I BELIEVE GOD!
I. PAUL ABOARD SHIP
Acts 27:20 And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. . Acts 27:21 But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. Acts 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. Acts 27:23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Acts 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Acts 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Acts 27:26 Howbeit we must be cast upon a certain island. .
A. PAUL BELIEVED GOD Acts 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God,
1. 276 men on board.
B. PAUL BELIEVE GOD’S WORD that it shall be even as it was told me
C. HOW DID HE DO IT?
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. .
1. He lived by Christ faith, or God faith.
Mk 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
He was saying “ Have the faith of God’.
2. What kind of faith does God give?
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
3. How does it come?
4. God gives it at salvation.
5. It grows through the Word. (Rom 10:17 KJV) So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
a. God faith is God consciousness.
1. Peter walking on the water
2. Feeding the multitudes.
II. PAUL ON THE ISLAND.
A. PAUL SUFFERED MUCH.
2Cor 11:23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 2Cor 11:24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 2Cor 11:25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 2Cor 11:26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 2Cor 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. .
1. He counted it as nothing.
Phil 3:13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, Phil 3:14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. .
2. Yet he was chief of apostles
2 Cor 12:11 I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. .
III. I BELIEVE God!
A. MAN IN AFRICA.
We prayed for him in a hospital for cancer of his leg. He believed God and kept singing ‘I believe, I believe God’. The new x-rays could not find one trace of cancer.
(Mark 9:23 KJV) Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
27:44 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. 28:1 And when they were escaped, then they knew that the island was called Melita.2 And the barbarous people showed us no little kindness: for they kindled a fire, and received us every one, because of the present rain, and because of the cold. 3 And when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks, and laid them on the fire, there came a viper out of the heat, and fastened on his hand. 4 And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live. 5 And he shook off the beast into the fire, and felt no harm. 6 Howbeit they looked when he should have swollen, or fallen down dead suddenly: but after they had looked a great while, and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds, and said that he was a god. 7 In the same quarters were possessions of the chief man of the island, whose name was Publius; who received us, and lodged us three days courteously. 8 And it came to pass, that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and of a bloody flux: to whom Paul entered in, and prayed, and laid his hands on him, and healed him. 9 So when this was done, others also, which had diseases in the island, came, and were healed: 10 Who also honoured us with many honours; and when we departed, they laded us with such things as were necessary.
IV. Snake bite!
A. Paul believed Jesus’ words in Mark 16.
1. Our experience with snakes in Africa and Central America.
B. Signs and wonders follow Paul because he lived by the Faith of God.
C. Revival followed the ministry. Mark 16 again.
