ANCHORED IN THE MIDST OF ADVERSITY
ACTS, 27:14,15,20, 29
INTRODUCTION:ADVERSITY COMES IN MANY SHAPE FORMS AND FASHIONS. THESE PERPLEXING PREDICAMENTS SHOW UP AT THE MOST INCONVENIENT TIMES, DISRUPTING OUR LIVES, AND THE FRUSTRATING THING IS THAT ADVERSITY DOES NOT NEED AN INVITATION. ONE MOMENT LIFE APPEARS TO BE SERENE, THEN THE NEXT MOMENT WE FIND OURSELVES CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORM. FOR SOME OF US LIFE IS JUST ONE STORM AFTER ANOTHER. WE WAKE UP IN A STORM, GO TO WORK THERE’S A STORM, COME HOME AND OUR MARRIAGES ARE IN A STORM, YOUR CHILDREN GIVEN YOU PROBLEMS-STORM, THE DIAGNOSIS OF AN ILLNESS IS CAUSING A PHYSICAL,MENTAL, AND EMOTIONAL STORM, NO MONEY TO PAY BILLS-STORM, AND EVEN IN THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH, THERE ARE STORM. YOU ARE CAUGHT IN SO MANY STORMS THAT IT HAS BECOME AN OLD MCDONALD SITUATION, HERE A STORM, THERE A STORM, EVERYWHERE THERE’S A STORM. IS THAT NOT THE PLIGHT THAT SOME OF US IF NOT ALL OF US HAVE EXPERIENCED AT SOME POINT IN OUR LIVE? IF WE ARE HONEST WITH OURSELVES, SOME OF US ARE CAUGHT IN A STORM AT THIS VERY MOMENT, AND YOUR THEME SONG IS NOT "I WILL TRUST IN THE LORD," BUT, "LIKE A SHIP THAT’S TOSSED AND DRIVEN, BATTERED BY AN ANGRY SEA, WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE ARE RAGGING AND THEIR FURY FALLS ON ME." THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL IS, IF YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD YOU CAN BE ANCHORED IN THE MIDST OF ADVERSITY.
I. TEXT
THESE VERSES HIGHLIGHT THE NARRATIVE OF CHAPTER 27, AS PAUL IS ON HIS WAY TO ROME TO STAND TRIAL BEFORE AUGUSTUS CEASER. THEY WERE AT SEA DURING THE TIME WHEN THE ROUTE THEY WERE TRAVELING WAS NORMALLY CLOSED FOR THE WINTER. PAUL ADMONISHED HIS CAPTORS FOR SAILING DURING A SEASON THAT WAS MOST CERTAIN TO MEET WITH DISASTER. ALLOW ME TO MOCK TIME MOMENTARILY TO SAY THAT A LOT OF US ARE IN STORMS BECAUSE WE SET SAIL ON A COURSE KNOWING THAT IT WILL LEAD TO DISASTER. HOW MANY TIMES HAS MAMA AND DADDY TOLD YOU NOT TO, BUT YOU DID ANY WAY, ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT WHAT YOU DID WOULD COME BACK TO HAUNT YOU, KNOWING THAT THE CONSEQUENCES WERE GOING TO BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR HEALTH? HOW MANY TIMES WHERE YOU TOLD NOT TO COME HOME LATE, AND YOU DID; YOU PUT THE KEY IN THE LOCK BUT, THE DOOR DIDN’T OPEN. YOU BEEN TOLD NOT TO MESS AROUND BUT, YOU DID, NOW YOU HAVE TO LIVE WITH YOUR ACTIONS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. TO ILLUSTRATE THIS FURTHER, I ROLL BACK THE TABLETS OF MY MIND AND SHARE WITH YOU THAT ONE DAY WHILE GROWING UP AT HOME WITH MY FATHER WHO WAS ABOUT TO TAKE A NAP, HE EMPHATICALLY INSTRUCTED ME NOT TO MESS WITH THE STOVE. AS SOON AS I HEARD HIM SNORING, I TURNED ON THE STOVE, LIT A PIECE OF PAPER AND PUT IT IN THE TRASH CAN. THE FIRE GOT HOTTER AND HOTTER, I BEGAN TO PANIC. I STOOD THERE TRYING TO BLOW OUT THE INFERNO, I TOOK MY MOTHERS CORNBREAD THAT SHE HAD JUST BAKED AND THREW IT IN THE FIRE TRYING TO PUT THE FIRE OUT. BUT GUESS WHAT? CORNBREAD IS NOT A GOOD THING TO USE TO PUT OUT A FIRE. DISTURBED BY MY HOLLERING, MY FATHER CAME TO THE RESCUE, PUT OUT THE FIRE, BUT STARTED ANOTHER FIRE ON THE SEAT OF MY PANTS. AND THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PLAY WITH FIRE YOU GET BURNED!!!
PAUL IS IN A STORM, ON A SHIP THAT IS DESTINED TO BE SHIPWRECKED. AS THEY SAILED THEY COULD NO LONGER SEE THE SUN OR THE STARS WHICH WAS THEIR MEANS OF NAVIGATION. IN OTHERS WORDS, THEY WERE LOST. WHENEVER WE LOOSE SIGHT OF GOD’S WORD, THERE IS THE DANGER OF BECOMING SPIRITUALLY LOST BECAUSE WE HAVE LOST SIGHT OF OUR NAVIGATION.
IT LOOKED BAD FOR PAUL AND HIS CAPTOR’S, SO MUCH SO, THAT THE CREW OF THE SHIP WERE SO CAUGHT UP IN THEIR SITUATION, THAT THEY GAVE UP HOPE OF BEING SAVED. SOMEBODY THIS MORNING IS ABOUT TO GIVE UP BECAUSE YOU DON’T SEE A WAY OUT OF YOUR STORM. BUT I COME TO TELL YOU THAT WHEN THINGS GO WRONG AS THEY SOMETIMES WILL, WHEN THE ROAD YOU’RE TRUDGING SEEMS ALL UP HILL, WHEN FUNDS ARE LOW DEBTS ARE HIGH, YOU WANT TO SMILE BUT HAVE TO SIGH, WHEN YOUR CARES ARE PRESSING YOU DOWN ABIT, REST IF YOU MUST BUT DON’T YOU QUIT. NO CHILD OF GOD HAS THE RIGHT TO GIVE UP IN THE STORM BECAUSE PSALMS 46:1 SAY’S, "GOD IS OUR REFUGE AND STRENGTH, A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE." JESUS SAY’S IN JOHN 16:33, "IN THE WORLD YOU WILL HAVE TRIBULATION, BUT, BE OF GOOD CHEER, I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD." GOD CAN AND WILL CIRCUMVENT YOUR CIRCUMSTANCES.
II. ANCHORED
IN AN EFFORT TO STABILIZE THE SHIP, THE CREW THREW OUT FOUR ANCHORS. AN ANCHORS IS AN INSTRUMENT THAT IS USED BY FISHERMEN TO STABILIZE THEIR SHIP, IMMOBLILIZING THEM WHERE THEY ARE. THE ANCHOR SEEKS A SECURE FOUNDATION ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA OR OCEAN, THAT IT CAN HOOK ONTO. BUT IF THAT FOUNDATION IS WEAK, THE ANCHOR WON’T DO MUCH GOOD.
THEY CAST THEIR FOUR ANCHORS, AND THEIR ANCHORS WENT DOWN. PAUL CAST HIS ANCHOR, AND HIS ANCHOR WENT UP. AS CHRISTIANS OUR ANCHOR DOES NOT GO DOWN, BECAUSE IF IT DID IT WOULD PULL US DOWN DEEPER IN OUR SITUATION. BUT OUR ANCHOR GOES UP BECAUSE OUR FOUNDATION IS JESUS CHRIST WHO IS UP! MANY OF US ARE ANCHORED BUT WE’RE ANCHORED TO THE WRONG THING; THE WRONG HUSBAND, THE WRONG WIFE, BOY FRIEND, GIRL FRIEND, JUST FRIENDS IN GENERAL, JOB. IF YOU ARE NOT ANCHORED TO JESUS, YOU ARE ANCHORED TO THE WRONG THING!
THREE POINTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO YOUR ATTENTION, FIRST, PAUL HAD THE ASSURANCE THAT GOD WOULD DELIVER THEM. GOD WANTS US TO TRUST HIM IN THE MIDST OF ADVERSITY. SECOND, PAUL REMAINED FAITHFUL AND FEARLESS IN THE MIDST OF FAITHLESS AND FEARFUL MEN. NO MATTER WHAT THOSE AROUND YOU SAY ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS, BE FAITHFUL AND WAIT ON THE LORD. THIRD, PAUL KNEW WHO HELD THE OTHER END OF HIS ANCHOR. IF JESUS IS HOLDING THE OTHER END, HE WILL BRING YOU TO IT, TO SEE YOU THROUGH IT.
III. CONCLUSION
THEY WERE SHIPWRECKED BUT, SAVED. SOMEBODY SINNER IS ABOUT TO BE SHIPWRECKED BUT GOD WANTS TO SAVE YOU. SO LET THE WINDS BLOW, MY SOUL IS ANCHORED; LET THE LIGHTNING FLASH, MY SOUL IS ANCHORED; LET THE THUNDER CLAP, MY SOUL IS ANCHORED; LET THE RAIN FALL, MY SOUL IS ANCHORED; LET THE SUN CEASE FROM SHINNING, AND THE STARS HIDE BEHIND THE CLOUDS, MY SOUL IS ANCHORED IN THE LORD.
BE NOT DISMAYED WHATEVER BETIDE, GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU. I’M ANCHORED BECAUSE CHRIST DIED; I’M ANCHORED BECAUSE HE GOT UP SUNDAY MORNING WITH ALL POWER IN HIS HANDS
