Storms in our life - Part 1

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Well, if you do not have an outline, would you raise your hand?

We want to make sure everyone has an outline.

And I want you to be turning in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 14.

Matthew 14 · chapter mention

And then also you'll go to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

Have both of those passages marked in your Bible because we're going to be looking at today, and we're going to be looking at next week, as I said earlier, how we can be thankful for our storms.

Being thankful for our storms.

Being thankful for our storms.

You know, uh, I've got to read this little cartoon that I kind of found.

Well, first of all, Charlie Brown.

Anyone else a Charlie Brown fan?

Right here.

Oh, I love Charlie Brown and Lioness.

I like lioness too.

Okay.

All right.

I like the blanket too.

Amen.

All my kids grew up with a blanket.

They had to have a blanket before they could go to sleep.

But let me read this little cartoon I found.

It's about a guy that believed that everything that happened to him was a manifestation of divine intervention.

Okay?

So here he goes.

He just believed everything.

It is not for me, he said, to question the workings of divine providence.

All my life, misfortune has been, I meant all his life, misfortune had been his.

Yet never once did he complain.

He got married and his wife ran away with the hired man.

His daughter was deceived by a villain.

His son was lynched.

A fire burned down his barn.

A cyclone blew away his home.

A hailstorm destroyed his crops, and the banker foreclosed on his mortgage, taking his farm.

Yet at each stroke of misfortune, he knelt and gave thanks to God, Almighty, for his unchangeable mercy.

After a time, pennilessness, but still submissive to God, he landed in the county poorhouse.

One day the overseer sent him out to plow.

Now, watch this.

This is pretty bad.

A potato film.

A thunderstorm came up, was passing over, and when without a warning, a boat of lightning descended from the sky, it melted the plowshear, stripped most of his clothing from him, sensed off his beard, branded his neck back with the initials of a neighboring cattleman, and hurled him through a barbed wire fence.

When he recovered consciousness, he got up slowly on his knees, clasped his hands together, raised his eyes toward heaven, and then for the first time in his life asserted himself and said, Lord, this is getting to be plum ridiculous.

You ever been there?

You ever been there in your storms?

I meant every time you turn around, something is going wrong.

I meant every time, not sometime, every time, something is going wrong.

Well, Charlie Brown, I love Charlie Brown.

He built a beautiful sandcastle out on the beach.

Oh, he had worked hours building that sandcastle, not realizing that the tide was about to come in.

And sure enough, the tide came in and I've done that.

Oh, that's that's that's heartbreaking.

I mean, I have built one of the most beautiful, gorgeous sandcastles you've ever seen.

And about the time you got through, here came a big wave, and she's gone.

So Charlie Brown, he's sitting there, he's standing there, he's admiring his beautiful castle, and all of a sudden the storm and the waves blow it totally away.

Now he's standing there with thinking about this beautiful masterpiece, and then he says, I know there's a lesson in this, but I'm not sure what it is.

Have you ever been there?

We've all been there.

We're going through this storm, or we've just come out of a storm, and we know that there's a lesson to be learned, but we just don't know what it is.

Well, this Sunday and next Sunday, I'm gonna be teaching us on, I think, four tremendous thoughts about what God does for us in our storms.

And the thing we're gonna be looking at today is that storms of our lives reveal who we really are and where we are.

Let me repeat that.

Storms that come into our lives reveal who we are and where we are with our walk with God.

And then, secondly, we're gonna be looking at what Jesus do for us in the midst of these storms.

And then next week, we're gonna be looking at how these storms personally develop us and to literally teach us how to walk by faith and take our faith to the next level.

So you don't want to miss next week either.

These are gonna be fantastic insights.

And I really believe, you know what I believe?

I believe a lot of strong Christians sometimes allow Satan to defeat us.

We allow Satan to defeat us because we ask that same question that, hey, Charlie Brown asked, I know there's a lesson here for me to learn, but I don't understand what it is.

And so with that, we allow Satan to discourage us and then ultimately defeat us because we're always looking for the why.

Amen.

Now, come on, guys.

When a storm comes, isn't the first question you ask yourself is why?

Okay?

And by the way, that's okay.

Because there is a lesson to be learned.

Every one of us has sandcastles that have been blown away.

Can I get an amen?

Every one of us has sandcastles that have been blown away.

So today I want us to be looking at and understanding why these storms come.

In fact, uh, sometimes the storms come because of the devil, no doubt about it.

Why?

Satan's come to what?

Kill?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And when Satan can't destroy, I mean, or should I say, take us to hell, when he knows we're saved, hey, he doesn't lighten up.

Just because you get saved doesn't mean Satan's gonna lighten up.

In fact, he's gonna press harder.

Because if he can discourage you, okay, guess what's happened?

When you are discouraged and dismayed, all right, you know what happens?

Your light goes completely out.

You're not a witness, you're not a bright and shining light that's set on the hill.

So he's trying to put that basket over the light.

And he does that through discouraging us and defeating us.

But sometimes our storms come by other people.

Hello?

Hello?

Amen.

You say, well, the devil's in them.

That may be true.

But most of the time it's just that the devil's using them to discourage me.

Amen?

Or to defeat me or to keep me from being all that God wants me to be.

Then sometimes, guess what?

Our storms come, hey, they come because of us.

Amen?

Because of us.

They come because of us.

Sometimes, and most of the time, and all the time really, we must realize that, hey, God allows our storms to come.

Can I get an amen?

God knows everything.

He's omniscient, he knows everything.

So he knows what's going on in our lives.

Can I get an amen?

He knows when we're about to go in the storm.

He knows when we're in the storm, and he knows when we come out of the storm.

So don't ever forget that he knows.

He knows what is going on.

And I really believe this.

We believe that he has a purpose for every storm.

Can I get an amen?

And let me tell you why.

You're going to learn this verse.

You already know it, most of you, but it ought to be a major verse.

And it's Romans 8.28.

And it says, we what?

Know.

We know.

The Greek word there is we are absolutely sure.

All things, say that with me.

All things.

Work together for good.

To them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

If you love God, God's giving you a purpose.

And if, hey, you are not fulfilling your purpose, God's going to get your attention.

Amen.

Amen.

And he uses storms sometimes to do that.

But let's look quickly.

Go with me now to James, hold Matthew 14.

We're going to exerge two passages of scriptures.

I want you to go to James chapter 1.

James 1 · chapter mention

We're going to look at verses 2, 3, and 4 as we understand storms of life reveal the following things about us.

First of all, in James chapter 1, what a powerful chapter James 1 is.

James 1 · chapter mention

And it starts out by James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings.

My brethren, I love this.

My brethren, talking to the church, to the saved, count it all joy.

When?

Underline that word.

When?

Not if, not maybe.

I hope not.

But when?

It's not if your storms are coming.

It's when your storms are coming.

Amen.

Just like the cloud is the clouds today.

You say, well, I'm not in a storm right now.

Well, your cloud's building.

Because your storm's coming.

It's not if, not maybe, but when.

Job put it this way: man is born into trouble.

Isn't that encouraging?

Job 5.7.

Man is born into trouble.

Well, it gets worse.

Job 14.1.

Are you ready for this?

Man that is born of woman, watch this, is of few days and full of troubles.

You know what that means to me?

There's more bad days than good days.

For every mountaintop, there has to be four or five valleys.

Amen.

So thank God for the valleys because you'd say, why?

Why can we thank God for the valleys?

Because we know the mountaintop's coming.

Amen.

It's coming.

And you enjoy the mountaintop more when you go through the valley.

In fact, you can't go to the mountaintop without going through the valley.

You ever thought about that?

Can't do it.

Can't do it.

So notice what he says.

When you fall into divers, that word divers there, the Greek word there means many, many kinds of temptations, many kinds of storms.

Many kinds, different.

Then he says, knowing.

There's that Greek word again.

We know.

Knowing.

Oda, Ada, either way you want to pronounce it.

This, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

The word patience there is hupanane, which means maturity.

It means actually to be completely grown.

That's what it means.

It means to come to full maturity.

That's what it means.

In other words, part of the reason our storms come are for the purpose of maturing us in Christ.

Can I get an amen?

That's what it means.

And then he says, but let what?

Patience, maturity, have her perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

That ye may be completely in the center of God's will, fulfilling God's purpose for your life.

That's exactly what that means.

Now, somebody say that's good, preacher.

That is good.

That is good.

So, quickly, look at these.

This is awesome.

First of all, what does it reveal?

It reveals the nature of our faith.

It reveals the nature, our storms reveal the nature of our faith.

Verses 2 and 4.

We see this.

Some of our faith is weak, some is strong.

We have people who have no faith, some faith, much faith.

So it reveals, our storm reveals really where our faith is.

You know, the Bible very plainly states, and I love this, that 2 Corinthians 5.7, for we are to walk by what?

Faith and not by sight.

But Satan wants us to walk by sight.

You know the difference from walking by faith and walking by sight?

When we walk by sight, that means we don't believe anything if we can't see it, smell it, hear it, taste it.

No faith.

And then what does he say in Hebrews 11, 6?

Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Sylvester dealt with that.

Hey, because we that come to God must believe that he is, that he is a rewarder, them that diligently seek him, that does diligently continue to mature in what?

His likeness, in his purpose for our life.

Man, that's good.

And that's what we see.

Notice also the second thing it does.

Not only does it reveal the nature of my faith, do I have weak faith, do I have strong faith, do I have no faith?

Second thing, the strength of my commitment.

The strength of my commitment.

Verses 2 and 3 again.

Knowing this, knowing what?

Again, the word patience.

Hupa o ne.

Hoopa one.

It means steadfastness.

It means endurance.

It means perseverance.

And I wrote this to myself after I did a word study.

It's the characteristic of a man not moved.

Whoo, man, this is good.

It is the characteristic of a man or a woman who is not moved from the purpose God has given them.

Man, that's good.

My strength of my commitment, nothing.

Paul several times says, nothing will move me from what God has called me to do.

Amen.

And if God be for me, said, Who can be against me?

Nay, in all things we've been made more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8, 31 and 37.

So it's my commitment.

It's my strength.

Finally, my brethren, hey, finally, brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Ephesians 6.10.

For the joy of the Lord is my strength.

So we see that.

It's the level of our strength and our commitment to Christ.

And I love this.

There hath no temptation taking you, but such is common to man.

But God is faithful and just who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you're able.

But with the temptation, make a way to escape through his strength.

Teach that word.

The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to reserve the unjust.

Hey, so judgment.

The Lord knows how to deliver us out of temptation, out of our trials.

How?

Through his strength.

I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Amen, church.

Amen.

That ought to get us excited.

Notice the third thing it does, it reveals the level of our maturity.

Mm-mm.

Romans 12, 12.

You've got to see this.

It's awesome.

Rejoice in hope.

Patient in tribulation.

Be patient in that maturing process.

Okay?

Now I don't know about you, but I wish I'm a very, very patient person.

That's lying in church, isn't it?

Lord, I'm you, Lord, you know I was not.

I mean, my wife's looking at I don't have a lot of patience.

Okay.

What are you laughing at, Dieter?

Yeah.

She said, yeah, I know how much patience my pastor has.

I've gotten a little better the older I've gotten, though.

I'm maturing, that's right, there.

Right, Sylvester?

But you know what I've learned over these years?

And this verse is so powerful.

The key to maturing and the key to going through every situation, every trial, every temptation is continuing instant in prayer, and that's what we do the least of.

It's our prayer life that's going to carry us through our storms.

It's our prayer life that really shows us the level of our maturity.

It really is.

One of the greatest things I can do in my growth in Christ is two things.

I give myself continually to prayer.

And I just realized this, and I've quoted this, I've preached this, I don't know how many times.

Acts 6.4.

It's in reference to the pastor, to the to the bishop over the group, and he says that that pastor, that bishop, that leader is to give himself continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word of God, Acts 6.4.

Ministry of the Word's no problem, Susan, I tell you.

I memorize it.

I study it hours every day.

Hours.

But to pray is hard for me.

That's why I have to have accountability.

That's why on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Susan and I, and Christy and David, meet.

On Tuesday, my house, on Thursday, his house.

We live a lot across the street, no problem.

But we pray for about an hour together.

Each of us pray through.

And that has been so powerful.

And it's even helped me to be praying on the other mornings when we don't meet.

I still set aside more time to pray.

But it's hard for me to pray.

Come on, am I by myself?

For some of you, it may be easier to pray, but it's harder for you to study the word.

But the key for maturity is that we do both.

Amen.

And one of the things that helps me pray is I pray the word when I'm memorizing my scripture.

I've started now praying the word that those things will be a reality in my life.

So it reveals the level of our maturity.

Notice the next thing.

Fourth thing.

It reveals the healthiness of my attitude.

Wow.

I've never seen a better attitude than a man that almost died than I will.

I mean, he calls me up and says, Where are you, preacher?

Why haven't you come to visit me?

That was a good and sweet attitude.

I almost said, Well, I thought you were dead.

Just a joke.

Well, actually, he was.

No, don't say, oh, he was.

He quoted three times.

Amen.

That slipped out, I will.

I didn't mean that.

But he was.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ivor.

He was.

But the attitude is just awesome.

I mean, it really is.

His attitude after was unbelievable.

I never heard him complain.

I never heard him say anything.

He was excited about he was, hey, he just had a brand new birthday.

I'm only one year old.

God brought me back.

He's got a purpose.

He's got a purpose for I will.

He wouldn't be here.

Hey, when your purpose is finished and done, okay?

When God, I mean, when you're doing it in God's will, hey, you're going to be with Jesus.

You're out of here.

And by the way, you can be out of here if you're going against your will, too.

And if you're bringing a mockery to God, he'll take you out of here.

I'd rather go out of here after knowing I completed the will and purpose for God.

Amen.

You with me, church?

So we see the level of our maturity and then the healthiness of our attitude.

Look at what he says in Philippians 4, verse 4.

Philippians 4:4

Rejoice in the Lord.

Always again I say, rejoice.

And how can you do that?

For the joy of the Lord is my strength.

Nehemiah 8.10.

Then look at what he says in verse 11.

Not that I speak in respect to want, but I've learned.

Uh-oh, I've learned.

It's that growing in maturity.

Amen.

I've learned, I've matured to the point that when my storm comes, I don't have to ask why, even though we do, but the more maturity, hey, that we have in our lives and the more we become like Christ, instead of saying, why, Lord, we are like Charlie Brown, there's a lesson here for me to learn.

And Lord, let me learn it the first time.

Can I get an amen?

You will.

You'll take it till you pass.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen, church.

So that's what he's talking about.

The healthiness of our attitude.

Woo! And how can we, hey, how can we be healthy?

How can we be healthy?

Here's why.

Look at first.

Jeremy, go to 1 Peter 4, 12 and 13.

This is powerful.

I think it's there.

At least it is on mine.

I gave him a different outline.

Do you have that there?

Okay, that's okay.

Well, I'll get to it in a minute.

But then look at the last thing.

The healthiness of my attitude.

But the last thing, hey, the level of my maturity, the strength of my commitment, the nature of my faith.

Man, that right there is enough to say hallelujah.

Amen.

Is that not good teaching from the Word of God?

Not that I'm teaching it, but Christ the Holy Spirit's teaching it to us.

Amen.

Now notice the last thing, and the last thing is going to be my point to go into our key passage, Matthew 14.

It also reveals the measure of my teachability.

Am I teachable?

Mm-mm-mm.

Am I teachable?

Now every one of us say, yeah, I'm teachable.

I'm not interested in what you say, I'm interested in what you do.

Faith cannot be trusted until it's been tested.

And we have our faith tested by our growth and our maturity, and we have that evidence by our teachability.

You with me, Church?

Paul told Timothy, choose out from among you those faithful men.

2 Timothy 2, 2, that are able to teach others.

If you're not teachable, you'll never be used greatly by God.

If you're stubborn, guess what?

You're going to do just like the nation Israel did.

You're going to wander in the wilderness for 40 years.

And the promised land's right down the road.

But you're stubborn, you're not teachable.

Let patience, verse 4, let patience, maturity have her perfect work.

Perfect work.

Count it all, joy, the healthiness.

Works, patience, the level of my maturity.

Where am I?

Knowing this, the strength of my commitment and the nature of my faith.

All things work together for good.

We know that.

Man, that's good.

So, with that said, let's go back to the story in Matthew 14.

The measure of my teachability.

In Matthew 14, as we go back there, this is a beautiful story.

What do I learn and receive from the storms of my life?

Should be the question.

Now, this setting of the story today in Matthew 14, the disciples had just been being taught with all the crowds.

In fact, if you read it in the beginning of the chapter there, Jesus had just finished feeding the 5,000 men.

That means probably 20,000 people, counting men and women and children, at least 15 to 20,000 people.

So this was a miraculous miracle that we were just singing about.

We had five loaves and two fish.

Okay?

And he feeds 15,000 plus people.

I can see Thomas now.

Every time Thomas would come by and he'd fill his basket up.

Remember, he told him to sit down in the groups of 150.

Then he had the disciples line up and hey, he had the bag, he had the little lads' lunch, and he just kept filling the baskets.

They'd come by and they'd go feed 50 to 100.

They'd come back.

Don't you know, knowing doubting Thomas that I'm sure he was coming each time back with the disciples saying, Where's she getting the fish?

Where's he getting the bread?

I saw it.

Hey, Andrew said, I know he only had five loaves and two fish.

Where's all that coming from?

It was coming from the master's hand.

Amen.

But here they are.

They've seen miracles after miracles.

The dead's been raised, the lame's been made to walk, thousands of people have been fed, and now all of a sudden, guess what?

Now it's time for them to be in a storm.

See, it's okay.

You can praise Jesus.

Hey, it's easy to jump up, hallelujah, amen.

Preach when you're being blessed.

Everything's going right.

I got a great job.

Well, what if you had what if tomorrow you lose it?

You still going, whoo, hallelujah, I'm happy today.

I just lost my job.

It's easy to praise the Lord on the mountaintop.

It's a lot harder to praise him in the valley.

You with me?

Now here they are.

Now remember what we said?

They, hey, you can be in a storm because of disobedience, and we're going to talk about that.

But but in this storm right here, this gets exciting.

The disciples are doing exactly what the Lord tells them to do.

Now, see, what you don't realize, you have to read the whole context.

They had seen such a miracle of the feeding of the 5,000 men, 15 to 20,000 people.

Hey, the disciples got caught up with the crowd and they were all ready to grab him and make him king.

They wanted to make him an earthly king.

But God says, no, you're not going to make him an earthly king.

You can't make the king of kings and the Lord of Lords an earthly king.

He's king.

He doesn't have to be made one.

Can I get an amen?

So he says, get, hey, hey, get in the boat.

Now that's the way he said it.

That's what the word there means.

He constrained them.

You know what that means?

Come here.

Come on.

Come on.

Get in the boat.

Get in the boat.

I'm in the boat.

Jesus, I'm in the boat.

But that's what it meant.

That's exactly the word there that it means.

In other words, he said, get in the boat now.

Why?

They were getting caught up in all the excitement and the emotions.

See, we can get caught up in emotionalism.

Amen.

And I I hey, I'm not, I don't have any problem with emotionalism.

I wished I had a little more.

I'm a very emotional person, but my emotions got to be built on the fact and the truth of God's word.

See, I get excited about the word of God.

Amen.

Now, guess what?

When I was playing football all those years, I never won the most valuable player, but I always won the most enthusiastic.

You wonder why?

Because I'm up and down.

I have no middle ground.

That sounded good.

I'm up, I'm down.

I have no middle ground.

I'm either wide open or dead.

That's Susan, is that not true?

She has lived with that for 32 wonderful years.

We just celebrated 32 years in the Chattanooga Choo-Chu boxcar Thursday night.

Amen.

32 wonderful years.

I promised her up and down.

I promised her life would never be boring.

It hasn't.

It hasn't been boring.

But it's not emotionalism.

It's not emotionalism, folks.

Okay?

Now, let me say something right up front.

Somebody asked me.

Because I get excited and I like it when you preach back at me.

I I do.

Sometimes people, it kind of scares them a little bit.

It doesn't scare me.

In fact, I made up my mind a long time ago.

It's a lot easier to cool down a fanatic than to raise the dead.

Amen.

So I'm not gonna cook.

I don't want to raise any dead.

Now I can cool.

I can cool you.

Woo woo.

That's enough.

But hey, how can I say that's enough when I'm the one leading it?

You know, I I just get excited.

And anytime you start saying we're getting a little emotional in church, remember the football games.

Hello.

Huh?

Huh?

Huh?

Huh?

Huh?

Heh, heh, heh.

Huh?

I'm gonna put it right there.

If you're gonna get as excited, or maybe it's not a football game.

It may be, it may be whatever you love.

Whatever you get excited about the most, your excitement ought to be more than that for Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

And I'm not talking about doing things out of order.

I'm talking about doing it decently and in order.

Amen.

And it's my job to keep it in order as the pastor.

Amen.

Yeah, Susan said, Yeah, I need to tell that illustration.

I'll never forget it.

Jack and Clemmy Wade sat right back there on the last row in our church at the Open Door Baptist Church.

He was my administrator.

He had worked 50 years, second in command, to the second largest post office in the state of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

He was the Associate Postmaster General.

He had lived for the devil most of his life.

He got saved later in life.

He was a war, a World War II veteran, wounded in World War II.

Just a godly, unbelievable man.

So he came to me, he said, Brother Danny.

That's the way he talked.

Brother Danny.

In fact, when I talked to him, I'd usually say, come on, get with it, Jack.

But uh and I imagine he was thinking, slow down, preacher.

Slow down.

And um he said, Brother Danny, I've worked for the devil long enough.

I want to work the rest of my life for Jesus.

He said, I'm gonna be your administrator and you're not gonna pay me a dime.

I said, No, I mean we're not gonna do that now.

He said, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We ended up finally giving him a little gas money.

But for 13 years, when I passed that church, we knew for every dime, every piece, and everything.

And and but he and Clemmy both had sit right back there.

In fact, they took Susan, they picked her up and brought her to Wednesday night, every Wednesday night when she was a college student.

And uh they were just precious, faithful people.

I mean, unbelievably faithful.

And uh I'll never forget.

He said, Pastor Danny, now I know you think when people are getting saved, and you've got to realize we we had 200 people saved and baptized almost every year.

One year out of 13 years, we didn't have 200 people baptized, and we thought we had had a bad year.

It was 187 people we baptized that year.

Unbelievable.

The movement of God.

He said, I know, Brother Danny, you back there, you think I I'm me and Clemmy, we're back there, we're just dead.

That did cross my mind.

But he said, I want you to know when you're up there shouting and hollering and amen, go, Clemmy and I, our hearts back here are going, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee.

So when I look at you and you're not doing like we get shouting, and Sylvester and I get excited there, and get we all get excited.

I'm just gonna think about Jack, but your heart's going, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoopee, whoop-ee.

Amen.

Because that's the way it is.

When God is moving.

But I want you to see this verse.

I want you to see Matthew chapter 5, verse 45.

Matthew 5:45

First thing in this passage, everyone has storms.

Can I get an amen?

I want you to say this with me.

My storm is coming.

My storm is coming.

Not if, but when.

Now, how do we know that?

Look at what he says in Matthew chapter 5, verse 45.

Matthew 5:45

He makes the sun rise on both the good and bad people, and he sends rain for the ones who do right and for the ones who do wrong.

That's a different interpretation from the New King James, but it makes it plain and simple.

So you can see storms, problems, difficulties, trials come to all of us.

There's no exclusion.

You can't look at a person and just because he's being blessed say he's righteous, and a person that's being not blessed that he's what?

Cursed.

You can't say that.

Now, back in Jesus' day, that's what they believed.

If you were really being blessed physically, then you must have the blessings of God.

And if you were poor and and you know, lost everything, well, then, you know, you've got the curses of God.

Well, what did they do with people like Job?

What did they do with people like that?

What did they do with people like Joseph?

Joseph was in prison for 13 years, right in the middle of the will of God.

Job was right in the middle of the will of God when he lost everything he had, including his ten children.

And God said about Joseph and Job, both of them, that they were perfect men.

They were righteous, perfect, growing, mature men.

Wow.

Wow.

What about Paul?

What about Paul?

I meant shipwrecked, beaten, three times left for dead, but he's right in the perfect will of God.

And now we come right here.

So that brings me to two things about these storms.

Storms come because we are out of the will of God, and storms come because we're in the will of God.

Can I get an amen?

Alright?

You with me?

Jonah.

You going to Nineveh?

No, I'm not.

Yes, you are.

No, I'm not.

Yes, you are.

No, I'm not.

So he went and he found the ship.

Can I say something right here?

You'll always find the ship ready to take you in the wrong direction.

And he went to Tarsus, or he thought he was going to Tarsus, 2,000 miles away from Nineveh.

He didn't get far, and guess what?

A storm came.

I got a message.

What happens when you get on the wrong boat?

It'll cost you more than you're willing to pay.

And you'll lose all your luggage.

There it goes.

But what about these guys?

And then, hey, storms come because we're in the perfect will of God.

Now, watch this.

They're in the perfect will of God.

In Matthew chapter 14, verse 22, it says, and I love this, I love what Jesus says.

Matthew 14:22

Look at it.

Verse 22.

And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into the ship and go before him and to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.

He got away from the crowd.

They had wrong motives.

They had wrong intentions.

And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray, and when the evening was come, he was there alone.

But now watch, watch.

But verse 22, he got the disciples into the boat.

He put them in the boat and he told them to go to the other side.

He put them out in the middle of the lake right when the storm came.

He knew exactly where they were going and he knew exactly what was about to happen.

Can I get an amen?

You telling me, Pastor, he knows when our storm's coming?

Absolutely.

Sometimes he sends them.

In fact, I think he sent this one.

How do you know that?

He controls the waves and the and the wind.

I meant when he stood up and said, be still, what happened?

It's done.

So if he can get them calm, don't you think he can get them stormy?

So watch, man, this is good.

Jesus put them right in the middle of the lake where the storm came.

Now, as I was putting this together, I got to thinking about something.

I really did.

And it brought me to think about this.

Jesus right now is in the best time of his ministry while on earth.

People are excited, except the religious crowd.

Now don't you miss this?

When Jesus is doing something fantastic, the religious crowd will always be critical.

Hello?

You okay?

The religious crowd will always be critical.

Everywhere in the scriptures I see it.

So next time you want to criticize, how about thinking about which crowd you're in?

You with me?

You okay?

Always.

Always.

How do I know that?

Here's what Jesus said.

He said to the disciples, why do you think they're not gonna critically criticize you and persecute you because they persecuted me?

Matthew 5, 12.

Wow.

Wow.

But now look, this is exciting.

Now what's this?

I thought about John the Baptist and Jesus.

They grew up together.

Here is Jesus' most his most popular time, but yet his heart's broken.

How do you know his heart's broken?

John the Baptist had just been beheaded.

His cousin had just been beheaded.

I imagine they grew up together.

I bet they played together.

I bet they prayed together.

So he's feeling the pressure.

He knows he's about to get to go to the cross.

All this is on him.

So don't you ever think that he doesn't feel and know exactly where you and I are.

And I'm going to show you that in a minute.

But I want you to see what happens.

Here's the point I wanted to say.

Even in the most popular time, he is heartbroken.

What does he do?

He breaks away and gets along with God to pray.

Can I get an amen?

Do you see how important that is, folks?

Church, it's so important, though.

You know what I really God's laid on my heart?

We got to be a praying church.

I'm not talking about a church that preaches about it or teaches about it, but we do it.

Can I get an amen?

Can I get an amen?

A praying church.

My house, Jesus says, should be called the house of what?

Prayer.

So, what does Jesus do for us in the storm?

He gets away and he's praying and he's about to do some things for the disciples.

Look at it.

This gets really good.

Number one, verse 23 and 24.

Here's what he does for us when you're in your storm.

Jesus prays for you.

Jesus is praying for you when you are in your storm.

Luke 22.

Look at what Luke 22 says.

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired you to sift you.

Oh, I mean, he's gonna take you to, hey, he's gonna take you to the cleaners, that he may sift you as sweep.

But now look at verse 32.

This is such an encouragement.

But I have what?

Prayed for you.

I've prayed for you that your faith fail not.

And when thou art converted, strengthen thy brother.

In other words, you don't give up, you don't give out, you don't give in, you stay with the stuff.

And then, praise God, when you've stuck with the stuff and they see your example, you can teach them.

Nothing's impossible with God.

Luke 137.

Amen.

Nay, in all things, we've been made more than conquerors.

He said, But hey, Satan's, I pray for you.

Oh, it gets better.

Look at John 17, the Lord, the real Lord's Prayer.

You say, Well, yeah, but Matthew 6 is the Lord's Prayer.

No, no, not really.

It's the disciples' prayer.

But we call it the Lord's Prayer, and that's okay.

But here's the Lord's Prayer when Jesus is praying to God the Father for the church.

Listen to what He says, pray for them.

I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, Father, for they are mine.

I pray for them.

I pray for them.

Look at verse 20.

Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

Look at verse 21.

That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

In other words, that they will be fulfilling your purpose for their life, that I have given them through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we're all one and we exemplify and we magnify all that you are, God the Father.

Wow.

Us being victorious through our storms, magnify God the Father.

I'm going to show you that.

I'm going to need to go to 1 Peter 4.

Let's do it right now.

1 Peter 4.

They need to see this 1213, because this point fits right there.

What he says is, count it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are going to try you as some strange thing has happened to you.

But look at verse 13.

Woo-hoo!

Hey, here's the attitude.

All this, man, this is so good.

Look at verse 13.

But rejoice.

There's that attitude.

Remember what it reveals in us?

Our maturity, our strength, our commitment, our attitude.

But now what?

But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, hey, we may be glad also with exceeding joy.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye.

For the spirit of the glory and of God rests upon you.

On their part, he is evil spoken of, but on your part, he is glorified.

When all hell's coming against you, you look like you're going down for the count, but you're hanging in there, you're not giving up, and you're gonna work through it because God's gonna see you to the other side, and it's the greatest example of who God really is that we could give.

Wow.

Wow.

Is in the midst of the storm.

He's praying for us.

Hebrews 4.

Just got to read it quick.

Saying this, we have a great high priest.

Can I get an amen?

Say this with me, church.

We have a great high priest.

Come on, a great high priest.

Yes, that is passed into the heavens.

Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.

You know what that means?

Let us continue to mature.

Let us not give up.

I don't care what kind of storms come.

All those divers, all of those guides, don't give up.

Don't you give up on God.

Don't you get bitter against God.

You stay the course.

Now watch what he says.

For we have a high priest.

Mm-mm.

That's touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

But was in all points.

Did you see that?

Say all points.

Tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

He's gone through everything you're ever going to go through.

He went through death where I was.

But guess what?

On that third day, he came up out of the grave and he destroyed death.

You hear me?

Then he said, Without sin, let us come.

Here it comes, bold, unto the throne of grace that we might attain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

There's not a storm you're going through that you won't find his help and his mercy and his grace in time of need.

Hallelujah, church.

Hallelujah, church.

Notice what I said there.

Jesus came to the world.

This is awesome.

I wrote it out for you.

Jesus came to the world to talk to us about God.

He is now in heaven talking to God about us.

One God.

One mediator.

One man between one mediator between God and man.

The man Christ Jesus.

Can I get an amen?

Say this with me, church.

Jesus is talking about us.

Jesus is talking about us.

Jesus is talking about us.

You know, I don't mind him talking about me.

Amen.

I don't mind him talking about me.

Let him help himself.

You know, my only concern is that he's got some good things to say about me.

Can I get an amen?

Amen.

He's got some good things to say about me.

Well, let's about wrap it up.

You know, it's good to know that your pastor's praying for you.

Amen.

One of my, I think the main thing I'm supposed to do is to study and pray and pray for you.

That's one of my main, my main points that I'm supposed to do for you.

You know, it's good to know that your friends are praying for you.

It's good to know that your family's praying for you.

Amen.

Isn't it good to know that your church is praying for you?

But I've got a great, greater, greater blessing.

Jesus is praying for you.

Amen.

Wow.

Second thing, verse 25, he comes to us.

He's not an aloof God.

He's a personal God.

He's a personal God.

Look at verse 25.

And a little while before morning, Jesus came walking on the water toward his disciples.

Now, I want you to go ahead and fill in those two little points.

Because I'm going to tie all this together.

Then I'll close with the last point.

A, he comes to us at the darkest hour.

Mm-mm.

He comes to us at the darkest hour.

Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comes in the morning.

I mean, between four and six o'clock, are you listening to me?

Between four and six o'clock is the darkest time of night.

Right before dawn.

Isn't that amazing?

That's the darkest time of night.

Right there.

So we see he comes at that time to them.

And then B, he comes to us victorious over our greatest fears.

He comes to us victorious over our greatest fears.

Now, when I I'm fixing to give you a truth that's going to be more exciting than that catch.

And that was exciting.

Never seen a thing like it.

I have to admit, most exciting 12 minutes football I've ever seen.

And I was about to turn it off.

There's a lesson to be learned there, too.

When you think it's over, it ain't over.

Not if Jesus is in the boat.

Hey! Hey, when it looks like you're about to drown, it ain't over.

Because Jesus is in the boat.

Or Jesus is on the mountain praying for you.

Amen?

Malachi 3.3.

You gotta see this.

When I saw this and started doing a study on the word silversmith, I had a Pentecostal spell.

By the way, I get that honest.

My granddaddy was Pentecostal.

I want you to see what Malachi 3.3 says.

Do you have it, Jeremy?

And he shall sit as a refiner, talking about God, a purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.

Wow.

Now watch.

I went and read about a silversmith.

Here's his job.

One, a silversmith, when he's got the silver in the furnace, he sits right there, totally focused on that piece of silver.

He can't take his eyes off of it.

Why?

Because if it stays in there too long, it's no good.

If it hey, stays in there too, or if it comes out too early, it's no good.

Oh, do you see it coming?

Do you see it coming?

When you and I are in the furnace, his eyes are completely focused on us.

On us.

He's not moving.

He's right there.

He's waiting till that silver us gets right where we need to be.

When it looks like you're drowning, when it looks like your fire's gonna, the water's gonna overturn you.

When you're going down, you're gonna die.

It's all over.

He snatches it out.

Jesus.

He says, now they're ready.

Now they're ready.

They had enough.

Got all the dross off.

Do you know the only thing that was burned off?

If she had rat me, she hadn't have been together.

The only thing.

The only thing when they were thrown in the fiery furnace were the ropes.

That's it.

Guess what the ropes represented?

It's what the world put on them.

It's what the world put on them.

Nebuchadnezzar and all those guys put the ropes on them.

Because they didn't want them to be able to.

You know, I never figured that out.

Why would you go and throw somebody in the furnace?

Why does it matter if you're tied up?

Just a thought.

But they were burned off.

In the right moment, Jesus didn't snatch him from the fire furnace.

He showed up.

In the midst of this situation, they're in the middle of God's will.

They're about to drown, they think.

They look up.

It's a ghost.

It wasn't a ghost.

That's what fear does to you.

When you're afraid, hey, you can't see Jesus.

You can't see the truth when you're afraid.

Fear, hey, drives out faith.

God's not giving us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Second Timothy one seven.

Uh oh, Peter.

Oh my Jesus.

Jesus.

Yes.

If it's you, let me come.

Come.

And he walked on water.

Fear can turn to faith just like that.

Here's a guy crying out as a ghost now, it's walking on water.

Whoa! If you don't get that, something's wrong.

Amen.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

And the last thing, and I'm I'm just getting warmed up, to be honest with you.

I getting, I got so much you gonna you don't want to miss part two.

I got I've left so much out, I'll bring it next week.

Isn't this good?

But now watch this.

Now watch this.

Last thing, verse 26 and 27.

He ministers to us in the storm.

Now I've given you all those verses.

Go home and look those verses up because they're all about each point overcoming it.

They're just powerful verses.

And I'll probably deal with a lot of them next week.

But but I want you to realize, look what happens here.

He ministers to us in verse 26 and 27.

When they saw him, they thought he was a ghost.

They were terrified, started screaming.

At once Jesus said to them, I am Jesus, don't be afraid.

When Jesus speaks, we listen.

When Jesus speaks, we listen.

And notice two things that I'm through.

Jesus ministered to them in spite of their misunderstanding.

Jesus ministered to them in spite of their misunderstanding.

They thought he was a ghost.

If I'd have been Jesus, I'd had myself a good time.

I'd have scared the devil out of them.

Go to Romans 11.33.

This is one of the most important verses I could ever give you.

Romans 11.33.

The depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God.

Right there we can say hallelujah.

How unsearchable are his judgment and his ways past finding out.

You'll never I don't like pastors that think they know it all.

I don't like church members that think they know it all.

Because we don't.

You got a pastor that does not know it all.

Amen.

I do not.

But I do know this.

I know.

I know that all things work together for good.

That I know.

When my wife died in my arms, my little baby died in my arms.

I know that all things work together.

For good to them that love God.

To them who are called according to his purpose.

Hey, you're not gonna you're not gonna know it all.

Can I get an amen?

You're not going to know it all.

Paul says that we look into the glass right now darkly, but one day we will know as he knows.

1 Corinthians 13, 12.

Amen?

One day we will.

And then he ministers to us.

Boy, this is a blessing.

In spite of our fears.

In spite of our fears, can I get an amen?

I'm gonna end with this.

See that right there?

God gave me that this morning.

Right there.

I'd never seen this before.

Sunday mornings, I just mean the Lord.

I get up and try to spend a couple hours before I come just praying, going back over my message.

But I always ask the Lord, did I miss anything?

Please don't let me miss anything that my people need to hear today.

Please, Lord.

He said, You miss something.

I got a conclusion for you.

I said, give it to me.

First of all, we're all stand in need of deliverance when we go through our storms.

Can I get an amen?

Huh?

And remember, he's sitting there focused on us, waiting for the right time to snatch us out.

Well, number one, there's the need of salvation in the storm.

There's the need of salvation in the storm.

Verse 30.

Look at it.

Verse 30.

Look at it, Matthew 14.

The need.

Peter is sinking.

He's drowning.

Hey, the disciples are about to drown.

There's a need.

There's a need for deliverance.

Can I get an amen?

Every one of us remember that song?

We were seeking, sinking deep in sin.

Love lifted me.

Is that not good?

Is that not good?

Amen.

That's good.

Secondly, there's the source of salvation.

There's the source of deliverance.

31.

Verse 31.

And when you're going down, Jesus reached out and caught him.

Caught him.

Got him, grabbed him, jerked him up out of the sea.

But now watch.

He jerked him out of the waves that were drowning him.

But he didn't stop the waves.

They had to walk together back to the boat in the storm.

Jesus doesn't deliver you from the storm.

But he delivers you in the storm.

In the storm.

You're in the furnace.

And he sees now you're ready.

And then the grace of salvation.

Nothing Peter could do.

It's all that Jesus did.

Can I get an amen?

And then the power of salvation.

Said to the winds and to the waves.

Peace be still.

And there's a peace.

And then the last thing the security of salvation.

They got back in the boat.

Hey, let me tell you what you don't read.

You have to go to John 6.

When they got back in the boat, they worshiped him.

Oh, they worshiped him.

But also the boat, it ended up on the other side of the shore.

See, when you get in the boat and Jesus is in your boat, you'll worship him.

But there's security.

He will save you from the raging sea.

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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