| DESTINED BUT DELAYED How awesome it is to get a Word from God. Paul, in Acts 23:10 was preaching the Gospel and a dispute arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees and the commander was in fear that Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to take him by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night the Lord stood by Paul and said �be of good cheer, for as you have testified of me in Jerusalem, so you must testify of me in Rome.� � a word from God. We who believe we have received a word from God and are now facing hindrances to that Word, and are now wondering if it will ever come to pass, - be encouraged today, it will come to pass. Just like Paul had been hindered, so will you. Verse 12 tells us that the Jews were going to kill Paul, but God told him he was going to Rome. If you get a word from God � expect immediate opposition. Maybe reading about Paul today, will give you a hope and a peace to carry on. You may even think that opposition will come from the enemy (sometimes it does) but in Paul�s case it was from within, his own people. Verse 13 tells us that �more than 40 formed a conspiracy against Paul.� Your opposition could come from your husband/wife who just isn�t as exuberant as you, or from friends whom you thought would understand, or co-workers, or even brothers and sisters in the Lord. They don�t understand your word, but remember � it�s your word from the Lord. John 10:10 tells us that the enemy comes to rob, steal and destroy. How does opposition come? One of the major ways is speaking against somebody to whom God has given a word and people start to criticize and doubt, but they need to be careful here because they are speaking a curse over God�s word. If you�re part of the Body of Christ and doing this, not only are you speaking a curse against that person who received the word, but you are speaking a curse against yourself. Why? We are one. We are the Body of Christ and we are cursing the Body of Christ. In Mark 4:15 we need to ask �why did persecution come?� � it comes to steal (hinder or hold back) that word. We need to be careful about what we�re speaking. Think about the parable of the sower, the bible says that the word is like �seed�. Seeds never look like what they will become. Does an apple seed look like an apple? It�s the same when Father speaks that word to you, it doesn�t look like what it will become. We need to allow that seed to grow to what Father purposed it to be. There will always be �naysayers� but you�ll need to hold fast to that word so it will come to pass. There will always even be lots of opportunities for you to doubt that word that God gave you. Everyone has an opinion, some will try to �bring you to your senses�, by pointing out why this �dream� will not work in the natural and they may even reason with you that they don�t want you to get hurt etc. Don�t listen, hold on, if God gives you a word, it will come to pass. Just like the apple seed, it produces more than one apple. Maybe you don�t have the resources for that word right now, but it could be a matter of God�s timing � later. You too may be tending not to believe that God has given you a word, maybe because of education, finances or people � but the word of the Lord for you today is this �don�t reject the seed because any of those hindrances.� You don�t need finishing grades to start. You only need to press in to that word. God will give you the grace, as you�re going on your way. Remember the ten lepers who came to Jesus to be healed, the bible says that �as they went� they were healed. They may not have looked healed at that moment, but as they went they were healed. They probably walked on feet with only a few toes, some didn�t even have feet � they were lepers. There must have been some pressing going on. As they went, they were healed. As they obeyed the Word of God, they were healed. They had the grace of God to start on their journey. God will always gives us the grace to start our journey. Think about �salvation�. The bible says that by God�s grace we are saved. Once we get saved and move on with God, He gives us more and more grace to go on and walk that walk of Faith. To walk out our salvation, we need grace and we need it continually. Grace is not a cover up for sin, grace is the power to overcome sin. He said to Paul �my grace is sufficient for you� to get through this thorn in his flesh. Ecclesiastes 5 tells us that a dream, a word or a vision comes with much business and painful effort. That does not mean that God will do all the work or just make it happen, it means that God will give you the word but you and I have to get involved in the labor to birth that word. It�s real easy to get pregnant, but there comes the �birthing� and there�s some effort in birthing (travail) to bring it forth. It�s the same in the realm of the spirit. If you�re born again, God has a plan and a purpose and destiny for your life, just as he had a plan and a destiny for Paul�s life. Read in Acts 27:1 the continuing journey of Paul as he pressed on to Rome. He was delivered to the ship named Adramyttium (meaning �not in the race�) Interesting! He�s on his way but not in the race. They put out to sea and notice it says the winds were contrary (immediate opposition). It�s the same with us � you�re in the boat, you�re on your way to Rome, you�re fulfilling God�s destiny for your life and suddenly these winds become contrary (they begin to blow). It sure is easier to believe God when everything is going good. When opposition comes, it�s a little harder to hang on to what God promised. Then Paul and company take another ship to Italy, the first ship wasn�t going anywhere. What a picture of the Lord charting our course. Paul has a focus and believes he will make it to Rome because he believes he has a destiny because God told him he was going to Rome. The title of this message �destined but delayed� is exactly what is happening to Paul and to you. Paul is delayed, in fact, in ch. 23:10 he was placed in a barrack (a jail). God is saying to you that you might be in a jail of opposition, or a jail of fear, or a jail of lack, or a jail of misunderstanding � don�t panic in there. The minute you panic, you throw your faith out the window. You must realize that God is with you in this storm, in this boat, in this circumstance � God is with you. Paul�s journey seemed now to get worse. Verse 18 tells us they had to �lighten the ship� (throw stuff overboard), not even the sun not the stars appeared (vs. 20) and it looked like he was about to give us. What about us, do we decide to give up when the going gets tough? Notice also in Paul�s journey it was dark and in a storm � day after day, dark and without hope. We too can loose hope in fighting a situation perhaps fighting a disease, or fear, or even a relationship and it gets dark when you�re in that situation. Just like in the winter darkness � with darkness what happens? Depression. Back in verse 7, it tells us that they were sailing slowly because the winds were against them. Sometimes in our Christian life, it seems we are sailing pretty slowly too, because there are winds of opposition and instead of a tailwind, we get a headwind that pushes us back. You too may be in a turbulent situation today and oftentimes what happens when you get a word from God, things can get worse instead of better. That�s what happened to Paul and suddenly in vs. 18 a typhoon blows up. What�s happening? Paul is �destined but delayed�. All hope is now lost and those on board have given up. We experience this in our lives sometimes, BUT GOD! God is still with you, He�s never going to leave you, you may leave Him but He�ll never leave you. Verse 21 tells us that after a long abstinence from food Paul stood in the midst of them and said �men you should have listened to me.� They should not have listened to the captain of the ship in the first place � we too are sometimes led astray by people who thought they knew what they were doing. Taking advice or counsel from this type of people can cause you to sink. They listened to the captain because he had sailing experience, that�s why they chose not to listen to Paul, but they should have, because Paul had Holy Ghost experience. We need Holy Ghost experience, we need to learn how to take instructions from God and not people. Paul received a word of confirmation in verse 23 from an angel of God. God too sends you a word of encouragement if you�re in a storm, with a word to encourage you. A word of encouragement to you today � Hang On! It�s interesting that it might be right at the point where everything is gone, (say for example with your health, or a job, or your marriage, or your child, or family problems, or a ministry God has called you to) and you are ready to give up � don�t let go. You�ll be tempted by the circumstance but hold fast to the word of God and take courage. We have to take courage, the word doesn�t say pray to God and he will give you courage, we have to take courage. Many Christians miss it by believing God will give them the courage and they have to do nothing. If it�s something God asked you to do, then only you can do it. We need discernment. There are things we have to do to bring the plan of God to pass in your life. Paul stays focused on his journey. Notice here that the one with the word from God can encourage others. Everybody else on the ship thinks they�re going down but Paul. Those around you may think �this is not going to work� � don�t listen, if you can keep your head when they�re loosing theirs, you like Paul can stand in the midst of them. You are the one who can impart hope and courage to the others but what if you don�t have a word from God and you have a desire to do something for God (many Christians are in that boat), then it�s difficult for you to be an encourager for someone else if you�re not sure yourself. What can happen is this - you can become jealous of someone else�s word from God, or become intimidated by the gifts of others because they might be better than you. This happens in Christianity often because they don�t have a word from God. Having a desire in your heart does not necessarily mean God called you, therefore you need to go to the Lord and stay in the word and stay in your faith until He does call you. This way you will have to something in which to hold on, if you have heard from God. Remember on the ship they had to throw everything overboard (even their food) and what sustained them? God! Paul now changes his position. He has a word from God and is standing in it. He stood in the midst of them, he stood in the midst of the storm, he stood in the midst of confusion and fear of drowning � he alone stood while the others were loosing their head and speaking negatively saying �look at the storm, we�re going to die�. Paul stands and that standing speaks of the authority of the word of God that has been given him. He stands in the midst of an impossible situation. Why? Because he had a word from God. If you�re not sure you have a word from God and you can be talked out of it then you need the word. You need the word and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit confirms the �word.� Signs and wonders confirm the �word.� There are two ingredients for Victory - #1, take courage and #2, don�t be afraid. If you have a fear of doing something, or a fear of people, or a fear of facing situations, then it�s not your time yet. You need a relationship with God to be able to hear from Him. Even Paul when speaking to the crew about the angel, he said �this God whom I serve��. Paul had a relationship with God and God sent him encouragement. You need encouragement today � never mind the circumstances, never mind if the boat looks like it�s going down, God is in the boat with you. Don�t jump ship if it looks like God�s plan for you isn�t coming to pass. Notice here that everyone in the boat are blessed because they�re in the boat with a covenant man. It was the same with Paul and Silas in prison in Acts 16, an angel opened the doors not just for them but for all the prisoners because they were covenant men. Your word from God can bring other people into liberty in their potential in Jesus Christ. Another detour now hits the boat, the storm is not over yet. Just because you come to prayer and get prayed over does not mean there won�t be another storm. The word tells us that the violent take the kingdom by force (Matt 11:12). Who�s the violent? We are. It takes some pressing to see God�s word come to pass in your life. Paul and his crew will still have to �run aground on some rocks� (the ship�s going to be broken in pieces) vs. 41. Maybe some of you have hit some rocks in your life lately. Maybe you have received a word from God regarding your career, your healing, your place of residence, or maybe you�re going to have a child, or a ministry, or getting out of debt and now you�ve hit some rocks and it seems like it�s been broken in pieces and doesn�t seem like it�s coming to pass. God has a word for you today �I am your healer, I am your deliverer, I am your supply, I am your peace.� If you�re broken, Jesus came to heal the broken-hearted. God says that in your weakness, ��I am your strength.� God says hold fast to My word because I�m standing behind My word to perform it. Don�t panic, don�t loose it, don�t leave the race, but stay in the race. Just like Daniel, there is warfare going on and you may not understand it, but God is saying that if you stay faithful and hold fast you will see My word come to pass, but you might have to labor a little. In verse 42, the soldiers want to kill the prisoners so they won�t escape when the ship breaks apart (Paul is one of those prisoners). God has a plan and he uses the centurion to spare Paul�s life. If you have a word from God, He will always put someone in your life to get you there. God�s plan is deliverance and healing for you, just like the Israelites His plan for them was they cross the wilderness in 11 days and be in the promised land. How long did it take? 40 years � 40 years of complaining, going �round and round� the mountain. Complaining comes from our mouths. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. You get what you speak, the Israelites were the perfect example. Stop grumbling and complaining about where you are. They finally arrived at the island of Malta and the inhabitants were friendly and they built a fire for them, but now here comes another storm! When God has a destiny for you, you�ll notice that the devil will never leave you alone. When he can�t get you to run, or get you out of the race, he�ll try to poison you. Paul now gathers some firewood and as he does he reaches into the firewood and a viper attaches itself to his hand. What does he do? Scream? Say, I going to die? No, he shakes it off. He didn�t panic, or ask for prayer, or ask for a greater anointing, no, he simply shook it off into the fire. Shake off that sickness, that bondage, that lack, that depression, that negativity. Paul was not moved, not afraid, because he had a word from the Lord � he�s going to Rome! God�s word for you today � you�re going to Rome (you�re going somewhere, you�re getting something). Never mind what the enemy tries to do to you � shake it off. You need that same confidence that Paul had. To do what God has called you to do, you need to believe the same way Paul believed and not let anyone, any circumstance, any thing steal your destiny. Don�t get into the flesh and react to the circumstances around you. No matter what they did to you or what they said to you, it�s not worth walking in unforgiveness. God responds to faith, God responds to unity. The blessing of God comes on unity. Don�t be afraid if you feel you�re taking the wrong direction, the Lord is well able to change your course if you�re in right relationship with Him. Don�t get hung up in the storm, or on sea, or on the island, or in a detour, you may be like Joseph right now but you�re destined for a palace. You�re destined but delayed. Shake off those attitudes and thoughts that are holding us back. Other people�s opinions are not important, God and you are a majority. Lord, we shake off all those things that are hindering us in the Name of Jesus Christ. We thank you Father that it doesn�t matter what�s trying to attach itself to us, even if it�s poison, we shake it off, even the poison that others may speak against us. We thank you Father that we stand in the liberty of Christ because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. |
|