SOS

Why don’t we give God a hand clap of praise right now. Let’s continue to let his presence fill this house tonight. Hallelujah Lord we praise and we worship your mighty name. You are wonderful Jesus. We love you Lord and we give you all of all of the glory. Praise the Lord. It such an honor to stand here tonight and be with you. I want to give honor to my Pastors. Pastor Lappin has been such an amazing role model and example that I look up to. I also want to honor Pastor Derrick who I have the privilege of calling my friend and my mentor. i also want to thank my parents who have helped me along every step of the way. I would not be anywhere with out them. Thank you mom and dad for raising our family in this wonderful truth. And last I want to give honor to my beautiful fiancee, who in a few short months i get to call my wonderful wife. Thank you for everything that you do for me. If you have your bibles can you turn with me to Acts the 27th chapter. We are going to be ready verse 20, then we will jump down to verse 42-44. I am going to be reading from the New King James Version. Again I want to thank this church for everything that you have done for me throughout my life of growing up here. I would not be the man I am today without this great church. If you have the verse in the bible say Amen. Beginning with verse 20:

The New King James Version Chapter 27

20 Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.

The New King James Version Chapter 27

42 And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. 43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land.

Tonight I wanna preach to you a message titled SOS. Can we put our bibles down and just take a minute to ask to lord to speak to us tonight. Mighty God we come before you tonight and ask that you will bless this service. God I pray that you will begin to open up our ears and our hearts that we can receive what you want us to hear tonight. Anoint me tonight God and use me as a vessel that i can speak your word tonight. We love, e praise you and we give you all the glory in Jesus Name we pray. lets give the Lord one more hand clap of praise tonight.

On the night of February 18th, 1952. Disaster would strike the SS Pendleton would get caught in the middle of a raging storm. The ship would split into and begin to sink. Petty Officer 1st Class Bernie Webber and his crew of 3 coast guard would set out on an almost suicidal mission. With the odds against them, they would travel there way through the storm. In a small 36ft boat, only navigating with a spotlight in search for the sinking vessel. We they finally made there way through the storm and found the Ship the next question was HOW TO SAVE them. the 4 man crew begin to pull survivors they found in the water onto their tiny boat. They would continue to search until 32 members of a 33 man crew were safe on board. This recuse mission would go down in history as one of the Greatest Rescue Missions of All Time. With Bernie Webber and his crew receiving the Gold Lifesaving Medal for their actions that night.

Within this passage of Scripture you can find the story of Paul getting ready to make his way to Rome. He had been arrested under the rule of King Agrippa and although King Agrippa would later find no real cause to keep him imprisoned because Paul had made his appeal to Caesar. Paul was not a clueless man. Because of the time of year that they were traveling Paul know that the seas could be rough to travel in. Acts 27:9-11 says,

The New King James Version Chapter 27

9 Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous because the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, 10 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.” 11 Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul.

The Centurion decided that it was better to believe the ships captain than listen to Paul about the up coming journey. What I need you to understand tonight is that DANGER WILL COME TO THOSE WHO IGNORE THE WARNING SIGNS. Sometimes we can look and see the danger we are heading into. I know that storms can come our way and trials can face us that we are not expecting. But sometimes we see the signs and choice the same path we are going anyway. “Well I think it is going to be okay.” “this doesn't look like it is that big of a deal anyway why should I worry about” “Nobody is going to see me do it, so as long as I get away with it Im good right?” Sometimes the biggest problem that we face and the one thing that sends us one direction or another, is OURSELVES. Romans 8:23 says:

The New King James Version Chapter 6

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We have to understand that the devil is not playing any games. This is just a few short amount of time for him. He already knows where his eternity is going to be. But we have to make the choice for ourselves, and we must know play games with sin.

After many days into the Journey, Paul and everyone else on the ship would find themselves in a nasty storm. The bible describes the storm as “Euroclydon”. As we read earlier in Verse 20. There was no sun or stars. It would be said that all hope of salvation was finally given up. I don’t know about you but have you ever been in the middle of your trial and thought that their was no chance of saving. There was no moment where you could let your SOS signal out. The devil wants to get us to a place where we feel that all hope is lost. He wants us to feel that we cannot get past our past. He is using our current trials and past to lock us into a place of darkness. When Joseph was sold into slavery he could have given up on his promises. He could have said, “you know what, I am done I am in a foreign country that I don’t know and their is absolutely no hope for me.” He could have given up when he was thrown into prison because of a LIE. When Job lost everything he had, his closest friends even told him, bro you should just curse God and die right here. But he didn’t. He held on to that promise and he held on to that trust. I’ve come to tell someone tonight you past does not determine your future. Your current situation is not your death sentence. All you need to do is begin to cry out to God. And begin to LISTEN FOR HIS VOICE IN YOUR STORM. Why don’t we just take a minute and begin to worship and cry out to God. God hear us tonight. Lord you know what we are facing in our lives. You know what we are struggling with, so God tonight we cry out to you.

While men where running around the ship. i would image they would be out of their minds going crazy. The one thing that they failed to do was find Paul. he was just a prisioner. There was no reason to be looking for one of the prisoners, they weren't important. But what they didn't know is that Paul was praying. Sometimes we go through trials and we go trough storms, thinking “well nobody knows what I’m going trough?” But God has taken our problems and placed our lives into someones mind and they are praying for our situations. You may not even know who they are but they are praying peace into your storm.

The New King James Version Chapter 27

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. 22 And now I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, 24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ 25 Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. 26 However, we must run aground on a certain island.”

God was there with Paul. Because Pauls began to pray and seek God, God heard his SOS cry and came into the middle of the storm he was facing. Sometimes we have to remember to include God in our problems. He is going to listen to us no matter what the circumstance we are going through. God wants to rescue us from our Storm. He wants to be their to help us but we cannot get his help by not sharing with him what we are facing.

Verse 42 says

42 And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape.

Even though Paul had told everyone on that boat that everyone would be saved. The soldiers still had there plan of killing the prisoners so none of them could escape. We have an adversary who hates us. The devil wants to leave us as prisoners. He cannot stand to someone be set free of their bondage and pain.

The New King James Version Chapter 5

1 Peter 5:8

8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

The devil is seeking us out. He is using the world against us. The would is trying to judge you. Telling you that because of your current situation and because of your past you cannot do anything. They will tell you that you have no purpose and that you are a mess. You can be used by God, look at everything you used to do. You’re too old. You’re too young. You don’t have the right past of a preacher, teacher or singer. You’re not good enough. And be careful, because sometimes those harsh words can come right from the body of Christ. But you need to look past all that and focus your eyes on him. While everything around you looks like it is failing God is saying here right out to me Im here to rescue you.

I’m going to ask the musicians to come on up. If everyone would please stand. Im getting ready to close. I feel the presence of God in this place tonight. He is hear and I believe that he is speaking to someone right now. You need to look past your current storm. You need to look on from your past. You don’t have to meet all the qualifications for God to rescue you. You don’t have to be the perfect saint or the perfect human. If that was the use nobody would be in this audience right now. Noah was a drunk, Abraham was too old, Jacob was a liar, Moses stuttered, Gideon was afraid, Rahab was a harlot, David was an Adulterer, Elijah was suicidal, Peter denied Christ, The Samaritan women was divorced, Paul was a Christian killer and Lazarus was dead. But in every situation of these mighty men and women God used, He said, your past is not going to determine your future. You might have messed up, you might have made some mistakes but i am going to pull you from the bondages of sin. Devil you have no hold on me no longer. i wish someone would begin to cry out to God tonight. Someone needs to take the opportunity right now and let God know your are in need of an SOS recuse. I am going to open up these alters. If you want to come you can. If you want to turn your seat into an alter thats okay. But lets let God hear us tonight. He is the writer of our stories. He is our rescuer. And he is going to be there for us during our worst times. These alters are opened right now.