Intro: Churches face many challenges these days. Some face internal problems and fears, while others face natural disasters like floods, tornados, and hurricanes.
There are two things to keep in mind as we discuss our topic today:
1) The ship depicts the local church.
2) The sea depicts humanity or the people of the church, and the community.
In these scriptures are five distinct principles that tell us how these people accomplished victory when there was a great storm in their lives. They can all be applied to the church, and some can be applied to the individual Christian.
Let us note the first principle:

I.) They moved by faith. (Vs 39)
* Sometimes the church find themselves in uncharted territory not knowing the conclusion to our beginnings. When this happens there are four areas of faith that we must maintain.
A. Faith in God (vs.25)
B. Faith in God’s Man-He is still just a man, not infallible.
B1) not to be worshiped yet commanded to follow in faith.
B2) Faith in God’s man means to follow his leadership.
C. Faith in God’s word (vs 25)
C1) our sole authority to function in this life is God’s Word
C2) God’s word is to be our guidebook or roadmap.
C3) our homes must also make God’s Word our guide.
D. Faith in God’s Church (vs. 31)
D1) Through faithful attendance
D2) Through faithful involvement
D3) Through Christians in the church
II.) They Moved Forward. (Vs 40)
* Faith that does not move forward is dead faith.
A) They took up the anchors and started moving slowly. Cautiously
B) They hoisted the mainsail-representative of holding high the word of God in all we do.
B1) We must keep our standards high.
C) They hoisted and turned into the wind-representing the Holy Spirit and His power.
D) They made toward shore- Representing heaven.
III.) They majored on the Fundamentals (vs 41)
*This represents opposition that we face when we stand on the fundamentals of our faith and have standards.
A) Satan and his crowd of followers want Christians to just go with the flow. * That will lead to a destructive path.
A1) The ship broke up.
A2) The ship stopped moving forward. Forward movement and growth slow down or stops when we follow satans crowd.
B) But let us take note of the other part of the ship. – It Stuck fast.
B1) The ship which in our message today represents those who will not be moved by the allure of the world.
B2) Those who oppose allowing the world’s way into the local church.
B3) Those who still preach thus saith the Lord. Holiness, purity and sins penalties
IV.) They Maintained their Freedom (vs 42-44)
A.) Their Freedom didn’t come easy
A1) some saved on Boards.
A2) some on broken pieces of the ship
B.) The Christian isn’t always easy- it takes hard work and committed followers
V.) They made it to the finish line. (Vs 44)
A.) Because they didn’t quit. Some Christians quit and do not receive God’s full blessings.
B.) If you see someone sinking or drowning would you not help them?
Conclusion: Throw out the lifeline which is God’s salvation though His Son Jesus Christ. And remember the ship may be broken but the true church survived to grow and be a blessing for the Lord. If we trust his word and follow these principles his church, then cannot be destroyed by people or Satan.