 And it is truly an honor to be here, to be not only in this local church family, but to be working with pastor Lee and a wonderful team of ministers here. You know, not every church is an apostolic house. You might say, what is an apostolic house? An apostolic house is led by an apostolic pastor, given a gift by God to not only bless his church, his region, his community, but to resource and lay godly foundation in other churches and to pastor, pastor. So that's what kind of anointing is upon pastor Lee. Did you know that church? I hope you do because this church invests so much in giving to other churches, other pastors. And it is a joy of our heart. Becky and I find great joy in pastoring pastors. The way we like to say it is we help pastors do ministry effectively without losing their own soul in the process. And that's what we're all about. And so with that, we're coming to Acts chapter 27. So if you have your Bible, open it to Acts chapter 27. And the title of this message is shipwrecked and snakebitten. Sounds like a good time, doesn't it? Shipwrecked and snakebitten. But I do have a subtitle to help you understand how to stay tethered to God's plan through every storm of life. You know, Becky and I raised our four kids in Winona, Minnesota. For 30 years, we lived there, pastored, ministered there, launched an international ministry out of Winona, Minnesota. The church is still thriving today, Radiant Church in Winona, Minnesota. And we raised our kids on the Mississippi River. One of our hobbies was boating. Do I have any fellow boaters in the crowd this morning? In portage, yes, I see those hands, kind of, in portage. You know, boating is a wonderful thing. I never thought I would be a boater. But when we moved to the banks of the Mississippi River, which by the way is the state dividing line at that point between Wisconsin and Minnesota. And so it's a beautiful place to boat. I guarantee that when you're a river boater, you will have adventures. It's much more dangerous than lake boating. When you're boating around here, it's a piece of cake. When you're boating on the mighty Mississippi, it's moving. There are underwater hazards. There are huge barges going up and down the river, and all other kind of crazy boat drivers out there. But we raised our kids doing that, and one of the things we love to do in the spring is really get out there early. We were so avid. We were what you call river rats. We were so avid, we would love to get out. And so it was early April. And we said, come on, kids, let's go out. It's the first time we're going to dump the boat in the water. We trailer it up the boat. And I said, Becky, you're going to back the boat into the water. I'll get in the boat. We just need to make sure the motor's running right first time of the year starting out here. And what happened next is a part of family lore that's a deep mystery. Becky thought, I said, I'll tell you when to stop backing in. And I thought, I said, you know when to stop when the water gets this high on the edge of the boat. There's a massive disagreement between us to this day about what happened at that precise moment. I was in the boat. Everything was, all the hitches were undone. Becky backs me into the Mississippi River, and she keeps going. And you know what happens when you're launching a boat and you keep going? She launched me. The boat floated right off of the trailer. And I was like free floating down the river. All the kids were like, oh my, what's happening? Dad's floating right? I said, no problem, honey. I've got this. I went to go start the boat. And it went, er, er, click, click, click, click. Uh-oh, something's wrong. Er, er, click, click, click, click. A third time, just click, er. Dead battery. I didn't charge it enough. So I had done my job winterizing the boat so thoroughly. But I forgot to charge the battery properly. I said, I'm floating away. In my mind, the next lock-in dam was about two miles down river. I saw myself going over the dam. So being the resourceful person that I was, I ran to the front of the boat, opened up the hold, and grabbed the anchor. I said, I'm not going to float away too far. I threw the anchor out. And as it left my hands, it was all slow motion. And I realized that the, because of my cleaning of the boat, the months earlier, I was cleaning the rope and forgot to tie it back on the anchor. So the anchor goes over. And it's like, no. Splash, and it goes down to the bottom of the river. Little did I know, but there was a young man, a vagabond, traveling with his guitar from California across the United States, sitting up on the hill, watching all of this unfold. And he was one of these creative hippie types with his guitar singing everything that was going on. I wanted to give him an El Cabang with a guitar. But he was like, oh, no. Oh, no. There goes the anchor. Oh, no. Totally unhelpful. I'm getting further away from Becky. I said, I'll go down into the storage compartment. And I got a 75 foot ski rope. I said, honey, catch this. And I whipped it as hard as I could, but it was tangled to my foot. So it just went like that. I said, I'm going to do it again. This time I'm really going to whip this thing. 75 feet. Becky, catch this. And I whip it so hard. All of the rope goes out and leaves the boat and it starts floating away down the river. This is a great day. But there was a guy fishing, a couple of guys, but a guy named Roger, an older guy, was fishing, watching all this happen. And I didn't know Roger, but I said, hey, you fisherman. Cast your line over here and save me. I had this great idea. I said, Roger, it went the wrong way. This was literally my idea. Watch out there on the front row. Oh my, it went to the third row. OK, there's no hook on it. OK, Roger, pretend you're me. I tied it. I literally took Roger's fishing line and tied it around the front cleat of my boat to hold me back from the raging Mississippi River blowing me down to the lock and dam. And he says, it's a 12-pound test line. And then he said, I'm going to put it on full drag. You fishermen know what that means. And guess what? I was hoping and praying. I was watching that test line get as tight as a piano eye. And then poing, that broke. I was floating down the river, no anchor, no rope, a motor that wouldn't start. And I went to the hold again. And I said, I forgot to put the paddles back in the boat. You guys can come boating with me anytime, by the way. It's really fun. All I had was a ski. I had a water ski. So I got to the front of the boat. And I took that water ski. And I started paddling, paddling, paddling. Now, the current's pushing me further away. Luckily, fortunately, that vagabond guitar player decided to get involved in the game. He went to the barge company that was a block or so downriver. And he said, there is a boater in distress. We need to help him. He's about to float by your loading station. Well, at the loading station was a big, empty barge container. These are huge, by the way. They're like 12, 14 feet high, made out of iron. They go up and down the Mississippi River, hauling grain and everything else. And he saved the day, because a barge hand came out while I'm paddling, going with the current, farther away from Becky. I see the barge hand get up there. And he's a strapping young guy. And he has this massive rope. And I said, he said, paddle over here. So I'm with the ski, I'm paddling, paddling, as much as I can. And then I get close enough. And he says, all right, catch. And he whips the barge rope. And the best sound to my ears was a barge rope hitting my boat. I grabbed that barge rope. I braced myself and I said, pull me ashore. He pulled me ashore. We went back, we walked the boat back to the trailer. We went home with our tail between our legs. And we did not go boating that day. But one thing I learned, there's a big difference between a fishing line and a barge rope when it comes to saving your bacon. And here we come to Paul, who is now in a shipwreck at the end of the Book of Acts that is about to take his life. And we all go through storms, don't we? We all go through things that really are so challenging. We think we may not make it through this. How did Paul stay tethered to God's plan in the midst of a shipwreck? We have so much to talk about. So I'm gonna really try to move quickly. So here we see on this voyage to Rome. By the way, why was Paul going to Rome? He appealed to Caesar. He was arrested. He was in Caesarea by the sea as a prisoner for two years. There he witnessed to Felix and Festus and King Agrippa telling them about the kingdom of God. And two years he stayed there. Becky and I have been there at Caesarea. Some of you have as well. And it's amazing to think that the apostle Paul was imprisoned there before his trip to Rome. But this trip to Rome was very significant because Dr. Luke, the writer of Luke and the writer of Acts was on board with him as was a solid disciple, Aristarchus. And in verse six of Acts 27, you see it says, there the centurion found a ship of Alexandria that's Egypt sailing for Italy and he put us on board. Now here we go. They board this massive ship. It looks something like this. We've got a picture of it. These were the largest sailing ships of their time. They would hold tons, hold tons of corn or wheat and haul them from the bread basket of the Roman world, Egypt, up to Italy to feed all the people living in Italy and North. And so not only would they haul grain and cargo, they would haul people. Now Jewish historian Josephus writes of one such ship carrying 600 people and he describes it as being 800 feet long and over 40 feet wide. On this particular ship that Paul was boarding, there were 276 people on this thing. Now look at the room. Pretend there's a dividing line in the room. About 276 people, half of the people of this room are on board ship with us. So everyone over there, look at half of these people and all you people look over there and in portage you do the same because it's roughly about the same. That's a lot of people, right? On this massive ship headed to Rome. So pick up an Acts 27, verse seven and following. We sailed slowly for a number of days and we arrived with difficulty off Snidus and as the wind did not allow us to go further and we sailed under the lee of Crete of Salomon, coasting along it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fairhaven's near which was the city of La Silla since much time had passed and the voyage was now dangerous because even the fast was over, the fast was the day of atonement which would have put this trip early to mid-October. Very dangerous to sail the Mediterranean during that time in the first century. Paul advised them. Here's a Bible teacher, tent maker, advising the sailors and the captain. He advised them saying, verse 10, Sir, as I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives but the centurion paid more attention to the pilot, imagine that and the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. And because the harbor was not suitable to spend the winter in, the majority decided to put out to sea from there on chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete that's about 40 miles away, facing both Southwest and Northwest and spend the winter there. Now this map shows you about the journey we're about to take. You see there that Crete had Fairhaven's and they didn't wanna stay at Fairhaven's, they wanted to go over to Phoenix but they were unable to do so which led to a, get this, two week storm at sea where in the writer of Luke literally thought he would lose his life. And this is just to give you a visual picture of what's about to happen to the apostle Paul. This would be like half of us in this room getting on a ship and sailing in hurricane force winds from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee. In the dark, no eating, just puking. Keep in mind that Paul had already been shipwrecked three times. See he wrote prior to the Corinthians, I have been shipwrecked three times and I've spent a night and a day in the open sea. Paul was very familiar with navigating by ship. What's interesting is none of those shipwrecks are in the biblical record. If I was the writer I'd say here's all this exciting stuff that happened to Paul. We only have one of the four that he was involved in. But most importantly, you heard Pastor Rick Renner say this a couple of weeks ago from this pulpit. In second Corinthians 14, Paul divulges that he has a problem with his life. A messenger from Satan that had been assigned to him to bring him all manner of grief, suffering and unexplainable calamity. He prayed three times for this thorn to be removed. And Rick Renner, you remember said this is not the little thorn that pricks your finger, this is the pike on which you put the head of your enemy. Satan wanted God's man dead. Paul prayed three times, God says no, I'm gonna teach you the secret of weakness, Paul. My strength is made perfect when you're weak. My grace, Paul, is sufficient for you. So Paul went through life with this messenger of Satan, dogging him, causing harm and calamity and drama to distract him. Paul was the only disciple who could say with Freddie Mercury of Queen, Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me. Or if you're the more easy listening type, you could say he could sing with Christopher Cross, Sailing takes me away. If Paul asked me to get on a ship, I would really have to think hard about sailing with him. Shipwreck four times. It's like, yeah, I've crashed in an airplane a few times, survived, let's go flying together. No, thanks, buddy. Can I give you a ride home? I've only totaled three cars. No, I'll walk, thanks, Paul. Luke gets on the ship with him. Aristarchus is on the ship with him. And here we go. Ready? Let's take the storm at sea. And I literally want to read all of these verses to us very quickly because Luke goes into great detail in nautical terms, describing exactly what happens, verse 13 and following. Now when the South wind blew gently, supposing that they had obtained their purpose, they weighed anchor, sailed across Crete, close to the shore, but soon a tempestuous wind called the North Easter struck down from the land. And when the ship was caught and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and we're driven along. I can almost hear it right now. It's like, my ship is rocking, people. And the ship was driven along. Running under the lee of a small island called Cauda, we managed with difficulty to secure the ship's boat that's a lifeboat. After hoisting it up, they used supports to undergird the ship, then fearing that they would run aground on Sardis, they lowered the gear, the sea anchor, your translation may say, and thus they were driven along. Since we were violently storm tossed, they began the next day to jettison the cargo, watch the timestamp. And on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and no small tempest lay on us, all hope for our being saved was at last abandoned. Luke admits, I thought I would die. Verse 21, since they'd been without food for a long time, Paul stood up in the midst of them and said, men, you should have listened to me and not gone to set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss. Yet I know, I now, I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night, there stood before me an angel from God to whom I belong and who I worship. And he said, do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as we have been told, but we must run aground on some island. When the 14th night had come, as we were being driven across the Adriatic Sea about midnight, the sailors suspected they were nearing land. So they took soundings and found 20 fathoms, that's 120 feet deep. A little further, they took sounding again and they found 15 fathoms, that's 90 feet deep. And fearing that we might run aground on the rocks, they let down four anchors from the stern and prayed for the day to come. And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, they had lowered the ship's boat, that's the lifeboat into the sea under the pretense of laying out anchors from the bow. Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved. Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the ship's boat, the lifeboat, and let it go. As day was about to dawn, Paul urged all of them to take some food, saying today is the 14th day that you have continued in suspense without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food, for it will give you strength. Not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you. And when he had said these things, he took bread, giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and he began to eat. And they were encouraged and ate some food themselves. And there were 276 persons in the ship. And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship, throwing out the wheat into the sea. Now when it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they noticed a bay with a beach on it, and they planned if possible to run ashore. So they cast off anchors and left them in the sea. And the same time loosened the ropes that tied the rudders, then hoisting the fore sail, that's the sail in front of the ship, to the wind. They made for the beach, but striking a reef, they ran the vessel aground. The bow stuck and remained immovable, and the stern was being broken up by the surf. The soldier's plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. But the centurion wishing to save Paul kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first, and to make sure the land and the rest on planks or pieces of the ship. And so it was that all were brought safely to the land. How are we like the apostle Paul to stay tethered to God's plan, not like a fishing line friend, but like a barge rope, even through every storm of life. The first thing of three is this, you've got to be tethered to God's call. What do I mean? Paul knew that he was smack dab in the middle of God's will, and he was on his way to testify before Caesar at Rome's expense. Even though there was a two year delay in Caesarea, he knew that he was God's man on God's plan. Do you know that you have a call? You might think, well, calls are only for preachers and missionaries. Every Christian has a call. You have a purpose and a destiny in God. You know, God did not just save you to take you to heaven when you died. He saved you to walk with him as a missionary wherever you go. This is your call. This is the 30,000 foot view of your life. This is the stuff that people end up talking about at your funeral. You're calling in God, your destiny, and will you hold on to it? Will you seek God about it? It may be that you're a stay at home mom. It may be that you're a businessman. It may be that you're a teacher or a scientist. It does not matter. It looks so different for all of us. You need to find out, God, I want to do your will with my one and only life. How can I know and follow your calling? How did Paul know he was in the middle of the will of God? In Acts 23, 11, when he was arrested, it said the following night, the Lord stood by Paul. This is amazing because the Lord came in and talked to Paul in Acts 9 when he got saved. But here in Acts 23, the Lord stood again before Paul and said, take courage for as you have testified to the facts about me and Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome. Acts 23, 11, Paul had a sure word that he was going to testify in Rome. By the way, the Apostle Paul could not die in this shipwreck. God had seven more epistles in him to write. Before he died, that would become part of our cannon. He had the four prison epistles and then he had the three pastoral epistles yet to be written and those were inside of him. He was not going down. Why? Because he was tethered to God's call. You know there's two people that are fully convinced about the call of God in your life? God and the devil. God will move heaven and earth for you to realize it. Satan will throw every storm at you to get you to abandon it. Come on, I think we need to contend for one another's calling and destiny. Too many people are being blown off course. When the winds hit our lives, we forget that God owns us, that God has called us to something specific. Hebrews 12, one and two says, therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us do what? Run with endurance, what? The race that is set before us. That's our call. Looking to Jesus, not our circumstances, not the storm, looking to Jesus, the founder and the perfect of our faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame and seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Just like Jesus set his face like flit to go to Jerusalem to fulfill God's call. So the apostle Paul was unreservedly tethered to serve in God's purpose with his life, regardless of the cost. Friend, if you're confused about what is God's call for me, I encourage you to go back to the last thing that the Holy Spirit spoke to you and refined your path. If you're lost, if you feel like, man, I got off base somehow, what was the last thing that God spoke to you from the word? What was the last thing someone maybe even prophesied to you or that when you were praying the Holy Spirit just spoke something to you? What was that? Go back to that. That is your bread trail, if you will, to find the will, calling, and purpose of God. Not like a fishing line, but like a barge rope. Not only was Paul tethered to the call of God, he was tethered to the care of God, God's care. Pivotal of this whole awful ordeal at sea was a visit from a messenger angel to the apostle Paul at night. This was not a vision, this was not a dream, this was a real angel that showed up to Paul. We don't know if it was Gabriel, the messenger angel, we have no idea what kind of angel, or who it was, or Paul's guardian angel, but all we know is that God sent a message to Paul that was abundantly clear, and you read about it in verses 23 and 24, for this very night, he says, there stood before me an angel of God to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand before Caesar and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. You've got to be tethered to the understanding of God's great care. Did you notice how Paul described to this ship full of heathens? As far as we know, Aristarchus and Luke were the only other believers on board, there might have been others. He described the God that he served, he says, the God who owns me. Did you see it? The God to whom I belong, that's the power of ownership, and the God who I worship. See, it wasn't just I'm God's kid. It's this loving, abandoned service of love that Paul had. I know I'm held in God's tight grip of ownership, but I'm also intimately connected to him. Do you see the beauty of what Paul was describing to these heathens? I'm God's property, this is the God I love and worship and serve. I hope that describes your relationship with the Father and with his care. You know, when we're not firmly tethered to God's care, we set out to save ourselves. Oh, we are really good at this. Christians, this is not just for the world. We're saved, but we set out to save ourselves in pickles and predicaments. And just to illustrate this, look at the two other people that are mentioned in Paul's story, as Luke wrote it, the sailors and the soldiers. They set out to save themselves. Look at the sailors in verse 30, to save themselves through manipulation. What were they gonna do? Secretly let out the lifeboat because they knew they were in near land and get out of the boat and leave everyone else to die. We're gonna save ourselves through manipulation. Some of us turn to manipulation when we're in trouble. We need to repent of that. We really do. The soldiers wanted to save themselves through might. They wanted to kill every prisoner. Why? Because according to Roman law, if you let your prisoner go free, you paid with your life. Let's kill them all. Kill them all. Even though we're in near land, kill them. They might escape. Thank God, the centurion to charge of Paul said, no, that's not gonna happen. This is what we know in 1 Timothy 2. It's 1 Timothy 1-12. In the NLT, it says this, that is why I'm suffering here in prison, Paul writes. By the way, this is the Roman prison he eventually went to. But I am not ashamed of it, for I know the one in whom I trust. Here, Paul is writing from a prison in Rome. I know this God I'm trusting in. And I am persuaded or sure that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until the day of his return. So if Jesus cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields, friend, he's gonna care for you. You're going through a tempest, you're going through a storm. Be tethered, just like this. Be tethered to not only the call of God but the care of God. But most importantly, thirdly, be tethered to the character of God. What do I mean by character of God? The character of God is his ways, his attributes, his distinguishing marks. These are described in the Bible. But if the world, the flesh or the devil can get you to doubt God's character, they can sweep your faith out to sea. Oh, we have to know the character of God. This was the first lie told to Adam and Eve in the garden. The tempter that hissing snake came and he said, God is holding out on you. You know what? Satan's deception to Eve really had to do with undermining the character of God. He doesn't care about you. He doesn't have your best. He's actually deceiving him. He's holding you back from everything you can be. People are still eating the fruit of the serpent's deception. May it not be said of you or me. We must be firmly committed to the character of God as it's clearly displayed in the scripture. Why? Because today, friends, and you know what I'm talking about, whole denominations and churches are leaving the character of God as it's revealed in Holy Scripture and making up some other kind of God with the attributes that they want to place upon him. But when the storm is rocking your boat, know that you must trust this character. What did Paul know? He knew that God was always faithful. Hey, I've been through three shipwrecks. This is my fourth. When you're going through a storm, start counting your blessings. Start thinking about the ways God's been faithful to you, okay? Paul knew that God was always sovereign. We forget this one because we're charismatic. We're spirit-filled people. We believe that God answers prayers powerfully and he does. But we also have to understand that God did not tell Paul to go stand at the bow of the ship and say like Jesus, peace, be still. Here's what I've come to know. Jesus will either speak peace, be still to the storm at the sea or he will speak sovereignly peace, be still to the storm in your heart. Either way, you win. Peace, be still. Paul knew the character of God was always faithful, always sovereign and get this, always redemptive. God did not have to save everyone else on board. The 275 other people, right? He said, Paul, I'm gonna save you and guess what, super great promise. I'm gonna save everyone. Isn't that the beauty of the character of God? So amazing. Why? Because God never wastes a hurt. Psalm 46, one through three, says God is our refuge and our strength, a very present help and trouble. Because David knew the character of God, he could go through all of his storms. Friend, are you convinced of the goodness and sovereignty of God's character? Is it like a fishing line or is your faith more like a rope? This story is amazing because it ends and I'm just gonna read six verses and then we're gonna close. But Acts 28, verses one through six is where the story ends. They all, God answers the prayer. The angel was not lying. They all get to the shore safely. Look at verse one of 28. When they had escaped, they learned that the island was called Malta. The natives showed extraordinary kindness and they kindled a fire and welcomed us. Just imagine, they've been like in a thunderstorm for two weeks, cold, wet. They kindled a fire, thanks. They welcomed us because of the rain and the cold and when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper driven up by the heat fastened on his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, surely this man is a murderer. Though he's escaped the sea, justice does not allow him to live. By the way, a lot of people will have their opinion about your calamities. Stay focused. Verse five, I love it. Probably my favorite verse in this whole story. But Paul shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. They expected him to swell up. Why? Because the Maltese knew of the poisonous snakes. The Maltese knew the effect of an authentic bite of a poisonous snake. You swell up and you die and fall down. Dead, that's what it says. But while they waited and saw no harm befall him, they changed their mind. They said he was a God. So here Paul is feeding the fire. The ever vigilant, hardworking apostle Paul, even though he was God's apostle on his way to Rome to testify before Caesar, he picks up a bundle of wood, let me help. The ever industrious Paul. And as he comes over to the fire, the heat draws out that serpent and it attaches itself to his hand. And in my sanctified imagination, I see a freeze frame right here. Freeze frame, serpent hanging from Paul's hand. The Maltese people are looking at him saying, Luke is looking at him and writing it all down. The soldiers are looking at him and like, what do we do, draw a sword? Everyone around the fire is looking at the snake hanging from Paul's hand. The guy who just told him, them all that their lives were gonna be saved. Freeze frame, what was going through Paul's mind? Maybe the fact that Luke just wrote in his gospel where Jesus said, you will trample on serpents and scorpions. Hey, Luke, didn't you just write that? Yes, I did, Paul. Then I'll tell you what I'm gonna do. I almost died three times today. The soldiers wanna, well, first of all, the shipwreck, then two, the soldiers wanted to kill me, then three, I had to make my way through the rugged surf to get to the island without drowning. I almost died three times today and this serpent is not gonna eat my lunch. In the context of the apostle Paul, now get into his mind, in the context of the apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan, he said, not today, Satan. And he shook it off into the fire. I think sometimes when Satan tries to get on your last nerve and you look down in a freeze frame and you're like, this is almost too ironic. What's happening to me right now? This is too demonic. Don't lose faith, shake it off into the fire, shake it off. When the snake bites, shake it off. I think Paul was at such a great level of faith. You know, when you go through storms, either your faith is like run down or your faith is amped up. Paul was like, I am bulletproof in Jesus. And sometimes we need to shake it off. Sometimes we need to say not today, Satan. As a matter of fact, under Paul's tunic, if he would have ripped it open like Superman, he would have had a T-shirt on that says not today, Satan. Sometimes your faith needs to have a little swag. Sometimes our faith needs to have confidence and boldness. Why? Because we know in whom we have believed. We are people of his calling. We are people under his care. We are people who know the character of God. And because of that, let the winds of circumstances blow. I'm not making light of your drama, your trauma or your abuses or all the hellish things that have happened to many of us. But what I am saying is that there is a tether. There is a tether for you. It goes beyond the veil. The anchor will hold. Let's stand and let's pray together. I just want to be sensitive to those of you who when I talk about a storm, it's actually very real and it's now. And I want to speak to you something that the older I get in the more years in ministry that the Lord gives me as a young believer, this is what my faith life looked like. God, I'm holding on tight. But the older I get, the more I realize that my faith lock, friends, looks a whole lot more like this. And I realize that God's got a way bigger hold on me than I could ever have on him. Ah, he's so sovereign. He's so caring. But my faith, it's about to let go. I know sometimes your grip does get weak like mine, but this is how God answered Paul's prayer about the thorn and the flesh. Paul, I'm going to introduce you to the grace of weakness. And it's not about how strong you can hold on, Paul, but it's about God's supernatural grace working so deeply in you. I'm not going to take away that thorn, but I will give you such abundant grace that you're going to go through it and not be a survivor, but be more than a conqueror. Friend, this is for you. Yes, there was a shipwreck in the apostle Paul's life, but next time there's a storm, realize that you're tethered, not with a 12-pound test line, by the way, something much greater. Prayer team members, if you would come forward, we're going to have people to pray for you. These people are people of faith. These people want to help you. Know God's way and follow it and believe for God's will in your life. So I'm going to pray, but if you feel drawn to, you know, there's something powerful about having someone pray with you. Yes, you can say your own prayers, and that's a great thing, isn't it? But there's something really powerful when someone agrees in prayer with you. And it might be a little bit humbling even to come down front when everyone else is going that way and say, but come stand with one of these people. We're not going to keep you long, but we're going to pray for you. Father, I want to thank you that you are a refuge and a strength, your ever-present help in times of trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth gives way and though the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its swelling, we're going to trust in you. The one who has such a grip on us as we hold tight to you in Jesus' name, amen.