Hey man, welcome to First Works Baptist Church.
We're going to get started with song number 42 as our first song this evening.
Song number 42, My Latest Son is Sinking Fast, and let's all stand together if you are able
to.
Song number 42, song number 42, we'll see you on that first verse.
My latest son is sinking fast, my faith is nearly run.
My strongest trials now are fast, my triumph is begun.
Oh come angel band, come and around me stand.
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings, to my eternal home.
I know I'm near the holy ranks of friends and kindred dear.
On Jordan's banks the crossing must be near.
Oh come angel band, come and around me stand.
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings, to my eternal home.
I've almost reached my heavenly home, my spirit loudly sings.
Thy holy ones behold they come, I hear the noise of wings.
Oh come angel band, come and around me stand.
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings, to my eternal home.
Oh bear my longing heart to Him who bled and died for me,
whose blood now cleanses from all sin and gives me victory.
Come angel band, come and around me stand.
Oh bear me away on your snowy wings, to my eternal home.
Amen. Wonderful singing of service with a word of prayer. Dear God, my father we thank you so
much Lord God for just allowing us to be here in your house this evening. We do pray that you
please just bless every soul that's here. I do pray that you please Lord God just bless every
aspect of the service. Please I pray that you please just bless the singing unto you and most
of all the preaching of your word. I pray that you please just fill our pastor with your Holy Spirit,
guide him through the scriptures of God and I pray that you'd also just be with us in the
congregation. Help us Lord God to have open ears and open hearts. I pray all these things in Jesus
name. Amen. You may be seated. It's song number 415. It's song number 415. Victory through grace.
Song number 415.
Song number 415. See it on that first verse. Conquering now and still to conquer,
right at the key in his mind. Leading the host of all of the faithful, into the midst of the
fight. See them with courage and fancy, glad and their brilliant, all reign. Shouting the name of
their leader, hear them exultingly say. Not to the strong is a battle,
not to the swift is a race. Yet to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace.
Conquering now and still to conquer, who is this wonderful
key?
Is our Lord and Redeemer, Savior and monarch divine.
They are the stars and forever, bright in his kingdom will shine.
Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race.
Yet to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace.
Conquering now and still to conquer, Jesus the ruler of all.
From tender scepters all shall perish, ground and their squander shall fall.
Yet shall the armies now lead us, faithful and true to the last.
Finding dimensions eternal, rest when the warfare is passed.
Not to the strong is the battle, not to the swift is the race.
Yet to the true and the faithful, victory is promised through grace.
All right, great singing. Thank you for being here this evening. Just a few announcements
here before we sing our next song, which will be 139, I know whom I have believed.
Song number 139, our Sunday morning service of course, excuse me, our services are as follows.
Sunday morning is at 10 30, Sunday evening at 5 p.m. and then we have our Thursday night Bible
study at 7 o'clock going through the book of Matthew. You see the so many times and teams
and then the list of expecting mothers of course again congratulations to brother Robinson
and miss Sarah Ortiz on the announcement of that she's expecting. We're going to add her to the
list there so we can keep her in prayer and then you see the important reminders there at the
bottom. Some of the upcoming church events Friday September 29th, there is a homeschool field trip
that'll be a kids-based children's museum at 9 45. The address is right there of course the
activity is free if you want to participate you can see my wife for any details on that
and then on Saturday October 7th is the ladies prayer breakfast that'll be at the building at
10 a.m. Friday October 27th is the homeschool park day and then the big thing that we got going on
towards the end of October is actually the beginning of our fall program that'll be on
Sunday October 29th and so that'll be a four-week program leading up to the uh the annual
Thanksgiving banquet but we're going to start it off with a push for visitors on the 29th and so
we'll give you more details about that. Typically we bring visitors throughout the program but this
year we're just going to make a major push for that specific day on the 29th and of course
rewards will be dispersed for that for whoever brings the most visitors and then one announcement
that's not on here is that this Friday Pastor Anderson is going to be preaching in Fresno
this coming Friday and so if you want to ride you want to catch a ride on the on the church van you
can see Brother Glenn but he will be essentially meeting here at 1 p.m on Friday to head out there
and so if you need to catch a ride you can see him for more details about that and then you see
the regular reminders there at the bottom please make sure you silence your phones during the
preaching so as to not be a distraction during the service let's go ahead and take some solany
numbers from this past week salvations from Monday to Thursday any salvations from Monday to Thursday
one right here anybody else how about Friday and Saturday two three three okay anybody else
how about this afternoon salvations for this afternoon one anybody else brother Morris team
one one for the hikes team did I miss anybody going once twice thrice okay keep up the great
work on solving let's go to sing our next song 139 I know whom I have
song number 139 song number 139
seat on that first verse I know not why God's wondrous grace to me he hath made no
no
Christ in love redeemed me for his own but I know who I have believed in and am persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day
I know not how this saving faith to me he did in part nor how believing in his word brought peace
within my heart but I know whom I have believed in and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day
I know not how the spirit moves convincing men of sin revealing Jesus through the word
creating faith in him but I know who I have believed in and am persuaded that he is able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day I know not what a good or ill may be
reserved for me of weary ways or golden days before his face I see
but I know I have committed and am persuaded that he is able
which I've committed unto him against that day I know not when my Lord may come at night or
noonday fair or if I walk the veil with him or meet him in the air
I have believed in and persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day
amen wonderful singing at this time our ushers will be receiving the offering
and please turn your bibles to acts chapter 27
so
good evening so now we're in acts chapter 27 and the bible reads when it was determined that we
should sail into italy they delivered paul and certain other prisoners unto one named julius a
centurion of augustus's band entering into a ship of andromatium we launched meaning to sail by the
coast of asia one aristarchus a macedonian of thessalonica being with us the next day we touched
that side on and julius courteously and treated paul and gave him liberty to go unto his friends
to refresh himself and when we had launched from thence we sailed unto cyprus because the winds
were contrary when we had sailed over the sea of sicilia and pamphylia we came to myra a city of
lycia and the other centurion found a ship of alexandria sailing into italy and he put us there
in and we when he had sailed slowly many days and scarce were come over against snitus the wind was
not suffering us and we sailed under crete over against salmone and hardly passing it came unto
a place which is called the fair havens nyan to wear unto was the city of lycia now when much time
was spent and when sandling was now dangerous because the fast was now already passed paul
admonished them and said unto them sirs i perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage
not only of the lading and ship but also of our lives nevertheless the centurion believed the
master and the owner of the ship more those things more than those things which are spoken by paul
and because the haven was not commodious to winter in the mo the mower part advised to
depart thence also if by any means they might attain to phoenice and there to winter which is
an haven of crete and lieth toward the southwest and northwest and when the south wind blew softly
supposing that they had obtained their purpose loosing thence they sailed close by crete but not
long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind called you rock light on and when the ship
was caught they could not bear up into the wind we let her drive and running under a certain
island which was called clauda we had much work to come by the boat which when we they had taken
out up they used helps undergirding the ship and fearing lest they should fall into the quick
quicksand strake sail and were so driven and we being exceedingly tossed with the tempest the next
day they lighted the ship and the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the
ship 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 but after long abstinence paul stood forth
in the midst of them and said sirs you should have hearkened unto me and not and not have loosed from
crete and to have gained this harm in loss 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 for there stood by me in this night
the angel of god whose am i am and whom i serve saying fear not paul thou must be brought before
caesar and lo god hath given thee all them that sail with thee wherefore serves be of good cheer
for i believe god that it shall be even as it was told me how be it we must be cast upon a certain
island but when the 14th night was come as we were driven up and down at adria about midnight the
shipment deemed that they drew near to some country and sounded and founded 24 20 fathoms
and when they had gone a little further they sounded again and found it 15 fathoms
then fearing lest we should have fallen upon the rocks they cast four anchors out of the stern and
wished for the day and as the shipment were about to flee out of the ship when they had let down the
boat into the sea under color as though they would have cast anchors out of the foreship paul said to
the centurion and to the soldiers except these abide in the ship he cannot be saved then the
soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat and let her fall off and while the day was coming on paul
besought them all to take meat saying this day is the 14th day that i that gf tarried and continued
fasting having taken nothing wherefore i pray you to take some meat for this is for your health
for there shall not inherit fall from your head of any of you and when he had thus spoken he took
bread and gave thanks to god and presence of them all and when he had broken it he began to eat
and when they were all of good cheer and they also took some meat and we were all in the ship
200 3 score and 16 souls and when they had eaten enough they lied to the ship and cast out the
weed into the sea and when it was day they knew not the land but they discovered a certain creek
with the shore into the which they were minded if it were possible to thrust in the ship when
they had taken up the anchors that committed themselves into the sea and loose the rudder
bands and hoisted up the mainsail to the wind and made toward shore and falling into a place where
two seas met they ran the ship aground and the four parts stuck stuck fast and remained
unmovable but the hinder part was broken with the violence of the waves and the soldier's council
was to kill the prisoners lest any of them should swim out and escape but the centurion willing to
save paul kept them from their purpose and commanded that they should that they which could
swim should cast themselves first into the sea and get to land and the rest some on boards and
some on broken pieces of the ship so it came to pass that they escaped all safe to land
let's pray dear lord god thank you for uh our salvation lord and thank you for the king james
bible lord we just pray that you bless pastor right now fill him with the spirit lord as he
preaches unto us lord and that uh we could take these truths that of your word lord and apply
to our lives and so we just pray this all in jesus name amen amen title my sermon this evening
is after long abstinence after long abstinence look at act chapter 27 and verse number 20
it says 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 but after long abstinence paul stood forth
in the midst of them and said sirs you should have harken unto me and and not have loosed from
crete and to have gained this harm and loss and this evening i'm going to talk about the story
here that we see in act chapter 27 regarding paul's voyage to rome and let me give a little
bit of a background on what's taking place here in this story of course paul at this time
essentially is being extradited to rome because he appealed to caesar he had gone back to jerusalem
and in jerusalem he found some trouble there he was being persecuted and wanted to kill him
and so there was a commotion that was made there he was eventually arrested and then through a
series of events ended up appealing to caesar and through that essentially is making his way to rome
to appeal for his case there but at the end of the day that's where he wanted to go anyways he
wanted to go to rome to go meet the brethren there and exhort them he had fruit in that area and of
course the the preaching had gone out there and he wanted to go and preach the word of god and have
fruit among those who were there in rome and so it was kind of one of those two birds with one stone
type of a thing where he was going to go there anyways it's just that in this manner he's going
to be going as a prisoner and of course towards the end of his life he ends up being on house
arrest in rome where he can preach the word of god in his home and he dies at a good old age
but we see here in chapter 27 that there is a voyage that he takes to rome that is just very
unsafe he's on this ship with the centurion that is transporting him along with other prisoners
and they find themselves in this storm and that's what i'm going to talk about this evening now
first and foremost look at verse number one it says when it was determined that we should sail
into italy they delivered paul and certain other prisoners unto one named julius the centurion of
augustus ban and entering into a ship of a drum medium we launched meaning to sail by the coast
of asia one hour stark as the macedonia of thessalonica being with us and the next day we
touched that side on and julius courteously and treated paul and gave him liberty to go into his
friends to refresh himself so even though the apostle paul is a prisoner he doesn't necessarily
have all this liberty you know he does have favor with the centurion and it kind of goes to show you
that no matter what circumstance you're in no matter what situation you find yourself in maybe
it's not to your advantage if you're a believer you have favor with god you know the bible says
when a man's waste please the lord he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him right
and the way we see this carried out in this particular story is that when they go to side on
i'm sure the other prisoners aren't given the same liberty but the apostle paul is allowed to go
and fellowship with believers and talk to them and commune with them and of course be encouraged by
them and it's probably because of the fact that the centurion believes that the apostle paul is
an honest person he probably has a reputation of being an honest individual of course he's
a believer he's a christian and so this kind of shows us here that even though he is imprisoned
he doesn't have a whole lot of liberty he can still have favor with the unsaved he can still
have favor with other people due to his walk with god in his position in the lord and so we see that
there and then it says in verse number four and we had launched from thence we sailed under cyprus
because the winds were contrary and when he had sailed over the sea of cilicia and panfilia
we came to mayra city of lacia and there the centurion found a ship of alexandria sailing into
italy and he put us there in so we find that he transports them into another ship but we're going
to see later on that he gets caught up in this really massive storm right and to just make a long
story even longer you know he gets caught up in the storm and the apostle paul obviously has the
wisdom of god aside from that he has common sense he knows what his purpose is and he knows the lord
and just based upon common sense and what he knows about god he's like you know what maybe
we shouldn't set sail from here maybe we should just stay here for a while because the storm is
looking really bad and it doesn't look like we can survive this but no one listened to paul
okay they're not listening to him they're not listening to his council and so instead he just
decides to be quiet okay and that's really what i want to talk about here is his abstinence
of speaking okay because even though he was right even though he's correct even though he has wisdom
and he has knowledge and he has foreknowledge from god of what's going to happen you know he still
decides to remain silent and not bring this knowledge to the people and rebuke them or correct
them because of the fact that it's not even worth it at this moment and i want to talk about the
importance of just being abstinent in your speech sometimes now let me say this by way of
introduction is that sometimes people are too accident in their speech meaning that you know
they refuse to say something at all at any time right and that's not right you know you have for
example pastors who refuse to preach the word of god and the entire council of god for fear that
they're going to offend their church members or drive people out who are tithing and giving
offerings you know that's not right to do you can't abstain from saying things for too long
eventually you got to say something right and there's times when sin is being taking place
and a leader has to get up and say something about it there are instances where we only have
a small window of time to actually say what needs to be said and i'll give you an immediate example
right now i was on the freeway coming to church today tonight this afternoon early evening
and i was exiting the freeway and you know there's a long line there it was a red light
and there's a mexican lady selling flowers as their manner is
and there's a guy right next to her there's a gypsy with his family kids and all
okay at the exit of the freeway and if you have any experience with gypsies
they're not working they're begging for money and they're using their children and family as
an instrument to essentially pull up the heartstrings of those in the vehicles
because they're begging for money and they want people to give them money so they they use their
children they're willing to put their children in danger the exit of a freeway in order to get that
right so this guy he's he's there his dad husband and you know here's the thing is that bums
homeless people at least have the decency to look homeless right kind of dirty they just look kind
of crazy they got a cardboard sign or something they just look like they're down i'm not saying
it's it's right to always give them money or even to feed them because there's sometimes where
they're just being lazy as well but at least you know they play the part you know what i mean
they look dirty they we would say they're homeless because they look homeless they don't got shoes on
or something you know it's like they look like they've been in the in the in the la riverbed
but this guy was looking fresh yeah the nicest of clothes on you know most of them i've seen
with fresh fades fresher than myself like they just got a fade that day well this guy he was
dressed in nice clothing he was he obviously looked like an able body i mean he was probably
in his early 20s because he looked really young he had his wife there with his kids and he's
literally yelling at the mexican woman who's selling flowers who's actually working he's
yelling at the mexican woman he's trying to tell her to leave and go somewhere else
he's like rebuking her and there's a red light and i'm seeing this
and you know i give it to the mexican lady because she's kind of just ignoring him
and then she's just kind of looking away and he's just like you know get out of here you know
this is my spot or whatever you're just saying all whatever he's saying
and so then there's a green light i'm like you know what this is not a time for abstinence of
speech you know something needs to be said because i only have a couple seconds because
the green i don't want people to get mad at me behind me you know what i mean because they
got somewhere to be so i rolled down the window and as i drove by he maybe he thought i was for
him but i pointed my finger right at his face and i said at least she and i i didn't say this at
this volume it was a lot louder than this but i said at least she's working you're a lazy and
i said another word bum you need to get a job okay that's a choice word that i wouldn't use
behind the pulpit but i don't mind using against someone as lazy as him in his face and he just
kind of like looked at me and i was just like but the thing is he's not going to change there's no
shame you're like what's why then why did you tell him because he needs to hear it and you know what
people like that need to get rebuked more often and in fact our church members if you ever see
something like that off the exit of a freeway just do yourself a favor and roll down the window and
rebuke the fire out of that person and shame him in front of everyone in front of his family in
front of his kids because it's he's worse not only worse than an infidel he's a wicked person
he's walking disorderly and he's putting his kids and his wife in danger by putting them and just
selling his family just so we can go get a clean fate it's wicked yeah and so you know i'm not
going to be abstinent at that point and just say you know i'll catch this guy later i got a couple
seconds to to spare and i know i'm not going to make a huge impact on that person's life but you
don't want maybe one of his kids will be a shame for his father and be like you know what this is
shameful that guy just that guy in that black suit looked like he was really mad at dad for
rebuking this lady who's actually working and my father is a lazy fill-in-the-blank bum
that's almost like go get a job
and so that you know there's obviously instances where you're not supposed to be abstinent
of speech and you're actually supposed to say something and you know what i consider that a
moment that something should be said and you know what that guy ought to thank god that i wasn't
right in front of him at a red light because i would have way more to say to him you know
because here's the thing folks is that yeah you know the lady who's selling flowers she's probably
illegal she probably just got here yesterday or something i don't know but at least she's hustling
at least she's putting in work
and she's a woman he's over here beg he to beg i am ashamed
not and to beg i am ashamed you know he just wants to use his family and you know brother
rubin was telling me that now they have like an organization where like a head gypsy dude is just
kind of designating different gypsy families and and you know what i partly believe it because
we're starting to see them more and more now and they need to get called out and so don't
be absent in that area because you only have a small window of time before the light turns green
you have to make a left or right turn so rebuke them okay i think we should rebuke them i think
we need to make a comment to rebuke those people and shame them in front of their families why
would you say that in front of their families why would he do that in front of his family
i mean if he has no shame to beg and place his family in danger for the sake of money
because he's too lazy to work then you know what
yelling at him in front of his kids won't is not any worse or better
this is whatever i just have to get that off my chest and i wasn't in my notes but it really
made me mad because of the fact that you know that lady is is working i mean obviously you know
i don't agree with women working per se but i don't know where her husband is or her baby
daddy is but at least she's doing something and you know what she's not begging for money
you know these people who sell fruit or flowers at the exit of a freeway you know they hustle
and i don't buy any of that because i don't need it you know what i got to do with flowers you
know what i mean if i'm gonna get my white flowers i'm gonna get it from somewhere nice all right
but you know what i i i partly admire the fact that they're willing to do something like that
and not complain about anything you know mexicans they come over here and they just start a business
and just get rich and can't even speak english you know it's because they're hard workers or
whatever i'm not saying she's rich i'm just saying she's putting in work this guy is exerting his
energy and yelling at a woman for taking his spot where he's supposed to be begging for money and so
it's ridiculous anyways let's get back to the sermon here look at verse number eight it says
in hardly passing it came unto the place which is called the fair havens nigh unto where unto the
city of lacia now when much time was spent and when sailing was now dangerous because the fast
was now already passed paul admonished them and sent it to them sirs i perceive that this voyage
will be with hurt and with much damage not only for the lading and ships but also of our lives so
he's basically saying you know it doesn't really look good for us this storm seems to be really
dangerous and he perceives that if they proceed with the voyage that not only is the ship and the
equipment within the ship going to be destroyed they're probably not even going to survive
themselves and you got to keep in mind there's 276 people on that ship all the majority of them
prisoners and he's just saying you know i admonish you i'm encouraging i'm telling you it's probably
not good to leave this haven because the storm is looking pretty bad and we're going to suffer
the consequences if we sail from here it's not going to look good for us look at verse 11
nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things
which were spoken by paul now let me just mention something here is that the centurion he's like the
leader he's watching over the prisoners he's watching over the shipment and he decides to
just completely neglect and ignore paul's admonishment about staying in the haven right
and here's the reason why and here's a good application the reason why he chose to ignore
paul is because paul's in the same ship as him so what does that mean well you know sometimes when
you try to correct people people don't take you serious because you're in the same boat as they
are you're in the same position that they are you're in the same position you're in the same
whatever may be maybe you are in the same life situation as them maybe they're not seeing you
succeed right and so people have a hard time taking you serious when you admonish them
because you haven't necessarily succeeded in that area now the apostle he said what about the
apostle paul i mean he's a great man of god he's a great christian yeah but he's a prisoner too
though along with a bunch of other prisoners on the same ship so you can see why the centurion's
not really taking him serious and in fact in the centurion's eyes even though he likes the apostle
paul the apostle paul is still inferior to him because he's a prisoner and so you know sometimes
when you want to admonish someone or correct someone or give someone godly counsel you know
a lot of times people don't listen to you because you're in the same ship as they are you don't seem
to have success succeeded or exceeded in your goals or you know your family or getting married
or having a job you know we want to make sure that if we ever counsel someone in a specific area
it's an area that we have succeeded in i've said this before but i'll say it again that's why
single guys shouldn't give dating advice to other single guys let me ask you has it worked for them
i want to see some fruit if i'm going to listen to another single dude right you know don't listen
don't get counsel from a single guy on your marriage on how to get a woman how to marry
someone because they obviously have failed miserably in that area
you know and i know single guys like to pow wow and save the world and talk about how how great
men they are but let's just be realistic here you know we want to talk to the people who have
exceeded us in the goals that we're trying to attain okay you know i'm not gonna go to a pastor
of an old ifb church who's pastoring five people to ask them how to grow my church
right because even though maybe he loves people and he means well obviously he's capped out
you know he can't necessarily help me i gotta go to someone who has a bigger church than me
who's doing something different than what i'm doing because if i go to someone who is has
a church that maybe is the same size as mine we're in the same boat we're in the same boat
we're both prisoners and so therefore i'm not going to really listen to his counsel or his
advice because he has not yet exceeded and succeeded in the areas that i want to succeed in
understand and so you can kind of see why the centurion's not really paying attention to paul
he's like okay paul you know you're an evangelist you're a christian you're a believer you're not a
mariner you're not someone who's experienced in the seas in fact i thought i heard someone
said that you were lost at sea for a couple days you know a couple times doesn't really know what
look like you know what you're talking about now obviously the apostle paul is led of god
and he's spear filled and they should have listened to him what i'm saying is that there's
times when people won't listen to you because your successes are your credentials at times to
other people and so it's important that if we want to admonish someone counsel someone in a specific
area that you know we've taken the beam out of our eye before we take the mo out of someone else's
eye matthew chapter seven okay and i like what it says he says i admonish them right sirs i
perceive that this voyage will be with hurt and much damage not only to the lady in ship but also
our own lives he's like you know it looks like this is just going to be a bad trip i'm just kind
of throwing my opinion out there and of course they don't listen look at verse number 11 it says
nevertheless the centurion believed the master and the owner of the ship more than those things which
were spoken by paul so they ignore his warning verse 12 says and because the haven was not
commodious to winter in the more part advised to depart thence also so in other words were there
the um the port that the ship was in wasn't necessary something that can accommodate their
ship for a season it says if by any means they might attain it to finisi and there to winter
which is in haven of crete and lieth toward the southwest and northwest and when the south wind
blew softly supposing that they had obtained purpose loosing thence they sailed close by
crete so this shows us that sometimes people just because the situation maybe changes a little bit
in their favor automatically they make a rash decision because here we see in verse number 13
that the south wind blew softly and they're like all right cool that's a good sign let's get going
but you know you understand how radically uh quick or should i say how quickly
weather can change right you can have wind blowing softly and all of a sudden rain comes down
or there's a storm you know there's a hurricane or whatever you know things can happen at a drop
of a hat we shouldn't just make decisions rash decisions based upon how soft the wind is blowing
supposing they had obtained favor excuse me obtained their purpose loosing thence they
sailed close by crete but not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind
called uroclidon this is like el nino okay so they even had names for storms back then
so even though the wind is blowing softly they make a decision a rash decision a hasty decision
to sit sail and then they run into the storm verse 14 but not long after there arose against
it a tempestuous wind called uroclidon and when the ship was caught and could not bear up in the
wind into the wind we let her drive so now they're in trouble because when it says that they could
not bear up into the wind essentially the sails can't withstand the power of the storm in the wind
that's kind of beating against it so at that point instead of trying to drive the ship in
the direction they want it to go they're just like let it go wherever it goes okay now they're
essentially at the mercy of the storm and i'm sure the centurions is like man i wish i would
have listened to paul look at verse 16 and running under a certain island which is called claudia
we had much work to come by the boat which when they had taken up they used helps undergirding the
ship and fearing lest they should fall into the quicksands strike sails and so were driven so
they got to a point where the storm is so bad it says that they strike sail meaning
they basically take down their sails and just let the ship go wherever it needs to go verse 18 says
and we've been exceedingly tossed with the tempest the next day they lighten the ship and the third
day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship now what does this teach us well
sometimes in the christian life we want to warn someone about a specific bad decision that they're
going to make or you know for whatever whatever subject or topic things that they're doing and
people don't listen here's what you don't do you don't keep badgering them don't keep you know
knocking them over the head with that admonishment especially if they're not willing to listen
why because all they're going to do is harden their heart and not listen to you
and here's something that i've had to learn as a pastor over the last six years is that from the
pulpit i need to preach things over and over again and these principles actually don't really apply
to preaching but it does apply to personal relationships one-on-one and i've had to learn
that when people make mistakes or they have certain deficiencies in their christian life
that i can see and i try to help them with it if they don't listen i can't just keep badgering
them and telling them to change that area why because at the end of the day they need to change
and if i continue to badger them i'm only going to offend them and the bible tells us that a
brother offended is harder to be one than a strong city and his contentions are like the bars of a
castle and you may think to yourself well but they need to hear it yeah but here's the thing
though the result that we want is that they hear it and they obey it but people won't obey it
because they're not hearing it because they're tired of you badgering them about it you understand
what i'm saying what am i supposed to do then well losses force people to reconsider
so sometimes you just got to be you got to abstain not say anything and just let them
suffer the consequences of their actions which ultimately results in the softening of their heart
and then now you can help them thereafter okay don't be a christian nag
right just constantly nagging your family constantly nagging your parents
constantly nagging your children just constantly trying to win them over to your position
especially if they've already are close to whatever you're saying you know you're only
going to make matters worse you need a long time of abstinence is what you need understand
you know in marriage hey wives you need a permanent state of abstinence sometimes
amen meaning you know what it's never good and it's never right and it's never productive to
nag your husband if your husband is falling back spiritually or they're not on par with the things
of god guess what it's not your job to point that out to him because you've already lapped him
spiritually you read more bible than him guess what it's not your place to nag him because all
you're going to do is cause him to be hardened to the things of god and you say how do you know
because i'm a man if my wife nagged me i would literally do the exact opposite just the spider
because i hate nagging so much nagging is so distasteful and so annoying it's so godless
that it just makes us so carnal they're just like you know what
i'm just gonna do the exact opposite because of your nagging this is why the bible
tells us in the new testament that a way a woman can win her husband over is by her conversation
yes her godliness and you know here's a common thing that i always hear and this is common with
all churches is that wives will often say well i do all that though and let me just say this if
a wife has to say they do all that just mark it down they do they don't do all that right
because they actually speak louder than words my friends and for someone to say why i do all that
they're essentially saying that the bible is not true right because they're saying like well i do
all that it doesn't work so are you saying that what god said to do doesn't work like you're like
the exception to the rule no obviously it does work you know but maybe you need a long time of
abstinence okay and when the bible says to win them with their conversation with your conversation
it's not referring to your words it's referring to your conduct okay the bible talks about having
a meek and quiet spirit that's what helps but you know what it's not only subject it's not
only something that is applicable to marriage it's applicable to your relationship with your kids too
you know maybe you have kids that are grown they're older they're kind of doing their own
thing and you want them to get on board with the things of god you know sometimes nagging them
making them do those things can actually cause them to become hardened towards the things of god
okay it causes them to actually not want to come to church not want to listen to the word of god
it causes them to become bitter towards church and the things of god in preaching this happens
all the time and in fact i remember a specific family that was no longer here they they they
left a long time ago okay so it's no one recent it's a long time ago and the mom would constantly
nag her kids constantly nag your kids about coming to church and they had to do all these
things and we have to go sony and they're just constantly just nagging her kids and her kids
would be here she had a son and a daughter and you could literally tell based upon their countenance
that they hated being in church they hated it and there's times when i was preaching and they would
actually crack a smile because they actually like the preaching but you know what their bitterness
towards their mom for just making the the service of the lord grievous caused them to just become
hardened towards church and they hated coming here you know obviously i'm i'm all for making your
kids come to church especially if they're little obviously but what i'm not for is just kind of
shoving it down their throats and you're a total hypocrite at home you're not making the service
of the lord and the attendance to god's house pleasing and fun and palatable for your kids you
know you want your kids to have good memories coming to church i want my kids to have good
memories coming to church i want them to grow up and say i remember we used to come to church we
used to hear preaching seeing hymns i said play with my friends it was just the best time ever
just great memories but you know what not every child will be able to say that
because parents make it grievous unto them sometimes and parents need to realize that
they need sometimes especially teenage kids they need to give their kids time to make the house of
god and things of god palatable unto them okay and not just nag them go read your bible and you need
to come to church i don't care what you say and you know that's not very productive you need a
long time of abstinence okay
now when people don't listen then there's really nothing you can do and this is a hard thing for
people to um to accept is that especially when it comes to the people they love because they
want to say something about a bad decision or whatever it may be but sometimes you know you
just got to let people suffer the consequences of their actions and you know what i know this
personally because pastor in this church we've i've had people come and go from this church
people make really bad decisions and there's times when i want to call people up and say
what you're doing is going to destroy you your family your future it's not going to go well
with you but you know what it's not worth it because they're not going to listen sometimes
people don't listen you say well then what do you do i pray for them and i have a long time
of abstinence just wait for them to suffer loss until they come around and they're willing to get
things right and listen to counsel and you know another way we can apply this is don't keep
shoving the gospel down your family's throat if they just don't want to listen to you anymore
that's a really bad thing to do you know especially if you already have a bad testimony
before your family you know a bad testimony coupled with nagging is a recipe for just
destruction straining of the relationship and you know sometimes they won't get saved and again i
know this is my personal experience because when i first got saved i was very zealous for the things
of god but i had a zeal not according to knowledge and i was just like well i got saved so i'm just
gonna go tell my family to get saved or they're gonna burn in hell and i remember going to my
brother and saying you need to get saved because you're going to hell now i was right about that
and i'm still right about that because he didn't get saved but you know what looking back it was
a stupid way to approach it and sometimes young christians have a tendency to communicate things
not out of sincerity of heart or partially out of sincerity but partially also because they want
a certain response they do it for shock value or something you know but you know that that doesn't
god doesn't reward you on how many times people give you shock value responses
you know and so if you have family that are not saved and you're like i've always given
the gospel always give them the gospel well if they're always rejecting you then maybe you need
a long time of abstinence and not give them the gospel for a while let them go through a season
of the soul in their life or maybe they suffer loss and they'll come to you when they're ready
and get saved or what you could do is have a long time of abstinence and invite them to church
so that someone else can give them the gospel because they're sick and tired of hearing it
from you because maybe you don't have a good testimony before them there's instances where
i brought family and friends to my church when i first got saved and you know i gave them the
gospel they didn't get saved because they didn't respect me enough but you know what someone else
at the church gave them the gospel and some of my friends got saved and so you know the the
salvation of the soul of your family and friends is more important than your ego so instead of like
well i just keep giving them the gospel i'm just keeping giving them the gospel every time i see
them give them the gospel i understand your burden but you're probably only going to make matters
worse by doing that because they're not going to want to hear it and so sometimes people need to
suffer loss before they can actually be open to whatever counsel you want to give them and it's
very difficult to just have a long time of abstinence because you're like well i could
just if they just listen to me if they just do what i say everything would be fixed i agree
but you know what they're not going to listen to you so you just push that thing out of your mind
because it's not going to happen you know as a pastor there's counsel that i want to give
sometimes and i know it's valuable because i know it works because i've seen it work in times past
but i have to refrain myself from giving it unless the person comes to me
i only impose counsel on certain people that i already know
or should i say i only impose counsel on people that have had a reputation of obeying my counsel
in times past because if people listen to me in times past then i feel like that gives me liberty
to just approach someone and say hey you're kind of being stupid you kind of need to fix this and
i know they're not going to get offended i know they're going to be humble about it and i know
they're going to listen but you know what outside of that i don't just distribute counsel or wisdom
to just anybody because sometimes people just don't listen and one of the greatest teachers
that we could ever have is pain and loss because it helps us to realize you know why i should have
listened in the first place and let's just be honest we've all been on that receiving end when
we didn't listen and we had to suffer loss and then we started listening thereafter so let's go
ahead and give that same attitude towards another person who maybe not be listening to you maybe
it's a younger sister a younger brother maybe it's a cousin maybe it's an uncle maybe it's a mom maybe
it's a dad maybe it's another church member that you care about greatly you know what we just need
to kind of give them their space and have a long time of abstinence and not say anything because
it seems as though our words can actually make it worse you understand maybe requires just a
little more prayer on your end yeah but they need to believe the repertory doctrine though
you know they still got that fact friend and they're keeping that fact running around and
you know they just got to get rid of yeah but you know what if you've already explained it to them
and they get what you're saying and they're still not doing it then you need to be abstinent in your
speech for a while because telling them over and over again is going to make them want to get two
fat friends you make matters worse you understand what i'm saying now little kids we got to tell
them over and over and over again certain things right they need to be taught and they're going to
hear it over and over i guarantee you my kids can pull up a list of things that i repeat to them
over and over again they have to obey me they have no choice because they're little
but obviously that trend that that relationship will evolve over time and lord willing you know
when they're teenagers it's more of a matter of i have a good relationship with them they love me
as their father they see me as their leader and they'll come to me for counsel and they'll come
to me for their opinion for for my opinion and and want wisdom and now that's what i would want
you understand but let's say that doesn't happen then you know what i need to make sure that even
as a father i abstain in certain areas from hardening potentially hardening the hearts
of my kids you know over the things of god because i just keep kind of pushing it down
their throats a long time of abstinence and you know something we we as christians we like to talk
a lot we like to say things a lot but we don't like to do a whole lot sometimes so what do you
mean by that what's easier to tell people what to do than to actually do what you're supposed
to do and just have a good testimony before them you know husbands want to tell their wives how
wrong they are and what they need to change and all the pants they need to throw away but they're
not necessarily the best at loving their wives as christ also love the church they miss the key that
like dude what you need to do is stop getting on your wife and just love your wife and then she'll
end up doing what you want her to do that's kind of how it works actually and vice versa
no i need to show her ephesians five i'm trying to get her memorized ephesians five and submit
to me you know once she learns that you know then marriage will be a-okay okay i'm gonna abstain
then from speaking and so loss is forced people to reconsider
you know people leave our church sometimes throughout the years
and they'll often blame me or others for you know whatever reason why they left but you know at the
end of the day you know they say well you know how come people don't reach out to me how come
people don't call me well it's because you don't listen that's why i mean i remember a couple years
ago someone said that and it's just like people don't reach out to me it's just like yeah but
probably because you don't listen why would why is anybody going to reach out to a person
who doesn't want to listen
don't be that person be the person who listens don't be stubborn don't be obtuse just listen
listen looking for 21 but after long abstinence so everything's getting messed up they're in the
storm now they're fearing for their lives verse 21 but after long abstinence paul stood forth in
the midst of them and said sirs and you know i like this part right here you should have
hearkened unto me this is his i told you so moment right he's like
i told you guys should have listened to me you know and not lose from creed and to have gained
this harm and loss so what did paul do well first and foremost he picked the right time to speak
right after the loss he's you know he's in the storm they're in a storm with him he's not gonna
be like i told you so you know obviously there's still a storm but he but at the point where they're
at their wits end then he's like you guys should have listened to me i told you not to leave
so now he's gaining credibility here
and so one thing that we can learn from this is that it's not that we're not supposed to
say anything it's just that sometimes we need to pick the right pick the right time to say it
you know what i mean we need to pick the appropriate time for a correction for an
admonishment you need to pick a right time to give bad news you need to pick a right time to
correct someone timing is almost pretty much everything sometimes i know that sounds like
a contradiction but it is it is it's everything that's why i don't take phone calls on monday
morning amen that's not the time for me to give counsel sometimes because i'm just not on my
i'm not at optimum um pastor you know i'm just still recovering from sunday i rather
talk to people when i'm i'm able to function properly i can think properly you know
but at the end of the day you know you need to pick a right time to say something
and timing is everything now go with me to James chapter 3 and people don't understand
how vital this wisdom is that we need to be careful what we say how we say it and when we say
it our words have a lot of weight to them you know they can they can destroy the bible talks about
that death and life are in the power of the tongue and our words are very powerful they carry a lot
of weight they can impact and influence but they can also destroy and just decimate someone's life
just based upon our words look at James chapter 3 verse 2 it says for in many things we offend all
if any man offend not in word the same as a perfect man and able to bridle the whole body
one of the greatest disciplines that a christian could possess is their ability to control their
tongue and in fact the bible says if you're capable of controlling your tongue
you are essentially what the bible refers to as a perfect man not sinless not without flaw it's
referring to a mature person complete he says in verse 3 behold we put bits in the horse's mouth
that they may obey us and we turn about their whole body behold also the ships which though
they be so great and are driven of fierce winds yet are they turned about with a very small helm
whithersoever the governor listeth even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great
things behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth now this is a really bad example but
it kind of communicates the point you think of like social media and the stuff that people say
on social media they're not literally speaking it but they're typing it which is basically
worse because people are more bold in text than they are in person
and there's a lot of fires that are being kindled on social media today
because of things that people say especially if they have some fake account
you know what i mean they make some bogus account they don't put their profile picture on there
they're on private or something they can say whatever they want to anybody
because they know they're not going to be found out takes more guts to actually put yourself out
there and have those same opinions and make those same comments why because people understand how
great a matter a little fire kindleth your words can literally create a forest fire within the
relationships that you're in in marriage with your brothers and sisters in christ with your kids you
got to be careful how you talk it says in verse six and the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity
so is the tongue among our members that it defiled the whole body and set on fire the
course of nature and is set on fire of hell you can get yourself in a hell of a lot of trouble
by the way you talk so how do you know i remember being in high school getting my butt whooped
because of my tongue getting the snot beat out of me because i mouthed off to the wrong person
mouthed off to the wrong person he challenged me to a fight i didn't want to fight but guess what
i'm in high school and so everyone's there like you're gonna fire them and you know you can't back
out in my mind i'm like this guy's big he's taller he looks stronger i'm gonna lose but
i can't back down because i'm too prideful i can't say sorry because the joke was too good
so what'd you do i went i fought i lost i bled
and you say what's the lesson that you learned i learned you know what maybe next time i should
think about i should think twice before i say something like that one of the greatest lessons
i've ever learned i still remember the guy's name to this day because it was such a valuable lesson
for me i remember thinking to myself this is the reason why i shouldn't just mouthed off to just
anybody we need more instances like that in this world amen you say well how do you know because
too many people mouthed off and it makes me think like man no one's ever these people never been
smacked in the mouth they've never been like beat up you know because when i got i put it this way
i got beat up so bad and after i got beat up because there it was it was i don't know if
he was a member of the crip gang but he had a bunch of crips backing him up and after i got
beat up i was all bloody they had blood all over one of the crips came to me and he says it's good
that you lost because if you would have won we would have jumped you and that would have been
a lot worse that's what he told me and i remember my face just hurting i was lumped up there was
just blood everywhere and i had to catch two buses home so my friend said put your put put my shirt
over your head and i would just like take you home on the bus i'll just tell you where to walk because
my face looks so bad it's very humbling experience but i remember thinking to myself you know what
i'm never going to mouth off to the wrong person but then i learned Muay Thai kickboxing and i
started mouthing off again just kidding you know you gain confidence then you realize you know what
fighting is stupid and you don't want to just fight anybody because you just never know what
might happen but it taught me that my tongue can get me in a lot of trouble
it is set on fire of hell verse seven for every kind of beast and birds and of serpents and of
things in the sea and taint is tamed and has been tamed of mankind but the tongue can no man tame
not even the person who possesses it it is an unruly evil full of deadly poison man it almost
sounds like you can get yourself in a lot of trouble with the words that you say you can
destroy your marriage it almost sounds like you can really break down your husband it almost
sounds like you really tear down your wife it really sounds like you can destroy your
relationship with your kids it really sounds like you could just damage
important relationships in the christian life with only your words
verse nine therewith we bless bless we god even the father and therewith we curse we men
which are made after the similitude of god out of the same mouth perceived blessings
and cursings my brethren these things ought not so to be you say what's the lesson there
the lesson is this you know it's better to just be abstinent in our speech sometimes
you're just good not to say anything how can i stay out of trouble number one shut up
i have a sermon i preached a couple years ago it was literally called shut your mouth
and it was based off of this verse go with me to the book of proverbs
chapter 17 proverbs chapter 17
and so if warnings aren't heeded then abstinence is necessary if your sister's not willing to
listen to you be abstinent for a while because you're only going to make matters worse by saying
more more to her if your brother if your mother if your father if your kids aren't listening to you
you know regarding the things of god then just zip it because you're only going to make matters worse
and i'll be honest with you as a young christian i drove a lot of people away from me because of
my speech because i was just getting on them for everything and just being a self-righteous holier
than now immature christian and i regret a lot of it you know and obviously i've had to grow i grew
out of that but you know looking back i see the damage that was done with my words look what it
says in proverbs 17 verse 27 he that hath knowledge spareth his words and a man of
understanding is of an excellent spirit even a fool what is a fool it's a stupid person
even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise and he that shutteth his lips
that's uh hebrew for he that shuts his mouth keeps his mouth shut he that shutteth his lips
is esteemed a man of understanding gotta understand the bible tells us in ecclesiastes
chapter 3 verse number seven that there's a time to keep silence and a time to speak
okay
go with if you would go back to um go back to act chapter 27
consequences can often soften the heart and that sometimes we just gotta wait for that
okay you gotta wait for people to suffer the consequences of their actions you gotta wait
for the storm to break the ship a little bit you know well it's been years it might require
a couple more years for people to come around sometimes you gotta wait for the ship to be
destroyed for them to have losses for the lading of the ship and the tackling to be thrown overboard
you know you gotta wait for a lot of losses in order for people to come around
and it's it's sad but you know what if it's a matter of salvation whatever it takes
right but if it's a matter of just them coming back to the lord and they're saved but they're
backslidden you know that's what it takes sometimes okay and and here's the thing is that
one thing you never want to do is if a brother or sister is involved in a grievous sin
and they're not in church but they're involved in a grievous sin and you know that they're in a
grievous sin don't enable them by keeping in contact with them right obviously it's different
if you live with your parents and your parents are the ones in grievous sin or they're your
parents period or if it's like your brother and they live with you your siblings they live with
you under grievous sin you obviously can't do anything about that you're stuck there okay
however if it's something you can do something about don't just stay in contact with brothers
and sisters in christ who you know are involved in grievous sin because you're trying to help
them a little bit so there needs to be some abstinence from that relationship
you understand what i'm saying well i just like to text them every once in a while see how they're
doing they're not doing good you don't even need to text them i'll tell you they're not doing good
how do you know because they're not in church that's why why you said why can't i text them
every once in a while let them know that i'm praying for them because that enables them
because all they need is someone from church to approve of what they're doing
by contacting them to make them feel like oh okay you know brother so and so is contacting me so i
guess you know i'm just gonna remain here i can keep one foot here one foot here i'm good to go
no people need to be ashamed when they're involved in sin when they have forsaken the assembly of
ourselves together they need to be ashamed they need to be put to shame for what they're doing
so that in humility they return but if you're constantly contacting them
first of all you're in violation of scripture church discipline but secondly you're not helping
them you're not helping them at all are you saying i shouldn't pray for them obviously i'm
not saying you shouldn't pray for them you pray for them think upon them pray for them but you
know what we don't need to keep in contact with people who are involved in open grievous sin it's
wrong to do you're not helping them any you're enabling them in that iniquity don't do it
where do i have you go back to acts chapter 27
so he says there of course he says i told you so but look at verse 22 he says and now i exhort you
to be of good cheer so obviously the apostle paul's not bitter he's not like i told you
now look at you don't ask me for help i'm saved i'm going to heaven i don't know what you guys
are going to do you guys are all screwed you should have listened to me before no he's obviously
he's not harboring any ill will or feelings towards them he's just telling them like you
should have listened to me but then he goes on to say but i exhort you to be of good cheer
so he corrects them he rebukes them but then he exhorts them thereafter so here's the thing folks
is that maybe you know someone who hasn't taken your advice in times past when they finally come
around don't shove it in their face don't just be like oh remember you want to listen to me in the
first place remember replay that story for me how did that go how did that go real quick tell me how
that went what is exact tell me the exact words that i told you that you didn't listen to you
know now you may have a relationship with a person where you can do that i do that to ulysses all the
time he has no choice but to just and i just you know i just kind of gloat a little bit you know
but other people don't do that too right exhort them be of good cheer for there shall be no loss
of any man's life among you but of the ship so if someone comes back to you say you know
i would even recommend you say i told you so obviously because obviously they know that
just exhort them in the lord help them to continue to go forward help them thereafter
don't scold them okay because here's the thing folks is that if you scold people
who are coming to you for help after a time of abstinence that'll be the last time you get to
help them you know because it's already embarrassing for them to have to come back and eat crow
right so the fact that they're willing to eat crow should tell you like hey it's okay be of good
cheer things can be fixed i'm here for you you know let's let's let's let's start working on
a plan to get you out of this situation this is what you need to do be of good cheer because at
the end of the day the goal is to get your family member saved the goal is to help someone get right
with god the goal is for your wife to be a godly wife for your husband to be a godly husband for
your children to be godly children that's the result that we want okay that's a win
a win is not you gloating before them so they see that you won and you're right all along the goal
is the end result of them being saved or if they're already saved that they would just get
right with god and you start going in the way of righteousness really this is a sermon just to tell
you don't nag people don't nag them don't nag in your marriage don't nag your kids your teenagers
your adult children don't nag them because it could be it could have some devastating
consequences to that have long abstinence practice long abstinence of speech and just
wait for them to come around okay and let me say this when new christians come to our church
don't just unload everything on them like i've been abstinent long enough
fags are gross pre-trib is garbage jews run the world and they're wicked
these are the tenants of our faith
and i understand when people want to do that because they they just have zeal right
and they're in a church where those doctrines are readily agreed upon and accepted and preached
but here's the thing is that you know a babe in christ can't handle philemon that's some philemon
right there that's some i mean let's pick another one that's picanha that's picanha right there
that's that good stuff that's that texas the brazil type meat there you understand what i'm
saying but babies can't handle that right now and i know you just want to throw up all your
doctrines on them on the first day but don't do that have long abstinence okay and give new
christians knowledge incrementally for what they can handle because you got to think about it when
new christians come to our church aside from the fact that they have to believe right god wants
them to act right as well it's a lot on their plate you're like not for me well yeah because
you were listening online for how long you've been listening to preaching on righteousness for how
long you know all the doctrines you know you're kind of it's like the pro you had a you had
protein shakes of doctrine already given to you so it just readily absorbs into your system
you didn't have to chew any food you just took a bunch of protein creatine you're good to go
you're just kind of born into it kind of thing or it's just given to you but you know there's people
who may haven't they haven't been listening online they're not new ifb by the way don't
be shocked when people who are not new ip come to our church they're just like oh man what do
you mean they don't know who that is what do you mean they don't know who pastor Anderson is i
thought everyone knows no not everyone knows who that is what do you what what like they think the
jews are god's chosen people that's weird i mean we can't expect people to just be on par doctrinally
on day one you have to like ease them into those things i know you're used to people just already
knowing them right off the bat but there's people who are going to get and one of the reasons i'm
preaching this also is because of the fact that you know the fall program is right around the
corner so we're going to have a lot of visitors and lord willing some will stick around like
people have in times past okay from last year and we need to ease people into those doctrines
okay and so be abstinent in your speech give knowledge to people incrementally
and if they don't want to listen to you then stop talking to them and start trying to stop
trying to give them counsel because they're not listening anyways if you've lost your children's
respect then you need to abstain from correcting them and when i say children i'm talking about
adult children and and teenage children who are becoming adults young adults
i'm not talking about the little ones okay you need to just work on winning them over
winning their hearts over before you can teach them what the bible says
if your husband's not listening to you the answer is not this is what the bible says
you know if your wife's not listening to you the answer is not
if you don't submit to me you're wicked submit that's what the bible says and it's our favorite
thing to say that's what the bible says and it's true it's true but you know what
the recipient of that message often does not care
and if they don't care then it's not going to work to your advantage so you need some wisdom
so you need some wisdom and be like paul who abstained from speaking for a while until the ship
was wrecked and then the attention turned to him and then then he was able to tell him like this
is how you guys are going to be saved this is how we're going to survive this catastrophe this storm
this is how it's going to happen and then you gain credibility thereafter and then you essentially
are able to influence them influence them for the years to come amen let's pray father we thank you
so much for your word thank you for this great story great principle help us as your people to
be mindful of the words that we say lord and to make sure that we abstain for a season from
speaking correcting or even counseling if someone's not willing to listen and lord sometimes just
people need to suffer the consequences of their actions you're working in their hearts and in
their lives and we just need to be ready to be there for them when when they come around
and so help us as your people to recognize that and i know and especially my life personally i
i've learned that it's frustrating when people don't want to listen but that shouldn't be a
motivation to keep telling them that they're wrong or keep telling them that they're not doing right
sometimes we just got to let them leave them to their devices and allow you to work in their
hearts lord i pray that you'd help us to do so and give us a great night and a great week to
follow in jesus name amen man song number 102 is our last song he hideth my soul song number 102
song number 102 we'll see it on that first verse a wonderful savior is jesus my lord a wonderful
wonderful savior to me he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock where rivers of pleasure i see
me he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty
land he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his head
and covers me there with his
hand a wonderful savior is jesus my lord taketh my burden away
he holdeth me up and i shall not be moved he giveth me strength as my day
he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land
he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his head
and covers me there with his hand
with numberless blessings each moment he crowns and filled with this fullness divine
i sing in my rapture oh glory to god for such a redeemer as
he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty
he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his head
and covers me there with his head singing on that last when clothed with his brightness
transported i rise to meet him in clouds of the sky
his perfect salvation his wonderful love i'll shout with the millions on high
he hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock that shadows a dry thirsty land
he hideth my life in the depths of his love and covers me there with his head
and covers me there with his hand
amen wonderful singing you are dismissed