Living Waters of Grace 12.11.25

This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark

Wofford, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland,

County of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he

continues teaching through God's Word.

In life, sometimes you have decisions you're going to make

about some type of plan you might have.

It's always good to run your plans past the Lord and ask Him

what he thinks you should do. Wait on the Lord and pray and

ask him what you should do. A lot of times we don't think

that way. We just respond out of our

emotion or our mood or human reasoning, and we just do what

we think we're going to do. Most of us have been part of a

team at some point. Whether it was at work on a

sports team or as a member of a music group, we work together

for the good of the whole. Sometimes we took constructive

criticism or had to listen to other people's opinions.

Today, Pastor Clark reminds you that this is especially helpful

to remember in your relationship with Jesus.

Consult him on everything. He's a perfect leader and

teammate. Why would you want to make

decisions apart from him now? Here's Pastor Clark in Acts

Acts 27 · chapter mention

Chapter 27 with today's edition of Living Waters of Grace.

Paul is going to Rome. He's wanted to go to Rome pretty

much his whole ministry life, and it just seemed like there

was always things in the way that prevented him from getting

there. And so now he's going to have to

take a long voyage and a couple ships and have his life risked

and we're going to read about that.

Now. The one thing to I think to

consider this voyage ends up in shipwreck.

In shipwreck, I've never been. I've been at sea and I've been

in boats and that kind of stuff, but I've never been shipwrecked.

It's a very terrifying thing to experience if the boat is

starting to take on water and it starts to go down and you might

die, right? But I've been shipwrecked in my

life personally, through circumstances of my own doing

and sin and ruining my life when I was a younger man doing things

that cause consequences to happen in my life.

And then I've also been in situations, even as a Christian,

where God has allowed me to go through tough times and

challenging times and life threatening times and tragic

times that teach me how to depend more on Him and how to

surrender to him and how to yield to Him and how to get out

of the way so that he can have His way.

So if you're here today, you might be in a a place of feeling

like there's no hope. Or maybe you're sensing that

there is hope, but you're wondering when that hope might

appear for you. You're feeling like your life's

wrecked. Or maybe you've made decisions.

Maybe there's relationships that are unreconcilable.

Maybe there's health issues you're dealing with that are

just very, very challenging. Maybe there's issues with

children or fractured friendships that you wish

weren't fractured. There could be all kind of stuff

that you personally are dealing with today.

And I'm here to tell you as we study this chapter, that you're

not alone, that everyone who lives life goes through times of

challenge and adversity and difficulty.

It's not uncommon. It's normal.

And the apostle Paul, who walked totally with the Lord, was

totally committed to the Lord, also went through these things.

Just because you're a Christian doesn't mean you escape

adversity or challenges or difficulty when you're a

Christian. God uses these things, and he

even allows warfare and the enemy at times to attack us in

order that we might draw closer to the Lord.

And sometimes when you're going through something, you want to

say, well, God, if you really care about me, if you really

love me, why are you putting me through this?

But God always has a reason in time to get us through whatever

it is we're getting through to begin to understand one thing

for sure. I can't live life without the

help of the Lord and neither can you.

Lord speak to us today about how we can make application and

parallel what Paul went through in our own personal life today.

And perhaps what it is that we're facing, what it is we're

dealing with, the tragedies we've been through, the things

we're trying to overcome. God show us how Paul depended

upon you and we ask all these things in Jesus name, Amen.

First one. And when it was decided that

they we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some

other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the

Augustan Regiment. So this Julius is a very

powerful leader. He's going to watch over the

prisoners, especially Paul and those who had gone with him in

order to make sure that they make the journey and get the

room. So entering a ship of the Adrum

ATM, we put the sea meaning to sail along the coast of Asia.

So if you look at a map, they're coming out of the Bible lands

and they're coming up the coast up toward Greece to come around.

And this group of people that went with Paul that mentions a

couple names here. First of all, Luke is giving the

declaration here. What happened in this chapter?

And so he was with Paul and then Aristocas, a Macedonian of

Thessalonica, was with us. This is another brother in the

Lord. It also had travelled with Paul

and Paul was allowed to have some help.

Luke was his physician, so he was there to minister to Paul's

health issues. And Aristarchus was a brother

who was also allowed to come on. The ship basically took the

place of a slave, but also prisoner that he might be with

Paul. And so they're heading up the

coast of Macedonian of Thessalonica was with us.

And the next day we landed at Sidon.

And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to

his friends and receive care. So Paul had a lot of freedom

because of his testimony. He wasn't a prisoner because of

doing something like a crime of murder.

Like most of the prisoners on this boat, we're going to be

delivered to Rome to be killed basically for their crimes.

Paul was a political prisoner and so Julius gave him some

freedom. So Paul stopped here at Sidon,

doesn't tell us who we saw, but he was with different people,

friends that knew him and they ministered to him.

And Julius treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to

his friends and receive care. And when he put the sea from

there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus.

Now Cypress is going up there near the coast of Greece,

beautiful place in the world because the winds were contrary.

And when we had sailed over the sea, which is off Cilicia and

Pamphylia, we came to Mara, city of Lycia.

Now, if you took the time and looked on the Bible map, you

just see how they're gradually moving through these waters to

head up to Rome. They are the centurion found an

Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy and he put us on board.

And so now there's this opportunity to get going faster.

It's a bigger ship, about 146 feet long, about 36 feet wide

that covered, carried grain from Egypt and Egypt brought food to

Rome. So they were always given

preference on the seas and access to the harbors in Italy.

And so all this stuff is on water, what they're doing

dealing with here. And it says when we had sailed

slowly many days, we arrived with difficulty off sign us, the

wind not pretty permitting us to proceed.

We sailed under the shelter of Creek off Saloma, passing it

with difficulty. We came to place called Fair

Haven near the city of Lacia. So they're going up the coast

past Lebanon. Now they're off the coast of

Greece and Crete, and they're trying to find a place that they

can be for the storms to be able to not destroy them.

And Fair Havens is, is is one-on-one side of Crete there.

So now when much time had been spent and sailing was now

dangerous because of the fast. And this fast relates to Yom

Kippur, the Day of Atonement, October, the Jewish feast of

fasting isn't good to be traveling in the waters past

October and going into the winter time.

So that was 1 issue there that gave us the insight of when this

was occurring and Paul's giving them his opinion though his

sense, his warning. He says in verse 10 men, I

perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss

not only of the cargo and ship but also our lives.

So in life, sometimes you have decisions you're going to make

about some type of plan you might have.

It's always good to run your plans past the Lord and ask Him

what He thinks you should do. Wait on the Lord and pray and

ask Him what you should do. A lot of times we don't think

that way. We just respond out of our

emotion or our mood or human reasoning and we just do what we

think we're going to do. But that's not how God's created

us to live. And we're learning to depend on

the Lord. We don't immediately depend on

the Lord when we get saved. We still have a lot of self

pride, whatever we think. We know how to handle things and

what to do and all that kind of stuff.

And it's interesting when you tell someone that cares about

you as a deep Christian, what your plans are, what you're

going to do. A wise Christian would say,

well, have you prayed about that?

Have you asked the Lord what he might want you to do?

And sometimes you get a shock look from the person.

Well, well, no, I, I didn't do that.

Well, it's always good to ask God what his thoughts are and if

there's any reason why you shouldn't do what it is you're

planning to do. You want the Lord to reveal it

to you. You want him to speak to you so

that you would not bypass his perfect will for your life.

Paul, knowing the Lord and walking deeply with the Lord,

had experience in the sea. In Second Corinthians Chapter

2 Corinthians 11 · chapter mention

11, it says he was shipwrecked 3 times.

So this guy knows what he's talking about.

He can tell by the winds and what's happening in the

environment and the seas that this is not a good plan to

proceed. And so he's giving them his

insight and he's telling them if you're going to ruin everything,

you're going to lose your cargo and risk all of our lives.

Verse 11 Nevertheless, the centurion was more persuaded by

the helmsman, the captain of the ship and the owner of the ship

than by the things spoken by Paul.

And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the

majority advises set sail from there.

Also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete

opening toward the southwest and northwest and winter there.

So that would have been more in the direction of Italy.

It was only about 40 miles from this point to Phoenix and they

thought they could make it because they had already

travelled all these miles and and made it thus far.

This particular port, this Fair Haven was a real small community

and the people that ran the ship, the crew, they didn't want

to be there over winter because it was a boring place, wasn't

much to do. They wanted to go to a more

happening place that they'd have entertainment, do whatever crazy

stuff they wanted to do. So that was one of the reasons

they wanted to get out of that Fair Haven harboring and go to

this Phoenix place winter there. So in verse 13, when the South

wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire

putting out the sea, they sailed close by Creek.

So it started out good the journey, the wind was perfect,

nice sail looked like it was going to be smooth ride.

I'm sure the captain of the ship looked at Paul and said, you

know, you're wrong. I'm right kind of thing, but not

long after verse 14, a temptress head when a rose called your

Clyde. And this is translated the

typhoon or a severe northeasterly storm.

If you've ever been to the shore on land and you have a vacation

and all of a sudden the winds start coming up and it gets to

the temperatures drop and the waves start looking really crazy

and the lifeguards won't let you in the in the water.

That's a discouraging time because northeasters could last

a week and your whole vacation and all the money is spent to be

at the beach. You know, you can't go in the

water. You can go up maybe to your

knees and that's it. So this is what's happening

here. This is a very, very serious

storm and it's scary. Someone said it's like they were

in this really cool boat and this floating and the sun and

the gentle breeze and all of a sudden they're like a toothpick

in the mid midst of 40 foot swells, that this is

unbelievable. So the ship was caught and it

could not head into the wind. So we let her drive.

So they didn't have the ability to steer this boat.

Now this boat was taken by the wind and being pushed down more

toward the coast of Africa instead of the shores of Italy.

And they couldn't even really tell where they were going.

And running under the shelter of an island called Claudia, we

secured the skiff with difficulty.

They're trying to stabilize us, this huge vessel, and when they

had stake taken it on board, they use cables.

So they're pulling the the lifeboat out of the water to

skiff and getting it into the big boat because it would start

smashing the other boat. And they undergirded the ship

and with these cables to sort of wrap it around to prevent it

from coming apart because of the waves less they should run

aground on the sands. They struck sail and were so

driven and because we were exceedingly Tempest toss the

next day they lighten the ship. So they're starting to dump

stuff out of the boat. The cargo, which was worth a lot

of money, they had to begin to get rid of it because of the

weight. They're they're lightning the

ship. On the third day we threw the

ship's tackle overboard with our own hands.

So not any are they getting rid of the grain.

But now they're getting rid of any kind of physical bedding or

any kind of equipment. It isn't necessary right now.

And they're getting rid of all of it.

It says in verse 20 now when neither sun nor stars appeared

for many days and those small Tempest beat on us all hope that

we would be saved was finally given up.

Have you ever been in a situation where you're going

through something that you feel that there's no hope left and

they're ready to give up? I'm sure you have been.

I know I have been. There doesn't seem to be any

answer, any reason for why it is what it is you're going through.

And it's a really time of testing your faith and how well

you know God because God will never fail you.

He promises us throughout the Scriptures, Jesus never fails.

Our faith fails. We get our eyes off of the Lord,

We get our minds and our hearts out of the word of God, and then

all of a sudden we have nothing to stand on, do we?

There's no stability. Everything's uncertain.

Everything's up in the air and they're at a point right now

that they are basically hopeless and they're giving up.

I don't know where you are today, but I'm here to tell you

and encourage you. Don't give up no matter what.

Get close to God. He's ready to do something.

You get close to Him, He'll reveal himself to you in ways

that you never even knew Him. I hate to say it, but we're all

at least I'll say myself, knuckleheads.

I'm going to say that about you. But God has to many times cause

stuff to happen in order to get our attention, to show us like

we're missing things. We're not seeing things the way

he wants us to. We're maybe not living the way

he wants us to live. He's he loves us so much that

he's going to do everything he can sometimes.

And he starts gradually many times to get your attention.

And then if you don't listen, then maybe things get a little

bit more challenging, more difficult.

But here's Paul in this situation.

He's a human being like the rest of them.

I'm sure he's freaking out too, in his ways.

A lot of people are seasick. They can't even think about

eating anything. But Paul begins to speak verse

21. But after long abstinence from

food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, Men, you

should have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete and

incurred this disaster and loss. Has then anybody ever told you

after you made a decision and everything fell apart?

I told you so. You shouldn't have done that.

Always Monday morning quarterbacks always telling you

how you should have handled it differently.

Well, that's the last thing you want to hear at that point in

time because, like, you already made the decision and

everything's messed up. You don't need to tell me that.

I already know I've messed up, right?

So he says. And now I urge you in verse 22

to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but

only of the ship. Now they must.

Some of them had to think he was nuts.

The ship is going everywhere and it is like, no way, how are we

not going to die? But Paul during this journey was

also sharing the gospel. And I'm sure there was people on

the ship at that time because of what was happening, said, hey,

Paul, what do I need to do to be saved?

Is there an afterlife? The other is, let me tell you

about it. Let me tell you this life's real

short. You want to put your trust in

Jesus because one day you're going to leave this world and

you want to be where he is. You don't want to be in hell.

You want to be in heaven with the Lord.

And he's made a way because of what Jesus did on the cross to

die for us and to forgive us of our sins, to cleanse us, forgive

us, give us new life. So there is probably a lot of

deathbed conversions here. I always like visiting hospitals

when someone's getting ready to die and they still have

consciousness and their loved ones ask the pastor to go and

talk to the person who's in the bed.

The person in the bed knows that it's coming down the home

stretch and they're going to pass from this life.

And that's when you begin to tell them about the gospel.

And I'm amazed. And how many people are

definitely prepared at that point to hear it and to believe

it and to depend on the Lord so they can go into heaven?

Isn't that wonderful? God in his mercy, He does that.

And occasionally someone will say anything.

You don't know if they believed or didn't, but you know, you,

you, you tell them the truth and you trust the Holy Spirit to do

what only He can do. And so Paul's telling them

there's not going to be any loss of life.

And this is amazing here, verse 23.

Now we know. And Acts 23 verse 11, Paul was

Acts 23:11

in jail and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to get the

Rome. Jesus showed up personally and

spoke to Paul and told him that you're going to get the Rome,

don't worry about it, I'm going to get you there.

So Paul tucked that down in his heart, a promise from God to

hold on to. But now he's got another

spiritual encounter. For there stood by me this night

an Angel of the of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve,

saying, do not be afraid, Paul, you must be brought before

Caesar. And indeed God has granted you

all those who sail with you. So the Angel reminded Paul,

don't you remember? Jesus told you you're going to

get the roam. Paul's faith, I'm sure wasn't

shipwrecked, but he's, you know, he's human.

Like, you know this stuff. You know what's going to happen

here? He needed the confirmation from

the Lord that it was going to be OK and they were going to get

through it. Don't be afraid, Paul.

So Paul's being admonished not to be afraid.

And fear is a horrible thing, isn't it?

Fear can really mess you up. It can cause you to just freak

out. It can cause you to be hopeless.

It can cause you to hear stupid things in your head that are

lies from the devil. It can.

It can cause people to do horrible things.

Fear. God hasn't given us a spirit of

fear, the Bible says, but a power and of love and of a sound

mind. When we have fear, we have to

call it out as a lie because God does not give us that spirit,

does He? And we have to acknowledge that

and ask the Lord to replace the thoughts that we have that are

causing the fear with the things that He tells us to think upon.

Paul, think on these things, whichever things are pure,

lovely, just, and a good report. That's a discipline.

It's real easy to get down the fear track and to stay on that,

right? No, I'm not going to fear, I'm

not going to live with this in my head.

Lord, take this out. Help me.

Ask the Lord to help you. He will stabilize my thoughts.

God give me truth to think on and not lies.

Therefore take heart men. And He says that to us today.

Take heart brothers and sisters, for I believe God that it will

be just as it was as he told me. I believe God.

Who do you believe in your life? You believe Fox News, CNN, Wall

Street? Or do you believe the God of

heaven, the creator of the universe?

Everything in your life, in my life, is designed by God to

cause our faith to increase, not to decrease.

Adversity and trial and heartache and tragedy are

allowed in our lives to deepen us, not to destroy us.

If we believe God, no matter what, we're going to get

through. Amen.

If we don't believe God, it is hopeless.

There is no answer apart from God Himself.

So God tests us. And in every situation, He knows

where you're at. Clark needs more faith.

He needs to go deeper with me, and I'm going to allow this to

occur so that he's on his face crying out to me like he never

cried out to me before. Someone told me this morning

they were moments from death. Kidney operating at 2%.

A Christian told his brother that God will do whatever he has

to do to get us back with him. It will allow adversity.

It will allow us to get smacked around in life.

It will allow all kinds of things to happen to us that we

don't like and we don't think it's fair.

Until finally we say, I give up Lord.

We're so glad you joined us today on this edition of Living

Waters of Grace. Pastor Clark is teaching through

the Book of Acts, which is the only book that chronicles the

history of the early church immediately after Jesus's

ascension. It gives us a front row seat to

how the Gospel began to move outwards, starting in Jerusalem

and reaching into the heart of the Roman Empire.

In just three decades, a small group of frightened ordinary

believers became a bold, spirit empowered movement that

transformed the known world. Acts is not just a history

lesson. It's a reminder of what God can

do when His people are surrendered, obedient and filled

with the Holy Spirit. Their perseverance still

inspires us today. May we follow their example and

live faithfully for Christ in our own time.

We hope today's message encouraged you.

Living Waters of Grace is a ministry of Calvary Chapel,

Westmoreland. If you're in the Greensburg, PA

area, we'd love to have you join us in person.

Our Sunday service begins at 10:30 AM at 400 E Pittsburgh St.

Unit 6B. Be sure to visit

calvarychapelonline.com to confirm times and learn more.

If you are in the Greensburg area, you can listen to Grace FM

on the new 91.7 frequency. Please pray about supporting

this outreach. Gifts can be sent to Grace FMPO

Box 716, Greensburg, PA 15601. Stay connected through Facebook,

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Join our e-mail list, submit prayer requests, and give online

all at calvarychapelonline.com. Thank you for tuning in and

spending this time in God's Word.

Be sure to join us again for Living Waters of Grace.