Transcription
Amen. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. How is everybody doing this morning?
Yes. Can we say, can we give the Lord a hand clap of praise this morning? How many people are thankful to be in the house of the Lord this morning? Yes. Everything you went through, everything that you've been through in your life brought you here to this moment right now, today.
Give God praise for that. Yes. It's all right if they think I'm out of my mind for lifting my hands in praise. I'm all right if they think that I've gone crazy. My God. Somebody say, "My God."
My God.
Hey. So, the good news is that I have been struggling with my voice today. And so, I I I mean, I got a I got a thing I got to do here. Yeah. And maybe you'll get lucky and I won't make it all the way through. Bad news is my God's a miracle worker.
Yeah. So, you probably going to have to stick here through the through the end of this thing. Man, I titled this message, your praise goes on. Somebody say, "Your praise goes on."
Man, I pray I never get tired of giving the Lord praise. Man, we're going to pray and get into this. Father, we just thank you for being the God that you are, Lord. We thank you for being just such an awesome God. And Father, we just pray that our worship has been holy and acceptable to you. Lord, we pray that you would uh that you would just empty me out. That you would fill me up with your words. Lord, if it is not of you, I pray that you would bind it, not let it come out of my mouth. Lord, if you're not in it, I don't want to have anything to do with it. And so I pray that you would just move me out of the way and that you would just show up and show out the way that you do. Lord, let them not see me, but let them see you. I ask all this in the name of your son, Jesus. And all of God's people said, "Amen."
We are in week 48 of 50. We have been doing a 40 uh we have 48 weeks. This is 48 weeks into a 50-week series on the book of Acts. We have been going through the book of Acts verse by verse, chapter by chapter, it has been phenomenal. If you have been here for all 48 weeks, man, I want to honor you. I want to give you praise for being here for all 48 weeks of this. Yes. Yes. I pray that you have seen God move in ways that you have never seen God move before. I pray that you have been enlightened to things in scripture that you've never noticed before. This has been exciting. If you've been watching online, man, thank you. Thank you. We are in 40 48 weeks. 48 weeks of 50. Today, we're going to be in Acts chapter 28. It is the last chapter of Acts, but we're going to be camped out here for a while. So, there's still a lot of meat in this thing. And how many of y'all were here last week? How many of you were here last week? Man, if you were here last week, if you were watching online last week, man, I pray that you were able to leave here lighter than you came in. I I pray that you were able to unpack some things. I pray that you were able to move into a place uh in your walk out of a storm that you may have not even realized you were in. Because let's be real, sometimes we can get comfortable in chaos and we don't even realize we're in a storm. Man, we did some good stuff last week. Last week we we looked at things and and we saw that Paul and his companions were on a a ship going to uh to Italy, going to see Caesar. And we saw that they had entered a storm. And one of the things that we realized or one of the things that the God hopefully revealed to us last week is that it is not about the destination that brings the storm. It's the course that we choose to get there. Right? Amen. God might want the same things as you, but that doesn't mean that he approves of the way that you are going about getting those things. Right? What did we say? God wants it, but he wants it his way. That's right. And so, they were in a storm, massive storm, Katrina level storm. 14 days. 14 days they were in this. And then what do we see? We saw last week that they started getting rid of a few things. Those acceptable losses is what we called them last week. They they started cutting a few things loose. Those things that they didn't mind getting rid of, right? Some acceptable losses. We talked about it earlier. Uh acceptable losses are like them toys in your kids' room. Parents, you know what I'm talking about. Even if your kid don't. Yeah. Especially this time of year, you know, you you hit up that bedroom with a with a trash bag because it's time to make room for So, you man, they ain't played with that in a year. It's got to go. We We need to make room for some stuff, acceptable losses. But what did we see? We saw last week that just getting rid of a few things in your life doesn't mean that you have surrendered, right? And then we saw as they moved on that they did finally come to a place. We saw that surrender in the storm is what? The only way to make it through the storm. We saw that last week. And they suffered damage and they finally surrendered. They lost the ship. And that brings us to where we are today in Acts chapter 28 starting at verse one. And we're just going to get into this. The word of the Lord reads, "Once safely ashore, we then learned that the island was called Malta. The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in. Since it was raining and cold, as Paul gathered a bundle of brushwood and put it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand. And when the local people saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "This man, no doubt, is a murderer." And even though he has escaped the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. But he shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no harm. They expected that he would begin to swell up or uh or suddenly drop dead. After they waited a long time and saw nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god."
I I told the first service, man, I I read that and I get this vision in my head of a movie I saw once where uh where a group of guys were there and one of them got stung by a bee and they were wondering if he was allergic or not and they were waiting on him to swell up and his face starts swelling and his lips get, you know, I thought it was the funniest thing, right? They're just waiting on that's the picture I get. Like they're just they're just waiting on him to at least swell up, right? They're waiting on Paul to at least swell up. This is what scripture tells us. Scripture lets us know that the storm is over. Scripture tells us that everyone is safely on shore now. There were 276 people on this ship. Hurricane 14 days, they've made it to shore. They've made it safely ashore. All 276 of them. And they are now on an island called Malta. Now, Malta was known for some things. Malta could be translated many different ways. The word itself had multiple meanings, but they all uh they all were really cool meanings, right? These are some of the meanings of the word malta. Honey, sweetness. Some of y'all looking at your wives right now. Safe haven. Safe haven. The locals are amazing, right? The locals come out and and they are absolutely amazing. I I'm telling you, it's like they were in a storm. They were they were in this hurricane that they lost the ship and they washed ashore on Cabo. I mean, it is vacation in the making. It it is phenomenal. They get there and and and this is the thing like once they surrendered on the ship, once they surrendered to God, God brought them to the right place at the right time. And even though their destination was nowhere in sight, God was already on the scene working on restoring their peace and meeting their needs. That's good news. Family, write this down if you're one that takes notes. Once we surrender, God will always bring us safely to shore. Underline that word always. I love that word. Once we surrender, God will always bring us safely to shore. We talked about it last week. Surrender doesn't spare us from the damage. Surrender won't spare us from the damage. They lost the ship and everything on it. Surrender doesn't spare us from the damage. But what it does do is it makes sure that we will be sustained through the cleanup. Yeah. God, listen. If you were in here last week, like we said, and and you were able to see the storm that you were in, praise God, and you were able to step out of that, the same thing that happened to them is going to happen to you. God will bring people into our lives to tend to our needs once we leave the storm. When we surrender, God will bring those people. Listen, if you are one of those people, pay attention because God is going to bring someone into your life to help you navigate this next season. Be watchful. The help cometh. God will bring people into our lives to tend our needs. And we have to be willing to accept the help. But we also have to be willing to push through this season. Notice Paul didn't just sit around and let the locals uh uh fan him with big leaves and feed him grapes. Paul actually goes out, he starts working and he while he is doing good work, the serpent strikes his hand. Can I tell you that in this season while you are doing good work, the serpent will come. The serpent will come to bring adversity and to sow doubt. And we have to be mindful because our response to his attack is what's going to allow people to decide who we really are. It will our response to that is what's going to make them say, "Oh, well, that's just that's Clint. He ain't changed at all. He ain't changed the lick. You just gonna keep being him. It's all right. Yeah. See you back in that storm in a minute. Really, we have to be mindful. Listen to me. The enemy is going to come and the enemy is going to strike. And the way that we respond to the enemy's attack is going to tell people whether or not we stand on a rock called Jesus or whether or not we stand on our own power. When the enemy bites, we have to learn to brush it off and drive on. Somebody say, "Drive on." Well, what about my destination? What? What? What about that? I still ain't got where I'm supposed to go. I don't know how long it will take for you to reach your destination. I don't know how long it's going to take for me to reach my destination. But what I do know is that surrender has brought us safe to shore. And so instead of worrying about when we're going to get back in the water, maybe we just need to enjoy the beach. Amen. I don't know how long it's going to take you to get there. I I don't know how long it's going to take you to get that house. I don't know how long it's going to take you uh uh to to reach that place where you have your whole family back together. I don't know how long it's going to take to get to where the Lord has told you he wants you to be. I know you'll get there. And in the meantime, enjoy the beach.
Continuing on in verse seven, the word of the Lord reads, "Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island named Publius who welcomed us and entertained us with hospit hospitality or hospitably uh for three days. Publius's father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him. After this, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. So, scripture tells us that Paul and his companions are brought to the leader of the island. And Paul being who Paul is uh uh heals this man's uh father. And after he heals this man's father, they start bringing everybody to Paul to be healed. Right now, let's not lose sight of Paul. We talked about this last week. Paul, Paul is the prisoner. Paul is the guy that's on his way to appeal before Caesar. Paul is the guy that is not a free man right now. Look what Paul doesn't do. Paul doesn't have a pity party about his situation. Paul doesn't have What did we say last week? God can grant you favor from anywhere. Somebody was paying attention last week. God can grant you favor from anywhere. Paul the prisoner, Paul the man on his way to appeal before Caesar. That Paul, that Paul has no pity parties. He doesn't believe in him because co Paul believes that whether he is free or whether he is in chains, whether he is in a in a storm or whether he's on the shore, Paul has dedicated his life to his calling in whatever season he finds himself in. Church, write this down. Seasons change, but your calling doesn't.
In the book of First John, John lays out three things that tend to be the downfall or that are the downfall of every of every man, of every human being. And he says this in 1 John chapter 2 verse 16. He says, "For everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's possessions, is not from the father, but is from the world." We've also heard this said, we've heard it said in in different ways. It's the it's the lust of the flesh, the pr l lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, right? These things, these things that are deeply inside of us, that have been passed on to us from generation to generation since Adam, these things that distract us, these things that bring out our downfall, these are the things that the enemy uses against us in different seasons of our life. Regardless of the season, it's the same attack. Hear me on that, church. Regardless of the season you're in, the attack will always come back to one of these three things. When Jesus was in the wilderness, the enemy attacked him the same way. He attacked him with hunger, with his his need for reassurance, and his need for success. Those are the things that he addressed that he tried to make our Lord uh uh uh compromise in. And most of us will fail these temptations. Let's just put that on the table. It doesn't matter if you stand on the stage and preach the word or if you sit and receive. It doesn't matter if you sing praise or can't sing a lick. Most of us will fail these temptations. And here's the thing. As seasons in life change, we end up finding ourselves focusing more on fulfilling these needs, our needs, than we do on our calling. It happens. I got to tell you, like like I fall for this. If you don't believe me, check this out. Get hungry. You'll do anything for some food if you hungry enough. That's real talk. We like assure. And that thing about hunger, I we said it earlier. We're grown. Let's just be real. Hunger ain't always food. Yeah. Men, listen to me. Some of that stuff you looking at, that awakes hunger that you don't need to be awake. Let's just leave that where it is. And we all have this need for assurance and success. We all want to feel successful. That that's a big one for me. I'll just be honest. I'll be the first one to raise my man my hand. How many of us at this stage in our life thought we would be more successful than we are? Yeah. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It really isn't. But what we do have to do is we have to come back and see like how am I measuring success? Well, like what am I measuring my life against? Right? We tend to find ourselves focusing more on fulfilling these needs than we do our calling. And you're like, "Well, hold up, man. I ain't got no calling. I I'm that I'm that one. I can't sing a lick. I know that's not my calling. I ain't got a calling. Can I tell you? You don't have to be a pastor. You don't have to be a worship lead. You have a calling. We all have a calling to go there forward. Go therefore. It is not up to the pastor to make disciples. I know that's a news flash for some. It is not up to the pastor to pray for those in need. It is not up to the worship leader to disciple and pray for those in need. It's not up to the lifeg group leader. It's not. It's on all of us. We all have a calling. Jesus didn't say, "Go therefore you pastors. Go therefore you worship leaders. Get you some smoke, some smoke machines and some pretty lights. This is what I want you to do. That's not what Jesus said. He told all of us, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Yes. Listen to me, family, church. No matter what our current situation may look like, no matter how far away our destination may seem, we have a responsibility. We have a calling. And Paul, I love this. Paul shows us that we don't have to be Jesus to beat these temptations. We just have to have had an encounter with Jesus. Listen to me. We have to have an encounter with the Lord. I'm not in the game of orchestrating experiences, manufacturing experiences. That's not who I am. Because experiences are great for a moment, but an encounter will change you for a lifetime. We have to have an encounter like Paul. We have to we have to have an encounter that we can remind ourselves of. We have to have that moment when we can tell that person, man, I was on the road to Damascus and man, I met Jesus. We have to be willing to tell people, man, I was hanging on a cross. And the man next to me said, today you will be with me in paradise. We have to be willing to say, man, I I was blind, but now I see. Family. We have a responsibility to hold on to these encounters so that we can remind ourselves because it's bigger. It's bigger than us.
Finishing up with verse 10, the word of the Lord says, "So they heaped many honors on us, and when we sailed, they gave us what we needed." Because of Paul's faithfulness, everyone on that ship was moved to surrender and they were saved from the storm. And because of his faithfulness, now everyone is being fed and honored on the shores of Malta. And again, because of his faithfulness, everyone now has their needs met when it's time to depart for their destination again. One man's faithfulness saved 275 people. Some of y'all are doing the math. Look, remember there was 276. One of them will fall. Church, write this down. Your faithfulness can change their world. Your faithfulness can change their world.
There's a story in the book of Mark the 2 chapter verses 3-5. The word of the Lord reads, "They came to him bringing a paralytic carried by four of them. Since they were not able to bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him. And after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was laying. Seeing their faith, Jesus told the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven." Putting this in West Texas talk. They were these four rednecks. They had a buddy that couldn't walk, but they heard about Jesus and they believed and they had faith and they probably argued with each other the whole way. Bubba, quit quit moving with your right foot, man. Move with your left foot. We're using the right foot on this step. You need to use your left foot. We going to drop him. They probably argued the whole way. They probably had a moment on the way where somebody said, "Man, why man? Let's just wait. G, as much as Jesus is walking, he's bound to come this way." But they took him to the savior. They got up on a roof, insurance premiums going up. They ripped through it and put him down in front of Jesus. And Jesus looks at him and he says, it says, seeing their faith, he said, "Son, your sins are forgiven."
In 1995, there was a Polish man, a lay missionary that uh that passed away. And this man's name was Franchek Janowik. He died in 1995, but truth be told, he was supposed to die years before that. Uh this man in the 40s was in a German death camp named Awitz. And they had everybody lined up one day and they were pulling names of people that were going to be executed by starvation. And this man's name came up. But there was another man standing there that day. He was a priest named Maximleian Kobe. And father Kobe convinced them to take him instead. And so, Father Kobe died in Ashwitz. And this man Franchek, he went on to live a life dying in 1995. and he dedicated the rest of his life to telling people about a man of God that saved him. Family, your faith can save them. Now, don't get it twisted. We can't save anybody. Not like that. But our faith in the savior. Our faith in the savior. Listen. When they see you work, when they see you pray, when they see you uh uh living out your calling in a way that doesn't honor Sunday morning Christianity, but honors the Lord, seeing you praise, seeing you surrender, seeing you sacrifice, hearing you give thanks for his safety. When you reach the shores of Malta, even though your destination is nowhere in sight, family, your faith can save them. When they come to you and say, "How how do you do it?" Let me tell you about a man named Jesus. Let me tell you about the time that I was hanging on the cross and Jesus took me to paradise. Seeing these things can Oh my gosh. Can I tell you that in the same way though your lack of faith can condemn them? your your lack of faith can condemn them. Your lack of surrender can trap them in the storm with you. They need honesty, not hypocrisy. See, when we're not walking this out right, can I tell you there's somebody that's looking at us and going, "Why do I need to be a Christian?" If that's what you are, see all that stuff that you're doing, I can do that at home. I know how to lie, too. I know how to steal, too. Yeah, that dirty joke. I got a bunch of them. Family hypocrisy drives more people away from the church. Seriously, you know what keeps a lot of people from becoming Christian? Christians. Because we are more dedicated to Sunday morning Christianity than we are to the Lord. They need honesty, not hypocrisy. I I wonder and I and I said this in the first service like I I wonder. Do me a favor. I'm not even going to do it like I did it before. Do me a favor. Close your eyes. Just close your eyes for me. I want you to picture in your mind somebody that just oozes Jesus. I mean, they got Jesus all over them. You can see it in the way they walk. You can hear it in the way they talk. Like you can't be around this person without being better. Everybody got that picture in their mind? I wonder if anybody is picturing you. That's the truth of it. Family. Is anybody picturing you right now? When we first reach the shores of heaven, like is anybody going to come up to us and say, "Man, man, I've been waiting for you." See, see, I'm here. I'm here because of you. I I'm here because you remember that day when you were at the Walmart and you paid for my groceries and I had my kids with me. A and you had that you had that shirt on with the fish. My kid says, "Why did you do that? Thank you." And you looked at me and my family and you said, "Don't thank me. Thank him. Thank Jesus. Or how about that person that's going to come up and say, "Man, I was I was lost. I was a wreck, and you said a kind word to me. I I didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring, but but I remember you. You invited me to church one day, and maybe they didn't even come to our church. But because you invited them, you sparked a curiosity in them that made them go find one. Because the mission is the same. It's not about how many seats we can fill in a house. It's how many we can fill in the kingdom. Family. Your faith in Jesus can lead them to the savior. Your faith can save them.
Christmas time is here. In case you didn't know, I I in full transparency, I admitted it in the first service. I'll admit it again. I I am that guy. I've been blasting Christmas music for a month. Yeah. I I don't mind Christmas before Thanksgiving. I love it. I I love Christmas. I I absolutely love it. I love the lights, the smells, the sights. I love everything about it. Christmas time is here. And listen to me. This is what's going to happen because it happens every year. People are going to start coming. Some of it will be out of habit because they always go to church on Christmas and Easter. It's what they do. Some people it's going to be because they've heard that maybe next year could be better. They heard that their grandma, they remember their grandma told them, "Man, if you are ever in doubt and you need answers, you need to find you a church. You need to talk to Jesus. Regardless of regardless of what it is, people are going to come. And this is the thing. It's up to us, family, to show them how to stay out of love. They might come out of habit, but we can teach them how to stay out of love. We can show them the truth behind the manger. We can show them the reason for the birth. And we can show them that no matter how long it takes to get there, however how long it takes to reach that destination, at least in our life, his praise will forever go on. His praise will go on. 2,000 years. It's been over 2,000 years. I got to tell you, it's we're still talking about a star in the sky. We're still talking about an angel talking to a bunch of shepherds out watching their flock. We still look at three wise men that we have no idea what their names are. Some of us got them on our tree at our house. It's it's it's Leroy Jethro. And I'm just I'm just playing. But seriously, over 2,000 years ago, we are still singing his praise. We are still speaking his name because Jesus saves. Hear me on this, church. Jesus saves.
This is how we're going to end this. We're about to go. We're going to have a prayer team up here on either side of the stage. We have a prayer team on either side of the stage and and if you are that person that you're like, man, I I just showed up today and I don't even know any of this stuff that you're talking about. Listen to me. This is what I want you to know. All have fallen short of the glory of God. Oh, we came into this world condemned. You need a savior just like I needed a savior. Just like I still need saving daily. My salvation is secure, but boy, my character needs some work sometimes. Listen to me. Scripture says, "All who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." I want to tell you, man, if you are that person, if you don't know Jesus, if you don't have that moment that you can go back to, get that moment today. Don't let the sun set on your sinfulness. Today can be the day. And maybe you're that person that's like, you've been saved, but you need to rededicate yourself. You you need to you need to come back. Like I said a minute ago, maybe your character needs some work. There's nothing wrong with that. It's okay. Come down and get prayed for. Maybe you're that person. May maybe you were Maybe it's you. I thought it was in the first service. Maybe it's you. You're sitting up in there and your back hurts. And you done tried everything. You done tried Tylenol. Oh, headache won't go away. What do you got to lose? You can sit there with your with your head hurting, with your back hurting, or you can come down here and get prayed for it. Get somebody to lay hands on you. Today could be the day of your miracle. Today could be the day. But you'll never receive if you let fear keep you in that seat. You have got to get out of your seat and come get your blessing. Come get your miracle. So that's what we're going to do. I I'm going to pray a and we're going to sing one more song for the rest of us. If you if you're one like you can stand up, you can sit down, however you feel comfortable. We're gonna sing one more song about his praise and the altar is going to be open. Please, please, I can't beg you enough. Don't walk out those doors without your blessing. Don't. Restaurants are already crowded anyway. I'm for real. Restaurants are already crowded anyway. We done, they done beat us, y'all. The crockpot is good. It's It's made to stay on. Don't leave here without your blessing. Father, we just come to you, Lord, thanking you for being the God that you are. Well, we praise you and glorify your holy name. Father, we just pray that if there's anyone under the sound of my voice that doesn't know you, let today be the day that they can rest with the assurance of their salvation. Lord, that person that is sitting there in pain, that needs that healing, Lord, make them move. And Lord, please hear the praises of your people as we glorify your name. as we magnify who you are, Jesus. We love you. We praise you forever and ever. Amen.
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