Transcript of sermon:
Introduction
ACTS 28:1-10
Anyone ever had a rough moment, day, week, year, or life? My week was already busy when Thursday hit. On Thursday, I found out that a candidate I am helping will be in Monroe on Wednesday the 14th and I am being asked to help get people to show up for support. No problem. I can do that! Then, I received the tragic news about our Pastor’s dad. No problem – I prepare a sermon and prepare for a reception for a political candidate. Easy as pie. I spend the rest of the day focusing on developing a sermon.
Then Friday happens. I realize that the candidate will be in a bus and the bus is very large and the town square is very small. No problem. I call the politicians office and to describe the issue and am told my contact will call me back later. Phone tag the rest of the day.
No problem. I have to study for a sermon anyway.
Nope. My grandparents call me and tell me that they are stuck in Loganville with a dead battery. Now being a responsible grandchild, I could have called a tow truck. As a minister, I could have asked my grandfather to lay hands on the battery as I pray over the phone. As a person getting busier by the moment, I could have asked them to call my sister.
No, no, no! As someone who loves his family, I jumped into my vehicle and went to their rescue. I had to drive them five miles past three other auto parts stores but we got the battery they wanted and I replaced it for them. Now, do I go back to study? Not yet. I am now concerned about getting that very huge bus that is getting bigger by the minute in my mind into a parking lot that looks to small for my kids hot wheels! So I drive to Monroe (stopping to put out a campaign sign since my last one was stolen).
I head home the slow way because I have other signs to put out though I really need to be studying for this sermon. Unlike our pastor who can prepare sermon in two hours, I have to spend twenty hours on one because I am a perfectionist and write too much. And already my introduction is too long.
I get home to an emptying home. My wife is removing my little kids to avoid further distractions. But by then I was thoroughly distracted and was still playing phone tag! Now, I need to call our Pastor because I am praying for his father. I have to call my brother who had surgery this week in Alabama.
I really need to be picking blueberries because they are getting ripe very fast and my dad needs help. I also need to go pick up the strawberry plants from my grandparents – no…I need to study for the sermon. Oh look I am two hours late for getting to work and I am still playing phone tag.
I start to work and tag…no wait I get the person I need to get on the phone. I have to turn around and go back home and shoot off an email to a person helping me with the logistics. Now, I can go to work.
I could go on and on about being ready to serve others but I still had to finish a sermon, remember that Karate started soon, and I still had to prepare for the Young Couples Fellowship last night in which while worrying about my brother, my sister trying to move, and now Thursday and Friday, I forgot to get babysitters. But I will not bore you with my life. Instead I will tell you about Paul.
My week does not compare to Paul’s life. Paul escaped Jerusalem where people plotted to kill him and an angry mob almost did. He eventually is shipped to Rome only to encounter stormy seas and nearly ends up drowning. Then he is shipwrecked and the soldiers want to kill him and all the prisoners – that way they did not have to recapture the ones who ran away on an island no bigger than Conyers. In our text, Paul is now marooned on an island 470 miles away from where the ship’s captain had intended on landing.
Did this bother Paul? No. Paul was endued with power from on high. He was walking under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Paul was ready to go to work for God. He had not been stopped thus far and his current situation wasn’t going to stop him now. Paul was ready to honor the work of God.
Think about this:
Since God empowers us in our moments of crisis, we also should continue to honor God’s work. If He is going to take time to empower us while we are hurting or down or confused or even full of joy, shouldn’t we honor His work by working?
All types of misery may strike our households, but we should remember that we are children of the most high God who had given us a spirit of power, of love, and of a sound mind. God is working in our lives in more ways than we can ever imagine. He empowers us to do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens us. A crisis may slow us down but it should never stop us from performing ministry!
Honoring God’s work means we respond to the needs of others regardless of our current circumstances. We continue ministry as Paul did. We use the strength from Jesus Christ to serve others. Honoring God’s work compels us to promote His work, to advance His work, and to elevate His work.
To better understand how God empowers us during our moments of crisis…stayed tuned!
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