three mistakes that get us into trouble…

when the guys in acts 27 in the nt decided to sail the ship into the mediterranean sea and paul said, “don't do it or we'll go into a storm”, they made three common mistakes.  they are the exact three mistakes we tend to make that get us into trouble.

1.  we listen to bad advise.  verse 11 (niv), they followed the advise of the pilot. 

GOD had already said not to do it.  paul had warned them.  but because the “expert” said it was ok, they did it.  there are a lot of experts in the world.  they are on every talk show.  they’ll tell you all kinds of stuff.  if GOD tells you to do one thing and all the experts in the world tell you to do differently, don’t listen to the experts.  listen to what GOD says. 

2.      we follow the crowd.  verse 12 (niv), the majority decided that we should sail.  

there were 276 on the boat.  the vote was 273 to 3 to sail.  the majority is often wrong.  one of the phrases you hear “but everybody’s doing it”.  so what?  everybody can be wrong. 

don’t base your morality on some popular opinion poll.  peer pressure keeps a lot of people from doing what GOD wants them to do.  peer pressure causes a lot of people to get into problems. 

3.  we rely on circumstances.  verse 13 (niv), when a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had obtained what they wanted.

they thought it was a nice day for sailing.  paul said, “don't do it, we're heading into a storm”.  but they went anyway and they shipwrecked.

satan can arrange circumstances.  you should not go through every open door you see.  you should not take advantage of every opportunity you have.  you should not accept every job offer given to you.  you should not date everybody that asks you out on a date.  you need to ask if this is what GOD wants. 

the most difficult type of difficulty to deal with is when you’re the innocent victim and it’s not your fault.  it’s a problem you didn’t bring on yourself but you have it anyway.  in paul’s situation, he had already told them, GOD says don’t do this or the ship will be wrecked.  they did it anyway and he’s a prisoner and he has to go along.  he experiences a shipwreck because of other people.  not all of the shipwrecks in your life are your fault.  some of them you just happen to be at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  those are difficult difficulties to deal with but you’re in the shipwreck because you happen to be there. 

just a thought from the front porch…