Stay In The Boat

39:11 my degrees don't work all the time my training doesn't work all the time but one thing that does work all the time is that name Jesus Let us pray. That is our prayer, Lord. At your name, we pray for sustainability, God. we pray that you level our hearts God we pray that you keep our minds God and God keep us focused on you God when fear tries to overcompensate our faith let us be recognized of what you've done for us recognize that every lonely night God that you were there every tear that fell God you caught them every prayer that we had to mumble God you knew about it every pain that we couldn't tell the doctor God but you came and saw about us so we say thank you and God at this moment I really need you I need your strength I need your power and I need some wisdom move this feeble frail preacher out the way and instill the faithfulness of the holy spirit search me oh god and know my heart try me and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way of everlasting god if i've asked for too little do exceeding and abundantly above and just show out this in jesus name we do pray in the church by clapping your hands can you say amen amen and amen again this is the day that the lord has made we will

41:19 rejoice and be glad in it while you're standing you grab your bibles while you're standing grab your bibles while you're standing grab your bibles and while you're turning your bibles fellowship it's good to see y'all 10 45 it's good to see y'all it's good to see y'all praise the lord for all the things that god is doing in the lives of this church so i'm grateful for you all And ladies and gentlemen, can we turn up for our pastor and first lady, Pastor Sharp and Lady Bree while they're on sabbatical getting much needed rest. And if you cannot cheer over your leader being in a place of rest, then you really don't want him to be your leader. Amen. So let's keep cheering and praying for them at this time while they are resting and doing what they need to come back to serve. And we can go back full speed ahead and September. Amen. so I'm just going to give this little Easter speech in this summer revival and get out of your way so the pastor the pastoral staff pastor Jill pastor Vassar and pastor Pope ladies can we get up a pastor Pope our executive pastor amen for phenomenal leadership sir and this amazing friendship that he is to me and ladies and for all those who are here I'm just glad to see y'all my friend came to church today y'all my friend Caleb Brantley and his aunt came the church today, Miss Stacy Brantley. It's good to see y'all a Howard University graduate, and now he's at Harvard Divinity School going into his second year. Let's celebrate for black excellence in this building. Amen. Amen. Amen. Let's just jump to the word. Amen. Acts 27, Acts 27, Acts 27, Acts chapter 27. I solicit your prayers today. This is a hard sermon for me. Acts chapter 27.

42:55 and when you're there let's start reading at verse 21 and we will conclude at verse 31

44:58 For the time that is ours and the Holy Spirit has my strength and guidance. I would like to tag the text with this title, stay in the boat. Stay in the boat. nothing deep nothing intricate nothing philosophical ladies and gentlemen but simple words stay in the boat to be honest i don't know why the lord gave me this word today but i came to tell somebody to stay in the boat i know life is hard our country is divided times are difficult and many are carrying burdens no one else can see and i don't know what leader in here today on the virtual ship is on the verge of burnout pouring into everyone else while wondering who was pouring into me. I don't know what student is working two or three jobs struggling with financial aid and wondering if they are enough. I don't know what family walked through these doors carrying grief, anxiety, or uncertainty. But I came to tell you to stay in the boat.

46:01 because whatever storm you faced between last sunday and this sunday god has kept you this far but preacher why do you keep saying to stay in the boat i'm glad you asked for nearly 18 years of my life those words came from a black woman by the name of miss mary tuggles a graduate of bethune cookman university educator and faithful member of my home church the first african missionary baptist church there in green coast springs florida 4333 palmetto avenue 32043 green coast springs florida when whenever miss tuggles spoke she ended up the same way every conversation she would say baby stay in the boat when i didn't do it for you when i was 14 preparing for baptism she was my deaconess for baptism that's old school y'all didn't grow up like that and she said baby you got a call on your life just stay in the boat the next year august 5th 2018 i am now 15 at my licensing service she held my hand and told me there's something greater ahead of you but you've got to stay in the boat and when she came sick during covid she sent me one final message through her daughter who is now resting with her within the with the ancestors in heaven she said mom is proud of you at Morehouse stay in the boat son and preach for 18 years a black woman gave me one message no matter how high life takes you no matter what you gain or lose when the storm comes stay in the boat I would I would be I wouldn't be honest if I told you that this statement staying in the boat is counter-cultural because it is counter-cultural but it is also theological it is counter-cultural because our instinct is to escape when life gets hard but scripture teaches us that faith is not always getting out of the storm sometimes faith is staying where God told you to stay Noah stayed in the ark Israel stood before the Red Sea and through both storms God made a way

48:10 because the promise was never a storm-free life the promise was god's presence in the storm so if you don't remember anything else today remember this the boat is a metaphor where faith and fear has to meet the boat is where faith stays when fear says flee because is there anybody early on in this sermon that can testify preacher if you don't get any more amens about the boat you have mine because I know something about staying in the boats and that brings me to the 27th chapter of the book of Acts where we are find out we are not the first people group of people to face a storm we did not create Paul is aboard a ship bound for Rome when he warns the crew there in verse 10 I can see our voyage is going to be disastrous they ignore him and soon the ship is caught in a violent storm cargo is thrown overboard the equipment is abandoned the sun disappears the stars disappear and eventually hope disappears does this sound familiar doesn't it some of us are carrying consequences we didn't cause paying for decisions we didn't make and fighting storms we never started but Paul teaches us that the storm is not always evidence that you missed God sometimes the storm is the place where God fulfills his promise Paul was not just trying to survive a storm he was carrying a promise through the storm and I believe there are some promise carriers in this room today so the question of the text comes how if the question is not simply how do I get out of the storm rather the question is how do I stay in the boat until God's promise is fulfilled.

50:00 here's my sermon in one sentence you have to stay in the boat because jumping ship too soon means abandoning what god has promised through you let me say that one more time if you don't stay in the boat jumping ship too soon means abandoning what god has promised through you. God help me not get in the way of your promise being fulfilled. Church, you survived too much to jump ship right now. And ladies and gentlemen, last night while I was talking to Paul, he gave me three reasons why we should stay in the boat and not get out of your way. That's okay. The first thing Paul told me to tell you is the reason why we need to stay in the boat is because God can give you courage before God changes your circumstances. i didn't make this up it's in the bible where you see that that crowd out right there it says by the time we're by the time we get to verse 21 paul has already endured days of relentless storms did you hear me i said he endured days of relentless storms under irresponsible leadership he is not the captain of the ship in fact he is a prisoner but yet before they ever let and set sail for crete Paul warned them not to sail because danger was ahead they ignored the word of God and trusted human judgment instead but now 13 days into the storm the crew is exhausted the passengers have gone without food and hope has nearly disappeared but I thank God for the Reverend Dr. Samuel DeWitt Proctor who reminded us that when the world needs a trumpet a flute will not do because at the very moment when fear had silenced everyone else Paul became God's trumpet he stood and declared men you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete but yet now I urge you to keep up your courage for there will be no loss of life among you but only of the ship church I like Bible today because Paul does not begin by promising that the storm is over he begins

52:11 by telling them to have courage. And I like that word courage. The word courage, it literally translates that means keep up your courage. It comes from the Greek word euthameo, meaning to be of good cheer, to remain in courage. And my favorite definition, it literally means to keep a healthy and hopeful mind even in difficult circumstances. In other words, Paul was not telling them to deny the storm. He was telling them not to let the storm take possession of their minds. and that is a word for somebody today some of us have spent so much time trying to survive the storm that we have allowed the storm to occupy our thinking the bills are real the diagnosis is real the uncertainty is real the injustice is real but just because the storm surrounds you does not mean it has to define you Thank you.

53:06 Can I prove it? With school right around the corner every day, some of us will walk into classrooms where expectations are high and resources are low. Some of us are working two or three jobs while carrying a full course load. Some of us are trying to fulfill our dreams, but something always comes up. Some of us are leading ministries and organizations and families while privately wondering how much longer you can keep going. Others are living with the consequences of the decisions you never made, systems you did not create, injustices you did not deserve, and burdens you did not choose. Yet, like Paul, God is calling you to have courage before your circumstance ever changes. Because notice what Paul says in verse 22.

54:01 He says there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. In other words, God never promised that they would keep everything. can i say that for some of the believers in here paul never promised that they would keep everything but he did promise they would keep what mattered most sometimes god will allow you to lose a relationship a position a plan or even the vessel you depended on but he will preserve your purpose Can I say something? This shouted at me when I found out. This shouted at me. This ship may be damaged, but your destiny is still intact.

54:57 I'm going to give you a real example. January, King Day in January, I was in an accident where I slipped on some black ice. And I lost control of everything. My car, and it wrecked hitting a pole. I ended up stopping by hitting a pole and the pole spun me into the snow. My car ended up being towed. And ladies and gentlemen, when I tell you, I was big mad, big mad, big, big, big, big mad. And asking why would this happen? How am I going to make it around? How am I going to get to and from church? Because Ubers are expensive. As I was sitting in that car while waiting for a tow man, he came up and lingered and came by me and jumped out the car and asked if I needed help. Luckily, Pastor Pope and Brother LaBert Twiggs came to see about me, but here is the shout. Yes, I am okay, and I'm grateful to God, but what shouted me is that the toe man encouraged me because while in one of the craziest moments of my life, he told me, well, sir, if you don't need anything, I'll let you go, but you are a very lucky man. He says, I have seen tons of people who have crashed because of this same curve and because of this same pole because of this same black ice and usually i would be calling 9-1-1 to get the jaws of life for get you out of the car and after he left i sat in my car and i cried because what i didn't realize in january i realized in august is that no matter what is thrown at me because the victory is not in the vessel. The victory is not in the materialism, but the victory comes to the one who promised life, who promised longevity, and promised he would keep me until I get to where I need to be.

56:39 So first, you have to stay in the boat, ladies and gentlemen, because God will give you courage before you change your circumstance. Secondly, you have to stay in the boat, because if you stay in the boat long enough, it will teach us there is a difference between being in the storm and letting the storm be in you. after Paul says, keep up your courage. Luke does not tell us the wind immediately stopped. The rain did not cease and the waves did not calm down. The ship was still being tossed by the sea. In other words, God changed their perspective before God changed their predicaments. That is one of the great ironies of the Christian faith. We spend so much time asking God to remove the storm while God is trying to keep the storm from removing us Luke tells us they have been driven across the Adriatic Sea for days verses 1 through 20 reading when you get home they have thrown over cargo and overboard because this is a wheat ship so they threw all the wheat or half of the wheat they could overboard overboard to keep them a sail and they had abandoned tackle they could not see the sun by day nor the moons by night and in the first century ladies and gentlemen sailors depended on the stars for navigation without them they they had no sense of direction no certainty of where they were going and no confidence that they would survive verse 20 says all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned ladies and gentlemen the greatest danger was no longer the wind it was despair remember despair is the enemy of hope church that is how storms work before they destroy your body they try to invade your mind before they wreck your circumstances they attempt to wreck your confidence the enemy understands that if he can convince you to surrender internally your external defeat will soon follow that is why paul does not first address the sea he addresses their spirit he

58:50 speaks to their minds before he speaks about their miracle and again the greek word youth the mayo does not describe pretending everything is fine it means to remain inwardly encouraged because your confidence is anchored in God rather than your circumstances it reminds me of that great mystic and scholar theologian Howard Thurman once wrote he said there is something in every one of you that waits and listens for the sound of genuine in yourself the storms of life are always trying to silence the genuine voice they tell us what we they tell us we are what happened to us they tell us that because the wind is against us God must be against us but the gospel declares that the presence of a storm is never evidence of the absence of God let me say that one more time I said the gospel declares that the presence of a storm is never evidence of the absence of God James Cone reminds us that God's presence is most profoundly revealed among those who suffer under oppression.

59:56 The God revealed in Jesus Christ does not watch suffering from a distance. He enters it. that's all right that means the black people have always known something the world often forgets that survival has never depended upon calm seas it has always depended upon an unshakable god our ancestors knew this truth they endured the middle passage without knowing what tomorrow would bring they survived and died in american slavery without constitutional protection they built churches during reconstruction while terror stood outside of the sanctuary they marched the cross bridges while hatred waited on the other side they sang spirituals and cotton fields because somebody discovered that chains could bind hands but not hope and now america is trying to cover up the truth about nolan wells but we know what they did to emmett till that is why the black church has never merely been a place of worship it has been the boat the whole time because when society tried to drown our dignity when the church reminded us that we belong to god when systems declared we can never become anything the church said we are more than conquerors than him who loves us can i bring this to where we live some of you walked into sanctuary smiling and your mind has been battling all week bills been do been behind and some been forgot about your family is counting on you you're wondering how you will do this new school year some of you are leading everybody else while privately falling apart others are giving grieving dreams that did not happen the way you planned the storm is real but don't let the storm get in you don't let disappointment become your identity don't let rejection become your theology Don't let anxiety become your testimony because if the storm gets in your spirit, you'll abandon the boat before God brings you to the shore.

1:01:59 the beautiful thing about acts 27 is that the storm never had the final word god did which is why i've discovered that sometimes staying in the boat is less about surviving the wind and more about trusting the god who was guiding the boat through the wind i'm done i told you it wasn't gonna be long i'm done y'all thirdly and finally after you understand that God will give you courage for changing your circumstances and understand he will preserve you so the storm won't kill you thirdly and finally I want to tell you and I'm out your way the reason why ladies we all need to stay in the boat because God's promise is stronger than your perception God's promise is stronger than your perception. Where do you see that at Craddock?

1:02:57 It's right there in the Bible. By the time we reach verse 30 to 32, the storm has done more than battered the ship. It has begun to test their faith. God has already promised Paul that every life on board would be spared. but yet some of the sailors will quietly begin lowering the lifeboats that were on the side of the boat pretending that they are setting anchors but they were trying to save the ship they were trying to save themselves that is what paul says in verse 31 and this is what shouts me this is what i've been trying to get to all all this whole sermon verse 31 says unless these men stay in the ship you cannot be saved notice what paul does not say he does not say stay in the ship because the ship won't sink he does not say stay in the ship because everything is going to be all right he says stay in the boat because god has already spoken Thank you.

1:04:00 Their confidence should not rest in the condition of the vessel. It had to rest in the character of the God who made the promise. again dr sam de witt proctor often reminded us that it is not wishful thinking but the courage to act on what god has said that's what faith is he says it is not wishful thinking but the courage to act on what god has said and i want to add to that not only to act on what god has said but act on what God has said even if you don't know the playbook that God is going to put you through because Paul understood that that God's promise required faithful obedience the sailors wanted a lifeboat but Paul trusted the promise they were looking for another way out but Paul was holding on to the word that they're already gone forth church isn't that our struggle we love God's promises but we struggle with God's process we want deliverance without dependence we want rescue without obedience we want God to explain every detail before we trust him but faith has never been about understanding every step faith is staying where God has placed you until God says move and then Luke surprises us when daylight comes through verse 39 through 44 the ship crashes exactly as everyone feared that it would the text says that the vessel strikes a coral reef and that the bow began to stuck and the stern smashed apart and the relentless waves became the battery even more it tells us that the boat does break but the promise doesn't and i don't know who needed to hear that today but you're here today feeling like what is my purpose and it feels like every day