Kerry Shook - God's Will
Chris and I recently went to Sweden to celebrate our dear friend Vivian's 80th birthday. And we love Vivian. She's the wife of the dean of Woodland Seminary, Kjell Axel Johanson. And they live in Sweden, but, as many of you know, they've made the Woodlands their second home. But one of the things Kjell Axel planned and did to celebrate Viv's birthday, and he was pretty amazing. He set the bar high... is that he invited friends and family to go on a boat ride with them across a beautiful Swedish lake. And it was a beautiful, sunny day in Sweden. But this was no ordinary boat ride. This boat was an exact replica of an unearthed Viking ship. You know, everything was built exactly the way a Viking ship was built.
Now, the Vikings were skilled and experienced sailors. They knew how to harness the power of the wind. But when there was no wind, they would row. And after rowing for about five minutes on that boat, I realized I could never have been a Viking. It was really hard to row. I didn't realize that. But I could never seem to stay in rhythm with the other rowers. That's kind of the way it is with all senior pastors. Pastor Andreas, who preached here a few weeks ago, was the same. He couldn't stay in sync, you know? And the paddles were really heavy and awkward. Not to mention, after five minutes, I was exhausted. I could have never been a successful Viking because if you can't paddle, you can't pillage. And I couldn't paddle, and I doubt I could pillage.
You know, if I lived in that day and was on a Viking longship, it would have taken about 30 seconds into the journey for everyone to realize, "That guy's dead weight over there. Let's send him on to Valhalla". But, you know, even the Vikings would get discouraged if there was no wind in their sails for several days. They would get worn out from rowing. And that's the way life is. When you don't catch the wind of the Holy Spirit in your sails, life is exhausting. You're wearing yourself out, but you're not getting anywhere. You have no divine momentum. I took sailing lessons when I was in college, and one of the few things I learned that I still remember was you need momentum to change direction.
If your sail gets turned directly into the wind for very long at all, you get stuck. It's called "in irons". Your sail is flapping. You have no momentum. Your rudder is useless. You can't change directions. So then you have to set your sail to catch the wind and get some momentum, and then you can steer the boat in the right direction. And divine momentum and clear direction go hand in hand. And in this life, it all comes down to setting your sails to catch the wind of the Spirit. So I want you to look at what Jesus said in John 3:8. And would you stand in honor of God's Word? Just follow along with me.
In John 3:8, Jesus said, "Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going". You can be seated. Jesus compares the Holy Spirit to the wind. He says like the wind, you can't see God's Spirit. You can't see the wind, but you can see the effects of the wind. You can see trees blowing and moving. And just like the wind, you can't see God's Spirit, but you can see the effects of God's Spirit. You can see him working in your life. And you can't control the wind. We can't predict the wind. We can't control the wind. And you can't control the Spirit. You can't decide which way the Spirit moves, but you can set your sails to catch the wind of God's Spirit and live in divine momentum and clear direction.
Now, look what else Jesus said about the Spirit in John 16:13. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future". Jesus was tellin' the disciples, "After I die and rise again, I'm going back to heaven, but I'm gonna leave you the Holy Spirit. I'm going back to heaven, and I'm gonna send you the Holy Spirit to be your personal guide in life. To be there all the time with you and in you. To give you power and strength, and to guide you through life".
See, the Bible is our map for life. It gives us direction. But if you're a Christ-follower, you also have a personal guide who will never leave you and will guide you through life. The couple of times Chris and I have been whitewater rafting, we've always had one or two or three guides with us. We've always had an experienced guide or two when we rafted through the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River. See, I could have had a map. I could have had a GPS that was showin' me exactly where we were on the river and what was going to be next on the river, where the river would bend, where the river would go. I would know exactly where we were if I had a GPS. I would know exactly where we're going. But without an experienced guide who knew the river, where and how to navigate the dangerous sections of whitewater, that map wouldn't have mattered.
And I'm so grateful that God has given us his map, to give us his direction, the Bible. The Bible has the answers and the direction for a life of meaning and purpose, fulfillment, and joy. But I'm also grateful that he's given us a personal guide to give us the power, the momentum, the encouragement, and the daily guidance to give us clear direction and confidence. Now, the Holy Spirit is not an "it". Sometimes Christ-followers, you know, act like the Holy Spirit is an "it". "It guides me, or", no, the Holy Spirit is not an "it". He's the third person of the Trinity. God three in one, which we will never understand in our finite minds. But he is our personal guide in life.
So the question is, how do you set your sails to catch the wind of the Spirit? Well, I want us to look at Paul in the New Testament because I can't think of a better example of someone who knew how to set his sails to catch the wind of the Spirit and have divine momentum and clear direction. And in Acts 27, we see Paul being put on a ship headed to Rome to stand trial before Caesar. And even though he was a prisoner, Paul knew that he was right in the middle of God's will. Even though it looked like everything was going wrong, Paul knew that God had planned and purposed for him to go to Rome to make a difference that would change the world. He knew that he was right where he was supposed to be.
So, let's look at this in Acts 27, verse 8, "We struggled along the coast with great difficulty and finally arrived at Fair Havens, near the town of Lasea. We had lost a lot of time. The weather was becoming dangerous for sea travel because it was so late in the fall, and Paul spoke to the ship's officers about it. 'Men,' he said, 'I believe there's trouble ahead if we go on, shipwreck, loss of cargo, and danger to our lives as well.'"
See, Paul is in tune with God. He spent time with the Lord. He listened to the Holy Spirit. He learned to recognize the Spirit's promptings in his heart. He listened to the Holy Spirit for direction and strength. And he warned the Roman officers in charge to not sail at this time. "Wait, don't sail now". He said, "If you sail now, this sailing will take us into dangerous waters that will lead to shipwreck". But I want us to do a study of this passage in Acts 27. It says, in verse 13, "When a good wind began to blow from the south, the men on the ship thought, 'This is the wind we wanted, and now we have it.'"
You see, they didn't listen to Paul. It says, "When a good wind for their voyage started blowing, they set sail". It looked like a good wind, but it wasn't God's wind. It wasn't the wind of the Spirit. The choices that can get us in the most trouble and get us the most off track in life aren't those choices that are the awful choices. Not those choices that are the clearly bad choices that will take us down a bad path. No, it's the good things. The seemingly good opportunities. They may be good opportunities, but they're not God opportunities. And if it's a good opportunity but not a God opportunity, you're sailing into dangerous waters because it's often the good things that keep us from God's best in life. The good is the enemy of the best. And if it's good wind but not God's wind, it can lead to shipwreck.
And there are a lot of winds blowing out there in our culture that aren't the wind of the Spirit. And if you set your sails to catch those winds, you'll get dangerously off course really quickly. Just like the men on this ship. They said, "This is the wind that we wanted". It was the wind they wanted. It wasn't the wind God wanted. It wasn't the wind that God wanted for them to guide them to his best. And so many times we do what we want, what we think is best, and we miss out on God's best. They set their sails to catch the wrong wind. And so many times in life, we set our sails to catch the wrong wind, and we wind up on the rocks. So let's see how they made that decision.
Acts 27, verse 11. "But the officer in charge of the prisoners listened more to the ship's captain and the owner than to Paul". And so they listened more to the ship's captain. You see, the Roman officers, who were to make the decision, they listened to Paul because they already had some respect for Paul because of his integrity. They saw there was something different about him. They listened to Paul, but they listened more to the ship's captain. He was the expert sailor. And so they set their sail to catch the wind of the so-called expert rather than the wind of God. And when we live our lives based on what the so-called experts say rather than what God's Word says, we get way off track.
Let's continue to look at this passage. In Acts 27:12, it says, "Since the harbor was unsuitable to winter in, the majority decided that we should sail on". There it is right there. "The majority decided". Ultimately, they went with the wind, a popular opinion. And when you make decisions based on what most people are doing, you're almost always headed in the wrong direction. And it's a dangerous direction that ends in a shipwreck. We get molded into peer pressure. Our thinking becomes the thinking of our culture and what everyone else is doing. And, you know, it's like, "Well, this is normal". No, normal today is stressed out, confused, worn out, in debt, you know, overcrowded schedules, being miserable in life, not have any overarching purpose. That's normal today. Don't be normal. Get weird, okay? Get weird.
I'm not talkin' about weird like those bumper stickers that say, Keep Austin Weird. I'm not talkin' about that kind of weird, okay? Not talkin' about that kind of weird. But, I mean, you don't want to be normal today. But let's look at the next part, Acts 27:12. The full verse. "And since Fair Havens was an exposed harbor, a poor place to spend the winter, most of the crew wanted to go on to Phoenix, farther up the coast of Crete, and spend the winter there. Phoenix was a good harbor with only a southwest and northwest exposure". So Fair Havens was an exposed harbor that felt really unsafe, but the Phoenix Harbor had limited exposure and looked safer, so they set their sails to catch the wind of security.
And that's the wind that most of us set our sails to today. Our number one goal in life becomes safety, security, comfort. And when security becomes your number one goal, you feel really insecure. Because you end up placing your trust in things that bring about the most insecurity, like money and things and people, over trusting God. Nothing wrong with those things, but whenever you place your faith in things that can change or be taken away, you'll always feel insecure. Don't rely on what looks safe. Don't make your goal in life to be comfortable. You were made to take risk and faith, to live from the passion that God placed in your heart, to catch the wind of the Spirit out on uncharted waters, being fully alive with the wind in your face.
That's God's plan for you. And his presence and his power will always be with you. And by the way, the safest place you could ever be is right in the center of God's will. Sometimes we get afraid. "God, you're calling me to take this step of faith". You know, as we move into this 30th anniversary, God's calling us to stretch in faith more than we ever have because we don't wanna depend on past faith. We wanna stretch in faith. Without faith, it's impossible to please God. So, you know, as we stretch in faith, you get afraid. You know, fear comes in. People ask Chris and I all the time, "Do you ever get afraid when you're steppin' out and trusting God in faith? When you started the church? Now, when we're stepping up more than ever? Do you ever get afraid"? I say, "Yes, every single time. We just don't let our fears keep us from following God".
You see, courage isn't the absence of fear. It's just taking a step of faith in spite of your fear. Knowing that you have a God that you can trust. The safest place you'll ever be is in the center of God's will. The most dangerous place you'll ever be is outside of God's will. So what are you basing all your decisions in life on? Your gut? What you feel is best? What the experts say? Popular opinion? Your past experience? All those things will lead you down the wrong path. God's Word and God's Spirit is the only reliable guide. And the most important decision you make is deciding what you'll base all your decisions on. And when you decide to base all your decisions on God's truth, all the other decisions in your life get a lot easier. Well, let's continue to study this passage. There's just so much in here.
In Acts 27, verse 13, it says, "When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it. So they pulled up anchor and sailed close to the shore of Crete". "They pulled up anchor". That's so interesting to me. They wanted to do what they wanted, and they pulled up anchor, and they set sail. And when we do what we want rather than what God wants for us, we pull up anchor. We're no longer anchored to God's peace and strength. We're at the mercy of the wind and the wave, just tossed about without an anchor to hold us securely. You see, these guys just got tired of waiting.
They didn't listen to Paul, even though they had already began to see that, man, there was something different about him. God speaks through him, but they didn't listen. They just got tired of waiting. They said, "We gotta move on". Do you ever get tired of waiting on God? Sometimes I get tired of waiting on God, and I'm waiting on God to come through, and I'm praying, and then I just take off, going in a direction. I think, "Well, God, you probably want me to do this. I'm tired of waiting". And I miss God's best. If you're waiting on God, just know that delay will not destroy God's purpose for your life. Delays are part of God's plan for our lives. Delays, those waiting rooms of life, teach us to trust God.
It's the hardest thing to do to wait on God, but sometimes it's not that we're waiting on God. God's waiting on us and our character to grow and develop so that we can receive that next level and those new blessings he has for us, because we wouldn't be able to handle it. And sometimes, we're not waiting on God. We think we are, but God's waiting on us. But don't take that step without God. Don't go without God. Wait, because he will come through. That delay is not a "no" from God. It's just, "Wait. Wait, my child. It's coming. You just wait. Wait for my best. Don't settle for good. Wait for my best".
Well, let's look at the next verse. Verse 14. "But the weather changed abruptly, and a wind of typhoon strength (called a 'northeaster') burst across the island and blew us out to sea". So the weather changed and the storm hit and they weren't anchored. And folks, storms will come into every life. You can't avoid the storms of life. And if you're not anchored to God, you're gonna go under. You're gonna sink. Storms come into every marriage. The winds of change, mistakes, the waves of hurt and pain, will batter your boat. And if your marriage isn't anchored in God, it will sink. We have to be anchored in God, and that anchor will hold us strong when the storms hit. And they inevitably will hit every single life, but God will hold you strong.
Well, let's go on. Acts 27:50. It says, "But the sailors couldn't turn the ship into the wind, so they gave up and let it run before the gale". They gave up trying to control everything. They gave up trying to control the wind, and that's our biggest problem in life. Trying to be in control. Trying to control the uncontrollable. Trying to control the wind. Trying to control God. Trying to control our circumstances. Taking the helm from God and trying to be the master and commander of our lives. And usually, God has to take us through a process of giving up so we can give over control to him.
So the first thing they do is they give up trying to control the wind. And some of you are going through a storm in life right now. And could it be that God is allowing the storm to show you that you're not in control, you're not the master and commander of the universe, so you'll give up to his care and control because he loves you so much? The men of the ship gave up control. First, they gave up trying to control, and then they start giving up on what they were trusting in. In verses 18 and 19, it says, "The next day, as gale-force winds continue to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. The following day, they even took some of the ship's gear and threw it overboard".
I can just imagine a couple of days before they left port, they're taking the cargo and they're loading it on the ship, and they're being so careful with it because this was precious cargo. This was how they got paid: to get their cargo to one point to the next point successfully. I'm sure some of those crates said, "Fragile. Handle with care". And they were being so careful, because this was their paycheck, as they loaded it carefully upon the ship. And then, a couple of days later, they're just chuckin' it overboard. Why? The storm has a tendency to clarify our priorities and show us what's important. It was meaningless compared to the big picture of them going under. They even started throwing away some of the gear on the boat.
And I'm sure the owner of the boat was like, "Chunk it. It doesn't matter". And sometimes, God allows us to go through storms to show us what's important and how out of line our priorities are so that we don't miss out on what matters in life. They're just chuckin' this overboard. They realize they've got to give up control. They can't control the wind. And they realize they've got to give up what they're trusting in. But then this process of giving up continues. Acts 27:20. It says, "The terrible storm rages for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last all hope was gone".
First, they give up trying to control, then they give up what they've been trusting in, and then they give up all hope. And that's usually the place the storm has to take us. To the place we give up hope so we can turn to the God of hope. That's usually where God has to take me in that process. It'd be really wise, just at that first point, to give up and give over control to God, but many times, God has to take us through this process in the storm until we finally give up hope in ourselves and everything else, and we place our hope in him alone.
You see, when they gave up all hope, that's when they turned to listen to what the Holy Spirit was saying through Paul. And we see in Paul's life and what happens how we set ourselves to catch the wind of the Spirit. We need three anchors. First is the anchor of God's promises. I want you to see what Paul says in Acts 27:22. "But take courage! None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me, and he said, 'Don't be afraid, Paul, for you will surely stand trial before Caesar! What's more, God in his goodness has granted safety to everyone sailing with you.' So take courage! For I believe God. It will be just as he said".
Because Paul was close to God, listened to the Holy Spirit, he knew he was right in the middle of God's will even in the middle of the storm. Even though these people who went the wrong direction were taking him with them, he was still going the right direction because he was still in God's will. And God gave him a promise. God said, "Paul, this storm is not gonna stop my purpose for you. You know, I said you'd go to Rome and I would use you to change the world. I would use you. I said you're going to Rome. Well, this storm is not gonna stop that. These people who aren't listening to me aren't gonna stop that. You're gonna make it. And by the way, everyone with you, if they'll stay on the ship, they'll make it. But the ship's gonna go under. And then no one will be on the ship, but I'm gonna save every one of 'em if they won't leave early".
And he said, "You can count on it. God told me, 'You can count on it.'" Be encouraged because God's Word is always true. That's why we need to anchor ourselves in God's promises. There are over 7,000 in God's Word. You need to get to know God's promises and claim God's promises because God never breaks his Word. He's not like us. He's always faithful to his Word, and you can count on it.