Peace Among the Pieces
By Pastor Donny Granberry
It has definantly been difficult for many of our Church family, our neighbors, and those living within the reach of Ike these past week or so.
Our prayers, concern, and compassion go out to you and to all of those who were affected by the storm.
While it has been a difficult time, it has also been a wonderful time in the harvest field.
I’ve met neighbors that I have never spoken with in the 5 ½ years of living in our neighborhood.
It seemed as though the busy-ness of people’s lives came to a screeching halt, or maybe, shifted into another direction.
It was comforting to see many of our churches becoming a place of shelter and provision to those who were and are in need.
Now, more than ever, we need to be Jesus in skin to those who are in need.
Let’s make our profession together, “This is my Bible, God’s …”
This morning I want to reverberate to you that there is “Peace Among the Pieces.”
As I sat at my desk in my study at home Friday night and Saturday morning during Hurricane Ike I prayed.
I prayed for the safety of my family, I prayed for the safety of you and your families, I prayed for God to protect the church, and I prayed for the Lord to give us peace.
I could hear the shingles begin to be torn from my roof, and the debris from other homes as they hit mine.
I began to put out containers as water begin to come into our home, and I could hear the awful howl of the storm and its destruction.
Then all of the sudden something happened.
As quickly as the storm came roaring in, it became calm.
The eye of the storm was coming over us and the winds became almost non-existent, the rain ceased, and it became peaceful.
Not long after that, the storm came back with even more force than before.
A little while after it stopped and it was time to access the damages and to prepare to restore things once again, hopefully even better.
You will never understand the true meaning of Peace until you find yourself in the storm.
ILLUSTRATION
There was a challenge given to the artist of a community. They were to enter a painting that represented peace.
As the community began to look at the paintings, there was one that stood out from the rest that they were sure would win.
It was a beautiful pastoral scene, a rolling green meadow, punctuated with beautiful colorful flowers, a deep blue sky with puffy white clouds, and a boy walking through the meadow headed for a brook with a fishing pole in his hand.
That painting came in second.
First place went to a painting that portrayed a storm.
The sky was dark and angry and waves were crashing into a cliff, and lightning was flashing through the skies.
At first the people thought, what does that painting have to do with peace?
Yet on a closer observation, they saw a cleft in the rock, with a mother bird with her babies all nestled under her wings, and they were sleeping.
Now that my friend is peace.
Not absence from the storm, but peace in the middle of the storm.
In our text today, we find Paul going through a terrible storm.
Paul is being transported to Rome on a large ship carrying grain and cargo for the Emperor.
They are hit by a violent storm with hurricane force winds and are in this storm for 14 days.
They have no idea where they are because they cannot see the sun, moon, or stars.
Acts 27:20, 22-25 NIV
20 When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the storm continued raging, we finally gave up all hope of being saved.
22 But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. 23 Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, `Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ 25 So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
1. All Hope Seemed Gone
Have you ever been to the place where it seems hopeless?
If not, you just hang in there, keep on living, you will get there.
I know, because I have been there.
ILLUSTRATION
About 10-11 years ago I had been sick and went to see my Dr.
He sent me to a Hematologist, who in turn sent me to an Oncologist.
I had never been to a Hematologist or an Oncologist, so when I looked at the sign of the Oncologist, and it said Cancer, I began to feel a storm coming up.
He looked at my blood-work and tests and with terrible bedside manners told me, Mr. Granberry, you have Leukemia.
I called my Dad on the way home to tell him the news.
I sat down with Marlys and gave her the news.
I was so devastated by the news that I didn’t know what to do.
I had just had a good friend at work die from Leukemia a few months before, and he was younger than me. I was in a storm.
There was no sun, moon, or stars, and all hope was gone.
I had decided that I was going to die.
You may be in a place in life right now where there is no sun, no moon, and no stars.
Everything seems dark and you don’t know where you are, much less where you are going.
Everyone goes through dark, lonely, desperate times.
Everyone experiences fear.
Let me remind you, just because all hope seems gone, does not equate to all hope being gone.
The storm cannot destroy you when God is the one who sustains you.
What do we need to do when we find ourselves in the situation of desperation where it seems as though “All Hope is Gone?”
2. Keep Your Courage
Paul told them, “Keep Your Courage.”
Some might have thought, it is easy for you to say keep your courage, you are a passenger.
As a matter of fact, you are a prisoner who is probably headed for doom. Who are you to tell us to be brave?
When we go through storms in life, the #1 goal of the enemy is to take away our hope.
Children of God have no reason to give up hope, or to loose faith or courage.
It does not matter what the storm is, the God we serve is the Peace Speaker.
• When David faced a storm, Goliath, he told them, who is he that he should defy the armies of the Living God. Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
• God told Israel at the Red Sea, “The enemy you see today, you will see no more.”
How do you “Keep Your Courage?” Pray – God will answer you.
In my storm God came to me and gave me a song.
I’ve just heard from heaven, and this one thing I know.
My sins are all forgiven, He has washed them white as snow,
The load that I was bearing, he took away somehow,
I’ve just heard from heaven, and It’s all right now.
Church, we do not need absence from the storm, we need peace in the storm.
Verses 23-24: Last night an angel of the God whose I am and whom I serve stood beside me 24 and said, `Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’
Pray – God will answer you.
Jeremiah 33:3 KJV
Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
Psalm 50:15 KJV
And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
When all hope is gone, Keep your courage, Pray – God will answer you, and …
3. Hold On
One phrase my father uses and has been seared in my spirit is this, “When you get to the end of the rope, tie a knot in it and hold on. God will pull you through if you can withstand the tug.”
Acts 27:30-31, 43-44 NIV
30 In an attempt to escape from the ship, the sailors let the lifeboat down into the sea, pretending they were going to lower some anchors from the bow. 31 Then Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved."
43 The centurion commanded that they which could swim should cast themselves first into the sea, and get to land:
44 And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.
It has been said that, “God never promised us there would be no storms, but He did promise us a safe landing.”
SONG
There is peace in the time of trouble; There is peace in the midst of the storm; There is peace though the world be raging; In the Shelter of His arms.
Peace, Peace, wonderful peace, coming down from the Father above, sweep over my spirit forever I pray, if bountiful billows of love.
If it seems as though everything around you is unraveling and falling apart, remember;
• All hope is not gone
• Pray – God will answer you
• Hold on to a piece of the boat
There is “Peace among the Pieces.”
