Avoiding Shipwreck
📖 1 Timothy 1:18-20 (KJV) This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19 Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20 Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
We are a ship.
The world is the sea.
The sea will always be around us but when the sea gets in us, shipwreck follows.
1️⃣ A Ship Must Have a Clear Mission and a Captain
📖 1 Timothy 1:18 (KJV) This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare;
A ship without direction drifts so is a Christian without purpose is vulnerable.
Paul reminds Timothy:
You are in a war
You are under orders
You are not on a cruise but you’re on a mission
📖 Ephesians 6:10-12 (KJV) Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Understanding your real purpose of existence which the Bible makes clear that we are all in a spiritual warfare against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, because any other purpose becomes meaningless without Ihu Karaiti (Jesus Christ)
📖 2 Timothy 2:3-4 (KJV) Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.
Don’t get caught up in the world affairs, stay focused on God, A good soldier wouldnt would go off from the mission that the commander told him!
Sometimes worldly affairs can get in the way of our kaupapa (purpose) for God, for an example, politics! Just chose who is the best of the lesser evil and move on, because we will never get someone that is Karaitiana (christian) who upholds the Paipera Tapu (Bible), I don't know if your loooking close enough but Hatana (Satan) is the prince of this world in the mean time.
📖 2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
📖 Ephesians 2:2 KJV Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Hatana (Satan) is pulling the strings at the moment until Papa Atua (God) punishes him, this is why Karaitianatanga (Christianity) is attacked in our country, we aren't allowed to pray in schools or businesses, yet we make provisions for Muslims and Buhdist?
Lets not waste time on things of this world but rather let us be good soldiers of Ihu Karaiti (Christ)
📖 Ephesians 5:15-21 KJV See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, (16) Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. (17) Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. (18) And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; (19) Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; (20) Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (21) Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.
And remember a ship must have a clear mission and captain or it starts to drift.
📖 Proverbs 29:18 KJV Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Biblical Example: Jonah
Called by God
Ran from the mission
Trials followed when you abandon God’s direction, you invite trouble aboard.
Many shipwrecks don’t start with storms
they start with aimless drifting.
2️⃣ Faith Is the Hull a Good Conscience Is the Seal
📖 1 Timothy 1:19 KJV Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
A ship can survive waves
but a hole below the waterline is fatal.
Faith = what you believe
Conscience = how you live
You can’t separate the two for long.
📖 Hebrews 11:1-2 KJV Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the elders obtained a good report.
📖 Acts 24:16 KJV And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward men.
📖 1 Peter 3:16-17 KJV Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ. (17) For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
Biblical Example
David
📖 Psalms 51
Faith still present
Conscience violated
He didn’t lose salvation, but he lost joy and stability.
Paul
📖 Acts 23:1 KJV And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.
You don’t sink because the sea exists you sink because integrity was breached.
3️⃣ Letting the World In Leads to Shipwreck
📖 1 Timothy 1:19 KJV Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck:
Shipwreck is not accidental, it is progressive.
Notice the steps:
Faith is compromised
Conscience is ignored
Truth is rejected
Shipwreck follows
📖 James 1:14-15 KJV But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
📖 Hebrews 2:1-3 KJV Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. (2) For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; (3) How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;
📖 1 Corinthians 10:12 KJV Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.
Biblical Examples
Demas
📖 2 Timothy 4:10 KJV For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Solomon
📖 1 Kings 11
Worldly influence
Compromised worship
Divided heart
Lot
📖 Genesis 13–19
Chose the well-watered plain
Ended in ruin
The world around us is inevitable but the world inside us is deadly.
A ship doesn’t sink because it’s in the sea
it sinks when the sea gets in the ship.
4️⃣ Shipwreck Is Serious but Discipline Is Redemptive
📖 1 Timothy 1:20 KJV Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme.
Paul names names:
Hymenaeus
Alexander
This is not hatred it’s loving discipline.
📖 1 Corinthians 5:5 KJV To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
We see here that Paul wants to deliver some brethren to Hatana (Satan) because they are deeply infatuated with sin and Paul wants to do this so that if
📖 Proverbs 3:11-12 KJV My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction: (12) For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
Biblical Example
Peter
📖 Luke 22:31-32 KJV And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: (32) But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
Peter failed but he returned.
The Prodigal Son
📖 Luke 15
Left the Father’s house
Hit rock bottom
Came home restored
God would rather discipline a believer
than let them drift into destruction. Shipwreck doesn’t have to be final but it is always costly.
5️⃣ HOW TO AVOID SHIPWRECK
📖 Hebrews 6:13-20 KJV For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, (14) Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. (15) And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (16) For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. (17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: (18) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (20) Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Hope is our anchor for our soul and the hope we have is eternal life which God cannot lie promised to Abraham and his seed. The reason why this hope is so strong is because its not based on what we do but rather on Gods promise to those that believe in his son Jesus Christ may have eternal life.
So to stay afloat:
Stay under Christ’s command
Guard your conscience
Keep the world outside the ship
Accept correction early
Storms don’t destroy ships
neglected maintenance does.
The sea will rage the waves will hit but a ship built on truth, sealed with integrity, and anchored in Christ will not be shipwrecked.
