Standalone/Shake It Off/Acts 27-28

[Music] [Applause]

I am so honored to be with you all. I'm normally on the other side of the screen watching this service. So to be in the basement with like a handful of people, um, is like, just wild to be here. But I've always wanted to come to your house, so here I am in your house right now.

I know some of you got Cheerios kind of coming out of your mouth, and others are trying to get kids all sorted. But it is my honor and privilege. I'm here with the single most ravishing piece of masculine flesh on planet Earth. It's my husband of almost 25 years, and so Nick is here. And, um, I told him, I said, "You are going to love these people." That was kind of prophetic because I really, really didn't know John Mark and Tammy, but, um, and their family. But, uh, you ought to thank God, those of you that are planted in this house, because you are planted in a great church under great leaders that are doing something that is impacting the globe. And I'm, I'm one of the recipients. Like, I'm honored to be here. I just really wanted to sit and have John Mark teach. And so I am so sorry you've got me. If you don't like it, come back next week. The real pastor will be here. It'll be fantastic. It'll be awesome. But the Lord orchestrates things. Every now and again, I do believe that, um, the Lord has me here in the timing of God, in the purpose of God.

I love Portland. Um, I've come many, many times. It's certainly a little bit different this time. Uh, there is not the restaurants open that normally there are, and there's not the buzz around the city normally that there is because we're in another lockdown. I'm from California, so we have our lockdowns as well. And 821 has got offices at 22 offices in 18 countries of the world. So all our countries are in different levels of lockdown. So I get it. I get what you're all feeling. Some of you, like our team in Bulgaria, there's a couple, and they've got four children under eight in a two-bedroom apartment in Sofia, Bulgaria. I know some of you are already like weeping, and now you're thanking God because, um, it's just you in your apartment on your own. So you were complaining this morning, you're already giving thanks right now over that. So we're all in different places and different seasons. But I'm telling you, same Holy Spirit is right there with each and every one of us right now. I've learned to do church, just like you all, so differently this year. And the thing that I've discovered is that God has always turned up, and if you're willing to hear from him.

So I have two daughters. Um, one that is, I have a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old. And so they're almost 15 and 19, as they would want me to say that they're watching. And so they want to make sure that you know that they're nearly 15 and 19. And as you can tell from my accent, and especially those of you that are on season four of The Crown, that have probably binge-watched it all week and done that, that this is actually how the Queen wishes she could speak English. And so those of us that were sent to the colonies, um, this is actually, we refined the English language. And so this is how we all speak. And so Nick and I, from Australia. He's from a place called Geelong in Melbourne. And I, I'm in, uh, in, yes, I'm trying to think, I can't even remember the states of Australia anymore. And I'm from Sydney. But I'm Greek. My parents are from Alexandria, Egypt. Um, and they're Greek Egyptian. I'm Greek Australian. Everyone wants to be Greek. I know you do too. Give me a word, any word. And if you've seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, that is my big fat Greek life.

And so I think I've got a photo of my daughter. So this is Sophia Joyce, and this is Catherine Bobby, uh, named after the two most influential women in my life. My pastor, Bobby, uh, my spiritual mother, Joyce. And so my husband is number 14 of 15 children. And so, um, you know, my mother-in-law, obviously, as you know, there was like no television in that part of Australia. But, but my mother-in-law never thought you were a chick until you popped out like number 10. So I would take my daughters to my mother-in-law's house, and I'd say, "This is Catherine Bobby. This is my Alpha. And this is Sophia Joyce, and she is my Omega." And this is the beginning and the end of my child-bearing years. And so that's what happens. Like, you know, I popped out a kid when I was 40. And when you pop out a kid when you're 40, man, you deserve a Purple Heart. You're not like looking for more children. That's all I can say. So I love, uh, my girls. I love my family.

So grace, if you knew my background, um, this is a miracle of the grace of God. I was a kid that was left in a hospital in Sydney, Australia, when I was born, unnamed and unwanted. I didn't even really find that out until I was, uh, 33 years old. I got a phone call from my brother George. Because when you're Greek, all your brothers are George, or Spiro, or Nico, or Khan. And so George called me and he said, "Christine, I just got a letter from the government, and it says that I've been adopted." And I thought he was like joking. You know, when you're growing up, you always tell your siblings that you're from different parents, and their parents are from Mars. And so, but when your brother actually tells you this, it's like, legit. I got into this defensive mode. I said, "Of course you're not. There must have been some kind of error." And anyway, he calls me back. I said, "Call the government. This department in Australia, it's called the Department of Community Services. I said, call it and tell them there's been some kind of administrative error." So he calls me back about 10 minutes later. This time he is sobbing, and he says to me, "Chris, it's true. They told me the name of my biological mother, my biological father. When I was born, when I was immunized." I freaked. And if you know anything about Greeks, Greeks are extremely volatile. We kind of act first and think later. And so I'm thinking, my brother, my brother could really, you know, just kind of spiral out of control. My mother was 61 at the time at home by herself. My father had died when I was 19. And so I'm kind of thinking, you know, this is going to go south really quick. So I die. I jump in my car. I go to my mom's house because my brother's like, "I'm going there to confront her." I walk into the living room as my brother is giving my mother this piece of paper from the government. And in that moment, my mom just starts crying. I freak out. I'm thinking, this is true. And my mom starts crying. She said, "George, all the adoption laws in Australia, 35 years ago, they were all closed adoptions, and we never thought you would find out. And one of the final things before your dad died, I promised him I would never tell you." And so I tore up all of the paperwork. And you all can imagine what that was like. Um, I felt like I was watching a movie. You know, my mom's crying, my brother's crying, my dog's crying. You know, it's, it's a big fat Greek moment. It's all happening.

And so I go to the kitchen because what do you do in that moment? It's when you're Greek, you know, food is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. So I go into the kitchen. I'm thinking I'm going to make some baklava, coffee, do something. As I'm making it, about, you know, my mother walks in, and she says to me, "Christina, since we speak Greek at home, is my first language, she says, Christina, since we're telling the truth today, do you want to know the whole truth?" And I'm not even quite sure why I said this. I turned around, I went, "Uh, I've been adopted too." I don't even know why. And just tears streaming down her face. This is two weeks before my 33rd birthday. Um, she just said, "Yes." And church, I was like stunned. Like stunned. And, um, you know, the very first thing, the actual very first thing I said to her, "Am I still Greek?" Because I thought I was like called a lot of names at school for a lot of years for being Greek. So I needed to make sure that that was the case. And that's what most of you will actually care about with all these stories. So the answer is yes. And so I said, "Am I still Greek?" Then the very next thing that came out of my mouth, right there in my Greek Orthodox mother's kitchen, I went, "Oh, well, Mum, before I was formed in my mother's womb, whosoever wound that was, He knew me. He fashioned all of my days before as yet there was one of them. I am fearfully and wonderfully made." And you know, that day, every fact that I thought to be true about my life changed. What my name was, what my history was, every fact changed. And to this morning, I still don't know the facts surrounding my conception. I don't know if I'm the result of a one-night stand. I don't know if it was an adulterous affair. I don't know if it was, um, a rape. But here is the truth that although I don't know the facts surrounding my conception, the truth in Ephesians 2, verse 10, doesn't say that I'm the workmanship of a rape or an adulterous affair. It says that we are His workmanship, and that we've been recreated in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared for us from before the beginning of time. And let me just say that although, you know, I don't know all the details concerning my, my arrival on this planet, I do know that there is a God in heaven that loves me, that's got a purpose and a plan and a destiny, not only for my life, but for your life. And I don't believe it's an accident that you're on the other side of this screen today. I said this is a miracle because not only, you know, a year later, I got my birth certificate, my doctor's report. My birth certificate literally says, "Child's name, unnamed, number 2508 of 1966." My social work report says, "It is evident that this mother is totally disconnected from this child and wants to get it over and done with as soon as possible and return back to work." My, my document says that I'm unnamed. My document from the Royal Hospital for Women in Sydney, Australia, Crown Street Women's Hospital, says that I'm unwanted. But I'm here to tell you that although the facts say that I was this unnamed, unwanted kid in the back of Sydney, Australia, there's a force on the planet much higher than the faction. It's called the truth of the Word of God. And the truth of the Word of God does not say that I'm unnamed. It says, "Before I was even formed in my mother's womb, God named my name. God knew me. God knitted together my innermost parts." Isaiah 49, verse 1 says, "From the womb of your mother, I named your name." And it's the Bible says that you know what God wanted me, even if nobody else did. Why am I telling you this? I don't normally start a message with this, but I believe there's someone on the other side of the screen, and today you need to know that God knows your name. God knows your story. God's got a plan and a purpose and a destiny for you. And if God could take an unnamed, unwanted, and I was a victim of sexual abuse for 12 years of my life, not from my immediate family, but from people that my parents allowed into my home that they should have been able to trust, that, you know, defied that trust and violated me. And that word abuse means to use an object for a purpose for which it was never designed. And for 12 years, I was used for a purpose for which God never designed me. But I want you to tell you that I want you to know that you could be on the receiving end of that, like I was. You can be unnamed. You can be unwanted. You can be abused. You can be adopted. But I'm here to tell you that in and through a relationship with Jesus Christ, you can start bad, and you can finish good. That Jesus Christ has a plan and a purpose. And no demon in hell and no person on earth can thwart the plan and the purpose of God for your life. What Jesus did for us at Calvary, when Jesus came and was crucified and died and buried and resurrected again, we have resurrection life living on the inside of us. And it would be just like God to take an unnamed, unwanted, abused, adopted chick from the back of Sydney, Australia, and not only rescue me, but then turn my life around and say, "Christine, I'm going to now use you to rescue a generation that I bound in sex slavery and in forced labor slavery around the world." It is just like God to use us to open prison doors for those that are bound. That is the abundant life. Not only does God rescue us, not only does God redeem us, not only does God save us, but He gives us the opportunity to be a help to other people on the planet and to talk of His great grace and His great life. You know what? Every time we put a trafficker in jail, can I just say, during a global pandemic, we have seen so many traffickers prosecuted, so many cases go to trial, so many traffickers go to jail. We have seen dozens and dozens and literally, oh, hundreds of, um, victims of, of human trafficking rescued during a global pandemic and been reached and rescued and are being restored through our freedom centers around the world. Why am I telling you this? Because every time we put a trafficker in jail, every time we see someone rescued, I think, "Devil, you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it. I bet you wish you left me alone." I feel like Joseph in Genesis chapter 50, verse 20, that said to his brothers, "You meant this for evil against me, but God meant it for this very purpose." Alive. Can I just say, 2020 has been a year. And you know what? Maybe the enemy's come against you and meant things for evil against you, but our God is able to work all things together for our good and for His glory. There is not a hurt that is wasted in God. There is not a hurt that God cannot redeem and use for His glory and for your good in the future. Don't write it off yet.

On that note, we're going to go to the scripture in the book of Acts chapter 27. I haven't even gotten in here, y'all. Yo, I'm about to read the Bible, and I'm a bit intimidated because your pastor's in the front row, and I'm just like, "Oh my gosh, he's like one of the best preachers and teachers on planet Earth." And I'm like, "Okay, I've had this triple-checked by 17 theologians just to make sure that I am going to be." We're going to read a lot of Bible. If you have fallen behind in your Bible reading plan this year, I'm about to catch you up. You are going to finish this year, and you're going to have read your Bible in a year, just because Chris Cain's going to have read half the Bible to you this morning. So I want you to turn with me in the book of Acts 27. I love that you have such a high value for the Word of God in this church. I don't need to pump you up to open the Word. This Word is life to me. This Word is living. And Acts, this Word, Jesus Christ saved my soul, but this Word saved my mind. I would not be here if it was not for the Word of God. This is life to me.

The Bible says in Acts chapter 27, "And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy." I bet you're excited already. Listen, I, I get to travel around the world a lot because of what I do. People go, "Where do you live?" And I'm like, "In an airplane." You know, basically, we just do laps of the globe, except for in COVID season. I've never been in a country this long for the last 35 years. This is like phenomenal. I'm like, "Wow, America, you're like nice." And so the fact is that, um, Italy's somewhere I love. And when I'm reading this, it's like, "And when it was decided that we should sail for Italy." We're like thinking Positano, we're thinking the Amalfi Coast, we're thinking Ravello. You know, we're thinking, "This is awesome. We're going to go to Italy." But then the Bible says, "They delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius." And so, let me just give you just a little bit of context before you think we're about to go on a Mediterranean cruise this morning, where you're thinking, "Man, are we going to go to Santorini? Are we going to go to Mykonos? Are we going to go to Naxos? So we're going to go to battle. So we're going to go all around the Mediterranean, right?" Here, what happened was Paul had received an offering. The church in Jerusalem, uh, was going through a, a time of a famine, a time of it was, it was, um, there was a drought, there was famine. They were very hungry, very poor. Paul had taken a collection from many of the outpost churches to bring to Jerusalem. Now, people were saying to him, "Don't go to Jerusalem because the mob is going to kill you." He was, he didn't have a whole lot of friends there, and they wanted to destroy him. But I think Jerusalem was very, uh, for Paul, it was a place where obviously he had persecuted so many Christians. It was a place where his Messiah, his Savior, had been crucified. Jerusalem was very special to him. He wanted to take the offering to the church in Jerusalem himself. Well, then obviously, what had happened was there were riots. They did try to kill Paul, and actually the Romans were who saved him by making him a prisoner, by taking him as a prisoner. He went through a series of trials, and then he appealed. He said, "You know what? I want to go to Rome as a Roman citizen, and I'm going to stand before Caesar." Now, in Paul's heart, Paul had always wanted to go to Rome, and to go right there to Rome, from Rome, him talking to Caesar, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've got to all understand this. This is so hard for me to stand still right now. So this is for your sake, so you don't get dizzy in your living room while you're eating your Cheerios. But for me, this is such an act of discipline to stand here. But the fact is that the, the, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could have gone throughout the then known world. Paul knew his purpose was in Rome. Paul had a sense, "I'm going to stand before Caesar, and Rome is where I am going." And so we're picking up the text where Paul, finally, after two years in prison, is going to go to Rome. So we're thinking, you know, don't think big yacht. If you've been watching The Crown, we're not going on the royal yacht on a nice little cruise throughout here. This is just, think a cargo ship is about to take them to Rome.

And so he goes on and says, "They delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius, and embarking on a ship of Adramyttium, which was about to sail to the ports along the coast of Asia, we put to sea, accompanied by Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica." Now, I love all of this because our A21 headquarters is in Thessaloniki, Greece. And so, you know, anywhere you can get Greek in the Bible, it's exciting, or Greece. And because you all want to be Greek, everyone wants to be Greek, I know that. So it says, "The next day we put in at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him leave to go to his friends and be cared for." And "Putting out to sea from there, we sailed under the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us." And so, of course, I had to look at this up because, you know, I, I'm not a ship. I don't, you know, go on ships for a living. And so I didn't know what the lee of Cyprus was. So a lee is when there's a lot of wind, you're going to travel very, very close to the coast so that you can be protected from the wind. So that is what has happened. Now, I want you to catch this right from the beginning. Uh, Dr. Luke's writing this. Luke's writing this, and he's saying, "The wind was against us." Sounds a bit like January 2020, but we weren't quite aware just how much the wind was going to be against us. And he goes on and he says, "The winds were against us, and when we sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. Then the centurion found a ship of Alexandria, that's where my parents are from, sailing for Italy, and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty." So I don't know where you're watching this from this morning, but I want you in your mind to say, "With difficulty." We're about to see this word repeated throughout this text. I want you to be thinking 2020 because you're going to think, "Did Luke write this with 2020 in mind?" Because that's where we're going to go. He says, "With difficulty." "At night us, as the wind did not allow us to go further, and we sailed under the lee of Crete, of Salmon, coasting along it, with difficulty." There it is again. "We came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea. Since much time had passed." So there's difficulty, and there's difficulty, and it didn't just last for a few seconds, but there was much time. "And the voyage was now dangerous." So we've gone from difficulty to dangerous. So we have just now clicked in from February to March, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over. So, of course, this would now be, because it says the fast was already over, we're now after the Day of Atonement, so we're getting into the winter. I don't know if you've been into the Mediterranean Sea during the winter, but that's not when you want to go on a cruise. I've been there, and the waves are insane. Nick and I have been, uh, going over to do different sets of work. We've had a lot of victims of trafficking rescued from that region, whether it's in the Aegean or the Mediterranean or the Ionian. It is just so, the waves are huge, the winds are huge. And I've been on a boat literally where people are just throwing up on either side everywhere. This is what Paul's talking about. He's talking like, "We're getting ready for a Category 5 off the Florida coast." We're talking about that kind of hurricane condition. But he starts going on and he's saying, um, "Since much time had passed, the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was already over. Paul advised him, saying, 'Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss.'" Welcome to 2020. "And not only of the cargo of the ship, but also of our lives." But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. And you know, of course, I would too, because Paul was not, uh, you know, the expert in this case. And "Because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter, the majority." Oh, we love the majority, don't we? Because the majority is always right. The majority knows what to do. Oh, we love the majority. Here it says, "And the majority decided to put out to sea from there." Don't always trust the majority. The majority doesn't always know what's best. "On the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix," we're not talking about Arizona here, "a harbor of Crete facing both southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there." Now, "In the south wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore. But soon a tempestuous wind called the northeaster struck down from the land." You know, later, after the message, you could Google the northeaster. I mean, we are now talking the kind of wind. I mean, in this region of the world, we are talking a full-scale hurricane storm. Don't think just a nice rainy afternoon in Portland, Oregon. We're talking about a full-on hurry. This is like full-on storm. The northeaster was notorious. And the Bible says it struck down from the land. "And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and were driven along." Sounds a bit like April and May and June and July. We're just driven along. "Running under the lee of the small island called Clauda, we managed with difficulty." There it is again. "To secure the ship's boat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship. Then fearing that they would run aground on the Syrtis, they lowered the gear, and thus they were driven along." "Since we were violently storm tossed." Are you feeling it, church? Violently storm tossed. Anyone in 2020 feel not just storm tossed, but violently storm tossed? It's like, whichever way we look, wherever we go, I just feel like I'm throwing up. I feel the nausea. I can feel the wind. I can feel the waves. I can feel the storm. None of us are exempt. Whether you're a Christ follower or not, none of us have been exempt. We have all felt the waves. We have all felt the wind. We've all been violently storm tossed. No matter where we stand. And it goes on. It says, "And on the third day, they we began to jettison the cargo. And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands." So they were so, uh, violently storm tossed, they began to throw all of the cargo overboard. I wonder this year whether anyone feels like you've started to have to throw some stuff overboard. Some stuff that you thought that was going to come through the year with you. Some stuff that you thought you needed to get to Rome. Some stuff that you thought you needed on this journey. And all of a sudden, we're here. We are in November, and you're like, "Man, I've been throwing cargo overboard all year. Things that I thought that I needed, things that I thought were part of my future, it just seems like they've had to go. They've had to go. I've had to throw it all overboard." And the scripture goes on and says, "When neither the sun nor the stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay upon us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned." Some of us are feeling like that right now in November, going, "Are you kidding me, God? Are you kidding me? Is there any way we could be? Have you just left us?" They couldn't see the sun. They could not see the stars. Now, that might not mean much to you, but this was their navigation system. This was, this was pre-GPS. They didn't have a compass. There was just the sun. There was the moon. There were the stars. That was what guided them. Anyone else felt like you can't even see two feet in front of you this year? You're like, "Where did it go? Where did, where did my navigation system go? God, I started 2020, and this was the year of vision. This was the year of purpose. God, you put in my spirit, I'm going to Rome. I was on track. I was doing what you called me to do. And now here I am, and I feel nauseous, and I've been throwing up, and I've had to throw everything overboard, and I've lost my job, and I've lost friends, and I don't know what's going on. And now, God, I cannot even see you. Where is the sense of your guidance? God, I can't see you. I can't feel you. It feels dark." Paul's in this pitch-black moment. Can't see the stars, can't see the moon. "God, I was in your will. I got on this ship because you were taking me to Rome. I've got to stand before Caesar. The gospel is at stake. And here I am in the middle of the Mediterranean, feeling nauseous, and it's dark, and we've lost all of our cargo. I didn't plan to be here Thanksgiving week 2020, Lord. It's not how I saw it when we started. And to my best knowledge, I'm not even sure that I did anything to deserve to be here. And yet, it's pitch black. God, where are you?"

Paul says, "Since, so since they had been without food for a long time, Paul stood up among them and said, 'In typical Paul fashion, men, you should have listened to me.'" Said, "No woman to her husband ever, but anyway, that's another one." "Men, you should have listened to me and not set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet now I urge you to take heart." I'm here today, Bridgetown, because I'm urging you to take heart. Oh, this is going to get good. Don't freak out. This is going to get good. Paul says, "In the midst, it's dark. The wind is happening. The waves are happening. The storm's there. No one's exempt from it. No one's been released from it." Oh boy, we would have all loved to have been delivered from this year somehow. We would have loved to have just not have felt the wind and the waves and the storm and the loss and the grief and the pain and the suffering and the chaos and the division and the divisive. We would have loved to have not felt it all. But Paul says, "In the midst of it all, I want you to take heart." Because as Christians, if we don't proactively take heart, we will lose heart. There is no other way. You have got to make a choice. And scripture says that Jesus is a consistent "take heart." It is a conscious act. And in the day, in the hour, in which we live, it's a conscious act of resistance for us as Christ followers to make a decision that I'm going to get up today, and I am proactively taking heart. Paul says, "Take heart. Yet I now urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship." I want you to hear this, church. Paul's not saying the ship's not going to get lost. See, some ships have to get lost in this season. Some ships have to run aground in this season. God's still going to take us to our purpose. We're still going to fulfill destiny. Paul is going to get to Rome if you keep reading a few chapters. But the fact is, along the way, there's some cargo that we thought needed to come that we're discovering doesn't need to come. There's some ships, and we're going to see must run aground. Some French ships, some relationships. There's plenty of ships that we thought we needed to take with us to our purpose, but we're going to discover they needed to run aground because we thought the ship was the thing that was going to take us there. And the Lord's reminding us that no, He's the one that's going to take us there. That He's the only one that's promised to never leave us nor forsake us. But we put our hope in our ships. And so many of our ships are running aground in this season. And God's like, "Well, I'm just checking out to see if your trust and your faith and your hope was in the ship, or whether it was in Me." I'm the one that told you, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." I'm the one that told you that I am going to empower you to do what I've called you to do. But you put so much hope in the ship. And then when the ship ran aground, you thought, "I left you." But I never left you. The ship ran aground.

And he goes on and he says, "For this very night, this stood before me an angel of the Lord, to whom I belong and whom I worship." Listen, if this does not make you run a lap, even if you're a cessationist, I don't know what will. Paul is sitting there, and he's saying that in the midst of this storm, the night is still dark. He's feeling every bit of the angst like every one of us is feeling in November 2020. He is declaring and decreeing, "Let me, let me just tell you about this God whom I worship. This God to whom I belong." Oh, I know there's a lot of cray-cray going on around the world, but church, just because the world's going cray-cray does not mean we have to. In the midst of what is going on, we can stand and go, "There is a God whom I worship. There is a God to whom I belong." Oh, I know everything's out of control. I'm feeling it, just like you. Oh, I'm feeling the wind. I'm feeling the waves. I'm feeling the nausea. I'm feeling the loss. I'm feeling the gray, the grief. I'm feeling the pain. I'm feeling it. But in the midst of it all, man, I only just need to take a minute in 2020. I need to tell you about this God that I worship. This God that I serve. He goes on and he says, "And he said, 'This God, to Him I belong and in my worship.'" And he said, "Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar." I'm here to remind somebody that you have a promise here. The angel of the Lord is reminding Paul of the promise that God gave him. "You must stand before Caesar." I'm here to remind somebody on the other side of that screen that God's given you a promise. Listen, when you can't see two feet in front of you, when it is pitch black, when you feel like you've lost everything, when you feel like you've been battered and violently storm tossed by 2020, what you hang on to is the promise that God gave you. What promise has God given you? Because let me tell you, no storm can take a promise. No wind can take a promise. Paul says, "The angel of the Lord says to Paul, 'You must stand before Caesar.'" There's some of you, you must. You must. The promise of God, the promise of God will prevail in your life. The issue is, when we cannot trace God in this season, will we still trust Him? Because many of us, because we can't trace Him, we stop trusting Him. And listen, when you're losing a ship, you need to hang on to a promise. In this season, my husband and I have gotten out every prophetic word that the Lord's given us that we've written down, and we've got them all written down. I'm old, so sorry guys. I've got some black from 1989. I know some of you didn't even know that life could be on earth at that time, but there was life on earth, and there were on cassette tapes, and we've got them all transcribed. And I pulled it out from the very first weeks of this pandemic and brought it before my two daughters and my husband. All of our words and said, "Girls, I need you to know there's so much that hasn't come to pass yet. We must stand before Caesar. We must. We're going to feel the winds of 2020 like everybody else. We're going to feel the loss. We're going to feel the grief. We're going to feel the pain. We're going to feel the storm. We're going to feel the nausea. But let me tell you, if the Lord said it, the Lord will do it." You've got to hang on to a word when you can't see two feet in front of you. You've got to hang on to what God has. And we've got a whole word here. We have 66 books of the Word of God. And if God has promised that the scripture says, "All the promises of God are what?" In Christ Jesus, yes and amen. So if God has said it, you hang on to it. We do not change our theology. We do not change our confession based on what is happening in the storms and the winds and the waves and the changes of the culture around us. We continue to declare and decree the truth of the Word of God. We stand on the truth of the Word of God. Do you have a word? We've got 66 books of that Word right here. Paul says, "The angel of the Lord said to me, 'You must.'" I'm here to remind someone today, you've forgotten about the promise that God said to you, and you've got so caught up just looking and feeling the pain and the suffering and the loss and the grief of this year that you've forgotten that you must stand before Caesar. You must. The Lord didn't tell us how we're going to get to Rome. See, we just think because there's winds and waves and storms and racial conflict and violence and division and political instability and social instability and economic instability and moral, and so we just think God must have changed His mind. And God's like, "I never told you there wasn't going to be a storm. I didn't tell you how you were going to get to Rome. I just said I'm going to get you there. I just told you I'm going to get you there." So you hang on to the Word when you can't see in front of you.

And he says, "And I love this. So take heart, man, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told." Bridgetown Church, I want you to take heart because I have faith in God that it will be exactly as it has been. I know where I, I'm in a building, and you're like, "We got this building, and like, here we are, and we can't even meet at this season." But it's okay. Take heart. I have confidence it will be exactly as God said when He asked you to step into this moment in faith. God knows what's going on, even if we don't. And we say, "Okay, God, I'm hanging on to Your Word and Your promise, even when I can't see in front of me."

"When the 14th night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors suspected that they were nearing land. So they took a sounding and found 20 fathoms. A little further, they took a sounding again and found 15 fathoms. 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 lowered the ship's boat into the sea under the 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.'"

I want someone to hear me on the other side of that screen. Because of all of the pain, because of all of the loss, because of all of the confusion that you've been feeling this year, so many of you are on the verge of going, "You know what? This ain't even worth it. I'm just going to jump ship. I'm going to jump ship on Jesus. I'm going to jump ship on church. I'm going to jump ship on the Bible. I'm just going to ju..." And I'm here to say to you, don't jump ship. Stay on the ship. There is something. We go, but the ship's going to run aground. It looks like the church of Jesus Christ is going to run aground. It looks like people are hemorrhaging from church. It looks like church is declining. It seems like church is irrelevant. It seems like church is just totally disco. But I'm here to say, stay on the ship. Don't jump ship. Paul's telling him not to jump ship at the same time as Paul knows the ship's going to run aground. Church, I'm here to say, stay on the ship, knowing that the ship, perhaps as we know it, it's going to run aground. But stay on it because somehow there's another side, and we're going to get to Rome. And we might not even recognize the ship that we're going to be on. But don't jump ship. Don't jump ship. Someone needs to hear that today. Don't jump ship. Don't leave. Don't walk away. Don't jump. Someone else, don't jump ship on that marriage. Don't jump ship on that commitment. Everything in you is like, "You know, man, I can't do this anymore." I know the pressure's huge, but don't jump ship. But Chris, it's going to run aground. I know, but don't jump ship. Somehow staying on it, it's going to happen.

"As the day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, 'Today's the 14th day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore, I urge you to take some food, for it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.'" And some of you need to stop freaking out and just honestly have a really good meal. Have a really good meal. Go on a long hike. Do some exercise. Do something you love. Freaking out isn't getting you anywhere in this moment. Paul says you need some strength. You need something to strengthen you naturally.

And when he said these things, I love this. The storm's still happening. The ship's about to run aground. I mean, in the natural, it's like, "Y'all, yo, could somebody like call an election? That would be fantastic right now. Uh, could somebody like, uh, tell us what's gonna happen in our city? That just like, man, we've had riots. We've just got stuff out. What is going on?" And I'm still feeling the wind, and I'm still feeling the waves, and it feels like we're about to run aground. Yes, in the midst of all of that, this is what Paul does. This is the ultimate act of resistance. 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. Bridgetown, you've been doing this for the body of Christ worldwide without you even realizing it during, perhaps certainly in my lifetime, one of the most chaotic and painful seasons on earth. Probably 2020 will go down as one of the, just most volatile, obviously, ah, times in history. Somewhere in the midst of it, whether it's the, the daily, the Bridgetown Daily, or or even your sermons on the weekend with through your pastors and team and your church, just continuing in your practices in the midst of that, you're just saying, "You know what? We're probably in one, not only in one of the craziest times on earth, we're in one of the craziest cities in the craziest time on earth." And you really are like, "Y'all knock yourselves out. I'm so glad it's you. I live in Orange County, anyway." So the thing is that you got all that going on, and yet you're saying, "We're just going to keep breaking bread." Somewhere, we're just going to keep declaring and decreeing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Somewhere in the midst of all of this, it just seems so counter-cultural. It just seems like, "How on earth could this even begin to make sense?" But don't underestimate the power of breaking bread in a storm. Don't underestimate the power of breaking bread when it looks like we're going to run aground. When it looks like, "Whoa, looks like I think we're going to hit the rocks." Yep. What are we gonna do? Let's take communion. Let's honor the Lord in the midst of all of this. Your church is reminding us all of this.

It goes on and says, "Then they were all encouraged and ate some food themselves. We were in all 276 persons in the ship. 276." It's a, you know, it's a lot of people. "And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing wheat to the sea."

"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, and at the same time loosening the ropes that tied the rudders. Then hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. But striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. And the bow struck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf."

"The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners unless they should swim away and escape." This just cracks me up. This is just the nonsense of the world. Like, "We're about to run aground. We're all. Let's just kill you."

Anyway, like it's just like, honestly, this is like, really. I could go on there, 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 make for the land, and the rest on planks or on pieces of the ship. And so it was that they all were all brought safely to land.

I want you to hear this. Dr. Lucas just given us this epic chapter of scripture where, I mean, imagine this on film. The storms, what was going on, the conversations, the cargo. I mean, we're talking about in a chapter of scripture, Paul is embarking on his purpose. He's starting 2020. "I'm on my way to Rome. The gospel is going to go forth. This is going to be amazing. I have prayed for this moment. I've wanted this moment. I'm on my way to Rome."

So, on his way to Rome, there is this storm that is just like unbelievable. Nobody was expecting how bad this was going to be. They lost everything. They lost all their cargo, which was their, this was a cargo ship. This was all their profit. So all their stocks went overboard, all their entrepreneurial endeavors went overboard, all their profits or their increases. Many of you know what that felt like this year. You were thinking, "This is it," and that everything's tanked instead of your, you know, going up and to the right. Man, it's been going down, and you're like, "What am I going to do? You have lost it all." I mean, he's gone through all of this, and then this is how he ends it. "So it was, we were all brought safely to land."

I'm saying this very specifically as we're coming into Thanksgiving and Christmas and the end of the year because I want you to see specifically how Acts 27 finishes and how Acts 28 starts. "We were brought safely to land." And then Acts 28, "After we were brought safely through." I wonder how you're going to talk about 2020 because he's not spending a whole lot of time, by the time we get to 28, talking about everything that we lost. This is so bad. And look what happened. There's a point where we stop talking about how bad the storm is and say, "Hang on a minute. I'm going to magnify. I'm going to make bigger the fact that God brought me safely through." I'm about to shift my perspective on 2020. Instead of, "Yes, I'm acknowledging the grief, I'm acknowledging the loss, I'm acknowledging the storm, I'm acknowledging the chaos, I'm acknowledging the division, I'm acknowledging the confusion, I'm acknowledging the darkness," but I am not going to focus on that for the rest of my life. My testimony at the end of 2020 is, "My God brought me safely through. I'm still here."

He starts 28 and says, "After we were brought safely through." Perhaps what God wants us to focus on this year, it's not just all of the losses, but His presence. "I brought you safely through." I don't know where you all thought I promised you the ship. I did tell you when I was here in this world, "You, you, you will have trials. Not you might. Tribulation will come." Peter says, "Do not be surprised." I'm sure the Lord's saying that to His church, like, "Really? Really, everyone? Do you, do you read the Bible? I, Jesus, told you, you will not, you might, you will. But be of good cheer, because I've overcome the world." You read the end of the book. That's pretty awesome. I don't know what you're freaking out about. I'll send you Pete too. Peter wrote a few words, "Don't be surprised." No, I'm not yet at the James stage. I will get there. But then let me just reinforce it with James. "Count it all joy." Oh, well, no, we've really matured when we get there. But I wonder if we could be with Luke and go, "Hang on a minute. I was brought safely through. Let me just reframe 2020. Let me just reframe the fact that you're probably safely through."

And he goes on, "Let me wrap the whole next six weeks." "After we were brought safely through, we then learned that the island was called Malta." That's when he found out it was called Malta. We see a lot of us. We're here Thanksgiving week, and we're like, "Uh, where are we? What is this called? I didn't plan to be here in November." And a lot of us, we didn't even know the name of where we are. No idea. And Malta, if you could see, I think it's up here somewhere, is a, a little island. It's only 17 miles long by, uh, nine miles wide. Right down here, I've been here. It's got all these shrines to Paul. It's a beautiful island, beautiful island. Paul was not planning to go. Paul didn't know Malta was called Malta. Paul did not know Malta was on the map. Paul was going to Rome. See, we're in November 2020. A lot of us didn't think where we are. We didn't even know where we are existed. We did not even know this was a place. If I had asked you in January where you would be right now, what would it be called? You would have no frame of reference to place it. You go, "I don't even know that place exists." And here we are. We're all on Malta. We're like, "Wow, didn't plan to be on Malta. Didn't plan to get here this way."

But see, the Lord was getting ready for a revival on Malta. He was still going to take Paul to Rome. And a lot of us, we're missing the revival in Malta because we are so lamenting the way, the fact that we don't like how we didn't get to Rome yet. So a lot of us, because we're not in Rome in November 2020, we're despising Malta. And God's like, "Whoa, I brought you to Malta because I've got a plan. Remember you told me you wanted me to use you? So I've got a plan for you here on Malta." But you're missing Malta because you're so angry about what happened on the way to Rome, and you're not there yet. And all you're thinking about is all the loss, and all the nausea, and all the wind, and all the storms. And I've got something for you in Malta. And I wonder if we're missing the miracle in Malta because we're so angry that we're not in Rome, and we're so angry that we've lost our ship along the way.

He goes on and says, "The native people." That's just the, the people that didn't speak Greek as their first language. That's what it meant here. "The native people showed us unusual kindness, for they kindled a fire and welcomed us all because they had begun to rain and was cold." When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire. So he's now serving. What do you do when you end up in Malta and you don't want to be there? What do you do? See, a lot of us, what we need to start doing is serving our way out of our funk right now. That's what we need to do. This is the Apostle Paul, who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. He could have said, "Well, look, I'm a big deal, man. I'm not picking up sticks." But he gets on Malta. Now, remember, he's going to stand before Caesar. He's a big deal. And what does he start doing? He goes, "Well, I'm in Malta. Better find something to do. I'm going to start a fire so I can warm everyone up." I wonder what you could be doing right where you are instead of being so angry because you're not where you want to be. We can start serving our way out of our funk right here, right where we are.

So he goes on and he says, "The lady, uh, and they kindled the fire and welcomed the sword because it had begun to rain and was cold. When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on a fire, a viper came out because of the heat." Let me just say, some of us are starting to heat up in the things of God right now. Now, the commentators would say that, you know, the, the snake, the viper, that was in the wood, the heat, the fire would cause it to come out. Sometimes when you start to get a bit more on fire for God, do not be surprised when the vipers start coming out, the attacks start coming out, the bites start coming out. So the Bible says that the viper came out because of the heat, fastened his hand. And when the native people saw the creature hanging from his end, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer." Now, this is how I want you to see how the crowd is right now. The crowd's calling him a murderer because of the viper. Though again, this great theology that says you must have sin in your life. There's a snake hanging off you. You are just so evil. You're a murderer. You, you know, it's such destructive theology. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. He, however, shook up the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Welcome to the crowd. This is that it doesn't take long. Doesn't people go, "Chris, why are you not so engaged on just loving what everyone says about you on social media?" I'm like, "Honey, the same people that have called me a god this week will call me a murderer next week." And so many of us are trying to build our life and our esteem and what the crowd says. Honey, the crowd is so fickle. So fickle. God, murderer, same afternoon. That's what happens right here.

But you know, this is like the, it goes on and says, "Now in the neighborhood of that place were lands belonging to the chief man of the island named Publius, who received us and entertained us hospitably for three days. It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery, and Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him, healed him. And when this had taken place, the rest of the people on the island who had diseases came and were cured." God had a revival ready right there on Malta. Got the most influential man on the island. Brought his father. God used Paul to heal his father. Every sick person came. And then I want you to see in verse 10, "They also honored us greatly, and when we're about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed."

I'll get to that in a moment. Let me jump here. I had to bring this because, you know, it's the best that I could do. And just for some of you, this is going to confirm everything you think about the snake-handling Pentecostal. So there I am. So just there you go. So the fact here, right here, is that the Bible says that a viper came out, jumped on, and latched himself onto Paul. Can I just tell you what's happening in the body of Christ right now? Oh, we've had a hell of a storm. We say that in Australia. It's not cussing. This is an international broadcast. There's more than just Portland watching it in Portland. That's not casting either. So that's okay. We've had a very big storm. And so the fact is that 2020, man, every one of us, every one of us has felt this storm. Every one of us has, in some way, shape, or form, suffered some kind of shipwreck to varying degrees. But for all of us, some of our ships have run aground. There's no doubt about it. No doubt about it.

But if the enemy couldn't take you out with the storm, and the enemy couldn't take you out with the shipwreck, what the enemy has made sure has happened, especially over the last three or four or five weeks, is that he's made sure that the viper has come to try to get his venom into you from the inside out. Because if he can't take us out with the storm and the shipwreck from the outside in, what the viper will do is come and try to get offense into our hearts, try to get gossip and slander and jealousy and guile and all of the inner attitudes of the heart. Because if he can't take you out with a storm, can't take you out with a shipwreck, he's going to try to take us out as the body of Christ from the inside out. If I could just get some toxic venom on the inside of you, and then I can make you all hate each other, and I can make you all argue, and there can be division, and there can be chaos, and there can be just slander, and there can be gossip, and there could be jealousy, and there could be accusation. Oh, I'll take you out from the inside out if I can't take you out from the outside in.

And what does the scripture say? Paul didn't entertain the viper. The Bible says that he shook it off into the fire. I want you to hear this, church. He didn't shake it off onto Twitter. He didn't shake it off onto Instagram. He shook it off into the fire. I'm here to tell you, Bridgetown, that before there was Taylor Swift, there was the Apostle Paul. And what do we as the body of Christ need to do in this moment? We need to shake it off. Some of us need to make a decision in 2020 to shake it off. Shake it off the offense, the bitterness, the gossip, the slander, the anger, the jealousy, the greed, the lust, the envy. Shake it off. We got to make that decision because there's a revival waiting. Don't miss the revival in Malta. Don't let the snake. The storm didn't take us out. We're still here. The shipwreck didn't take us out. We're still here. Don't let the snake take you out from the inside out. Don't let it take you out.

"They also honored us greatly, and when we were about to sail, they put on board whatever we needed." Here's the word for you. Someone needs to hear this. We're coming into 2021. Listen, however it's going to look, I'm not saying how it's going to look, but if God said we're going to Rome, we're going to Rome. And we're going to get a ship. It's not the one that we ran aground. I don't know what it's going to be like. And scripture says, "Whatever we needed, whatever we needed, supplementing everything we've lost, and trust God with what we need. It's going to come. God will provide whatever He says He will provide for whatever it is that He has called us to do." Don't get stuck with a snakebite in Malta and die when there's a revival waiting to happen in Malta. And we must go to Rome. Bridgetown, we must go to Rome. God has a call. God has a purpose. God has a destiny. It hasn't changed. There was a storm on the way. There's shipwrecks on the way. There's Malta's on the way. Don't miss the miracle in Malta because you will go to Rome. You must stand before Caesar. But don't let the storm or the shipwreck or the snakebite take you out in Jesus name.

Let me pray for you. Father, I thank You for this mighty church. Father, I thank You for the call You have on this apostolic house. Father, there's people on the other side of the screen, just in so much pain, just feel so battered and bruised by the storm. Some feel like they're just lying in a bloody mess, hitting the rocks, running aground. Others, Lord, have got snakes in the spirit hanging off their wrists, metaphorically speaking, that venom threatening to take them out. So I pray in the name of Jesus Christ that You would do what only You could do in this moment. Lord, Father, You would put strength and courage in Your people. Father, the strength to shake off what needs to be shaken off. I just come against the toxicity that would seek to poison Your people, Lord, and take them out of the race. Father, today let there be a decision in Your people to say, "I'm just going to shake it off. Shake it off into the fire. Let it burn up and trust God to bring a new ship, new supplies, and take me to my purpose." So, Lord, let us be known for our trust of You in the midst of the storm, our confidence in You in the midst of a shipwreck, and our faith to shake the stuff off that just doesn't matter in this hour because we must go to Rome. And we don't want to miss the miracle in Malta on the way to Rome. So I pray Your people, every person on the other side of the screen, that we're going to reframe even this week. Lord, we're a people in California and here in Portland, Lord, that have just, um, had so many, what could look like restrictions. Let us not miss the miracle You have in the moment. Let us not miss, Father, the miracles that You have all around us in this moment. Let us not miss Malta because we're in Malta right now. We're in a place we didn't plan to be, but there's something You want to do. So let us be a people that honor that. I pray, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.