Many of you are going through storms Maybe a storm on your job Storm in your marriage. Storm with your kids. Storm with your parents.
Storm with your physical being storm with your finances Storms that we don't invite. Storms that come from people we think that love us Storms that come from seemingly nowhere, but there they are So what do you do when everything you trusted in collapses in a storm? How do you prepare for a sudden change in your life?
And how do you recover when life hits you on the blind side? And some of you know what that feels like What do you do after a lifetime of hard work and dedication and commitment and loyalty How do you change your vocational skills suddenly when they release you from your job? When all your skills that you learn they don't need anymore What do you do when the rug is pulled out from under you as we all know is happening to so many people How do you face the family you once left behind?
To go back home because you couldn't pay the rent or the mortgage and you have to go live with your parents again The storm has many origins the answer is only one You can't bring anything to God that's too big for him You cannot You can't bring anything to God that's too heavy for him. He can handle it You can't bring anything to God for which he does not have a perfect answer every single time He will make your way clear He will give you a sense of confidence and boldness and assurance that you can stand anything That comes your way And sometimes God allows very difficult situations in life to do what to grow us up And I think that if God allows a storm in your life that is ultimate purpose is to bring you out stronger A storm this kind of trial Is an unexpected circumstance That invades your life Where you don't know if you're going to make it or not, let me tell you something else about a storm A storm is always designed To increase your faith and give you a deeper experience with your God Storms aren't pleasant. They aren't comfortable and sometimes they can be life-threatening But they always come with a purpose.
A storm in your life can destroy you Or it can develop you, it can build your strength, your wisdom, your knowledge, your understanding Your commitment, your devotion, your faith, your serenity, your peace, your joy in your life that is Some storms when God gets through working them into our life. We're just so much better off. We're cleaner We are purer there's more peace.
There's more joy because you know, you're in the center of the will of God So sometimes they develop us. Sometimes they destroy us He doesn't want a storm to destroy us and the truth is only When we allow satan to get a grip on us in the times of difficulty Will it happen all kinds of storms come and they come in different seasons in life. But what I like about life Is God says that as long as the earth endures There'll be seed time and harvest and cold and heat and summer and winter and there'll be day and night And these will never cease God says as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest time There will be some dark nights, but there will be days coming afterwards.
There will be winter It'll be cold. But I promise you he says there will be summer Some of you in the season of plenty right now others broke But let me tell you something about seasons if you broke now, I guarantee you can't be broke forever In other words seasons are controlled by God That makes me very comfortable Because whether it is raining or sunshine God is in control Ecclesiastes 3 says to everything there is a season unto every purpose there is only a Time under heaven in other words, everything is seasonal. That means that no matter what you go through it cannot last Seasons are important because seasons guarantee change seasons give hope Nothing remains the same in a season.
Seasons are always temporary and the key to life is outlasting the season In other words seasons are always moving and never respond permanently to a temporary problem This is very important because when you are in a dark moment, sometimes you think that that's a permanent address But never make a permanent decision To try and solve a temporary problem This is what happens in divorce many times in in a marriage you go through a very tough moment. I mean hell on earth And believe me you got a choice Am I going to make a permanent decision at this point? Or am I going to outlast this season and and make it through this dark moment?
It happens with friendships and happens with even jobs. It happens with business. Sometimes you want to quit the business life is so tough But everything is seasonal and that's the encouragement of life God never wants your circumstances he doesn't want you to deny them a storm is a storm.
You don't call it a sunshine day A storm is reality, but he never wants Your circumstance to trump his word Not only does he not want your circumstance to trump his word he doesn't want your circumstance to trump his presence Because he's on the boat too And so Jesus speaks to the problem and when he speaks to the problem there is a circumstantial change Trials as inconvenient and as painful as they are are a journey of discovery Of who you're dealing with And no matter what you're going through you can mark this down there is a promise in the word of God That will match what storm you're going through This infinite God of ours Who gave us the revelation of himself because he's omniscient he watch this he knew every single kind of storm that could ever Come upon humanity From Adam and Eve in the garden to this present day until he comes back and wraps it all up He knows all about all storms So therefore when he gave us his word how many storms does his word cover all of them You cannot think of one. He does not consider Know that storms are natural Stop being shocked that things are tough Can I say it again stop being shocked that things are tough Stop being shocked that you lost your job. Stop being shocked that the business going through a tough time.
Why storms are natural Storms are temporary There's no permanent hurricane There's no permanent earthquake There's no permanent tsunami. There's no permanent cyclone. They're all temporary Storms confirm how strong you are No matter how much you claim you got faith storms will test whether you get it or not.
Storms reduce you to God again Well, what anchors you When a storm hits you what anchors you or you just drift along with it? The word of God is our anchor Now think about this for a moment Storms are inevitable Our anchor is immovable It doesn't move. It doesn't change it anchors us solid to the rock of Christ the word of God anchors our storm now watch this Because he is omniscient all-knowing.
He knows where I am in the storm Because he's Omnipresent He's with me wherever I am in the storm And because he's omnipotent He has the power to bring me through the storm That is the anchor How do I know that's the anchor because that's who the bible says he is That he is all-knowing That all presence is in his presence and he's all-powerful. You may not feel very strong You may not feel very powerful, but you can be wise And the wise thing to do is to anchor your life on the rock of God's unchanging truth What are you building your life on? You building it on pop culture.
You building it on personal opinion Are you building it on the unchanging rock of God's eternal truth Whether you build on sand or rock the storms come to both houses Christ was saying look whether you're in a secure house or a shaky house. The storm don't care. It's coming.
Expect the storms to come Everybody will face storms That's what Christ is saying whether you are built on the rock or the sand the storms come against you if the storm hits everybody Then the issue in life is not storms Don't worry about the storm it coming anyhow You got to focus on something else In other words storms come to expose what your built on You got to focus on am I built in the right way. The structure is more important than the storm In other words You are never remembered by what you avoided in life You are remembered by what you what survived Never trust a person who have been through no storm. Why because you are not remembered by what you avoided How do we know David?
Goliath How do you know Joshua? The wall How do we know Samson? The Philistines How do you know Moses?
Pharaoh If you ain't got no problem, you ain't got no reputation A calm sea never produced a good sailor How would you like to go on the seas with a sailor who had never been on troubled seas? If you're going to have a good life, it means you're going to go through stuff But the purpose of that stuff isn't to harm you God allows it or causes it to grow you up to grow me up What do you got to know first of all he says you got to know That the testing of your faith Develops what perseverance and perseverance must finish its work in your life so that you may be mature and complete And not lacking anything the only way to live a life of no lack is to be tested by storms And he says have pure joy when they come Because you know that this storm is going to leave you a better person a stronger person with more stable perseverance In other words, don't leave the class stay in the class until Perseverance has its complete work A storm can put you on the shelf so that you never used of God or it can equip you to be a fantastic servant of God, it's our response And our response is determined by a number of things one of which is our view of God How do you see God If I see God as this legalistic strict God who's just chalking off my bad points, or do I see him as a God of love And compassion and kindness and forgiveness and purpose And desire to use you in some fashion in some way How do you see him? How do you how do you picture God?
That is when you think about God and that you're a child of his and you've been saved. How do you picture him? Is he Is he on your side Or is he on the side of something else Do you see him behind these storms with anger or do you see him an awesome loving God sending into your life something that you don't like He knows you don't like it, but he knows it's best for your life at this moment in time How do you see him?
If somebody says well what is God like if you want to know what God is like look at Jesus Here's what Jesus said if you have seen me you've seen the father. He was not talking about physically he's talking about Who he is the person If you've seen me you've seen the father I am the father are one. I only do those things that I see the father doing So let me ask you a question What is it about Jesus That some of you do not like what is it about Jesus that you don't like I'd like somebody to tell me somebody who doesn't believe in him.
Well, just tell me what is it about him. You don't like? What did he do wrong?
Zero When the storm comes he says he will not allow you to be what Tested beyond what you can bear So if you if he allows it he trusts you A storm is a message from God about what he thinks about you And if you lost your house God says you can handle lost house Why I got another one coming bigger than that in other words every storm that comes Is God saying to you Go girl, you can handle this Come on, son. You can handle this.
