The Word Made Plain

Announcer: Welcome to The Word Made Plain with senior pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bible to Acts chapter 27, verses 23 through 26.

Tony Clark: They were experienced fishermen. They knew that sea like the back of their hand, but they were trying to row themselves out of it to the point where they thought they were going to die. What's interesting about it is that when Jesus rebuked the storm, the word rebuke, the Greek word that is used there, is the same word used to rebuke Satan, showing that Satan had kicked up that particular storm.

So here they are trying to row themselves out of it. And when they see Jesus, Jesus comes to them walking on the water. And they say, "It is a ghost." And Jesus gives them hope and says in Matthew 14:27, "Be of good cheer. It is I. Do not be afraid." Jesus will always come to us in the midst of our storms to comfort us and give us hope, like he is doing with Paul.

Did you catch how God encouraged Paul by reminding him of his word? He said, "Paul, you must be brought before Caesar." See, God appeared to Paul earlier when he was down and depressed in Acts 23:11 and said, "Be of good cheer, Paul, for as you have testified for me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome."

So on the ship in the midst of this storm and maybe even doubting what God said, God comes to Paul and reiterated what he told him earlier. The last part of verse 24 blows me away. God told Paul, "And indeed, God has granted you all those who sail with you." In other words, everyone on that ship will be spared because God was keeping his word to Paul and bringing him to Rome.

This is amazing here, and a lot of people don't even realize this. Many unbelievers and non-Christians are benefited by being around or connected to Christians. In Genesis chapter 39 and verse 5, the Lord blessed the house of Potiphar, an unsaved Egyptian, because of Joseph's presence. In 1st Corinthians chapter 7 and verse 14, it says that the unbeliever in a home or marriage, when they're in marriage to a believer, will be blessed by the believer being there.

Even the children who would be considered unclean will be considered holy or set apart for God to save them, all because of the believer being in that home. So there are businesses, there are companies, governments, and cities blessed by the presence of believers being there. Do you remember what Genesis 19 and verse 22 said? The two angels who were sent to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah said that they could not do anything until Lot, his wife, and his daughters were safely out.

Sodom and Gomorrah would have been destroyed earlier had it not been for Lot and his family living there. So everyone on the ship with Paul was spared because of God's plan for Paul's life. Look what it says in verses 25 and 26. "Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island."

Paul encourages the passengers in verse 25 by telling them to take heart. He said, "Take heart, men," and here it is: "For I believe God that it will be just as it was told me." Remember at the beginning, I quoted to you Hebrews 11 verse 6 that says it is impossible to please God without faith. Do you remember what the rest of the verse says? It says, "For he who comes to God must believe that he is."

He is what? Everything he says he is in his word. Well, we sing about it. He's a way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper, light in the darkness of our storm. That is who he is. We sing about it, but that is who he is. And this is the God Paul said that he believed, the God through whom nothing is impossible. I just want to know, do you believe God in your storm?

I've said it plenty of times, all of us are either about to go into a storm, in the midst of a storm, or just coming out of a storm. It is in the storms that our faith is put to the test, because every storm we go through is teaching us something. God has something to teach us in all of the storms he allows for us to go through.

The storm Jonah went through was a storm of correction. God was correcting him for his disobedience. In the next few weeks, I will be hitting and missing on these different storms because there are different aspects, different facets of the storm that I want us to understand so we'll be able to identify the storm we are actually in. You'll hear me mentioning Jonah and some other storms so we can have a clear understanding of what's happening and what God is doing in our lives.

The storm the disciples went through was a storm of protection. God was protecting them from pride and from the success of ministry because Jesus had just fed the 5,000, and in John chapter 6 and verse 15, after all those people had their bellies full, they were about to come and take him by force to make him king. They were about to come and take him to say, "You are king. You fed our bellies, you're good to have around."

At the same time, the disciples were arguing over who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom. They were about to make Jesus king, and the disciples were thinking, "I'm going to be on his right, no I'm going to be on his right, you're going to be on his left." They were arguing over who was going to be the greatest. Jesus said, "Let me get them out of here," and he sends them right into a storm.

While in the storm, no one was arguing over who was going to be the greatest. No one was thinking about the success of the ministry, how he just fed 5,000, or how they were just about to take him and make him king. No one was thinking about that. They were just wondering whether they were going to live or not. That's what storms of protection do. They protect us from the success syndrome.

These storms come right after times of success, times when we are promoted, or times when we are given higher-paying jobs, new homes, and cars. All these things that the world, especially in America, look to as being successful. That's when God will send us right in the midst of a storm of protection. He's protecting us from us because we need protecting from us.

We begin to believe the social media hype about us. We begin to believe, "Oh, you're so great. You're the best boss I've ever worked for," and all the accolades and pats on the back. You're exalted in the company and you're promoted. God says, "Let me get them out of this mentality." God is protecting us from us. Sometimes we can forget that ministry is for an audience of one, which is him.

Sometimes we begin to think it's about us. Being a Christian, living for Christ, and having the fruit of the spirit and the joy of the Lord are all things that people are attracted to. They are attracted to the Jesus in you and not necessarily you. So they exalt you and they promote you, and pretty soon you begin to think it's about you. God will send you and he will send me into a storm of protection to protect us from ourselves.

It is not to be mean or cruel, but to keep us usable so we can continue to be a vessel of honor fit for the master. God will have to allow for us to go through this because God knows secretly what's in our hearts. We begin to believe the press clippings about ourselves. God says, "Oh no, I want to continue to use them, so let me send them into this storm so I can show them that it's not about them."

Proverbs 30 verses 8 and 9 says, "Remove falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food allotted to me." Why? Verse 9: "Lest I be full and deny you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God." It is during times of success and promotion and elevation that we're tempted to be full of ourselves and deny the Lord.

Some of you are protesting and saying, "I will never deny the Lord." Isn't that what Peter said just before he denied the Lord, not once but three times? He said, "If all these deny you, not I." Oh, there's that word, that little "I". Not I. And he denied the Lord not once, but three times. So to keep this from happening, God will send us into a storm of protection to protect us from our own success and keep it from going to our heads.

I've been in many storms of protection. God has blessed me to speak in many of the largest churches in this country. I was going around, gone once or twice a month. I was speaking at this church, that church, this conference, and that conference. The accolades were coming. God said, "Let me get him out of here before he starts thinking it's him."

There's an old saying that our pastor, Pastor Chuck Smith, used to tell us. He said when God takes you through a test, try to pass it the first time or you'll see it again. When God takes you through a storm of protection and you don't learn the lesson, he'll take you through another one. He's not trying to hurt us or be mean. He's just trying to keep us from being put on a shelf.

God can't use us when we're full of ourselves. He'll put us on a shelf and say, "When he's humbled, I'll grab him off. But as of right now, he thinks it's about him." And it's not, not at all. So Paul gives them this message with a little caveat in verse 26. It says, "However, we must run aground on a certain island." God didn't tell Paul every detail on what would happen, nor the island they would run aground on.

He had to trust God step by step. God doesn't give us the full plan, the five-year plan for you planners. Right now you've got your phone out and you can do this day and that day. God doesn't go by your calendar and your planner. You've got to trust him step by step. This is why he said, "Give us this day our daily bread," because he wants us to trust him day by day.

We've been so blessed in America, we've got enough food to last us through World War III. As I mentioned many times, we have trained our children to look in a full cabinet and say, "There's nothing here to eat." He wants us to trust him step by step. Sometimes it looks like storms are either blowing us off course or in a new direction. Sometimes they are, like in the case of the wise men.

You remember the wise men in Matthew chapter 2? Once God warned them of how Herod was waiting on them to come back and tell them where baby Jesus was, Matthew 2:12 says, "Then being divinely warned in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed for their own country another way." Yes, there are times when God will use a storm of direction to blow us in a new direction.

In this case, God was taking Paul on a little detour to a certain island because there were some people he wanted Paul to minister to on his way to Rome. So too, God may do the same to us, taking us on a detour because he has some people on a certain job or at a certain company he wants us to minister to. On your way before you get the job you've been praying about, he may take you on a detour.

I can give you a perfect example of this from my own life. In the early years of starting the church, I had to go to work at the cable company to take care of my family. I was full-time at the church and full-time at the cable company. It got to the point where I'm preparing for sermons with my notebook on my steering wheel while trying to write notes.

There were times on Wednesday nights I had to come in with my cable uniform on and say, "God bless you, welcome to Calvary Chapel, turn in your Bible," and then right after I finished church, I had to go back out and do a couple more jobs. I remember those days. I prayed and said, "Lord, I came here to start the church, not work at some cable company."

The Lord was temporarily blowing me, what I thought was off course, to the cable company because he had some people he wanted me to reach for him. I ended up sharing Jesus Christ with many of them there. I performed two weddings, and several of them came to the church and started listening to me on the radio. God could be doing the same thing with you.

We will see what happened to Paul and his crew, God's will, next time as I unpack the different storms a little bit further that we as God's people will go through. Faith in the storm. We saw how Paul believed the word of God in the storm, showing that God will come to encourage us in our storms, whether it is a storm of correction, protection, or direction.

God uses these storms to test our faith. The question is, can we trust God in the midst of our storm? Don't forget that God encouraged Paul with his word to him. Many times, God had to do the same thing with me. He reminded me of what he told me in 1994, just before I came to start the church here. I was in California and a dear brother said, "Pastor Tony, can I talk to you for a minute?"

We went into my office and he said, "The Lord told me to give this to you." It was Acts 18 verses 9 and 10, which says, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city," referring to Newport News. I've had to cling to God's word over the years, and you may have to do the same.

I'm glad that emotionally I'm a little bit better. First service, I got very teary-eyed and emotional saying what I'm about to say now. Every Saturday we have Saturday night prayer from 7:00 to 8:00. Just a few of us come and pray for Sunday's services. I was sitting right there on the end from 7:00 to 8:00 and I was just praying. I can't tell you how difficult 2020 has been.

I had to ask God, "Do you still want me to be here? Do you still want me to be the pastor here, or are you done with me? Are you done with me here?" I was just praying and saying, "Lord, if you're done, what do you want me to do? Amazon seems to be doing good, so maybe I'll work for Amazon or drive a truck. Lord, are you done with me here?"

I felt like I could only take so much of the people. I asked if I was to go do something else. I spent the majority of the time praying about that because I really wanted to know whether God was done with me here. I'm going into my 27th year, and I just said, "God, it's just too much. I've had enough of the mess. Done."

I started going through my brain and saying, "What am I going to do? Go sell some houses?" I was truly asking whether God was finished. I ended in prayer at 8:00. Normally, in my car, which I call Automobile University, I've gone through theology courses, leadership courses, and business stuff just listening. Some people listen to talk radio and silly stuff, but I want something that is going to build me up and make me better.

I was looking for some Bible study CDs and I couldn't find them, so I had on K-LOVE. I didn't want to listen to music, I needed some teaching. I got in my car, and there was a song playing as soon as I turned my car on. I don't ever remember this song being on K-LOVE. If it was, it was years ago. I wondered why they were playing the song "God of This City."

Right when I got in the car, the phrase came on that says, "And greater things are still to be done in this city; greater things have yet to come." I said, "I hear you loud and clear, God." God still has greater things he wants to do humbly through me in this city. He spoke so clearly. Why was that song on right when I got in the car? Why was that phrase on?

I looked up at the sky and said, "God, I got you." I couldn't help but say, "Thank you, Lord." He knows how to speak to us. He knows how to get us at a place where we can hear him. God takes us through the storms of life because there's something he's trying to do. Ultimately, he's trying to get us to be more like Jesus Christ.

Sometimes he takes us through storms that will correct us, protect us, or direct us in a new direction. We're going to talk about those different aspects so you can know why you're going through some of the things that you're going through. You'll be able to see clearly what God is doing in your life. Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for your loving kindness and tender mercies towards us. Thank you that you take us through storms because you love us and you're trying to do something in our lives. Lord, thank you that you provide forgiveness for us. Thank you that you've given us your word to guide and direct us as well as build us up.

Forgive us if we're in a storm of correction for leaving the path of righteousness and going our own way. Thank you, Lord, that you allow for us to go through storms of protection because you're protecting us from ourselves and how we would destroy our own lives if you didn't. Thank you that you also take us through storms of direction where you're directing us in a new area. Lord, thank you that you love us. Forgive us when we fall short.

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