It’s Not Fair – Grace Series# 2, Divine Paradox

It’s Not Fair – Grace Series# 2, Divine
By: Bobby Sullivan 

Paradox:— a seemingly absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition that when investigated or explained may prove to be well founded or true.

Lord I bind this virus! Quick give me a wipe!

Lord you will protect us! Keep those people out of Nova Scotia

No weapon formed against me…. Forget 6ft, how bout 7?

Galatians 6:9  “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

The Abundance of Adversity: I am believing for massive breakthrough in salvations, healings, miracles, attendance and finances!

The Compensation in Contradiction:  We are advancing, preparing; doing our best to not get sucked into the vacuum of despair     

In Weakness, Made Perfect:  We will be stronger. Paul said that.

Look at Isaiah 61

The Year of the Lord’s Favor

Isaiah 61 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, ² to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

They will be called oaks of righteousness (because their roots are deep) a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.

Genesis 15:1-5 “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?”

“This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”    Abraham: Father Of Faith

When God changed his name from Abram to Abraham. He added to his name the 5^th letter of the Hebrew alphabet. You pronounce that letter “HEI” It means come forth O created realm, revelation, highlighted or reveal”

5^th letter stands for GRACE. What did God add? Grace

Sarai went to Sarah: He was 99 years old. His seed got a wake up call! Because Grace invaded a difficult situation

We need HEI in our world right now. We need to declare it. Speak it, prophesy it! Come forth O created one!

David: 1 Samuel 16, 19 “Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.”

“Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”
David was anointed to be King at 15 years old and yet he went right back to taking care of sheep.

You send servants to the fields not sons. That’s why Samuel didn’t believe David was his son. What’s crazy is he was anointed but went back to the field. It could be symbolic of how he was a servant leader or that he didn’t believe what happened.

14 years later he became King. 

Psalm 56:2-4 “My enemies would hound me all day, For there are many who fight against me, O Most High. Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You. In God (I will praise His word), In God I have put my trust; I will not fear. What can flesh do to me?” 

So… Abraham and David had a word over them that contradicted their current reality but they persevered until it manifest.

Apostle Paul:  2 Corinthians 12:8-10 “Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly…

… I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Devil exploits your weakness and accuses you —Your Weakness and God’s Strength Is A Perfect Match!!! 

(2 Corinthians 10:10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.”)  His letters never matched his personality. He was a mumbler.  

If your weaknesses are turned towards people you will get defeated — Turn to Him and you will see His power made perfect in your weakness … Grace is about Jesus … Performance is about you. The Devil wants you to Hide and Pretend!!!!! 

Stop performing for people and trust me  …   I will do my work through you!!!

“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”  Winston Churchill 

Paul is on his way to Rome to minister the gospel.  On the way he gets to ride in what appeared to be the first convertible submarine of the day. These brave sailors were in a storm that seemed to be overwhelming. In an effort to save the ship and their lives, they cast four anchors into the sea.

However, on board that ship was Paul. He was a special man for several reason: 1. He was a child of God; 2. He was a man on a mission; 3. He was a man of faith; and 4. He was in fellowship with God. Because of who he was, Paul was anchored in the midst of that storm, even though the ship wasn’t!

Those sailors threw four anchors into the sea in an attempt to steady that ship. Those anchors failed. Paul had four anchors as well. These anchors steadied him during the storm.

Even though that ship was shaken and battered, Paul was able to stand steady and strong.

Acts 27:9-11 “Paul advised them,  saying, ‘Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.’  Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman …” 

^{PASSION TRANSLATION: 9} We remained there a long time, until we passed the day of the Jewish fast. Paul advised the frightened sailors that they should not put out to sea in such dangerous weather, saying, ¹⁰ “Men, I can see that our voyage would be disastrous for us and bring great loss, not only to our ship and cargo but also to our own lives. We should remain here.” ¹¹ But the officer in charge was persuaded more by the ship’s helmsman and captain than he was by Paul.

• 23 THE STRONG ANCHOR OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD. ²³ Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
  

21-26 “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.  And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life … 

… but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; … and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.”

²¹ After being without food for a long time, Paul stepped before them all and said, “Men, you should have obeyed^[u]me and avoided all of this pain and suffering by not leaving Crete. ²² Now listen to me. Don’t be depressed, for no one will perish—only the ship will be lost. ²³ For God’s angel visited me last night, the angel of my God, the God I passionately serve.

He came and stood in front of me ²⁴ and said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You are destined to stand trial before Caesar. And because of God’s favor on you, he has given you the lives of everyone who is sailing with you.’ ²⁵ So men, keep up your courage! I know that God will protect you, just as he told me he would. ²⁶ But we must run aground on some island to be saved.”

Even in the midst of that raging storm, Paul found that he was not alone. The Lord came to him to minister peace to his heart.

Regardless of the storm that tosses your life and mine, if we have the same confidence that Paul has in his relationship to the Lord, v. 23, then we can have faith in His promise to be with us always – Matt. 28:20 ²⁰ And teach them to faithfully follow^[a] all that I have commanded you. And never forget that I am with you every day, even to the completion of this age.”

   What an encouragement it is to know that we will never face an instant of life on our own! Every step, every valley, every mountain will be graced by His presence!  Psa. 23:6 – The blessed footmen of God, goodness and mercy, follow us everywhere we go!

It would be a blessing if we enjoyed the manifest presence of the Lord as Paul did. But, even when you cannot see Him, He is still there: watching, leading, protecting, being God.

Dr. Tony Compolo says that when he was a boy growing up in a congested and bustling city, his mother arranged for a teenage girl who lived nearby to walk home with him at the end of the day. For this, she was paid a nickel a day.

But Tony rebelled in the second grade and told his mother, “I’ll walk myself to school, and, if you give me a nickel a week, I will be extra careful. You can keep the other twenty cents and we’ll all be better off.”

After a period of pleading and begging, little Tony finally got his way. For the next two years he walked himself back and forth to school. It was an eight-block walk with many streets to cross, but he was careful and didn’t talk to strangers or get distracted along the way.

Years later at a family party, he bragged about his independence and reminded his family of how he had taken care of himself as a boy. His mother laughed and added the rest of the story. “Did you really think you were alone?” she said. “Every morning when you left for school, I left with you. I walked behind you all the way. When you got out of school at 3:30 in the afternoon, I was there. I always kept myself hidden, but I was there and I followed you all the way home. I just wanted to be there for you in case you needed me.”

2.) v.25 THE STRONG ANCHOR OF THE PROMISES OF GOD

²⁵ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.

As Paul weathered that long, terrible storm, the Lord came to him with a precious promise. He reminded Paul that he would stand before Caesar, and that all those on the ship were to be spared as well. For Paul, just having a word from God was enough to anchor him and give him blessed assurance.

Dr. Everek R. Storms of Ontario spent a vast amount of time studying the promises of Scripture. Writing in Contact Magazine, he said: “The Holy Scriptures contain a grand total of 8,810 promises. How do I know? I counted them.

What section of Scripture most impressed Dr. Storms? He wrote, “The most outstanding chapter as far as promises are concerned in Psalm 37. Practically every verse is a most wonderful promise.”

3.)  v. 24 THE STRONG ANCHOR OF THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD. ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’

At that moment in time, that storm was the safest place in the world for Paul to be! Why? Because he was in the will of the Lord and God was working in a mighty way in the situation to bring about His will for Paul’s life.

Emperor Charles V was trying to assassinate John Brenz, friend of Martin Luther. Hearing of the plot, Brenz barely had time to grab a loaf of bread and duck into his neighbor’s hayloft. There he hid fourteen days. The bread was quickly gone, but the Lord sent a hen who showed up and laid an egg each day for fourteen days. In this way, Brenz was kept alive. On the fifteenth day the chicken didn’t come, and the reformer wondered what he would do. But from the street below came the cries, “The cavalrymen are gone at last.”

In a similar way, a dog provided for the needs of another reformer, John Craig, who was arrested during the Inquisition. On the eve of his scheduled execution, Craig escaped, but while fleeing through the Italian backcountry, he ran out of food and money. Suddenly a dog approached him, a purse in its mouth. Craig tried to drive the animal away, but the dog persisted in bringing the purse to Craig. In it was enough money to take him to freedom.

Robert Bruce of Scotland was running for his life, fleeing persecutors. He ducked into a small cave, and a spider immediately appeared and spun a web over the opening. Bruce’s pursuers fanned across the landscape, knowing he was near. Two of them approached the cave, and one of the men started to go in. The other one stopped him, saying, “He could never have gotten in there without breaking that spider’s web.”

Notice this: even after Paul received the great promise of the Lord for himself and all on board the ship, the men still tried to take care of matters on their own, v. 28-39, and some even tried to get off the ship, v. 30-31. Even in the face of God’s promise, v. 21-26, the men in the ship fought, feared and fretted in the midst of the storm.

There was just one guy on board who was enjoying the trip: Paul! Why? Because he believed God! He knew God was working and he used that truth as an anchor!

Friends, we live in a day when men are abandoning ship at an alarming rate! The storms of life attack them and they run from the church. Can I remind you that the best place you can be in the storms of life is in the ship, where the Lord wants you to be. If you leave the ship, you might face the fury of the storm on your own. If you stay where the lord has planted you, you can be assured that His work in your life will be carried out to completion!

God is an anchor for your soul as you sail the story seas of life! They will unlock the prisons of despair in which the devil seeks to chain you!

4.)  v.44 THE STRONG ANCHOR OF THE PERFORMANCE OF GOD ⁴⁴ The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

What the Lord told Paul, and what Paul believed would happen came to pass: everyone made it safely to the shore. God kept His Word! He spared every life and proved Himself to be as good as His Word!

God worked it all out! He will get you through your storm and land you safely beyond it! It may look like the boat is going to sink. It may look like the storms of life are going to prevail.

However, when the waves have all settled down, when the winds have ceased their blowing, when the rains have stopped, when the storm clouds have moved off to the horizon: you will see that God was in control all along! I can promise you this, no storm in this life will be able to blow you off the course God has determined for your life!

Corrie Ten Boom said it this way, “When Jesus takes your hand, He keeps you tight. When Jesus keeps you tight, He leads you through your whole life. When Jesus leads you through your life, He brings you safely home.“

Acts 28:1-9 “…But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. …   But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm.

“However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.”

“… the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed.”

28 After we had safely reached land, we discovered that the island we were on was Malta. ² The people who lived there showed us extraordinary kindness, for they welcomed us around the fire they had built because it was cold and rainy.

³ When Paul had gathered an armful of brushwood and was setting it on the fire, a venomous snake was driven out by the heat and latched onto Paul’s hand with its fangs. ⁴ When the islanders saw the snake dangling from Paul’s hand, they said to one another, “No doubt about it, this guy is a murderer. Even though he escaped death at sea, Justice^[a] has now caught up with him!” ⁵ But Paul shook the snake off, flung it into the fire, and suffered no harm at all. ⁶ Everyone watched him, expecting him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. After observing him for a long time and seeing that nothing unusual happened, they changed their minds and said, “He must be a god!”

NOTE: How many of you know someone bit by something or someone? You wrote them off just because the circumstances dictated the outcome!  The test of your testimony in the midst of your trials shows how triumphant you are!

⁷ The Roman governor of the island, named Publius, had his estate nearby. He graciously welcomed us as his houseguests and showed us hospitality for the three days that we stayed with him. ⁸ His father lay sick in bed, suffering from fits of high fever and dysentery. So Paul went into his room, and after praying, placed his hands on him. He was instantly healed.

⁹ When the people of the island heard about this miracle, they brought all the sick to Paul, and they were also healed.

Endurance, perseverance, potentially opens the door to transform more lives.

Shipwreck To Revival – 5 Observations:

1. Bad Things Happen To Good People.
2. We Often Share In The Results Of Bad Choices Of Others

3 You Often Have To Endure The Opinions Of Others

4.In Every Hardship Exercise your Faith

5. Your Breakthrough Will Bring Freedom To Others

Job 42:12, 16-17  “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. …”

… After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. So Job died, old and full of days.”

 No matter where you find Yourself  …

 TRUST GOD AND DON’T BE SHAKEN

 Shake It Off!!! — There is an “after this.” 

There is something after this! After the ship wrecks, After the snake bites, After the storm. There is something bigger after a virus and a goofy election. There is something bigger than what we ever imagined and it’s a victorious eschatology, not a doomsday declaration.  Welcome to the after show!!!

After this the shipwreck turns into a revival! We will see a manifestation of glory, revival, healing, signs miracles and wonders in Bridgewater!!!!

 Divine Paradox

Conc: Have you set your anchors deep in the Lord? If you have, then you can weather life’s storms. If you haven’t, be prepared to be blown about by the winds of adversity. I would encourage you to come before the Lord and say something like this, “Lord, I cannot fix my situation. I cannot calm the raging seas of my life and I cannot still the winds that blow against me. I need help today. By faith, I cast the anchors of your presence, your promises, your providence and your performance into my stormy sea. I am resolved to trust you to walk onto my storm and speak peace when it is your will to do so. Until then, I will not fear, I will not fret, and I will not fight. I will trust you to do what is best for me.” When you throw in the towel and come to a place of total trust before the Lord in your storm, it gets His attention and you can be sure that He will do something about your situation!