(Matthew 7:24-27 NIV) “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (25) The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. (26) But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. (27) The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
(Luke 6:48 NIV) They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came…
- Jesus taught us that the storms of life come to everybody!
- Storms come to good people!
- Jesus taught us that you can be prepared for the storm!
Three types of storms that come into our lives:
- The storm of disobedience – Jonah and his disobedience.
(Jonah 1:8-10 NIV) (8) So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” (9) He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (10) This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the LORD, because he had already told them so.)
The way out of this storm is to repent.
The simple way out of the storm like that is to repent and your storm will throw you up on the beach and you can continue on with your life.
(Jonah 2:9-10 NIV) But I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from the LORD.'” (10) And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Just because you repent does not exempt you from whatever it was that you were faced with that led to the disobedience. Jonah still had to go to Ninevah.
(Jonah 3:1-3 NIV) Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time: (2) “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” (3) Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it.
- The storm of association arises because of the people you are with.
Paul encountered a storm and hardship because of the people he was with.
(Acts 27:9-11 NIV) Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now it was after the Day of Atonement. So Paul warned them, (10) “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be disastrous and bring great loss to ship and cargo, and to our own lives also.” (11) But the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and of the owner of the ship.
(Acts 27:21-25 NIV) After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up before them and said: “Men, you should have taken my advice not to sail from Crete; then you would have spared yourselves this damage and loss. (22) But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. (23) Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me (24) and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ (25) So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.
(Acts 27:44 NIV) The rest were to get there on planks or on other pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.
The way out of this storm is to simply endure.
Three things that you can count on:
- You can have supernatural help while you endure.
(Acts 27:23 NIV) Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
- You can still flourish in the midst of this storm and God will use you.
(Acts 28:1-10 NIV) Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. (2) The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold. (3) Paul gathered a pile of brushwood and, as he put it on the fire, a viper, driven out by the heat, fastened itself on his hand. (4) When the islanders saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to each other, “This man must be a murderer; for though he escaped from the sea, the goddess Justice has not allowed him to live.” (5) But Paul shook the snake off into the fire and suffered no ill effects. (6) The people expected him to swell up or suddenly fall dead; but after waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god. (7) There was an estate nearby that belonged to Publius, the chief official of the island. He welcomed us to his home and showed us generous hospitality for three days. (8) His father was sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and, after prayer, placed his hands on him and healed him. (9) When this had happened, the rest of the sick on the island came and were cured. (10) They honored us in many ways; and when we were ready to sail, they furnished us with the supplies we needed.
- God will still get you to your destiny.
(Acts 28:16 NIV) When we got to Rome…
- The storm of obedience arises because you follow what the Lord has told you.
(Mark 4:35-41 NIV) That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” (36) Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. (37) A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. (38) Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” (39) He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. (40) He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (41) They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
The disciples encountered a storm when they did as Jesus commanded and were going to the other side.
There is a misconception that when you are walking in the will of God, everything always goes smooth with no difficulties.
The command of faith stills the storm.
- Don’t minimize the process that is still necessary to make progress.
- Jesus and the disciples still had to get to the other side even after the storm ended.
- All Jesus did was remove the thing that was trying to stop their progress by interrupting the process.
(Mark 5:1 NIV) They went across the lake…