In The Storms Of Life

Introduction

If you will take your Bibles out, it’s good to see everyone tonight. We’re going to be going through some scriptures. This lesson deals with us and life. We’ve all had those life experiences, and we’ve all had the opportunity to where we’ve had storms of life. Sometimes we look at it and say, life is calm. We get a little bit con, I would think convenent convenient in our lives because life is calm. At the same time, I would tell you this if life is calm now, it means a storm is brewing. Now it may mean that we’re going through a storm now, or we’re coming out of a storm. Whatever it is, storms hit all of us in our lives. But I want to talk about life for a second.

It could be that our health is good. It could be that we are the greatest of all people of the east. It could be that we are of a very large household. Could be we have 500 female donkeys. In our day that would be different. It could be we have 500 yoke of oxen. It could be that we have 3,000 camels. I’d like to see that in Orlando. Or 7,000 sheep. But that’s exactly what Job had. But what he didn’t realize was there was a storm brewing. And life can change. Oxen and donkeys were stolen. Servants are killed. More servants and all sheep are burned up. Camels are taken in a raid, and more servants are killed. Sons and daughters are killed in a great storm.

The body is overcome by boils from head to toe. We see that in Job 1 13 through 2 8. What we know is life can change instantly. And in that, we think it’s going to happen to somebody else. But a storm has arrived, and Job’s got to deal with it. Our lives can be good. Life can be really good. In fact, we can be member of a great health club, just the best country club around. Life is good. Could be that our children are in all kinds of activities. Life is good. Could be that large savings account and retirement fund is rebounding, and we look at it and say, life is really good. Things are going well. Could be we have two new vehicles, a four-wheeler, jet skis, and a fairly new boat.

Life is just blossoming, going great. A timeshare that we can exchange for other locations. Beautiful house with more room than we need. A great job with pay benefits, our health is good. Life is good. Many of us live that type of life. The warning there is a storm that is brewing. It may not have hit us yet. Maybe we’ve seen it hit some of our friends. But a storm is brewing. Employment can be lost. We see that not only that, the house needs to be sold. We see the timeshare has to be sold. We see that the vehicles, four-wheelers, jet skis, and boats have to be sold. Savings count has dwindled and the retirement fund is tapped. Our children need to give up their activities that costs money.

Club dues and memberships need to be forfeited. What we find is life is changing. A hurricane or tornado can hit. A car accident can happen with someone who has no insurance. A fire can cause us to lose all earthly possessions and keeps them. Could be that terrorists can attack our homeland. We never thought that would happen, did we? It could be our sons, daughters, and even spouses may have to serve in war torn areas. It could be a situation a spouse can seek divorce or pass away. A child is born with a handicap or tragically killed or stricken by a fatal disease. It could be that you could be overcome by a terrible disease yourself. Maybe that parents pass away. It could be that children can become addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or in an unscriptural marriage relationship.

Members of the family can become unfaithful to God. Life can change instantly. And we usually ask this question it’s not fair. Why did God allow this to happen to me? Why me? See, the storm has arrived. When the storm has arrived, we can think about what Job said or ask in his book. Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb? Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breast that I should nurse, for now I would have lain still and been quiet. I would have been asleep, then I would have been at rest. Or this is one of my favorite sayings of his for the thing I greatly feared has come upon me. I want you to think about the life and the blessings you’ve gotten from God.

Think about if you lose those, it’s a greatly feared thing, isn’t it? We lose our house, we lose our funds. We lose everything because we’re a child of God, for instance. And what I dreaded has happened to me. I’m not at ease, nor am I quiet. I have no rest, for trouble comes. I have seen everything the wise men said in my days of vanity. There’s a just man who perishes in his righteousness. There is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness. Ever asked the question, why do the unrighteous seem to prevail and the righteous seem to suffer at times? That seems to be a question we do. But in Galatians 6 9, let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

But the question that I look at in the scriptures, along with these others, is say, yes, life’s going to happen. How prepared am I to handle the storms of life? How did they get through it? How did Noah get through building an ark for all the time he did with people making fun of him? And then the flood starts, and he sees his friends, the ones making fun of him that he knew, lifelong friends perishing in that. How about David in 1 Samuel the 30 30th chapter 1 through 6? And we’ll talk about it here in a minute. How did he get through it? We’re going to find out. Joshua and Joshua, excuse me, Joshua 1. Kind of interesting. He was the follower of Moses, and the Lord told him to be strong and of good courage.

Cross over the River Jordan. The River Jordan was the flood stage at that time. Not an easy thing to do. How did he get through it? Job that we mentioned, how’d he get through it? Jeremiah teaching for all those years to those people that would not listen and he knew what was going to happen. How did he get through that? How did Christ get through the fact of going to the cross for us? How did Stephen get through it in Acts the seventh chapter? How did brethren get through it in Acts 8, 1 through 3 where they had to scatter? How did Paul get through it when a situation where they were after him and in 2 Corinthians 12 he had this infirmity and prayed to the Lord three times that it would be removed?

1. Focus on the World to Come

The Lord said, My gracious sufficient for you. Would we have accepted that answer? How about those mentioned in Hebrews 11th chapter? And I think about all of those, and then I think to myself, their journey was chaotic. How did they get through that? Would I have been that strong? Well, here’s some things we can do when we go through storms of life. We can focus on the world to come. 1 Peter 1 13 and Colossians 3 2. A better place is waiting beyond the grave. We need to keep our eyes fixed on that place. The problem is we want that place to be on the face of this earth. It’s not here. Folks, you’re going to go through storms in your life. I look at this and say, if you see me try to get up out of a chair, it’s always a guessing game whether I make it or not.

Or I’m really shocking Dave and Karen and my wife by walking up without having a handrail. There’s storms going on with my knees and things like that. Older we get, we’re going to have more storms. But sometimes we have storms at early ages too. The things go through that we mentioned earlier. But if I can stay focused on the better place to come and realize this world is not my home, but that’s hard to believe and follow. It’s easy to say.

2. Continue in the Faith

Some will face more than others. You’ve probably met people that go through adversity, they’re going through storms constantly in their life. Sometimes we’re very fortunate, we don’t want to go through one storm at a time, and it’s a period of time for the next storm comes. James 1 through 2 and 4 says trials can serve a good purpose. We also see that no matter what happens, we are to continue in the faith. Well, turn over to 1 John 5 and verse 4. Had some scriptures up there. Now we’re going to start reading through scripture. 1 John 5 and verse 4. And we think about John writing to his children as he would call them. He gives them encouragement about what to do when he says this.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Now think of that, and I think about what’s a good lesson on faith. Turn back over to Matthew the 14th chapter. One of my favorite passages about faith. And it’s one of those that we look at and say, I’ve probably been there many times, and maybe you have too with Peter and what’s going on. You remind me remember the story. They’re out on the sea, and it’s a situation of where the storm rises up. Now there are fishermen on this boat that should have been accustomed to storms. But then they see Jesus coming across in Matthew 14th chapter. That seems to change everything. But notice what happens as we read through this little story here.

Matthew the 14th chapter, Peter, the apostles on the boat, talks about this. And notice when he talks about it, he’s going to make a point that fixed all of us. Verse 22 immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat. Go before him to the other side while he sent the multitudes away. When he had sent the multitudes away, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. And when evening came, he was alone there. But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary. Now in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went to them walking on the sea. Now I want you to understand something. We’ve got what happened, so walking on the sea for Jesus was weird like, oh, that’s something he would do.

Have you ever thought if you were in that boat, seeing a man walk on the water? What might you might be thinking? When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a ghost. They cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Be of good cheer. It is I, do not be afraid. Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water. I want you to know Peter here, what he did. Jesus said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. I want to tell you something about that. Too many times we skip over to the fact that his faith wavered, and he’s going to sink.

He walked on the water. Now we may never walk on water, but in your life, there are times that your faith is stronger than it is other times. No matter what you’re going through, you might have strong faith to start with. But you can be weakened in that faith. That’s what happened to Peter. Because what he did, he started focusing on the waves around him. He took his eyes off of Jesus. How many times in our life we take our eyes off of Jesus when we’re going through troubled times? That’s the time Jesus wants to keep looking at him and focus upon him. Continue in the faith that we have in him. Focusing on the waves and the difficulties and hardships without looking to Jesus for help will cause us to pair despair, and we will sink in our faith.

Also, Hebrews 12 2, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Be of good cheer, he said in John 6 13, or 6.33. I have overcome the world. I don’t think that passage of scripture registered with me till later on in life. What does it mean to overcome the world? You go to the funeral of the death of a faithful child of God. And I started using this in my funeral lessons. Because Christ overcame the world, this one here who lived a faithful life to Christ has overcome the world. And it’s amazing to me how all of a sudden it takes on a different meaning when you think I’ve passed away or this one passed away. They were faithful child of God. God’s going to take care of them because they came to him through Jesus the Christ.

3. Don’t Worry About What I Cannot Control

Jesus says, I’ve overcome the world, and those that believe in me and follow me overcome the world. These words spoken as he was in the shadow of death. John 31 32, where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and all of this about him being the truth. What can I accomplish by worrying about that I cannot control? Matthew 6, 25 through 34 on the Sermon on the Mount. So I’ve got a question. Ever laid awake at night worrying about something? Now, if I asked for a hand, I’d be the first one to confess, yes, I have. We’ve done that. Wake up the next morning, you really hadn’t been asleep. You think, what happened? I lost sleep and nothing got fixed. Now think about those things, and it’s about worrying that we do.

4. David Strengthened Himself in the Lord

I need to hold to the truth at all costs. I cannot accomplish anything by worrying about something that I cannot control. But that’s hard for us because we want to worry about it, thinking we should be able to fix it. Turn your Bibles over to 1 Samuel, the 30th chapter. I mentioned that we were going to get there eventually, and I want you to read something here with me. Now, David is a man of war, and he’s got mighty men with him. And as we look at this, we think about men of war. We don’t think about them having very many difficulties or soft hearts or things along that line. But in 1 Samuel, the 30th chapter, David and his men are gone out. They’ve gone out from camp and they’ve gone on out to different places, and they’re going to come back to camp.

When they come back to camp, there’s going to be some things that have changed. And in the things that have changed, David himself is going to have a change in his life. And this change in his life is going to be different because he is the man. He is a man after God’s own heart. He is a man that is chosen to be king. He should have the faith of all. Verse 1 of chapter 30. Now it happened when David and his men came to Ziglag on the third day that the Amalekites had invaded the south and Zig Ziglag and attacked Ziglag to burn it with fire. Had taken captive the women, those who were there from small to great. They did not kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way.

So David and his men came to the location where they had been at, back to their camp, basically. Came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire, and their wives, their sons, and their daughters had been taken.

Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voices and wept until they had more power to weep. You ever been there?

This is a strong man. In our lives, there are things that’s going to cause us to weep, to have no more tears. No more energy for tears, no more things. David was suffering. David, men wanted to kill him. They wanted to stone him. David was struggling. Then we go on down and we look at this. In verse 6, David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him. Because the soul of all the people were grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. David said to Abathar the priest, Demelec’s son, please bring the Ephod here to me. And Abathar brought the Ephod to David. So notice what David did in verse 8. David said to Abathar, they bring the Ephod.

David inquired of the Lord in verse 8, saying, Shall I pursue this trip? All of a sudden he’s going to the Lord. He’s gotten up, dried his tears, he’s asking the Lord for help. Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, the Lord answered him, saying, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. An amazing passage of scripture there. David strengthens himself in the Lord. Sometimes the Lord is the furthest one away from us in our minds when we go through something. We think, What can he do for us? This is it right now. Going through a financial hardship, going through sickness. What can he do for us? We’re looking for temporary relief. Over in Philippians 4, 6 and 7, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ.

5. The Bible Is Our Source for Comfort and Strength

The Bible is our source for comfort and strength. Over in Romans 15th chapter, verse 4, things written aforetime were written for our instruction and our learning. Sometimes I hear people say, We can’t gain much from the Old Testament. We can gain a lot from the Old Testament, and things that occur in the Old Testament can help us. But I think about that and think the Old Testament is full of people that’s going through storms on a regular basis. When I think about going through storms on a regular basis, I think is our life much different than that. And really it’s not. We get out of a storm, we think we got it made, only to have another storm come along. And then we get surprised again, like, how did this occur?

We forget that this life, being temporary, as I mentioned last night, is just a temporary place. And this life is going to have difficulties. The burdens and the yokes, they’re going to be tough at times. Over in Isaiah in the 40th chapter, when we look at there, we see the fact that as humans we have our weaknesses, but God’s power and strength never, never diminishes. That’s hard for me to comprehend sometimes. Maybe it is for you. In Isaiah 40, now look down here at verses 28 through 31. Have you not known? Have you not heard the everlasting God, the Lord? Notice this, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. Think about that. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak.

To those who have no mighty increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary. The young men shall utterly fall. But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. I mentioned the other day about a young lady in the session that I had a week ago with young adults, that was a cancer survivor in remission. Hadn’t survived it all yet. Her attitude was tremendous. The Lord’s taking care of me. Now think about that, and that’s for a young person to have to go through that. Think about how tough that is. That’s something that should happen to us that are older, not to a teenage girl.

But her strength was amazing. We need to learn to wait on the Lord. In fact, Ephesians 3 20 and 21 says, Our God is able.

But is my faith that strong? That’s what we have to think about. And so we look a little bit different. Turn over to Ezekiel the 37th chapter. One of my favorite passages. Ezekiel is the PowerPoint of the Old Testament, the way he describes things. Ezekiel 37, and look at verse 1, beginning.

Set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones. And he caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there was a very many in the open valley. And indeed they were very dry. A lot of bones out there. He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? Think about that question coming to you. Can these bones live? It’s God answering, asking the question. I like his answer. Oh Lord God, you know. Then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God, notice this to these bones, surely I will cause breath to enter to you and you shall live. I will put sinues on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin, put breath in you, and you shall live.

Then you shall know that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, suddenly a rattling, and the bones came together bone to bone. I’m going to stop right here. Sometimes, as preachers, we’d love to have those bones rattled in the congregation we’re preaching. Because they were listening. We were paying attention. They were getting what was said. So those bones start rattling. I’m not sure what I would have done when the bones started to rattle, but anyway, Ezekiel goes on. Then he says, Indeed, as I looked, the sign news in the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man.

Say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, Come for the four corners, O breath, and breathe on these slain, they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me. Breath came into them, and they lived and stood upon their feet. Notice the last part of that. An exceedingly great army. Now I want to tell you something. If the Lord I believe in take bones, make them an exceedingly great army. What can he do for me in my troubles? I just let him turn it over to him. I may die physically, but I tell you, we are going to do that. He may cover me eternally if I believe in him. I can know that. And so as we look at this passage, I want us to think about this.

My bones may be weary, my bones may be all but dead. God’s going to raise them up and make me part of an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, Our bones are dry, and our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off. Therefore, prophesy and say to them, thus says the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves. O my people and brought you up from your graves. I will put my spirit in you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land.

Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken it and performed it, and says the Lord. Have you been in a storm that you prayed to the Lord and all of a sudden that storm starts ceasing? Or maybe that storm goes away, or maybe, as we mentioned earlier, that he provides eternal healing. What is the best thing that can happen? Physical healing or eternal healing that the God gives you. I look at that and say, Give me eternal healing. I’ll take physical healing to stay on this earth longer. But this earth is not my home. Place in heaven is.

Carried them away. It’s a peaceful thought.

To die alone? To wake up in place of torments? Or to pass away with angels carrying us across that valley of the shadow of death. That’s what I want. I hope that happens. I pray that happens. I pray that the Lord will live up to his means of having mercy on this old sinner, so that can happen. We also see in 1 Peter 5 8 through 1, that Satan is like a roaring lion, and he’s the source of all evil. Suffering. God is able to make us strong in Hebrews 4 16. I love the passages that say Jesus was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin. I’m sure that if we look at this in the Garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus prayed with the sweat coming down his blood, Lord, take this cup from me, let it pass.

6. Be Steadfast and Unmovable

Not my will thine be done. Do I have that strength? Lord, your will be done. You see what’s going to happen. Disappointments, discouragements, hardships, they’re going to come. We need to be steadfast and unmovable. 1 Corinthians 15 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren. Now listen to what he said. He’s just going through an exhortation on the resurrection of the dead, because some didn’t believe in it, even though they wanted to baptize for. Victories in Jesus. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, so you know your labor is not in vain. Is that only in the good times? That’s in all times, isn’t it? We’re supposed to keep our faith, supposed to be unmovable. We’re supposed to be a solid rock, supposed to be that at all.

Then we look, let us press on to the goal of heaven through the mercy of our Father who gave us his son for sacrifices. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. And whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. For he did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world. Sometimes I think we ought to say, Glory, hallelujah, thank you, Lord. He sent his son to save us. Yes, there’s going to be light afflictions, afflictions, there’s going to be storms, there’s going to be things that happen. But as he told his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God on me, and my father’s house are many mentions.

If it were not so, I would have told you.

Now where I am, this is where Jesus is, there ye may be also.

How much more comforting can that be? Where I am, you can come. I’ve prepared a place. I’m waiting on you. I think about that and think, isn’t that life here on earth and putting up with the storms of life, overcoming the storms of life? But what happens too many times, instead of seeing God through the storms of life, people turn to, and even Christians turn to alcohol, drugs, another person’s spouse, gambling, instead of turning to God. Now think of that and think that’s only temporary stuff, and it’s all sin. Why would they do that? We would ought to be as close to God as we can when we’re going through the storms of life. Not these other things of the world that are going to create more storms and more trouble for us.

Jesus in his great commission said, Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Rest for your souls is something we need to be considering that that’s what we go through this life for. Our souls can be troubled, but we want rest for those souls more than anything. Rest for your souls. Physically, I’m deteriorating. Spiritually, I hope I’m gaining strength every day. I’m looking forward to the rest for my soul. I’m looking forward for Connie’s rest for her soul, my children, grandchildren, children in law, for all of you.

Rest for our souls. We are to be the messengers, good message of how we can have rest for our souls. Why is it so hard to tell people about our storms of life and how we got through them? We got through them by the help of God Almighty. His son Jesus gave us, promised us our soul. Calmness in the midst of a chaotic journey. We need to live with assurance that we may know we have eternal life. That we may know. Brethren, we need to act more like we know this. Maybe we doubt ourselves. I don’t doubt God. God will deliver. I need to deliver by being obedient. Will I stumble and fall? Yes, but He’s there to lift me up. He’s there to pull me out of the tough waters of storms, just like He pulled Peter.

Live with assurance. Love the truth. Love the truth with all your heart, your soul, your mind. The truth is that which agrees with final reality. Final reality is the word that God brings with us through his Son Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit to relate to us. What you have electronic, which everyone you do, is the word of truth. Those are the words God sent so we could have comfort in our life when we go through the storms of life and the troubles of life. Remember our missions the whole duty of man to serve God and keep his commandments. That’s our whole duty. That is it. That’s all that he wants us to do. We find that difficult at times. Remember the power of prayer?

Conclusion

Prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Brethren, we don’t pray enough. We need prayer. That’s us talking to God on behalf of all of us. Not only us as individuals when we pray, we need to have more public prayer. We need to have more prayer services. We need God to make us stronger, and we do that through praying to Him where we have a better relationship. You can tell in a man’s prayer and public relationship with God or strain. You can tell by the way they pray, by the way we pray. Remember our journey or our destination is worth a chaotic journey. Remember the fact of eternal life waits for us. So when I think about this, are you going through a storm now? Maybe you are.

Maybe something’s tearing you apart. Maybe it’s a case about a storm is brewing ahead. Are you prepared for that storm? There’s our basic plan of salvation that we do at the end of every service. What I want you to know is this lesson here, you might have noticed I’ve kind of toned down the way I’m talking. I’ve kind of slowed it down a little bit, but yet I covered it. Because, brethren, I want to tell you that one of the main problems of the Lord’s church is when we go through storms, we don’t look at our brethren to help us. We don’t look to God to help us. We want to do it ourselves. Sometimes we make foolish mistakes, thinking emotional going through the storms instead of looking at our brothers and sisters to help us, looking to God to help us.

You can see God through the storms by obedient to be obedient to God. If you’re not obedient to Him, you’re gonna have a tough time going through the storms of life.

You need to be baptized for the remission of your sins. If you’ve done that and you struggled in life, you’ve fallen victim to the storms of life, your faith is weaker. We encourage you to come back.