FOR I BELIEVE GOD

• Ephesians 6:12 NAS

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

1. TOO OFTEN WHEN THINGS HAPPEN TO US, WE TEND TO PUT THE BLAME EVERYWHERE AND ON EVERYTHING EXCEPT WHERE IT REALLY BELONGS.
2. WE FIGHT A VERY REAL BATTLE IN THIS LIFE WHEN WE GIVE OUR HEARTS TO CHRIST. YET SOME PEOPLE THINK THINGS SHOULD BECOME EASIER IN CHRIST. HOWEVER, IF YOU ARE AN EFFECTIVE CHRISTIAN THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE.
3. WHEN YOU BECOME A CHRISTIAN, SATAN HAS MARKED YOU. THE REASON….HE HATES GOD AND ANYTHING THAT BELONGS TO HIM, INCLUDING YOU.
4. THEN WHY BE A CHRISTIAN? BECAUSE WITHOUT ACCEPTING JESUS INTO YOUR LIFE, THERE IS NO ETERNAL LIFE IN HEAVEN WAITING FOR YOU. THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT HE IS THE TRUTH, THE WAY AND THE LIFE AND NO MAN COMES TO THE FATHER BUT BY HIM.
5. HOWEVER, ANOTHER REASON TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN IN THIS LIFE IS THAT DESPITE THE BATTLES WE GO THROUGH, THE BLESSINGS AND OUR PURPOSE IN LIFE ARE EVEN GREATER. THE BIBLE SAYS THAT ULTIMATELY GOD GIVES US VICTORY. IT TELLS US THAT MANY ARE THE AFFLICTIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS BUT THE LORD IS ABLE TO DELIVER US FROM THEM ALL. IT ALSO TELLS IS THAT GOD WILL SUPPLY ALL OF OUR NEEDS AND THAT HE GIVES US ALL THINGS…INCLUDING VICTORY…THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS.

•  ACTS 21: 7 -14 – IN THE LIFE OF PAUL, WE SEE A MAN TOTALLY DRIVEN BY HIS KNOWLEDGE AND TRUST OF THE WORD OF GOD. HE KNEW UPON GOING TO JERUSALEM AFTER SEVERAL MISSIONARY JOURNEYS, THAT HE WOULD EVENTUALLY BE HANDED OVER TO THE GENTILES (ROMANS) AND ULTIMATELY GIVE HIS LIFE FOR THE WORD OF GOD. IN HIS LIFE, THE LORD HAD REVEALED A PLAN FOR PAUL TO WITNESS TO MANY DIGNITARIES OF ROMAN DESCENT AS WELL AS THE JEWISH PRIESTHOOD AND OTHERS. WHETHER THAT PLAN MEANT HE WOULD HAVE TO GIVE HIS LIFE FOR THE WORD OF GOD OR NOT, HE TRUSTED GOD’S WORD, AS WE SHALL SEE. HE UNDERSTOOD THAT HIS LIFE WAS NO LONGER HIS OWN TO LIVE AS HE PLEASED WHEN HE ACCEPTED JESUS AS "LORD". WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE SAME THING.
• ACTS 23:11 – AFTER WITNESSESING IN JERUSALEM, PAUL IS TOLD THAT HIS NEXT DESTINATION WOULD BE ROME….WERE HE ULTIMATELY MET HIS DEATH. BUT AT THIS POINT, HE KNEW HIS END DESTINY WOULD NOT BE JERUSALEM SO HE HAD ABSOLUTE FAITH THAT IN WHATEVER OCCURRED THERE, GOD WOULD TAKE CARE OF HIM. HE HAD TO ARRIVE IN ROME STILL BECAUSE GOD HAD SPOKEN THIS WORD TO HIM. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU KEEP THIS IN MIND NOW AS WE CONTINUE READING.
• IN ACTS 24…THE JEWS, UPON FINDING THAT PAUL EXERCISED HIS RIGHT AS A ROMAN CITIZEN TO BE TRIED AS A ROMAN WERE QUITE ANGRY AND PLOTTED TO ASSINATE HIM BUT GOD INTERVENED AND PROTECTED HIM FOR THE SOLE PURPOSES OF SEEING THAT PAUL HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO SHARE HIS TESTIMONY TO THE ROYALTY IN ROME, INCLUDING THE HOUSEHOLD OF CEASAR OF WHICH THE BIBLE TELLS US SOME HAD ACTUALLY RECEIVED JESUS INTO THEIR HEARTS AS LORD AND SAVIOR. NOTE THAT EVENTUALLY IMPRISONED IN ROME, THIS IS WHERE PAUL WROTE MOST OF OUR NEW TESTAMENT…..FROM A JAIL CELL.
• IN ACTS 24-26 PAUL WITNESSES TO VARIOUS ROMAN OFFICIALS IN THE PROVINCES OR PLACES UNDER ROMAN JURISDICTION WHILE IN JERUSALEM AND ON THE WAY TO ROME. HOWEVER HE WAS NOT YET IN ROME.
• ACTS 26:31 – PROPHECY IS FINALLY FULFILLED WHEN THE DECISION IS MADE TO HAVE PAUL APPEAL AND TESTIFY TO CEASAR IN ROME.
• NOW…..WHAT IS INTERESTING IS THE CONTINUED CONFLICT AND INTERRUPTIONS….BATTLE FROM SATAN TO ATTEMPT TO KEEP PAUL FROM GETTING TO ROME. I WANT YOU TO KNOW TODAY THAT NO MATTER WHETHER WE ULTIMATELY GIVE OUR LIFE FOR THE WORD OF GOD OR NOT….SATAN WILL DO EVERYTHING HE CAN TO PREVENT GOD’S PURPOSE FROM BEING FULFILLED IN OUR LIVES.
• I WANT TO FOCUS THIS MORNING ON ACTS 27 BECAUSE ENROUTE TO ROME, THE SAILERS TAKING HIM THERE ENCOUNTERED A STORM ON THE SEA. AND IT WAS SUCH A SEVERE STORM THAT IT LASTED OVER 14 DAYS STRAIGHT AND ENDED IN SHIPWRECK ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA. HOWEVER, WE SEE A KEY SCRIPTURE IN ACTS 27:24-25, AS PAUL MAKES ONE OF THE MOST PROFOUND STATEMENTS A CHRISTIAN CAN MAKE…ONE YOU AND I MUST MAKE:

HERE, AFTER AN ANGEL IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM REAFFIRMS GOD’S WORD TO HIM EARLIER THAT PAUL MUST GO TO ROME… HE SAYS : THEREFORE KEEP UP YOUR GOOD COURAGE, MEN, FOR I BELIEVE GOD THAT IT WILL TURN OUT EXACTLY AS I HAVE BEEN TOLD”

PAUL KNEW THAT HE HAD A DIVINE PURPOSE AND GOD HAD A PLAN FOR HIM. HE KNEW HE WOULD NOT DIE BEFORE THEN AND THEREFORE KNEW HE WOULD GET TO ROME AND THAT THE CREW OF THE SHIP WOULD NOT PERISH IN THE STORM, ALTHOUGH THE SHIP WOULD BE LOST.

IT HAPPENED EXACTLTLY THAT WAY.

• ACTS 28 – WE WILL READ THIS CHAPTER. 
• WE SEE AFTER THE STORM, PAUL AND THE ROMAN CREW ARE SHIPWRECKED ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA.
• IN VERSES 2-6 WE SEE HOW SATAN AGAIN TRIED TO PREVENT PAUL FROM REACHING ROME. AS HE IS MAKING A FIRE, A VIPER COMES OUT OF THE BURNING WOOD AND LATCHES ITSELF ONTO PAUL. PAUL SHOOK IT OFF AND CAST IT INTO THE FIRE.
• THIS IS IN A SENSE WHAT THE SCRIPTURES IN MATTHEW MEAN WHEN THEY SAY THAT “THE KINGDOM OF GOD SUFFERS VIOLENCE AND VIOLENT MEN TAKE IT BE FORCE”. YOU SEE, WHEN WE KNOW GOD’S PLAN AND PURPOSE FOR OUR LIVES, AND SATAN GETS IN THE WAY, WE HAVE TO CAST OFF THE VIPER INTO THE FIRE AS PAUL DID. WHAT WAS HIS BASIS FOR DOING SO AND WHY DID HE LIVE? IT WAS BECAUSE OF HIS STATEMENT IN ACTS 27:25 WHEN HE SAID ‘FOR I BELIEVE GOD’! WE TOO MUST BELIEVE GOD TO THE EXTENT THAT WE KNOW NOTHING CAN STAND IN THE WAY OF HIS WILL BEING ACCOMPLISHED IN OUR LIVES…..NOT EVEN THE DEVIL
• IN ACTS 28 PAUL FINALLY ARRIVES IN ROME. FROM THERE HE WENT BEFORE CEASAR AND TESTIFIED OF HIS FAITH. WE DO NOT KNOW WHETHER CEASAR ACCEPTED THE LORD OR NOT….PERHAPS HE DID NOT. BUT MANY OF THE HOUSEHOLD OF CEASAR WERE ACTUALLY SAVED AS A RESULT OF PAUL’S MISSION THERE ACCORDING TO SCRIPTURE. NOT ONLY THAT BUT HE HAD MANY YEARS TO WRITE MOST OF OUR NEW TESTAMENT. EVENTUALLY HE GAVE HIS LIFE FOR THE WORD OF GOD BUT WHEN AND HOW PAUL DIED WAS IN GOD’S HANDS AND NOT IN THE HANDS OF SATAN. GOD WILL ALWAYS GIVE US THE GRACE WE NEED AND THE STRENGTH TO DO HIS WILL. WE MUST REMEMBER WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS WHEN IT TELLS US THAT THE STEPS OF A RIGHTEOUS MAN ARE ORDERED BY THE LORD. IF WE STAND ON THE WORD OF GOD AND BELIEVE IT AS PAUL DID, NOTHING CAN STOP YOU….NOT ANY PERSON OR THE DEVIL HIMSELF. I ENCOURAGE YOU TO READ THE BOOK OF ACTS AND READ ABOUT THE LIFE OF PAUL. COME AWAY SAYING, “FOR I BELIEVE GOD!”

MAY THE LORD BLESS THIS WORD TO YOUR HEARTS.

BY EVANGELIST MISCHA SAFDIE'

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