Acts 28_ 1- 7      Does Trouble Come In Threes?

Rev. David Holwick   I

First Baptist Church

Ledgewood, New Jersey                            

March 9, 2003

Acts 28:1-7


DOES TROUBLE COME IN THREES?



  I. Why me?

      A. When the DMV gets it just right.


            Patti Stasilli was having a terrible day.

               Nothing was going right.

            After waiting in the DMV, they issue her new license plate:

               it begins with the letters, "YME".


      B. Troubles seem to come in groups.  (Traditionally, groups of 3)


            In 1992, Frank Perkins of Los Angeles made an attempt

               on the world flagpole-sitting record.

            Suffering from the flu he came down eight hours short of

              the 400-day record.

            His sponsor had gone bankrupt, his girlfriend had left him

               and his phone and electricity had been cut off.


            Iraqi terrorist, Khay Rahnajet, didn't pay enough postage

               on a letter bomb.

            It came back with "return to sender" stamped on it.

            Forgetting it was the bomb, he opened it and was blown to

               bits.                                                #6420


            Turns out both stories are urban legends (the terrorist one

               is very similar to a Wile E. Coyote cartoon).

            But we can still relate to them.

               Who hasn't felt like life has blown up in their face?


      C. For misfortune, it is hard to beat the Apostle Paul.     Acts 28

          1) In his career he has been stoned, beaten and starved.

          2) He is arrested for being subversive, upsetting peace.

          3) He appeals his sentence and is shipped to Rome in chains.

          4) Along the way, his ship sinks.

          5) He makes it to shore (Malta) and a poisonous snake bites

                him.


      D. Why do some have it so bad?

          1) (This question was submitted on a pew card.)

          2) There can be a variety of reasons.


II. Bad luck can be undeserved.

      A. Disasters can happen to nice people, no fault of their own.


            Frank 'Lucks' Tower was a stoker on the "Titanic."

               Amazingly, when she sank he survived.

            Two years later, he was aboard the "Empress of Ireland" when

               it collided with another ship.

            Over 2,000 lives where lost - yet miraculously, Tower

               survived, virtually alone.


            He took his next job aboard the "Lusitania," which was sunk

               by German U-boats in 1915.

            Tower was heard to shout "Now what!" when the torpedo

               stuck.

            He swam to a lifeboat, vowing every stroke of the way to

               take up farming.


            Tower's story later inspired a TV script entitled "Lone

               Survivor," which paved the way for a series.

            The writer: Rod Serling.

               The series: "The Twilight Zone."                    #22686


      B. The supreme Bible example - Job.

          1) He is innocent, yet he suffers.

          2) However, you cannot say he had bad luck.

              a) Ulterior forces were at work.

          3) You can argue that biblically, luck doesn't exist.

              a) Proverbs 16:33 - "The lot is cast into the lap, but

                    its every decision is from the LORD."

              b) Consider that when you drive by Atlantic City...


III. Oppression by Satan.

      A. The Bible says he is a real character, and out to harm us.

          1) Satan is the immediate "ulterior force" that Job faced.

          2) Bad things often happen after we become Christian.

              a) Typical comment: Satan is ticked off at you.


      B. Satan has power, but it is limited.

          1) Don't blame him for everything that goes wrong.


IV. Oppression by God?

      A. We can feel that God himself is out to get us.

          1) Job felt this way, and he was essentially correct.

          2) God does not tempt us to make us fall, but he will test

                us to make us strong.

              a) God always has a beneficial objection in mind.

              b) He is not out to destroy us though it can seem that way.


      B. Even Jesus faced temptation.

          1) The difference: he passed every test, we don't.

          2) Question to ask:  "Is God trying to give me a message here?"


  V. Jinxed by our own faults.

      A. Many of our troubles are due to our own stupid choices.

          1) Outright sins.

          2) Lousy priorities and habits.  (Money, pleasures...)


             Edward Blaine, 61, who served 20 years in prison for a 1963

                bank robbery, apparently is becoming even less competent.

             In January he was arrested and charged with robbing the

                Union Bank & Trust branch in Port Royal, Virginia.

             Police said Blaine fled with the stash while $100 bills were

                falling out of his pockets.


             Then he realized as he arrived at his getaway car that he

                had locked the keys inside.

             He grabbed a log to smash the window but tossed it away in

                frustration, only to have it hit Emmett Lowe's truck.

             This angered Lowe, who grabbed a gun and chased Blaine for

                150 yards.

             In a struggle, Blaine shot at Lowe but hit himself in the

               leg, just before Lowe shot Blaine in the same leg.

                                                                   #22603

             Edward Blaine doesn't have to blame God or Satan.

                He can take all the blame on his own shoulders.


      B. Measure your life and attitudes against the Bible's commands.

          1) If your habits or actions are having negative effects,

                turn away from them.


      C. Even good actions can be tripped up by lousy attitudes.

          1) Some people have more troubles than others because they

                set themselves up for it.

          2) This could be the wisdom behind the saying, "troubles always

               come in threes."

              a) After two tough situations, we fully expect a third

                    to happen, so it does.

              b) Expectations of disaster can produce disaster.


VI. Have an overcoming attitude.

      A. However bad it gets, God can turn it around.

          1) Paul becomes a prisoner, then is shipwrecked, then bitten.

          2) He shakes it off and moves on in life.


             A parable is told of a farmer who owned an old mule who

                accidentally fell into an open well shaft.

             After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer decided

                neither the mule nor the well was worth saving.

             So, he called his neighbors together to help haul dirt to

                bury the old mule in the well.


             At first, the mule was hysterical.

             But then it occurred to him that every time a shovel of dirt

                hit his back he could shake it off and step up.

             So, he did - shovel full after shovel full.

                "Shake it off; step up," he repeated to himself.

                "Shake it off; step up."


             It wasn't long before the old mule stepped triumphantly over

                the top to safety.

             The dirt he thought would bury him turned out to be a

                blessing.

             You can have the same attitude.                        #5006


      B. The worse it gets, the more I can grow.

          1) Troubles make great opportunities to develop our souls.

              a) Hardships focus your soul, make you tougher.

          2) The greatest human accomplishments have pressed them

                beyond their expected limits.

              a) Don't run away from it, embrace it.


      C. No matter how bad it is, someone else is worse off.

          1) Don't blow your troubles out of proportion.

          2) Always keep it in perspective.

              a) Right now there are Baptists rotting in dungeons.

              b) The fact that you owe $7,000 in taxes pales in

                    comparison!


      D. No matter how bad it is, I have much to be thankful for.


             In his book of sermons "The Living Faith," Lloyd C. Douglas

                tells the story of Thomas Hearne.

             Hearne was a pioneer on the American frontier.

             On one expedition into the wilderness, at the mouth of the

                Coppermine River, a party of Indians stole most of their

                   supplies.


             His comment on the apparent misfortune was:

                  "The weight of our baggage being so much lightened,

                   our next day's journey was more swift and pleasant."


             Hearne was on to something important here.

             The loss of a few sides of bacon and a couple of bags of

                flour meant nothing more than an easing of the load.

             Had Hearne been holed in somewhere, in a cabin, resolved

                to spend his last days eking out an existence, the loss

                   of some of his stores by plunder would probably have

                       worried him almost to death.

                                                                    #1889


VII. Troubles are only temporary.

      A. Every bad time eventually ends.

          1) (My first boy scout campout - starving and freezing.

              I console myself with the thought that no memory could

                 be this bad.)


      B. There is no trouble in heaven.


            2 Corinthians 4:16-18 ...


       "Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are

           wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

        For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an

           eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

        So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.

           For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."


      C. Put your confidence in God.



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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:


# 1889  "A Pioneer's Positive Attitude," by Eugene L. Feagin of Sharon,

           South Carolina, in Leadership Magazine, Fall 1989, page 51.

           Holwick's Database.


# 5006  "Shake It Off And Step Up," by Skai Rusis in Laughlines at

           http:/www.laughlines.com; quoted by Rev. John Gillmartin in

           Sermon-Illustrations-Each-Week (SIEW), November 28, 1999.


# 6420  "Think YOU'VE had a bad day?" anonymous author, received by

           email on January 1, 1999.  [Later I found that Snopes.com

           reports that both stories are probably urban legends.]


#22603  "A Dumb Bank Robber," by Chuck Shepherd in News of the Weird,

           January 17, 2003; originally from The Washington Times.


#22686  "He Survived - Three Times," anonymous author, in Weird News,

           May 27, 2002.  Subsequent research suggests this story is also

           an urban legend.  Charles Pellegrino writes:  On Frank "Lucks"

           Tower, note that in my Afterword I refer to him as

           representing either one of history's most extraordinary tales

           of coincidence and survival, or one of its most remarkable

           liars.  The case now seems to be the latter.  Writers

           supporting Tower's tale have pointed me to a "primary source,"

           a woman claiming to be Tower's granddaughter.  When I spoke

           with her she turned out to have known Big Foot on a first name

           basis and to be a member of the U.F.O. Frequent Flight Program

           - from which we might conclude that anything she has to say

           about the Titanic is a tad suspect.

           [http://www.hallhistory.com/historical_study/151.shtml]


           Also, a Titanic fact-or-fiction webpage says "NO person by the

           name of Frank Tower appears in any crew lists for those three

           vessels."

           [http://www.rmstitanic.co.uk/titanic_titanic_-_myths.shtml]


These and 23,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,

absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html

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