 without further ado we will go into God's word to encourage our faith as we begin this year in Acts chapter 28 verse 8 and 9 and 10 says the following and it happened that the father of Publius I think that's how his name is pronounced but he is dead so we don't know we don't know how to check that with him he lay sick of a fever and some other sickness Paul went into him and prayed and he laid his hands on him and he healed him now this guy Publius he actually was like a big guy in that place in the island named Malta he was the leading citizen of that island and verse 9 says the following and when this was done the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed they also honored us in many ways and when we departed they provided such things as were necessary I want you to pray this simple prayer out loud with me so Lord Jesus open my heart to your word Lord Jesus open my heart to your spirit Lord Jesus open my heart to your faith say amen I can't hear you say amen okay I want to speak to you briefly on a topic that will be called afflicted but not restricted afflicted but not restricted and it will come from the story of Paul Paul is a very interesting figure in the Bible Paul wrote a lot of the New Testament this combination of his letters that we call New Testament today two thirds of those letters were written by Paul Paul had a very interesting story Paul was a religious man from all his life he actually studied in a religious school where he learned about the ways of God and though Paul was a zealous religious man yet Paul wasn't saved and one day God comes to Paul and actually in a very explicit way where Jesus shows up physically to Paul Paul was so radical that I think it took Jesus coming physically for him to believe and Jesus comes physically to Paul he he meets Jesus and Jesus tells him Paul you what you're doing is wrong you're religious but you are not a Christian you're not a saved and I died for you I love you I want to forgive you of your sin and he tells him the gospel and Paul by the way asks him the question what should I do and Jesus tells him Paul right in the same occurrence same sentence Jesus says Paul you're gonna go and you're gonna preach the gospel you're gonna be a witness to everyone around and you're gonna make a big impact with your life for my kingdom I want you to remember this first thought is that you were saved with the purpose when Paul was saved Jesus didn't just save him to save him he saved him and God wasn't hiding any secrets God right away told all put all the cards on the table and says Paul I'm saving you that is awesome that is incredible you're gonna spend eternity in heaven but you also have an assignment on your life you're like Jesus I just got saved like two minutes ago give me some time before you actually tell me what I need to do with my life just let me get established in the church let me pick up a Bible actually there was no physical New Testament Bible but let me find some Christians let me let me get to know a little bit about this but Jesus says you need to do that and this is what you're called and Paul comes to the city of Damascus spends their three days being blind and somebody prays for him he receives his side he gets filled with the Holy Spirit and the Bible says and immediately Apostle Paul joined a Bible school now that's not what it says it says immediately Apostle Paul's they're going on the streets and telling everybody about Jesus Apostle Paul three days saved and he starts telling other people about Jesus Apostle Paul did know much about Jesus yet but what he knew he told other people I want to tell you something today when Jesus Christ rescues you from sin from the grip of the devil when Jesus when you give your life to Jesus Christ you must understand one thing about your life is that at that moment not 15 years down the road when you finally is sober for 15 years not when 10 years down the road when finally for 10 years you haven't done drugs look the pornography or did some immoral or illegal things but in that moment you become a witness and you gain a purpose not just salvation and somebody say a man somebody say a man turn to your neighbor say you got a purpose turn to your other number say you have a purpose you know I share this story many times in our church and it's worth repeating all the time there was one man who was trying to commit suicide and he wrote and letter in his house left the suicide note went to the bridge and was about to throw himself from the bridge and as he was looking down and mustering up the emotional strength and reminding himself how horrible his life is and you know to kind of build himself up to throw himself out and he notices there is a girl there that's swimming and she's not swimming she's actually dying because she is not knowing how to swim so she's drowning and so he realized that she's drowning and he was a good swimmer and he quickly forgets about his suicide attempt climbs from the bridge goes in there swims to her rescues her from drowning and pulls her to the shore by that time everybody gathers around the news media come the family comes everybody comes and they begin to ask this man he said how in the world were you at this place at the right time so when he told them the real story the next day the newspaper wrote this article about this story and they named it like this a purpose saved men's life when you find your purpose your life can change when you meet Jesus the second most important thing that must happen is you mind you must find your purpose your life is like an unsharped pencil without God it's pointless it has no point it has no usefulness well with God it becomes on purpose and the purpose is not just not to drink smoke and get high the purpose is the same purpose God had for Paul and that is to reach your world for Jesus Christ amen for Paul I want you to mention I want you to underline in your mind a point number two is the Paul's purpose was reached gradually why because when Jesus met Paul he told Paul three kinds of people Apostle Paul has to reach in his life first it was the children of Israel in other words the Jewish people the second one it was the Gentiles Gentiles is you and I Gentiles is non-Jewish people anybody any Jewish people here full blood Jewish half Jewish one quarter Jewish one eighth no okay anybody doesn't know you're like dude I'm Mexican man I'm Russian American leave me alone so for Apostle Paul Jewish people this is what God says you're gonna talk to Jewish people about Jesus and then he says I want you to talk about Gentiles means you and I people who are not Jewish and thirdly God says I want you and you are going to stand in front of kings and talk to them about Jesus so Paul spends a very much part of his life talking to Jewish people then he talks to the Gentiles people like us who are not Jewish and then Apostle Paul toward the end of his life gets locked in the prison ends up spending many years talking to kings about Jesus Christ and brings the witness to Jesus Christ to kings I want to let you know today is that God has a specific group he wants you to influence for his kingdom some of you are single girls and honestly the most probably effective you will be is not with grandmas and with people in retirement home or even maybe with older women who are married have children but you will be probably most effective with those kind of girls like yourself when you grow like Apostle Paul there will be different categories of people you will be able to influence as you are faithful to God but you must understand all the goals God gives you upfront cannot be fulfilled upfront as you fulfill one another one unveils as you feel it fulfill another one and another one unveils Apostle Paul had the privilege of bringing the gospel of Jesus not only to the Jewish not only to the Gentiles but also to the kings I believe it is the purpose and the call of God to bring the message of Jesus not only to the homeless not only to the drug addicts not only to the alcoholics not only to the people who are lost their way but people in politics people who are wealthy people who are famous people who are known people who others look up to the gospel is for every type and category of people as a church as a Christian you must understand God is calling you to be a light not only to the people who are doing worse than you when Paul was talking to the kings he was chained up yet he was sharing the gospel most of us feel disadvantaged telling someone about Jesus when they know you got bigger problems than them because we feel like the only time I have advantage like you know when they see I got a nice car when they see that I have a breakthrough that is the only time I can talk about Jesus it's true it's good to talk about Jesus when your life is doing good and God is establishing your family God is healing you and there is testimonies but please understand Apostle Paul talked about Jesus even when the guys he talked to were higher financially higher economically higher politically but they were not higher spiritually and Apostle Paul acted like an ambassador from heaven dough and chains he still was an ambassador and he talked to them like a boss he witnessed today I'm not hiding and say oh I'm just I don't know guys this whole Jesus thing got me locked up I got you locked up so be careful it was not sure you know I know yes he helped me but just not sure no I just don't want to talk no Paul was bold he was talking like he was a boss he knew what he was talking about some people are afraid to share their faith with their boss some people are afraid to to tell their manager when they're going through a hard time about Jesus you're like well he's a manager well that doesn't mean that he is an angel he's a human he needs Jesus the gospel of Jesus Christ was some people well he's a football player he's a cheerleader you know she's famous she's you know everybody knows them he's a drug dealer you know he's he's this he's that you guys we should never characterize people we should see people this every person has a soul look at me every person has a soul and that's all needs Jesus I remember the first time that I met with a person who drove very very expensive car the car is probably more expensive than my house and I met with him after he got saved and right before that in the morning prayer I had to deal with my heart with one thing God said lot don't look at him as a man who has that money look at him as a soul don't look at him at nothing and don't let him buy you a drink you buy his coffee and so I remember we came in you know he pulled out his wallet there's little like ten a hundred dollars sticking out I was like oh Jesus and here I am literally I don't have much money at that day and I'm pulling in like no I got you bro no I'm paying for you he's like are you sure in the back of my mind I was like if he says one more time I'll let him pay and let him pay for my Starbucks card as well but in he says I'm like no no no I got you and I met with him and when I talked to him I looked it in his eyes and one thing I didn't let I didn't let his wallet stand between me and his soul don't let somebody's accomplishments don't let somebody's anger don't know whoever they are remember inside of that big person is a little soul that is hungry for God because somebody say amen put your hands together for Jesus Christ you know most of you most of you heard of one of the most famous evangelists of our day is Billy Graham in his lifetime he met with 12 presidents 12 presidents including the current president have paid visit to him called him and met with him and asked him for direction and for advice quite few of those presidents he actually led to Jesus one of them is the president you are seeing right now right here when Dwight Eisenhower when he was dying and he asked Billy Graham to come and visit him Dwight Eisenhower he called Billy Graham his pastor and when he came to visit him in the hospital and he was about to leave he talked to him about Jesus and everything he's about to leave and this president he asks pastor please come back he says stay with me a little bit longer he said tell me the story again and Billy Graham goes again it shows exactly the same story and after that he says could you pray with me because he says I'm about to die and I don't know what I'm going to go and Billy Graham right there president of United States who was a president of United States leads him to Jesus Christ after he finishes the prayer he says pastor now you can go and I will die in peace and few hours later our president that president passed away there will be presidents you will meet in heaven that other men and women were not ashamed to tell about Jesus without getting into politics they were able to influence them for the cause of Christ be that person don't look at people by their statue by their position by their income or by how low they are today how poor they are or how struggling they are what people talk about them look at each person and remember one thing no matter how they look what they've done they're so sexual orientation their income and their status they are a soul and God loves them amen amen point number 3 when our mobility is restricted it shouldn't limit our mission when apostle Paul was reaching people for Jesus he got to the point where he got locked up he got in prison he got chained up and it's interesting that when Paul's mobility his ability to walk to places his ability to travel was restricted when he was not allowed to go as free as he was able to apostle Paul doesn't stop talking about Jesus apostle Paul a convention already he talks to kings he talks to other people but then apostle Paul begins to write letters to churches and he begins to send those letters and encourage those churches in Christ now I'm pretty sure apostle Paul was in jail and he was probably feeling like man I could have planted so many more churches I could have raised up so many more Timothy's and Titus's and I could have done so many more healings I could have cast out so many more demons I could have established so many home groups if I would have been free but now my life has changed and man I'm so bummed out because I'm so limited now but apostle Paul though being afflicted in this area of not being able to travel he still continued to minister to God though in his limited way as it seemed well today apostle Paul didn't know that in one day more people will read his writings then he will be able to see face-to-face in his lifetime apostle Paul didn't know that 2000 years later the letters he wrote are not just gonna be letters they're gonna be found they will be combined into a book that people will buy buy and this book will be the best seller on every list of all time he didn't know that there will be an app called Bible app and people will download millions of people every day this Ukrainian boy in United States and the morning prayer will be reading apostle Paul's letters for 20th time he didn't know there's gonna be you and I so they're in jail still doing what God called him but limited not knowing it's gonna make a bigger impact in the whole run my friend don't let your mission be stopped even when you feel afflicted in a certain area of your life let it change your method but not your mission let it change your method not your mission maybe you don't in college right now you got all the school you got full-time school your part-time job you're like I can't make it I can't be as faithful I can't be as committed because of so many responsibilities I'm like Paul I am like in jail college is jail it could seem like with the time restraints you feel like you're restricted but even then this is not your time to say well I'm gonna take a break from God I'm gonna take a break break from preaching Jesus I'm gonna take a break from telling telling about Jesus I'm gonna take a break from home group maybe you're a single mom your single mom or maybe you just got a child you're like you know what I can't have a home group no more because I got this little baby and I can no longer witness or do these things as they used to do yes you're right you are limited yes you are right there is a certain limitation but you should change your method not your mission maybe you moved in new in town and you don't have nobody here you're like I don't know who to invite to church I don't know who to talk to over there I was talking to my co-workers but in here it's so new it's different listen change your methods but don't change your mission do not change your calling in life but change how you do it and your approach can somebody say amen there was this guy his name was John Bunyan he was a preacher long time ago and at that time for preaching the gospel you can also be put in jail and like Apostle Paul he was put in jail for 12 years for preaching the gospel and during that period of time the officials came and they said if you're gonna stop preaching about Jesus will release you he said if you release me I will speak about Jesus the next person I see they locked him up again 12 years he couldn't see his wife he couldn't be with his family and during those 12 years you know it seemed like a life was wasted but he started to write his experiences with God he started to get revelations from God and he wrote this book called the pilgrims progress that most of you have read this book most of you have heard about this book but if you don't if you ever come close to literature you will find out in the English language the book that's on the top after the Bible that's sold the most is pilgrims progress it's translated to 200 languages about 80 African languages alone this book has made more influence on not just the Christian world and the literature itself and probably any other book little did that guy knew that when his circumstances changed but he didn't change his mission and his calling God will still use him in his own powerful way listen my friend maybe your finances change maybe things in your family change maybe there are certain things that happen with your schooling when things change with your circumstances listen do not lay down your calling do not lay down your assignment to win souls and make disciples don't make it excuse and say well now I can't do it because you know I drive a truck now I cannot do it well because now I have a child now I cannot do it because I have a full time and another full time and I do school at night I can no longer serve God as I used to you are right you can no longer serve as a used to but you should not stop serving the way you can now can somebody say man put your hands together for Jesus Christ I want you to write down thought number four don't allow problems in one area to restrict success in the other don't allow problems in one area to restrict success in the other when apostle Paul had chains on his hands when apostle Paul was in prison we read a scripture here in this island named Malta where they had a ship the ship that wrecked and apostle Paul was on the ship and being a prisoner being almost like a failure in this area he still exercises his gifts in the other area he tells the Centurion and the ship director he says guys I don't want you to sail at this time because God has shown me a vision it is not gonna be really good for all of us and the guys ignore him and of course what Paul said becomes true the ship wrecks and and then when the ship is about to the guys didn't eat for 14 days and they're lost they don't see the Sun for 14 days apostle Paul gets up like anyway like I said we will be in this trouble since none of you guys obeyed me but now last night just gotta tell you guys last night he said God's angel came to me and he told me that I'm gonna make it to Rome and as a gift he'll allow all of you guys to survive so just letting you guys know heads up all of you lucky that you got me on the ship I'm on chains I know but you're gonna survive because of me so brought some bread tacos to the tortoise and start giving different things to people people start eating rejoicing encouraging a prisoner he's not a Centurion he's not nobody a prisoner and he literally he's a boss at least everybody tells everybody what to do everybody survives they come on the island and the Bible says that the gather up some sticks and a snake bites Paul's hand and Paul is a boss shakes it off and doesn't suffer no harm he finds out that the main guy on that island that this this guy is sick Paul goes in there lays his hands that have chains on the guy gets healed when people hear about it people start lining up and Paul has church in chains and people getting healed left and right left and right and you see that being restricted in this area he is still successful in this area and he doesn't stop as though he doesn't see his chains though they exist don't be so obsessed with the area of your life that is currently not working that you pause everything else about your life be like Apostle Paul be a boss pretend it doesn't exist and you know what time came those chains were lifted he met with the emperor and the emperor released him but what would happen if Apostle Paul would have closed his Apostolic ministry what would happen if Apostle Paul would shut everything down and say hey guys I'm going through my dead season I'm just going through it I'm just barely trying to make it Apostle Paul didn't live like that and no should you whatever you're facing today maybe a particular area of your life is stuck do not cause that to cause every area of your life to be stuck continue to pray continue to be successful focus on the areas where God is moving God is doing something then just on the area where nothing is happening amen there was this wonderful preacher his name was Lester Somerall and Lester Somerall he got called by God at the age of 17 and this young man he was diagnosed with tuberculosis very rebellious liar thief hated his parents had big rebellion issues and he had a he had a sickness tuberculosis and he was laying on his death bed the doctor came in and he told him that in two hours Lester will die so parents already made the funeral arrangements they actually had I saw the testimony today they had his death certificate already written and signed by the doctor because the doctor says I won't be coming back to sign this death certificate he's gone so two hours two hours later he's supposed to be dead and in that moment he gets a vision and in the vision he sees a casket a coffin and a Bible and he hears a voice from God it's an honorable voice it tells him Lester in two hours that is your casket at 17 you're gonna leave this earth but if you preach the gospel then you will miss that casket and he says no I hate preachers I hate the gospel hate the church and hate everything no and God says then you'll die he says no I don't want to die and he starts debating with God and God says then you're gonna preach he says no I don't want to die and I don't want to preach and God says you're gonna die he says you got now an hour and a half not two and about an hour into it he says okay God I will preach he says are you sure you're not gonna lie he says no God I'm gonna really preach and he falls asleep his parents think he's dead he wakes up next morning and the first thing he says mom I won't drink I won't lie and I'll preach the gospel his mom looked at him says he's definitely dead at 17 he packs his bags goes into some unknown village and starts preaching Jesus only because Jesus rescued him from a casket not because he wanted to he preaches it and then actually God touches him he begins to travel at the age of 21 around the world on the ship preaching in China and other places he preached with this one guy who had this very weird policy amazing policy at that day where he said we will always travel to places you will provide for your own ticket out of your own money and you will never tell anybody that you need money you have to trust God so he said we were in this particular city and we needed to go to type bed and this mentor of his 21 years older said we're going to type bed in three days he said okay we'll go to type bed but you can't tell another person that you need money to buy the ticket the guy already has a ticket and Lester Somrell doesn't have a ticket so he's praying to God say God you gotta bail me out you gotta bail me out and nothing comes nobody gives him money nothing happens until one Chinese lady comes the day before he's supposed to leave and gives him an envelope of something he didn't even open it because he knew in his mind there would not be enough to cover the ticket it was like maybe like 20 or something dollars ticket he knew it wouldn't be enough and so he was so mad until God told him he says open the envelope at night he opened the envelope and there was $3,000 in that envelope now at those days you can buy a brand new vehicle a Cadillac for $400 so $3,000 he said that money lasted him for about 10 or something years of traveling all around the world and this is how that testimony happened that lady was an atheist and she was in China in particular city there going to a cancer treatment and as she was going to a cancer treatment she saw a poster saying that if you come we will pray for you and God will heal you so she comes not knowing nothing about Jesus comes in the line and this little boy 21 prays for her she feels heat going through her body goes next day to the doctor the doctor checks her she has no sickness at all comes back next day and says pray for me again doesn't tell him the story prays for him just in case she gets it in the future he prays for her she feels the heat goes back to the doctor the doctor says you don't have any cancer stop coming here you're annoying us she goes in again just in case if he leaves and she can't find him to pray for her so he prayed for three times until Esther got offended he says I've been praying for you three times what's wrong with you and when she told him the story it built everybody's faith people start receiving healings rapidly and she went home that night and God said you have $3,000 in your envelope you supposed to give that to the doctor give that to that preacher because that's God used him and those money will go a long way to help spread the gospel and she gives him that money I want to tell you something right now is that when some area of your life is stuck maybe nothing is moving don't stop in every other area for the glory of God because somebody say amen in the conclusion I want you to write down these tips but of faith borrow faith from your miracle to sponsor your need borrow faith from your miracle to sponsor your need always look at what God is doing in your life and take it from there to encourage your faith in the things that are maybe stuck borrow faith from your miracle to sponsor your need number two always remember that to reject a murder mentality when apostle Paul in stood in front of the kings apostle Paul looked at these chains and when he witnessed to them he said this he said guys I wish all of you will become like me accept these chains apostle Paul didn't endorse didn't passionately desire chains though he was so comfortable moving what God called him to do but he was not condoning being able to find peace when you're sick does not mean you should endorse sickness in your life just because you found God's joy when you are poor that does not mean poverty is God's gift just because you've been in every broken relationship and it brought you to Jesus that does not mean it is God's will for you to be in a broken relationship just because this and that has happened and it really humbled you and changed you that does not mean that makes it the will of God yes God can use it but apostle Paul never once said hey guys just want to tell you become a Christian and Jesus will give you chains because the Bible says Jesus came to give us life and more abundantly and if you have to go through chains for some time listen go through it don't get stuck in it and don't live in it for the glory of God because somebody say man don't allow your situation even if God is using it to become your identity and to become God's will for your life do not allow a murder mentality look at your situation and simply you have to say this to your situation this too will pass you have to look at your situation like I like what Martin said during the conference he says I know what I belong and it's not here you have to be like a seed that goes in the ground and people step on it and it's dark and it's lonely and seems like nobody is there and the farmer has abandoned me and it seems like I'm going only lower on the never come out of it but you have to tell yourself I'm gonna break through I'm gonna come out and this darkness will end I will see the sun I will see the rain and I'm gonna bear so much fruit when you are an arrow and you feel like you're being only pulled back everybody's going forward people getting married people getting promotions people finally finish college and you're trying to scratch your head what I should do with my life and you feel like your life is only going backwards backwards you only got bills then you got things with the card and the ice came on the road and you scratch your bumper and then the insurance is due and then that is due then the taxes are coming and the school fees are coming seems like everybody's getting breakthrough but you destroy within you a weak victim and murder mentality you have to tell yourself I am in the hands of a make you and if he pulls me back it's only to release me forward I will fly forward I will reach my destiny I will succeed I will overcome I will not live by accidents I will not live in sickness I will live in power I will not live in poverty I will not live depressed I will not cry myself to sleep I will be successful because royal blood is flowing through my vein God has called me blessed me and says you're fruitful and you will multiply feel the earth and you will have dominion and that is you and that is me can somebody say amen and lastly and lastly don't blame yourself Apostle Paul Holy Spirit warned Apostle Paul about going to Jerusalem explicitly a numerous times God told Paul if you go to Jerusalem they'll lock you up but you never see Paul blaming God after going in Chase now we don't know exactly whether it was his mistake or it was God's will fully it's a very debatable subject and I've read it so much even this week theologians are disagreeing one with another and I'm gonna leave that for theologians to do that in a seminary but what I want to leave it to here is I've never seen once Apostle Paul blaming himself and saying man I should have stayed away from Jerusalem you don't see Paul saying God where are you God how is it that this hand got bitten by a snake and you healed it but you can't remove my chains how is it God at these hands healed the heathens but you can't deliver these hands out of chain how is it God I was in prison in one city and you shook the whole city to get me out and now I've been here for five years and I'm still in my chains you don't see Paul ever complaining blaming God or himself you see him plowing like a bull knowing if I spend a minute complaining or blaming it will only make me stuck in this and listen I know what I belong and it's not here remove blame game completely do not blame yourself even if the situation you are in you are a hundred fifty percent responsible for it your mama told you not to do it your brother told you not to do it everyone told you not to do it everyone and you still did it do not spend one minute blaming yourself when you ask God for forgiveness blame only puts you deeper into that problem I just had an opportunity to minister to one particular person who made a decision to commit abortion many years ago and this particular person wonderful person begin to break down and cry and say that ever since that day I tried to do good things to prove that I'm better person and this person goes on to say says that the harder I tried the worst I got so I've gotten so worse and this person begin to mention the things that they were currently doing and I was like oh my goodness how are you able to do this and and this person said that I let myself a seam drop so low all because I've done something so bad that I cannot forgive myself I asked this person have you asked God for forgiveness and this person says there has not been a day I asked God for forgiveness and I asked this person second question have you received forgiveness and this is what this person said I don't know what you're talking about I said asking for forgiveness and receiving forgiveness are two different things I let this person in the prayer and I said after this prayer God forgave you I want you to stop asking for that and when the thought of guilt comes in you tell yourself I've been forgiven it is wrong to make another car payment after you receive the letter that your car is paid in full I said you no longer need to pay for your sin if Jesus died to pay for your sin and this person said well but I cannot forgive or what I've done I mean I you know this is so bad I said yes it is very bad but if God being so holy and being so out there could forgive you being down here who you think you are that you can forgive yourself when did you elevate yourself higher than God that you can release yourself forgive yourself if God being holy can forgive you being sinful listen you're not holier than God not to forgive yourself loose yourself just let yourself go and simply say I've done it that was wrong I won't do it again if you keep blaming you will relive it again but if you receive forgiveness not ask what you've done million times but receive that Jesus died on the cross and that was enough I don't have to pay another day for my sin because Jesus is cross and his blood your life will change in Jesus name now does that mean there's no consequences does that mean that you call your jail pen county jail is simply see I know I owe you guys 12,000 but Jesus paid all of my debts amen no those debts you still have to pay those tickets you still have to pay maybe supernaturally God will give you breakthrough but you still have to take care of some of those things but we're talking about between you and God can somebody say man you can overcome you're not going to be restricted even if you're afflicted amen the Bible says the more Egyptians afflicted Israel the more they multiplied you will succeed in spite of that in Jesus mighty name