influence and I think so often we disqualify ourselves. I am not in a good enough position to be the one who can have influence for the kingdom and this proves the contrary. He is in many ways the least likely person to have influence on this boat and yet the drama centers on Paul and he's the hero.

One person who has nothing else going for him except he knows the Lord in the middle of chaos, he's the leader. 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. Today is the final day we're offering this special product. Call us at 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues. Here once again is Alan Wright. He's the central character. Don't worry too much about your place in life. We have a God who could have Joseph in prison and be with him in prison and bless Egypt and save the world. Don't be too concerned because Martin Luther King can have his greatest influence from a Birmingham jail and Mother Teresa can have her greatest influence from a garbage heap. The person who is in charge with the credentials of the world is not necessarily the person that is in charge. We are in two kingdoms, a kingdom of this world, but we are a kingdom that's not of this world. And in that kingdom, we are co-heirs with Christ himself and greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. Greater is the power of God at work within every single Christian. The most humble baby Christian has the spirit of the living God inside of his or her heart. And we live and move and have our being in him.

Yes, we live in this world where there are storms that rage and we face the circumstances that the world faces, but we do not do so as a people of no hope. Instead, we are the people who have invested into us the very power and truth of God. And whoever has the power and the truth of God ultimately is the one who is in charge. This is why in the Old Testament it says you are the head, not the tail. And I think that somehow we got to sort this out in our lives as Christians is that every day you get up and you go, my circumstances might be stormy and I may not have much standing in the world right now, but in Christ, I've been blessed with every spiritual blessing and I have the mind of Christ and I have not only something to offer this world, but in a very real sense, I think we live with this certainty. We reign with Christ now and we will one day reign with him forever.

You are princes and princesses. You are spiritual warriors and so though it looks like you're not in charge with Christ, you are. Take some spiritual authority. Take some spiritual ground. And when the world looks like it's panicking because they have no idea how to respond to a pandemic where things that you count on are taken away, when material things are being taken away, when comforts are taken away, when all of this is shaking, you know what's happening? The world's shaking and people are going to start jettisoning the stuff that doesn't matter. It doesn't work.

It doesn't matter. It can't give me peace. It can't give me hope and they're going to be looking for somebody who's got calm in the midst of it all. Here's a third thing I noticed and this really is an important one. Did you notice that whether they heeded his advice or not, Paul just kept on blessing them.

This might be the hardest part for me. You know, I think that part of me might not have just said I told you so. It might have been a part of me that if I had a visit from the angel and said, listen, you're not going to die, neither is everybody else. I might have been like, well, thanks for that information. I'm going to let the rest of them sweat it out. It might have been tempting to go to him and say, listen, you know, I'm calm because I know I'm going to make it. I don't know about y'all.

Y'all might all get killed. That wasn't what he did, was it? He was the prisoner and he was feeding them and blessing them. Wow.

Here's a fourth observation that made him the weatherman. Whether the ship crashed or not, Paul was safe in the will of God. It's a wonderful old saying, could be a cliche, but it's so true. There is no place safer for you or for me than in the middle of the will of God. You're safer in the middle of a raging storm, if that's where God wants you to be, than you would be in your own living room watching TV.

The way you can get called out of the comfort zone is to know that wherever God calls you and whatever destination he's given you, he's going to get you there. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord and we are therefore safe in him. It is an invitation and maybe this is the greatest way to end a long study of the book of Acts. It is an invitation to watch and expect God to calm stormy seas, to heal the sick, to deliver the oppressed, to save the lost and to do wonders in this world as we watch how the church of Jesus Christ exploded onto the scene of the world and eventually took over by the grace of God, a path to the Gentiles and how Paul was used to the Lord everywhere he went. But you can't miss it when you read the book of Acts.

It wasn't a comfortable time. It was a time that was fraught with many difficulties and Paul, Paul kept rejoicing through it all. Many of you prayed for Andrew Brunson. He is a missionary in our denomination, lives just up the road here in Black Mountain and he became a sender of worldwide attention when he was falsely accused, wrongly arrested in Turkey where he had been ministering for years. He loved the Turkish people. He was prisoned and he spent two years in prison. It took a lot of prayer and the leveraging of every kind of political maneuver to have him eventually set free. In his memoir, he's honest about the fact that he felt depressed.

He's a sweet, sweet man and he said even times he felt suicidal especially when he learned that one of the options on the table was three life sentences in solitary confinement and the prospect of just living out his days in solitary confinement, it got to him. But he said at one point he had been reading about Richard Wurmbrand, a Romanian pastor who was imprisoned and tortured for 14 years under the communist regime and he wrote these words, Andrew did, he said of that pastor, he took Jesus' words, rejoice and be exceedingly glad as a direct command and chose to rejoice by dancing in his cell in spite of the horrors that he was facing and Andrew said, I decided to do the same. I felt no joy and my body was weak and my spirit was sad but there was something about Wurmbrand's story that captivated me. It also convicted me, he writes, as I realized how far I was from Jesus' words that specifically said we should rejoice when persecuted so I decided to dance like Wurmbrand danced and each day Brunson writes in his book, for a minimum of five minutes I would leap around the courtyard no matter how much I didn't feel like doing it, how hot the sun or how cold the rain, I danced. It was just an act of the will and my wife Noreen told me, I'm sure that when you get up to dance the courtyard is full of angels who are following your lead. Whether you stop this storm or not, Lord, I'm going to dance. Whether you get me out of this Turkish rat hole or not, I'm going to dance.

Whether I get to hug my children ever again or not, I'm still going to dance. The sea to the Hebrew people was a symbol of chaos and evil. It was always through the sea that God brought about the deliverance of his people.

Through a Red Sea, through a Jordan River and ultimately through the baptism of the waters in which we go under the water and it appears to symbolize the death only to rise up to new life. The sea couldn't swallow up Paul because God was in charge. And with resurrection force and life and power, Paul had this deep conviction God was going to get him to his destination and he's going to get you to your destination. Romans chapter 14 verse 8, here are the words of the weatherman. For if we live, we live to the Lord and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.

Would you say it with me? Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. I wrote to the Corinthians and said, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God, you are called to be a weatherman.

Whether everything is going just fine or not, you still can choose to dance and that's the gospel. Allen Wright and our Good News message, the weatherman, 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 Allen Wright's free daily blessing. If you want to fill your heart with grace and encouragement, get Allen Wright's daily blessing.

It's free and just a click away at pastorallen.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 Allen Wright Ministries today and fill your marriage with the grace of God. The gospel is shared when you give to Allen Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. Today is the final day we're offering this special product.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Allen Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAllen.org. Back here with our parting good news thoughts for the day with Pastor Alan. And the word that I like to think of right here would be security. Is that the theme of this message?

Yeah, it is. So on our play on words, my father was a meteorologist before there was such a thing. He was one of the early weathermen on TV. So you're watching the weather and you're shaking your life on, oh, it's going to rain.

I used to be terrible about it. We'd go on a vacation. I'd look at the forecast. Oh, no, honey, it's going to rain.

Oh, and she'd quit, quit. It could change. We'll still have a good time. So there's one kind of weatherman. It's like I'm responding to the circumstances around me. But this is the W-H-E-T-H-E-R, the weatherman. The weatherman, the person who is able to say whether life's going well or it's challenging, God's with me. Whether I live or whether I die, I belong to the Lord. And that's what Paul demonstrated.

And that's what we can all be by the grace of God, whether or not circumstances are good. Thanks for listening today. Visit us online at PastorAllen.org or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. If you only caught part of today's teaching, not only can you listen again online, but also get a daily email devotional that matches today's teaching, delivered right to your email inbox, free. Find out more about these and other resources at PastorAllen.org. That's PastorAllen.org. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Allen Wright Ministries.