Shipwrecks and Snakebites Can't Stop Me
Life has a way of throwing storms at us that we never saw coming, and sometimes those storms arrive back to back. The Apostle Paul understood this reality deeply. In 2 Corinthians 11, he lists beatings, imprisonments, shipwrecks, and eventually death as part of his journey. His hardships were not a sign of weak faith or divine punishment. They were simply the reality of living in a fallen world. What set Paul apart was not the absence of suffering but how he responded to it, and his response gives us a clear and practical blueprint for our own lives.
In Acts 27 and 28, Paul is being transported as a prisoner to Rome when a violent storm nearly destroys the ship. In the middle of the chaos, Paul holds onto a specific word God gave him, declaring that not one life would be lost. He then encourages everyone on board to eat, rest, and trust rather than panic. When they finally reach shore on the island of Malta, a poisonous snake bites him. Rather than spiraling into fear or shame, Paul simply shakes it off and stands his ground. What follows is remarkable: the very island where he was shipwrecked becomes a place of healing and revival as Paul prays for the sick and they are restored.
These four movements — receiving a personal word from God, choosing trust over striving, shaking off the enemy’s attacks, and allowing pain to become a testimony — are not just ancient history. They are a living framework for anyone walking through difficulty today. God does not cause our pain, but He will use it. The shipwreck becomes a platform. The snake bite becomes a miracle. Your story of survival, surrendered to God, has the power to reach someone else who is still drowning.
-
Life throws things at us that we didn’t expect, didn’t deserve, and that simply aren’t fair. If you’ve ever felt like one storm hit right after another, you’re not alone. The Apostle Paul knew that feeling better than most, and his story holds four powerful keys to help us keep going when everything around us is falling apart.
Why Do Hard Things Happen to Good People?
One of the greatest challenges of faith is wrestling with why bad things happen, even to devoted followers of Christ. Some people assume sickness or hardship means God is punishing them. Others think it’s a sign of weak faith. But the life of the Apostle Paul tells a different story.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul lists what he endured: beatings, imprisonment, shipwrecks, being adrift at sea, and eventually death for his faith. He wasn’t lacking in faith. He wasn’t being punished. Hard things simply happen in this fallen world, and we need to be honest about that rather than looking for simple answers that don’t hold up.
The Story of Paul’s Shipwreck: A Blueprint for Breakthrough
In Acts 27 and 28, Paul is being transported as a prisoner to Rome on a cargo ship. A violent storm hits. The crew throws their livelihood overboard. Days pass with no sun, no stars, and no hope. It’s in this moment that Paul does something remarkable, and what he does gives us a clear path forward for our own storms.
1. How Do You Hear from God in the Middle of a Crisis?
The first thing Paul did was hold onto a specific word from God. While everyone else had given up, Paul stood up and said an angel had appeared to him with a message: not one life would be lost.
“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.” — Acts 27:24 (NLT)
Paul wasn’t relying on the crew’s experience or the captain’s judgment. He had a personal word from God, and he held onto it.
Too many believers rely only on a corporate understanding of Scripture to carry them through hard times. When the storm hits, that won’t be enough. You need a word that God has spoken directly into your heart for your specific life and situation. That comes from going away with God, opening your Bible, and saying, “Lord, speak to me.”
When God gives you a word, don’t put it on the back burner. Declare it. Profess it. When doubt creeps in, say it again. When Mary received the word about conceiving Jesus, she said, “Let it be unto me as you have said.” That’s the posture we need. Amen isn’t just a nice ending to a prayer. It means “let it be.”
2. What Does It Look Like to Trust God Instead of Striving?
The second thing Paul did might surprise you. He told everyone to eat something and settle down. After declaring God’s promise, Paul broke bread, gave thanks, and encouraged 276 people to stop panicking and have a meal. This wasn’t giving up. It was an act of trust.
“Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. ‘You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,’ he said. ‘Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.’” — Acts 27:33-34 (NLT)
Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a deep breath and say, “I can’t fix this. God can.” Striving and straining in your own strength won’t bring the breakthrough. Surrender will.
Jesus said it plainly: “Don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself.” That’s not a dismissal of your problems. It’s an invitation to trust the One who holds your future.
3. How Do You Stand Your Ground When the Enemy Attacks Again?
Paul and the crew made it to shore on the island of Malta. Every single person survived, just as God had promised. But the story wasn’t over. As Paul gathered sticks to help build a fire, a poisonous snake bit him on the hand. The locals watched and waited for him to die, assuming he must be a murderer getting what he deserved.
“But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.” — Acts 28:5 (NLT)
He didn’t look at the crowd’s reaction. He didn’t spiral into fear or doubt. He shook it off and stood his ground.
This is a picture of what we’re called to do. The enemy will bite. Another attack will come, sometimes right after a breakthrough. You don’t have to succumb to shame, hopelessness, or the judgment of others. You are not under karma. You are under the grace of God.
When the devil whispers that you’re a loser, that you carry a curse, that you’ll never make it, you shake it off and say, “I know who God has called me to be, and I’m not going anywhere.”
4. How Does God Use Our Pain for His Glory?
After Paul shook off the snake, he went on to pray for the sick on the island, and they were healed. The very place where he had been shipwrecked became a place of revival. The thing the enemy intended to destroy Paul with became the very platform God used to display His power.
That is the pattern of God’s redemption. He doesn’t cause your pain, but He will use it. The shipwreck becomes a testimony. The snake bite becomes a miracle. Your story of survival becomes the thing that reaches someone else who is drowning.
Malta is a small island, but today it is filled with churches. Why? Because Paul landed there in a shipwreck, stood his ground through a snake bite, and spread the fire of God’s love. Your pain, surrendered to God, can do the same.
What This Means for Your Life Right Now
These four steps from Paul’s life are not just ancient history. They are a living blueprint for anyone walking through a storm today:
Get a specific word from God for your life and situation.
Settle down and trust Him with what He has promised.
Shake off the attacks of the enemy and stand your ground.
Let God turn your pain into a testimony that spreads His fire.
Your eternity began the moment you gave your life to Christ. This life is not the end. Even death does not have the final word. Shipwrecks and snake bites will not stop you when you are anchored in the promises of God.
Life Application
This week, take time to go to a quiet place and ask God to speak a specific word over your life, your family, or the situation you are currently facing. Write it down. Declare it out loud. When fear or doubt tries to creep back in, return to that word and say it again. Choose to settle down and trust God with what He has promised rather than striving to fix it yourself. If the enemy attacks, shake it off and stand your ground.
-
A discussion guide for this sermon can be found here.
-
As part of our church, we have a beautiful community care program. And they go out on Thursday nights, and they deliver meals to those who are struggling and in need, who are isolated and alone. And. And on Thursday night, I watched them pack up all their stuff and they went off in their cars, and they're all inspired and fired up. And literally, as the 30 of them drove off with over 250 meals, the rain came down. Now, they don't drive from door to door doing this. They walk around our Frankston streets into hotels and caravan parks and things. And as they left, I'm sitting in my office and it starts hailing, and I'm like, oh, no, they're gonna go out. Everything's gonna be wet. They're gonna be drenched. It's gonna be just not as nice as it could be, right? So they go out and they start handing these meals, but literally, as they get to the first stop, they've gone to a new area. The rain stopped. They didn't have to go out in the rain. It was like God just lifted that cloud off so they could go and do what they needed to do. But at this very first time, they went to this house. And that lady, that night, she received a meal. She received some love and care and prayer, and she gave her heart to the Lord.
You see, when we give into the house of the Lord, we don't just do it with a dollar value for just into the bucket. Let's put the money. Let's tick the box. We do it because it changes lives. It reaches more and more people. So as you pass the buckets this morning, if you need any envelope, just pop it up in your hand. You get to give into the church life that's reaching more and more people. We look at the growth in this church, there's more and more people being reached because of your generosity in the nursing homes, in the community care, and even right here in this place where we do growth nights. So let's just pass the buckets and pray. Lord God, I thank you for every person, every person who is generous in this place, Lord God, because it is Your heart, it overflows through this Lord, for people struggling with finances, Lord God, I pray that you would show them a way, Lord Jesus, that you would just be in that situation with them, Lord Jesus, and open the door in your mighty name. Amen. We've got lots of things happening in church life, so let's have a quick look at church news. Hey there church. My name's Michael. I'm the lead pastor at Connect Mornington. We're so glad that you're here here with us this morning because we've got a whole bunch of stuff happening in the life of the church. So why don't we check it out?
Hey Church. This week at Youth we have our all in. We want to invite all Youth in year six to year 12 to come right here at Frankston for praise, worship games, free dinner and to get around the word. It all kicks off at 7pm so invite someone new and I'll see you there. Kness Community Care is expanding and because of your generosity, we're now reaching over 1,000 people every week through 400 meals, church services in nursing homes, our cooking program and our school lunchtime program. If you'd like to make a lasting difference in someone's life, every donation to Connect Community Care is tax deductible and helps us reach more people with practical care, hope and the love of Jesus. You can give online using the details on the screen or at the Get Connected desk after the service. Thank you for your generosity. Much like an iceberg, our lives have what's visible and what lies beneath. We often focus on the surface. Our actions, routines, the things others see. Yet the vast majority of who we are, like the iceberg, remains hidden. Spirituality is just the tip. Our emotional health, the immense foundation beneath, supports and shapes it. Just as an iceberg can't withstand a storm if its base is weak, our spirituality cannot thrive if our emotional health is neglected. One might ask, can you be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature? The truth is, it's nearly impossible to be spiritually strong while you're emotionally unhealthy. To nurture a strong, resilient faith, we must dive deep, confronting and healing our emotional wounds.
Emotionally healthy spirituality is about bridging the gap between our spiritual practices and our emotional well being. It's about achieving true holistic health. Join us in this transformative journey, exploring the depths beneath and building a spirituality that stands firm. We are launching the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality course on Wednesday, 22nd of July. It's an eight week course and costs just $25 for the book. You can register here via the QR code or sign up the Get Connected desk. Today. We'd love you to be a part of this. On the weekend of July 18 and 19 across all of our services, we're hosting baptisms at Connect Church. And we'd love to invite you to take this next step in your faith journey. So if you're ready or you're even just considering it, now is the time. And we'd be honored to stand with you as you take this next step. So if you're interested, please talk to one of our pastors or visit the Connect desk after the service to sign up. Shipwrecks and snake bites can't stop me. If you've ever faced disappointments, setbacks, or life storms, this message is for you. Discover how God can move in every circumstance and why. The storm is not the end of your story. You don't want to miss it.
Next Sunday, get ready for God to speak to you. That's all for Church News. If you need any more information, please see our lovely team at the Get Connected desk after the service. Thanks, Church. It's a weird experience when you sit down there and you listen to yourself do the announcements on your seats. Today you will find an emotionally healthy spirituality flyer. We would love you to be part of this course. You get to go deeper with God. You get to understand yourself a little bit more and maybe undo some of the that we've been doing and working out of and learning a healthy new way to do that with God. So you can fill that in. You can sign up via the QR code, but if you flip that over this morning, if you just all want to do that, you flip that over. You can see all the Connect groups that actually run at Connect Christian Church, Frankston, and we would love you to be a part of them. We want nobody to feel disconnected. In term three, we'd love you to join a Connect group. You can catch up with other people. You can connect and do life together because that's what we need to do, right?
It's not about doing it all alone. Winter might be dark and dreary, but life doesn't have to be. All right, you can get more information if you go to our Connect Christian Church website. We've updated all the pages on there. You can join any of our events and join up to our groups. Who's ready for the word today? Yeah, let's give it a hand for Pastor Adrian. Oh, thank you, Katrina. Good afternoon, everyone. Is it afternoon? No, it's still morning. I Don't know. It's nighttime. Afternoon. I've got a confession to make. Got a confession. So I'm just dobbing myself in because I pick up these things. Someone has spilled their coffee on the front row and it was me.
I just saw it. It's got my name on it. It was by my feet. And you've just touched it. Yeah, see that little. So my apologies. And if you've ever done that. Who spilled a drink in this auditorium, I've put my hand up with you. Shame on us all. No, no, it's all right. You're welcome. There's more important things than things. But I'm very sorry to the team that I've messed that up. So blame me and I apologize. But it is good to see you in the house of God today. Isn't it good? This is our third service and. And our car park is getting packed full. And the good news is that we are going forward with plans. We're working on them as we speak.
We're talking to arborists and traffic management people and about building more car park space, getting our new auditorium plans ready so that we can contain everyone that God wants to be in his house. And that's what we're about, isn't it? We want to go and reach everyone that we can and provide a space where people can be in the house of God. So thank you for being here. And God is building his church. I don't know if Katrina mention it, but on that community care outreach on the Thursday, they went to a new area. They went to someone new. Did you say this? And isn't that awesome that they talked to someone and they gave their life to Christ? That's the impact that you guys are having. We're having together and meeting a whole bunch of people here today. Maybe in this service, people at the other service, first time to church in their lives. They're coming into church in the house of God. God. And experiencing the presence of God. I think it's amazing. So I'm glad you're here. And we're just going to pray right now and we're going to ask God to speak to us because that's what we want to hear, isn't it? We don't want to just have a good time. We've got good food, We've got a good company.
Great worship, Clee. Thank you for coming back from maternity leave and leading us in worship. Welcome back. How awesome is that? But we're here to hear the word of God today. So why don't we bow our heads and pray. Lord, I thank you God, for your people. Lord God, I thank you. What you're doing in our us, you're building your church and it's your people. God and I pray Holy Spirit as we come around your word, it's not the words of a person, God, it's the words of God. And I pray that you would speak to us, God. We open our spiritual ears to hear God because we need you. We need to hear your word. We want truth and we want to be changed by it. We pray it in Jesus mighty name. All God's people said Amen. Welcome to those watching online. We're going to get into it today. The first scripture I I want to give you today around our topic is in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, verse 23, we're going to talk about some of the Apostle Paul's journeys in life. He's one of my favorite people in the Bible because he went through so much.
He had such a deep understanding of who Jesus was, who God was, and he changed the world. But he went through a lot of things and he went through more things than most of us will ever face. And in 2 Corinthians 11, we see some of the things that he faced. One of them was actually this letter was written because the church that he'd planted, some of the people were turning against him and questioning whether he should have any authority to speak into their lives. And that's a stress for him. And so he wrote this letter and part of it was to correct them and show that he had the credentials to speak into him. And so he writes this here. He says, are they servants of Christ talking about these other people? He says, I know I sound like a madman, but I've served him far more. I've worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and face death again and again. Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me 39 lashes, which had barbs in each one, and each one was incredibly painful. Five times he had 39 lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, and once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked, and once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. Who knows that life throws you curveballs. It throws things at you that you didn't expect, you didn't deserve, and are not fair. That's true, isn't it? It this is one of the great challenges of life for everyone. Why do bad things happen to us if we're Christian and we can have different answers to that. Some people say, well, that's because you've done something wrong and you're getting what you deserve.
And there's punishment. I know Christians who they get sick and they think God's punishing them. They think, what have I done? What have my parents done wrong? We can think that maybe we haven't had enough faith. And people with great faith just get healed like that. Or people with great faith don't go through circumstance because they overcome. And the reality is, I know some people with amazing faith. I had a pastor, my first church that I was ill, that I grew up in. The pastor's wife, she was an amazing woman of God. She was one of my Bible college lecturers, and she was one of the most godly women you will ever meet. And she got cancer one day and she passed away of cancer. But to the day she died, she still held on in faith. But I go, did she deserve that? No. Did she lack faith? No. But bad things can happen. And if we want to question that, we just look at the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul went through some incredibly tough situations.
And in the end, the Apostle Paul actually got put to death for his Christian faith. So we know and we need to balance it. It's not because you're going to go through difficult times, not because you've done something wrong, not because you don't have enough faith, but because that is part of living in a full. And we don't have time to go into all the ins and outs of the theology of why would God let that happen and all this and human free will. But it's true, isn't it? This is what we're going to face. And Christians have a habit of trying to explain that away or come up with simple answers, and there aren't simple answers. We have to grapple with the fact that we're going to go through tough times. And I want to cut to one of the times he's mentioned a whole bunch there. But one of the times that the Apostle Paul went through is in the end of the book of acts. In Acts 27, Acts 27 and 28, he mentions a shipwreck. He mentions being adrift at sea. And we're going to cut to that story and we're going to talk about what Paul went through in that story and how we can learn to be people that do not succumb to the issues and the turmoil of life, but learn to overcome it. I've called today the first message. We're talking about shipwrecks and Snake bites. Bites can't stop me because that's the truth. I want you to know that's the truth. That you will go through shipwrecks, you will go through snake bites, you will have attacks from the enemy. You will have things that go wrong in the natural. Things will happen to you and I that are not our fault, that we're not going to just be able to pretend aren't happening.
But in the middle of them, we can keep going and serve God like the Apostle Paul did and see Breakthrough despite our issues. Is that all right? So this isn't a whole story about how to deal with. With all of grief and pain and all that. That would be a whole other course. This is coming around the Word to learn some things from the Apostle Paul. What did he do when he was facing these hardships that we can put into practice in our lives? And so we're gonna cut to it in Acts 27 and we're gonna go, where is it? So basically, the Apostle Paul has been caught prisoner and they wanna put him to death, but he does something that he's a Roman citizen and he appeals to Caesar, which basically means he goes, I want to go to the highest court of the land. And I want to say, I'm a Roman citizen, you can't harm me. And they didn't have Zoom in those days, so they had to send him by ship all the way to Rome. And so this was a long journey. And so they take Paul as a prisoner and they put him onto a cargo ship. And so there's sailors, there's a captain, they've got a whole bunch of cargo, and they say, you'll stay there and we'll get you all the way to Rome and then you can face court there. And so this is what happens and we're going to cut to it. In Acts, chapter 27, verse 18, they get. What happens is the ship goes through a massive storm, and it's a huge storm. It's one that can wreck their lives and they're in danger of their lives. So if we cut to Acts 27, verse 18, it says this. The next day there's a massive storm that's happened, but it keeps going.
As gale force winds continued to batter the ship, the crew began throwing the cargo overboard. You got to realize the cargo they were throwing was their livelihood. This was worth a lot of money. It would have been grain and a whole bunch of. For them to throw it overboard meant we're throwing. We're going to go bankrupt. We've got no livelihood anymore. But we just need to save our lives. That's how. That's how full on it was. The following day. They even took some of the ship's gear and threw it over overboard. But the terrible storm raged for many days, blotting out the sun and the stars, until at last, all hope was gone. Who's ever felt like that when all hope feels like it's gone? When you lose someone, when you're going through. Maybe you've been in a. On a ship, who's been on a cruise, and some of who will never go on a cruise, partly because you're worried about the weather. Now, some of you are worried about the food. I know you're worried about getting sick and then. But you're worried about the weather.
You're going, I'm not going to handle that. I can't. I. I've been on a few cruises in my life. I want there to be a storm. I'm one of those freaky people when the. When the weather picks up and the wind starts blowing, I'm like, let's go to the rockiest part of the ship and watch the waves just crashing and go. And I'm like. And Narelle's like, what is wrong with you? What is wrong? And sometimes I'm like, if only we could watch Titanic right now while this is happening. That'll put us in the cause. Something wrong. There is probably something wrong with me, all right. But I sort of hope for that, you know? I remember another time we went on a ferry. We were in Italy and near where my mum had grown up. And we were by the coast, and we were going to the island of Capri, or Capri, however you want to say it. And we were catching a ferry across, and my wife had it. We had a disaster. And this reminded me of this because it said all hope was.
Was gone, that we got all our stuff, we had all our luggage, and we got onto this boat, and we were traveling, and the boat was moving away from the shore. And then I heard Narelle cry out, and she ran over, and she ran over to the edge of the ship, and she looked and she goes, there's my bag. My bag is there. And the ship is 10 meters out, 15, 20. And my wife is standing by the edge because her headphones were in there, and she was, like, freaking out. I have to get my bag back. She was thinking of jumping overboard to swim back to shore to go and get her bag. And I went to her. I said, honey, you're not doing that. Let's go talk to the gang. Let's try and get it back. And in the end, we didn't get it back, and we lost the bag. And Narelle was distraught. She was distraught. She was like, I've lost my bag. I've lost my bag. I've lost my bag. Oh, no. And obviously, I was the amazing husband that just said, it's okay, honey. Everything's going to be okay.
Now I freaked out a little bit as well, but then I calmed down and said, honey, it's going to be okay. And you know why it's going to be okay? Okay, honey? Because I don't trust you with valuable documents like passports. And so I've taken all of our passports, including yours, and I've stowed them away in my bag. So there's nothing of high value in that bag. Right? All hope is not gone. It's okay. And we went on. We had a good trip, and she got over it, and we all got over it. Now we can laugh about it, but that's nothing compared to some of the things that we go through in life. You know, you have these moments. Sometimes it is. You know, you can have a car accident or something can go wrong, wrong in your work. But sometimes it's really deep. Sometimes you lose someone that you love or a relationship breaks down or you get depression and you don't know how to cope with it. These people had lost all hope. What are you going to do about it? And today I want to talk to you about four things that the apostle Paul did that God's called us to do in the middle of these circumstances that I believe can help us not be stopped, right?
Not be held back, but actually be victorious in the middle of that. Is that okay? The first one is this. The first one is this that you need to get. If you're going to get through the storm, the shipwreck, the snake bite, you've got to get a specific word from God. This sermon is brought to you by the letter S, by the way. I didn't mean to do that completely, but they're all S words. Get a specific word from God. Let's read this in. Where is it? Let me read it in verse. Verse 21, I believe. Hang on. Where is it? Verse 18. Oh, no, we've already gone there. All hope was gone.
Verse 21. Here we go. Acts 27, verse 21. No one had eaten for a long time because they're freaking out. Finally, Paul called the crew together and said, remember, he's A prisoner here. He had no place to do this, but he said, men, I love this bit. Guys. Men and women. You know how you're not supposed to say I told you so? All right. You're never supposed to say I told you so, but you really want to. Well, the next time you have this urge to say I told you so, I want you to go to Acts 27, verse 21. And when you're told, don't say that. Say, well, the Apostle Paul said it. Let's have a read, men. You should have listened to me in the first place and not left Crete. You would have avoided all this damage and loss. But take courage. None of you will lose your lives, even though the ship will go down. For last night, an angel of 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 blame. Believe God. It will be just as he said. But we will be shipwrecked on an island. Isn't that amazing that the Apostle Paul, in the middle of disaster, everyone else is freaking out. They hadn't eaten, they'd given up all hope. All right. When everyone else around you has given up hope, then the temptation is for you to give up hope. It's a pretty disastrous place. If you surround yourself with people who are negative and have given up up hope, then usually what happens is we all end up the same way. But the Apostle Paul came out different. Why was he different? Because he'd been in the presence of God, even in the middle of a shipwreck. He said, the God to whom I belong, the one whom I serve, he sent an angel to speak to me, and he told me these things. And I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, that you and I, I believe this with all my heart. You need a word from God for your life. You need to get a word from God about your circumstance, what you're going through for your life and your situation that you can hold onto for yourself. Having a corporate word.
Some Christians, we've gotten too used historically to going, well, the pastor leads me the service. I rely on my family members to lead. Some of us young people, our parents have been leading the way, and we've turned up to church, and then one day something switches and we go, oh, I've got to get this from myself. That's why I'm watching some young people, and they've gone. I Need to get a word from God for my life. What's he speaking to me about? My life. And then something changes, doesn't it? Then you get an authority. Then you say, you know what? I want to go witness to my friends. I want to tell them who God is. Because I'm not carrying just a corporate belief now. I'm carrying a personal belief, the God. This is what Paul said. The God in whom I believe and whom I serve spoke to. And that is what I'm going to hold on. And he didn't just hold it for himself. He came and spoke it to everyone. And I want to tell you this.
Too many Christians are relying on the broader word of God to carry you through. And when you hit the hard times, when you hit the storm, it isn't going to be good enough. You're going to need a word that God's spoken into your heart for your life. And you do that by going away with God and saying, God spoke. Speak to my heart, my life, I need you. Paul had been doing that, and God spoke into his heart. In this particular case, an angel appeared before him. I don't know about you, I haven't had an angel appear before me, but I've had the Holy Spirit speak in my heart, in my spirit. Not the audible voice of God, but I've heard his loving voice. I was speaking to people outside, coming to church for the first time. And you know what? There's tears in their eyes as they're talking about this presence they felt, this loving presence. That's God speaking to you. That's God guiding you. Sometimes it's really specific about your life. You know what? God spoke to me really clearly when I went and prayed to come to this church over 10 years ago. He said, adrian, this is what I got in my heart. I asked the Lord, I said, lord, what do you want me to do? This church needs a senior pastor, and I'm happy where I am.
And you called me to be there, but what do you want? And God spoke me to. He said, these are the words he said in my heart. He said, all of the things that I've called you to do will happen through this church. It was like that. And I said, I rang my wife that day, that straight away. And we were like, we're not gonna move to Frankston. We don't live in Frankston. We don't know Frankston. And God spoke that. And I said, honey, this is what the Lord said to me. And she went away and prayed, and she said, well, that's what we're doing. That's what we're doing. You know why I'm here? Cause God gave me a word, a specific word, saying this is the place. And, you know, through the ups and downs and through the things I've held onto that word and a specific wor when others have shaken, when some people maybe didn't want me to be in the church. I don't care. I've said, I don't care what you think, because I'm going by what God thinks. The apostle Paul says, I don't care what the captain's saying. I don't care what the sailors with experience are saying.
God's given me a word, so take heart. He's spoken to me. I remember when I was lonely as a kid. God can speak to you when you're a kid. He can speak to you as a young kid. He can speak to you when you're older. When I was a young kid, I was going to youth, and I was very insecure because I was not. I didn't want to play basketball. I was a bit of a nerd. I was overweight. I've said this before, and I had these insecurities in me, and I was shy, and so I didn't speak up. And I felt isolated and alone. And I felt lonely because I was like, why can't I make friends in my youth group? Why can't I? Some of you know what that feels like. You come into a big space and you don't feel like you connect. And it's like, why? What's wrong with. With me? But you know what I did?
I went into my room. This would be some nights after youth. I'd go into my room and I'd pray, and I'd ask God, I'd say, God, what's going on? Lord, speak to me. I need you. And the Lord gave me a scripture that I held onto for years. He said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. He spoke to me. He said, I'm with you. I'm with you. He gave me words from Jeremiah when I was reading scripture about Adrian. I've called you to preach the Word. That was when I was 13 years old. He said, I've called you to preach the Word, and I will be your strength, and the words I give you will come from me. They're the words I'm talking about. When you're going through depression and loneliness and you feel isolated and alone, you grab a hold and say, God, will you speak to me? And then you don't look at what others are saying or what the circumstances say. You grab ahold of the specific word from God that he's given you. That's what the apostle Paul did. He said, I've got a word from God and this is what I'm declaring.
And then he said, this. This is powerful. So take courage, for I believe. Believe God. It will be just as he said. So you gotta. Firstly, you gotta go away and you gotta get a word from God. You need it. If you're going through a hard time, you definitely need it. If you're not going through a hard time right now, you're going to need it, aren't you? You need a word from God, ideally, before you go through the difficulty, before you go through the shipwreck, before you go. Paul knew that he was going to go to Rome. He believed it. And then God confirmed. Confirmed it to him. You need a word from God, and then you gotta say, God, let it be unto me. That's what Mary said when God gave her a word about conceiving Jesus, let it be unto me. As you've said, Lord, I believe some of us get a word from God and then we just put it on the back burner. We just go, matt. Cause I'm freaking out about this.
God, can I encourage you? When God gives you a word, you need to grab a hold of it and believe it. You need to profess it. You need to say, lord, I keep believing it. When you start doubting it, you say, God, I believe it again. Do you? Many times I've had to spe the word of God that he's given me over my life. When I felt like I'm faltering, when I felt weak. God, I grab a hold of your word for my life. You know the word of God that God gave me about marrying Narelle? He spoke to me before we were. Before we'd even gone out. And I asked for a word and he gave me one. And I've held onto that for. We've been married 24 and a half years now. The ups and downs of life and every marriage has them. Doesn't. Don't the. I love my wife so much, but she has to put up with me. That's hard sometimes.
Like any relationship, you live together for 24 years, right? Who knows? Marriage takes work, doesn't it? But you know what's held us strong? Never doubting. God spoke. I hold onto that word. God, you called us together. God, you're gonna see us through. God, you're gonna See us through sickness. You're gonna see us through. When we anointed each other. You're gonna see us through. God, when I'm going, when I was depressed and, oh, God, you've called us together. That's the word you need. And then you just need to say, I believe it. Despite the circumstances. When you say amen, you know what you're saying? Let it be. So amen is not just a nice ending to a word.
Amen means let it be. Let it be. So I profess that what I've just prayed shall come to pass. God, the word. I believe it. So take courage. Jesus said, in this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. Take courage, for I have overcome the world. Amen. Amen. Come on. Some of you need to grab a hold of the word of God that you had. Some of you need to ask God for a fresh word. Say, God, what's the word you have for my future? What's the word you have for my life? For what I'm. The trauma I'm dealing with. What's the word you have for my children? I have pray and say, God, what's the word you have for our church? Because I will hold onto that.
This church is not built on Adrian's desires or vision or heart. This church is built on the word of God and what the Lord God has said of this church, what he's spoken to me, what is spoken to generations before me shall come to pass. Do we believe that? That's why I love. 40 years we're celebrating this year. 40 years. Men and women of God came out to this place with a word from God, and we're still standing on that word today. It's not. I wasn't even here. I was born. I was six years old. But you know what? The word of God doesn't matter. It stands strong, and we hold onto it. What's the word you need to hold onto in your life for your future, for your family today? And then we get to the second thing. You get a specific word from God for your life, and then you got to do this. You got to settle down. Everyone settle down and relax. Everyone's like, it's rich for you to say that, Adrian.
You're fireball. And you get passionate and fired up. That's right. We need to get passionate and fired up. But then we need to take a chill pill. This is what Paul does. Acts 27:30. He's just said, God will bring this to pass. He will save everyone. I've heard from God an Angel appeared before me, me. And then we get to verse 30. Then the sailors, because they still freaking out, the sailors tried to abandon the ship. They lowered the lifeboat as though they were going to put out anchors from the front of the ship. And Paul said to the commanding officer and the soldiers, you will all die unless the sailors stay aboard. So the soldiers cut the ropes to the lifeboat and let it drift away. And just as it was dawning. So they're still giving up hope. Paul said something. They're going, okay, what's happening? Just as it was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat.
I love this. You've been so worried that you haven't touched food for two weeks. He said, please eat something now for your own good, for not a hair of your heads will perish. And then he took some bread and gave thanks to God before them all. And he broke off a piece and ate it. And then everyone was encouraged and began to eat. All 276 of us who were on board. Isn't that funny? Sometimes we can pass over that bit. And we're so intense going, oh, Adrian, we've got to pray. We've got to seek God. We're gonna have 40 days of prayer and fasting. God, oh, if I can't do that, then I'm not spiritual enough. And sometimes you know what it's about? It's about getting a word from God and then saying, lord, I'm gonna trust you with it now. I'm gonna settle down. I'm gonna settle down. I'm gonna relax, I'm gonna eat something. I'm gonna go see my friends. I'm gonna trust you, you, that it's going to be okay.
Because you know what that's doing? It's not giving up. It's not saying, I don't care. It's saying, I can't fix it. God can. I can't bring healing. God can. And so I want to encourage you, put your trust in God for your future. I have to do this all the time because you know what? Running a church and I get intense. I've got the Italian gene of passion and come on, let's go. Got to make things happen. And sometimes, Lord, you just says, adrian, you can't actually fix much at all. Why don't you trust me? If I've spoken it, I'll bring it to pass. Take a deep breath. Some of you need to take a deep breath and say, you know what? God's got this. He's looking after my kids. God, you've given me a Word.
God gave me a word about my daughter. And sometimes I go, mama Mia, what's happening to her? Oh, man, it's a tough life. She's 17 turning 18. It's a tough world. I could freak out and listen to all the social media stuff and all. I'll go, God, you've given me a promise about my daughter. Just relax. You're gonna look after her. God, you've given me a promise about my future. Just relax. Sometimes in church life, I'm like, I gotta fix this. The team sees that, and we wanna be diligent in what we do. Sometimes we've gotta go trust in God, he will bring it to pass. I love what Paul does here. He says, guys, he's a prisoner. Remember, he had no authority, but because he had the authority of Christ, he came in and said, guys, I'm bringing peace and calm. Do you know you can do that? You don't have to be the leader of your business. You don't have to be the leader in your workplace.
You don't have to be the leader in a church. You can be who you are. You know where authority comes from? It doesn't come from man. It comes from God. And this is spiritual authority I'm talking about. Get a word from God, go away with God, and then you speak life. And you can. Some of you've got spouses, and they're worried, and they're so worried, and you can come in and say, hey, God's gonna get this. Some of you got kids and they're worried about. There's an epidemic of anxiety going on. And are you young people? It's an epidemic of it, and it's growing, and they're worried about the future. They don't even know why. They've gone through a whole bunch of stuff with COVID and all that. Parents, we can come in and we can speak life, get a word from God, and then say, hey, it's all okay. Let's have something to eat. God's got this. Some of you young guys, God's speaking to you, and you got friends, and you can go to them, who's got people, and they're worried about life. And if you all get together, you can really freak each other out, can't you?
I mean, these sailors, I mean, they're experienced sailors, but they were ready to jump overboard and. And die, right? And with no food, they hadn't eaten. And he's like, you guys are gonna die just from not eating. Let's all settle down. And he brought that trust God. Jesus said the same thing, didn't he? He said, don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of itself. What's he saying? He's like, it's easy for you to say, Jesus. You're not living in the year 2026. You don't have to deal with all the issues and the government and all this stuff going on. Jesus is like, I had a whole bunch of stuff to deal with then, right? He's speaking life, saying, trust God. If God is on the throne, trust him, and then give your worries to him. Surrender. Some of us need to learn to surrender our anxieties and say, God, what can I do to settle down and relax and take it easy? Ella and I have to learn that sometimes in our family. We went overseas a few years ago to my cousin. He's living a relaxed life.
He goes hunting for mushrooms in the forest. He's got a forest right opposite the road, and he hunts for mushrooms, and he collects mushrooms, and he walks to the beach. And then he goes bike riding. And he's philosophizing about the world, and he's got this beautiful landscape. And we went over to stay with him, and Ella and I, we're, like, a bit intense. We're like, right, we got to do this tomorrow. This tomorrow we're traveling here. Next time. We've got this, we've got that. That's what we're like. And so we'd come in and go. We'd be like, right? I remember one time, we're planning the next day, and we thought, oh, we might go for a bike ride. And Ella walks in. She said she hadn't planned this. She didn't know. And she's like, bike ride. What? What? What are we doing?
Why? When? And he's like. Became a running joke. He's like, hey, Ella, settle down, settle down, Ella, just relax. Take it easy, Adrian. Just take it easy. It's going to be okay. Let's go for a walk in the front forest. Now, some of us go, I'm not doing that. Some of you love that stuff, right? Don't just do it because you're a slacker. Do it because you go, God's spoken to me. He's in control. I don't need to stress over everything. And so now Ella and I have got a running joke. Every now and then when we're freaking out, I'll just be like, hey, it's okay. Year 12 exams. It's gonna be all right. You're gonna get through.
God's gonna provide for you young people, you're gonna find a partner one day. I know you're freaking out going, who is it? Who is it? Oh, no, God, you've got to shoot me now. It's like, take a breath. You got plenty of time. And trust God. Amen. Some of us going, I'm believing God for my future. Some of us are looking for another part. We go, our marriage didn't work out. And we go, God, I'm single again. Trust God, settle down and let him provide. Cause you trying to make it all happen yourself will just wreck it more. The sailors were wrecking themselves by doing it. But when they came to Paul and you know the other thing he did? I love this. He broke bread, gave thanks. It's a sign. He thanked God.
He went to communion and said, lord, we're putting our trust in you. I know people, Stephen, Yvette, when she was going through cancer, what did you do? Every day you'd break bread and have communion together. What were you doing? You're saying, God, we're putting our trust in you. I know people when they go through cancer, you know what they're doing. Going through hard times. They have communion every day. It's a sign to say, God, we're settling down. Our trust is in you. Put your trust in the Lord and watch what he does. That's the second thing. Settle down and relax. The third thing is this man, poor Paul. So what happens? Right, Paul, he gets them through. He's a prisoner on this ship, by the way. They were going to kill him at one point. He gets them all through. He's told him to settle down, relax.
I've got a word from God, and one morning they wake up and they all think, this crew are still thinking they're going to die. One morning they wake up and they look out and they see land ahead of them. And they're like, we're saved. We're saved. And the captain says, jump over, jump out and swim to shore, guys, we're saved. We're alive. And some of them couldn't swim, so they had to grab a log or part of the driftwood, and they had to sort of hold onto it for dear life. And they all got to shore alive. And like Paul said, every one of them survived. There's a miracle of God. Every one of them survived. And it says in verse, chapter 28, verse 1. Once we were safe on shore, we learned that we were on the island of Malta. Who's been to Malta? It's a small little island. It's A beautiful island. They got shipwrecked on Malta. The people of the island were very kind to us. It was cold and rainy, so they built a fire on the shore to welcome us. And the Apostle Paul, you think he's going, ah, I told him to settle down.
I told him to trust God who's been there, where you go through, you go through the valley of the shadow of death and then you get through the other side and it's like hallelujah. And then life hits you like a big flipping four ton truck again. So look what happens to the Apostle Paul. If you've ever thought to yourself, what is happening to me? One thing hit, then the other thing hit. Paul knows what you're talking about. Verse 3. As Paul gathered an armful of sticks, he's just trying to help out build the fire, right? As he gathered an armful of sticks and was laying them on the fire, a poisonous snake driven out by the heat bit him on the hands. And the people of the island saw it hanging from his hand and they said to each other, quick, help him, quick, get first aid. No, a murderer, no doubt. Though he escaped the sea, justice will not permit him to live. But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed. Listen to this. This is what people, people are dumb corporately. Not you guys, just other people. Look what these people do. The people waited for him to swell up or suddenly drop dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw that he wasn't harmed, they changed their minds and decided that he was a God. Can I tell you this?
If you listen and wait for the reactions of other people, you're going to lead a very poor life. Because people, number one, people don't care that much about you. In general, they care about themselves and what they're going through. And secondly, people together make really dumb decisions sometimes. So these people, rather than trying to help Paul, they, number one, they judged him. Oh, he's been saved from the shipwreck, but now he's going to. Let's just hang around. Hey kids, gather around the fire. We're going to watch this man bloat up and die. Like quick, cover, cover him in a tent. Let's go and get him help. No, no, let's just wait for him to die. You can't listen to others and sometimes bad things happen to you. And what happens, people judge you, right? Because this is what happens in the world. These people believed in a God that would pay back evil for evil, right? So they believed in this God and they believed in this idea of karma. So what you give out, you'll get back. Now, we know there are consequences to sin. We know that exists.
Right? We also know that sometimes bad things happen and people didn't deserve it at all. But they had decided and it still happens today. Christians today, if they get cancer or something, I've told it, said this before, they think that they've done something. Now they're getting punished by God. They think that people will think that Jesus went to pray for a blind man. And the people said, was it this man who sinned or his parents who sinned for him to be blind? And Jesus said, no one. No one sinned. This man's like this to display the glory of God, right? He had to correct their thinking. Because people think this way sometimes. We think this way. People will lead you astray. And you cannot listen to their reactions and be swayed by peer pressure, by what other people are doing and saying. You got to have your. You got to stand strong. And so this is what Paul did. He didn't look at the them and say, oh, no, I'm freaking out. They think I'm being punished.
Am I being punished? Oh, no, my faith's died. I got through the shipwreck, but now I'm gonna die. The snake bite. Cause God didn't prophesy to me about the snake bite. So I'm gonna die now. You know what he did? The snake bite hit him. He shook it off. He shook it off. And he just stood there. And the people were waiting for him to die. He's like, I don't know what you're waiting for, but I ain't going anywhere. I'm standing my ground. Cause God's called me, and I know his plan for my life. And I don't care what you think. I know who God's called. And I want to tell you, brothers and sisters, you got to stop looking at the reactions of other people. And you've got to shake off the attacks of the enemy. Some of us are being intimidated by the enemy.
And he's going, you're a loser. I'm going to get you. Your parents sinned. You carry a curse. You've got this on your life. And you need to say, devil, you can bite me, but I'm going to shake it off. Because I'm not under karma. I'm under the grace of God. I'm under the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. So if my parents, if there is a spiritual curse or whatever going on in my family and going on, you know, What? I shake it off and I rebuke it in the name of Jesus because I'm set free by the grace of God. I'm standing strong. I'm not going anywhere. Who's had to do that in their life? Come on. Some of us, we don't wilt and die and give up. When others around us have given up, when others are judging us.
Some of us. You know what this feels like. Oh, I've had to stand sometimes, and the judgment of others have come. I've had people tell me, you're not gonna make it. You're not gonna do this. Whatever they've said, this church is gonna go this way, that way. I've stood, I've had to shake it off. And sometimes it's hard. Shake it off. And I'm not going anywhere. You know how many times I've had to say that in my life? When I've felt the devil trying to intimidate me and push me aside and give up on the plans of God? I'm not going anywhere. Cause I know. Can I tell you this? I know what God said about you and this church. I know who he's called you to be. He's called you to be mighty men and women of God. He's called you to rise up and say, the enemy has planned to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus came to bring life.
And we're going to speak life over our lives, our families. We're going to rise up. We're going to go reach communities. Come on, brothers and sisters. We are going to be the people of God and we're going to show the world who we really are. Do you know what people are saying right now? They're coming to this church. Never been to church before. You know what they are saying? I talked to some today. I didn't expect this. I didn't expect so many people. I didn't expect it to be alive. I didn't expect. Because the world thinks one thing's happening, but God's doing something in us. He's doing something in you. Come on, brothers and sisters, whatever the devil's tried to intimidate you with, right, whatever background you come from, whatever is said about your past, shake it off and say, I'm not going anywhere. I'm standing my ground. I'm going to serve God. I'm going to make a difference.
God is going to do something through me. It's going to take a bit of tenacity. It's going to take a word from God. It's going to Take a trust, trusting in God. It's going to take us shaking it off because another attack's going to come, then another one, and the same thing comes to get you each time. I thought I dealt with this. Shake it off again. And stand your ground. Don't you retreat. I've watched too many Christians retreat based on a lie. When God has called you to live in victory and hold onto the promise, what promise has God given you that you're going to stand your ground on? Then this happens and get the band to come on up.
He stands his ground. The people are shocked and they call him a God. Because when you listen to people, they either denigrate you sometimes or sometimes they elevate you. And both are dangerous, you know? Can I say this ever? Look. I mean, I look at the world and I go. They elevate people for silly, dumb reasons. And then they fall and suddenly they're the devil incarnate. I go. People are just people. No one's got it all worked out. No one has all the answers. And everyone has weaknesses except God. Except the Lord Jesus Christ. Hold on to him. Stand your ground with him. Don't look to others.
And so Paul did that, didn't worry what the people had said. And then in verse seven, it says this. Near the shore where we landed was an estate belonging to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us and treated us kindly for three days. And as it happened, Publius father was ill with fever and dysentery. Messy stuff. If you ever want to talk about the messiness of looking after people who are sick, talk to Katrina. She used to be a nurse. She's done it all. But Paul wasn't intimidated. Paul went in and prayed for him, and laying his hands, he healed him. And then all the other sick people on the island came and were healed. And as a result, we were showered with honours. And when the time came to sail, people supplied us with everything we would need for the troop. The fourth thing I want to share is when you've gone through all the shipwreck and the snake bite and you've stood your ground, you spread the fire. You spread it. You spread what God's done. Your life becomes a testimony. The very.
The very thing that God, that the devil wants to use to destroy you, is the thing that God will use to bring him glory. You realize that it's hard to know that when you're in the middle of the battle, when you're in the middle of the. When you. When you're holding on for dear life, when you haven't eaten, when depression's grabbing a hold of you, the very thing that the devil wants to say is that your breaking point is that thing God says, I will use to bring glory to my name. Hold on, hold on. Do not succumb to sin. Do not succumb to shame. Do not succumb to hopelessness. Do not succumb to all of the things the fruit of the spirit is love, joy and peace. The fruit of the devil is the opposite of those things he wants to give you hopelessness and shame and judgment and all this stuff. Stand your ground and say, I'm holding on to peace, God. I'm holding on to your promise, God. I'm holding on to the grace of God in my life. And I promise you, what will happen is you'll get through like Paul. Oh, you'll have a few scars. Paul had a few scars. You want to. When we see Paul in heaven, we may not get to see it, but if you saw his back, go have a look at the back of Paul five times at 30 lashes, there's going to be some scars there. You know, Jesus still had the scars in his hands and feet after he was crucified and rose from the dead. We carry scars, brothers and sisters, but we do not succumb.
And Paul carried some scars, but he stood his ground. And then he said, now as I've been healed, I will go and heal others. I will pray for them. I'll pray for them. I'm going to help them. That's what God's called you to do. You realize that? Believe, Dream. In the middle of your battle, grab a hold of the promise. I have greater plans for you than you realize, and I'm going to save you. And then the very thing your pain, God will use as a testimony of his goodness. Some of you, I'm looking at you and I know some of your stories. And you're here today because the grace of God has flooded your life. And you got something to say to others, to share the love of Christ, to share it with your children. You know what Paul did? He went and changed the island of Malta. These people who believed in another God, a God of karma, God who judges, a God that you just watch people die because apparently they're a murderer if they get bitten by a snake. That island changed. I went to that island a few years ago and we did a tour. We got to go to the very shore where his ship rocked up.
I was standing there and I was like, this is the beach Where Paul walked. This is the beach where Paul walked. Maybe he had the fire over here. Maybe it was here. We don't know where it was, but it was somewhere on this island. It's only a small island. I was like, this is where it happened. And you know, all across that island, I was just talking to someone whose mum is from Malta, says when I go there, he goes, you know what? There are churches everywhere. There are churches everywhere. There's a church at the spot where they think Paul landed and came there. There's a church there. There's a church all through. Do you know why there's a church there? Do you know why Christianity is strong in Malta? Because Paul landed there thinking people thinking they were going to die shipwrecked. But God had a plan. God had a plan of redemption. God had a plan of trans transformation. God, you know this.
God will use your pain. He doesn't bring your pain, he doesn't cause your pain, but he will use your pain and he will. He will. You take it to the devil and you say what you plan to wreck me with? God has turned around for good. So I will declare and I will rejoice when I go through suffering and trials. Peter says it, Paul says it, John says it. When I suffer for the sake of Christ, I will declare his goodness and I will glory in it because I know God is being glorified through my life. I hold onto that and I'm gonna take that. And you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna pass it on to my daughter. I'm gonna go, you know what? When you see me go through hardship and I stood my ground, Ella, I want you to do the same thing and I want you to teach your kids to do the same thing and I want you to teach others in this church. Look at this church. It's full of people. And I promise you this, there's thousands more coming because of you. Because you're going to reach them. You're going to go into schools and unis and workplaces and communities and love people as they come in, as we go out, spread the fire and we overcome shipwrecks and snake bites will not stop us. We will take those very things and turn them around for good. We will take our heartbreak and turn it around for good.
And that true. I could talk to you about Shona and Ray. They've got stories of heartbreak and pain. And Ray wasn't even a Christian then. He got saved, met Shona. Now look at them. He's our business manager they're running our frontline team. They're running groups, they're pastoring people. They're changing lives. That's a story, isn't it? Spreading the fire. Spreading the fire. That's the story of so many of us. And it's your story. It's what God's called you to have. And what. So I want to pray for us today. I want to pray for us because God wants us to understand that we will go through pain.
But that pain won't stop you if we grab a hold of God and say, lord, give me a word. Help me trust you. Help me stand my ground. You watch what God does. Every person I've ever met who does that, I'm telling you. Can I say this? This life is not the end. Some of us, we pretend like the things that happen us. If a bad thing happens in this life, that's the end. It isn't. You're the moment you met Christ. Your eternity started the moment you gave your life to Christ. He says, you went from being dead in your sin to alive in Christ. So your eternity, so this life, the next life, it all continues on. It changes a little bit, but it's all worth it. So even death. Can I tell you this?
Even death does not have the victory. I can live in. Victory. Nothing can stop us. I've got a dream. No, I don't have a dream because I cause a lot of your trauma. But secretly I have a dream that one day I'll be preaching and I'm just going to die preaching in the middle of the Word, like many years from now, right? But I won't go. I don't think God will do that to us because I. I don't want to cause people trauma, but I'd love to do that. I'd love to go out on a high preaching the word of God. And then literally, wouldn't it be awesome? I'm preaching a sermon and going, jesus loves you. And then suddenly I'll open my eyes and I'm like, there he is. And I'm like, God. I was still halfway through the message. He's like, ah, you've done enough, mate. You've said enough. It's all right. Your time's done. That's victory, brother.
You can live your life right to the end in Victory. Shipwrecks and snake fights won't harm you. They won't stop you. God keeps going through generations to come, and he wants to do it through you. Amen. So why don't we bow our heads. So There you go. I'll give you my download now of that. I love that story. And now it's time for you to say, God, what. What am I going to do with it? Some of you are going through a storm right now. You say, lord, I need to grab a hold of the word you've already given me. Some of you need a new word. You say, I need a word from God. I need him to speak into my heart.
And you say, God, I'm going to open my heart. I'm going to trust you and believe you for a word. Some of you, God's already given a word and he's. He says, grab a hold of it afresh. So we're gonna pray today. This is what we're gonna do. There's victory in the house. That's what I sense. The Holy Spirit, his victory. Even if you're going through a difficult time, he says, you're gonna be victorious. Can you see it? Can you see it? I want you to hold on. And in this place, if you're going through a difficult time or you've come through a storm, or God, you say, lord, I need a word. Or, God, I'm grabbing ahold of the word that you've given me for my family, for my future, for my life. This is what we're going to do. I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet, keep our eyes closed. I'm going to ask you to stand to your feet and I want you to declare it over your own heart and life. This is you saying, God, I need a word from you and I'm asking you, God, to speak to me.
I'm going to seek you for it. Or, Lord, I've got a word from you and God, I'm going to declare it over my life today. I'm going to declare it over my life today. Come on. All over this place. All over this place, God, I need a word. I've got a word and I'm going to declare it, Lord Jesus, that the things the devil's plan to wreck me with, God, you're going to turn around for good, God, that you got greater plans for me, God, Lord, that you're speaking into my heart, my life, God, I'm going to seek you for it today. And so, Holy Spirit, all over this place, Lord, men and women of God called by your name, stirred by the Holy Spirit of God, that you would grab ahold of us, God, and that no matter what comes against us, we will stand our ground in faith, Lord, and believe you that you will overcome that you are our righteousness and our rod and our staff and our protector. And that you will make a way, Lord. And we will spread the fire far and wide for generations to come. In Jesus precious name. In Jesus precious name and God's people set and believe. Amen. Amen. Come on. Why don't we declare the words of this song and you make it a declaration.
Thank you, jesus. Jesus it is finished, it is done Every battle has been won Praise the one who's overcome Jesus all the shackles start to break all of hell begins to shake Hand of nations call his name Jesus Jesus it is finished, it is done Every battle has been won Praise the one who's overcome Jesus Jesus, Jesus. God is fighting for forever he has won the battle how faith and watch you move there's nothing that he cannot do he is Lord God is God fighting for us he has won the battle have faith in washing through almighty and all powerful. Two more things and then we're done. Just have eyes closed for a moment. Maybe in this place and you've been far from God. Maybe you've never given your life to Jesus. Or you say, I need him. I need this Savior. I need Jesus Christ in my life. I need his truth. I need my sins forgiven. I need new life.
We're going to say a prayer and I want us all to repeat it together. You repeat this as well. Come on, let's pray this now. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm going to put my trust in you today. I believe you're the Son of God and you died on the cross for my sin. So forgive me Jesus. Be my Lord and my Savior. Give me a new life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. Let's keep our eyes closed for a minute. If you said that prayer at the end of the service on my right, we've got a whole section there. We've got Bibles we want to give out by new people there. It says, can you go over there and just go, hey, I said that prayer and I'd like a Bible. And it's got ways of following Jesus, how to pray, how to read all this stuff. And we'd love to give you that to help you in your journey with God and pray with you and all of that. And there's so many people doing that across this church every week. And you know, it's a beautiful thing that you do and it's a beautiful relationship. Maybe you're starting it for the first time, or maybe you're coming back to God.
But make that declaration get that Bible and you watch what God does in your life. The last thing I want to do is this. There's people in this place all over our church right now. Maybe you're watching online and you're going through a difficult time. You're in the middle of a storm, and it's been tough. It can be all kinds of things. It can be sickness, breakdown. It can be just anxiety, so many things, job issues. And you need to know God's with you. And you say, lord, I need a word. I need your strength, God, I want to stand my ground, but I need your help. You know what? Here's the truth. This is what the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and it's a trust thing with all of us. You know, this is what the people of God are here to support each other and we can believe, and so can we. Have a moment of vulnerability. And if you're going through a difficult time, why don't you just close. Close your eyes and I want you to just lift out your hand to the Lord right now. Maybe you're going to pop your hand up or just out like this and we're going to pray together. And can I just encourage you, if it's okay, if you know the person near you, you might just want to put your hand on their shoulder, on their arm, and just say, I'm praying with you.
And just, let's pray and reach out to our family. You know, you're our family. And I know it can feel alone. I know it can feel like people don't understand, but God understands. And you are loved and you are vitally important to him and you haven't been forgotten. You haven't been forgotten. You haven't been judged. God is with you and he is for you, and his love is for you, and that is your strength. And so right now, Holy Spirit all over this place, if you're watching online, that's for you as well. That God, that you would touch the hearts of every person, Lord God, who's going through a difficult time, and we don't understand why, and it's not fair. But Lord God, I know that you are the God of love, and you are the God of strength, and you are the God that carries us. And so right now, Lord, I ask for your loving arms to be wrapped around each one of my brothers and sisters, that they would know your love and your grace and your power, that they would know, God, that the plans you have, that there is a future for them that is greater than what they feel right now. God, that you are the God who overcomes it. What the devil tries to destroy them with. Lord, God, you take and you nullify and you turn around for good. And so, Lord, you're going to bring healing. God, you're going to bring a peace to their hearts. God. Lord, you're the God of strength. God.
Lord Jesus, I pray for families. I pray for each person going through depression, anxiety. That you would be their strength, God. Lord, that you'd bring healing to their lives, God. And they'd see with eyes of hope what you have in store for them. Lord, we pray for it. The beautiful love and grace of God. The peace that passes all understanding. He's with you. He's for you and he's got a word for you in the quiet place. Some of you don't need to yell and shout. You're in the quiet place of your heart. What's the Lord saying? Sometimes the word of the Lord is so simple. Like to me, he said, adrian, I'll never leave you or forsake you. I've carried that with me to this day. Lord, you're always with me, even when I feel alone, Lord, you are with me. He's with you. He loves you. He's going to carry you and he's going to strengthen you.
In Jesus mighty name, we pray all God's people said Amen. Amen. Well, thank you for listening today. Church Next week we're doing part two. Next week, week we're going into the Book of Revelation. We're going to look at the Apostle John. We're going to look at his perspective and why he could hold on to God and stand his ground no matter what. So don't miss that. We love your church. We've got the new friends lunch coming. Go have a great rest of the day. God bless you.
-
What is this sermon actually about?
In “Shipwrecks and Snakebites Can’t Stop Me,” Ps Adrian walks through the Apostle Paul’s experiences in Acts 27 and 28 — surviving a violent shipwreck and then a venomous snake bite — to show that hardship doesn’t get the final word. He shares four practical keys for holding onto faith and moving forward when life throws one storm after another.
I’m going through a really hard season. Does that mean God is punishing me?
No, and Ps Adrian addresses this directly. Paul faced beatings, imprisonment and shipwrecks — not because of weak faith or punishment, but because hard things happen in a fallen world. The message is honest about suffering and focuses on how God meets us in the middle of it.
I’m not religious and don’t know the Bible well. Will this still make sense to me?
Absolutely. Ps Adrian tells Paul’s story in plain, practical terms and connects it to everyday struggles like health crises, broken relationships and financial pressure. You don’t need any church background to follow along or to feel welcome here.
What are the “four keys” Ps Adrian talks about?
Get a specific word from God and hold onto it; settle down and trust God rather than striving in your own strength; shake off the enemy’s attacks and stand your ground; and let God turn your pain into a testimony that reaches others. They’re simple, memorable, and meant for real life.
I feel like I’ve already messed up too much for God to use me. Is that true?
Ps Adrian’s answer is a clear no. As he put it, you’re “not under karma, but under the grace of God.” Just as the island of Malta — the place of Paul’s shipwreck — became a place of healing and revival, the very place of your setback can become a place of new purpose.
How do I take a next step or connect with the church?
We’d love to meet you. Connect Christian Church gathers across Frankston, Cranbourne, Mornington, Rosebud, Hastings and Grantville. Come along to a service, say hi to one of our team, or stay afterward for our New Friends Lunch to get to know us.
-
2 Corinthians 11:25
“Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea.” (NLT)
→ Read 2 Corinthians 11:25 on Bible.com
Acts 27:24
“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.” (NLT)
→ Read Acts 27:24 on Bible.com
Acts 27:33-34
“Just as day was dawning, Paul urged everyone to eat. ‘You have been so worried that you haven’t touched food for two weeks,’ he said. ‘Please eat something now for your own good. For not a hair of your heads will perish.’” (NLT)
→ Read Acts 27:33-34 on Bible.com
Acts 28:5
“But Paul shook off the snake into the fire and was unharmed.” (NLT)