Nov 10, 2013 - INTRODUCTION. âStorms: When They Comeâ. I like this title because its pretty clear - WHEN they come -
Storms: When They Come | Nov 10, 2013 | Aaron Weinzierl getWhole.org +++++! INTRODUCTION! “Storms: When They Come”! I like this title because its pretty clear - WHEN they come - not if, not maybe - WHEN! Max Lucado said, “Lower your expectations of earth. This isn’t heaven, so don’t expect it to be.”! this may sound contradictory - we are commissioned to bring Heaven to earth - that’s a fact!! but the truth is we ARE NOT in heaven - things are not perfect!!
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many people have strange ideas! •
if I do everything just right in life - decisions, planning, preparing!
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if I stay away from the wrong kinds of people…!
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if I eat just right - if I keep up on cardio!
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if I’m generous or tithe - live meagerly !
John 16:33 - Jesus adjusts our perspective
These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.!
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POINT: in life, Storms will come - but your God has the answers! trans: no it doesn’t matter where you came from, your age, gender, race, belief system you will face storms in your life - some just a blip on the map, other’s more severe! so they will come - now what can you do?! today I’d like to answer this question, “What do you do when storms come?”!
very simply there are only two possible answers to the problem of a storm!
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for a Storm in your life or someone else - to help anyone we need to take this approach realizing there’s two possible answers! **Note: I believe we do a MAJOR disservice to God, ourselves and others by offering prayer for people without taking this into account! •
if you come and ask me for prayer - unless I get something specific from the Holy Spirit - I will pray for the HS to guide you into what needs to be changed or done!
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is it always God’s WILL to heal and meet your needs? YES, easy answer!
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but God’s WILL is only one small piece to a puzzle - take some time to seek Him on it!
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you can’t avoid a living, thriving relationship with your Heavenly Father - and just get someone to pray for your situation (and have results)!
WE LOVE formulas, steps, 3 point programs, do this on this day, say 3 prayers, turn the key 2 times to the left and BAM!!
trans: “what to do when storms come” that is our question today! STEPS IN A STORM! GOAL: in a storm is to …… GET OUT OF IT!! Isa 40:4 valley lifted up, mountain made low, crooked made straight, rough patches made smooth! Psalm 18:33 He make’s my feet like deer feet and sets me upon my high places!
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1st thing to successfully navigate out of a storm is to Determine the Source!
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Usually ideas on this subject are in a ditch - one side of an extreme! •
all storms come from God!
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all storms come from Satan!
actually there are storms from God & storms from the devil! the key differences in storms:!
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God’s storms are there to help you, grow you up, get you back on course !
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Satan’s storms - get you off course, destroy the image of God in you, kill you or at the very least make you ineffective !
THE STORM OF JONAH - DISOBEDIENCE! Jonah 1:1-5 NLT! 1 The Lord gave this message to Jonah: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.”! 3 But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord… STOP HERE!
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Story Details: when reading take out the weirdness - these were real people!
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God ‘gave a word’ to Jonah - this doesn’t say earthquake, no rays of light, no deep voice from the heavens - but simply words of direction!
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this was plain to Jonah - he knew exactly what he was supst to do!
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he heard, yet decided to go in the opposite direction!
we read this and think “Jonah, you so crazy! if the Lord spoke to me I would listen totes”!
Theology Mess Up: oh now I know that God is good all the time and all the time God is good - BUT if I disobey I walk out from His umbrella of protection and it opens me up to the enemy’s attack…hold onto that thought :) ! 4 But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. 5 Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and threw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship.! who caused the storm? God - He didn’t PERMIT the storm - He CAUSED the storm! we have a whole generation of loose-goose Christians obeying IF they want commanding the promises of God into their lives and chanting the Goodness of God! NT Grace is not Unmerited Favor - NT Def: of the kindness of God, exerting his Holy influence on the human soul, turns them toward Christ, keeps, strengthens and increases them in Christian faith - kindles them to exercise Christian virtue! “well I know big ministries that teach Grace as unmerited favor and …”! "THEIR REASON YOU ARENT SEEING THE PROMISES"! **understand your righteousness in Jesus and walk in blessing! **understand that God’s grace which is undeserved favor and His promises will be yours! WRONG! To walk in God’s promises you must obey His word! NT Grace is the supernatural tug to bring you toward living according to His word! “well I don’t like what you’re saying young buck…! “well I don’t like seeing God’s people live in continued captivity! Deuteronomy 30:2-3! And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day, thou and thy children, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul; That then the LORD thy God will turn thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee!
! POINT: God is looking for a people that will lay it all down and follow Him! we are coming into a time where people will have a respect and a healthy fear of displeasing God by walking against His ways! Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.! OK BACK TO JONAH! summary:! •
God told Jonah to do something!
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Jonah did the opposite!
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God sent a storm! note: people who choose to make wrong decisions don’t usually think they are choosing the consequences that will follow!
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the men on the boat freaked out - Jonah KNEW the storm was his fault and told them to throw him over - the storm stopped! note: when you do something to change course - things don’t usually change instantly!
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God prepared a great fish to swallow him up! God’s Grace was sending the storm to turn him from disobedience!
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God’s Mercy was shown in preparing a fish to save him from drowning !
today I’d like to answer this question, “What do you do when storms come?”! here is the first possible answer for a storm:! Jonah 2:1-10! 1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. ! 2 He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!! 3 You threw me into the ocean depths, and I sank down to the heart of the sea. The mighty waters engulfed me; I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.! 4 Then I said, ‘O Lord, you have driven me from your presence. Yet I will look once more toward your holy Temple.’! 5 “I sank beneath the waves, and the waters closed over me. Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.! 6 I sank down to the very roots of the mountains. I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever. But you, O Lord my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!! 7 As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord. And my earnest prayer went out to you in your holy Temple.!
8 Those who worship false gods turn their backs on all God’s mercies.! 9 But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.”! 10 Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.!
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STORMS OF DISOBEDIENCE ANSWER - repent & turn your face back to The Lord! •
What’s funny about God is He doesn’t change His mind - after going thru all that mess Jonah stood up on the shore and the Lord spoke to Him again and said the exact same thing!
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don’t wallow in regret - God is a god of new beginnings and recovery!
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Lisa Cooke said, “what God doesn’t ordain, He redeems.”! •
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Romans 8:28 …all things work together for our good to those that love God and are called according to His purpose!
trans: so when the storms of life come and we can see areas of disobedience we need to repent - now let’s look at the second possible action! THE STORM OF THE DISCIPLES - OBEDIENCE! MARK 4:35-39! 35 As evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s cross to the other side of the lake.” ! 36 So they took Jesus in the boat and started out, leaving the crowds behind (although other boats followed). 37 But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water.! 38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”! 39 When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. !
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Before we talk about what did happen - lets look at what DIDN’T happen:! •
Jesus didn’t assume there was sin involved causing the storm!
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Jesus didn’t assume this storm was a gift from God to teach patience ! “well God sure is mysterious, let’s just sit and enjoy His sovereignty”! isn’t it interesting how people will not take the correction of a storm in their life but they are eager to blame God for death and destruction of something that is clearly from Satan! Tony Cooke said, “If they don’t overtly blame God, they play theological word games and proclaim that ‘God is in control’”!
! Storm of Obedience Lesson! Jesus gave the Word - let us go to the other side! The disciples obeyed and started on their way! A storm came - this is a storm from the enemy sent to:!
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get you off course!
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get you to give up!
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kill you or destroy an area of your life!
STORMS OF OBEDIENCE ANSWER - speak directly to the storm and the effects! EXAMPLE OF A CHILD! I’m a father of 4 children - I can’t think of any better comparison of the two storms than with the relationship of me and my 4 kids! when I give my kids instruction or a rule and they go against it - usually after some chances depending on maturity (mercy) I bring them a STORM! •
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this can include a number of things - but they all are summed up in unenjoyable circumstances! •
going to bed early!
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misc chore!
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losing personal electronics i.e. iPad!
the Storm is not my desire & my goal is not to destroy or derail them - in fact its the opposite - I want to guide them to the correct path for a mutual benefit!
when they are playing outside, in my yard, doing nothing wrong and a STORM comes in the form of a bully - my hope would be that they would call me or use what I’ve given them to stay safe!
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this Storm wants to harm them, ruin them and derail them!
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its not from me and its not my will!
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MINISTRY TIME - CHOIR COME UP! I want to call every one of you here tonight to a decision - make a choice, respond to God!
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the Disciples said “DON’T YOU CARE THAT WE ARE DYING???”! oh no God cares - He’s just waiting for you to speak ! •
repent to him for running!
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repent for doing it your way!
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speak to the storm that’s holding you back!
HE TOLD YOU TO GO TO THE OTHER SIDE - He fully intends to see you thru - and He cares! you may have been in a storm of a life time! its not over! God wants to take OFF THE LIMITS! come to Him - He’s the repairer of the breech, restorer of lost time, healer of relationships! He will MAKE ALL THINGS NEW!
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CONCLUSION! the storms of life will come! you must understand there is not a simple pat answer - you need help from God! you are able to go to him directly - without shame or guilt - but as a child approaches their father!
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ask for guidance for the cause of the storm - ! #1 - Disobedience - Repent & turn toward Your Savior!
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#2 - Attack from your enemy - Speak to it - command circumstances to stop & the cause the leave!
do you see how these actions are both polar opposites ! •
Storm in Obedience - you can’t repent & you don’t ask God for help - YOU SPEAK to it directly!
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Storm in Disobedience - you repent & turn toward God and seek to follow Him! you can’t speak to this storm - you have no authority at all ! **your authority is rooted in working with God - that means obedience !
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James 4:7 submit yourselves to God…resist the devil and he will flee!
ANNOUNCE: ! all my messages and information is available online - getWhole.org!
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last class for 2013 NOV 15-17 seats open until Wednesday!
BENEDICTION:! the Lord bless you and keep you! the Lord make His face shine upon you! and be gracious to you! the Lord lift up His countenance upon you! and give you peace! the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all! In the Name that is above all names! the name of Jesus - Amen
