BE OF GOOD CHEER! DON’T LET THIS THROW YOU!
STORMS ARE TOOLS --- IN THE STORM: FAITH
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com I do this lesson in two parts.
Our enemy has a tool box he uses against God’s people. Some of his tools are depression, discouragement, quitting, hatred, bitterness, fear, loneliness, etc. Some might say STORMS, TRIALS AND TROUBLES are in his tool box. That might be. But God can use the enemy’s tools against him. We often pray God, would you exempt me from storms, fiery furnaces, trials and temptations. God knows when to calm the storm, but God also knows when to allow the storms to rage high. If God does not calm the storm, He will calm the believer during the storm. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% your attitude and what happens in you during the seasons of testing.
ACTS 27 IS A CHAPTER THAT RECORDS THE VALUABLE TOOL OF STORMS IN BUILDING A MAN OF GOD…
Acts 27:25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Acts 27:29 Then fearing lest we should have fallen upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day.
WHEN WE ARE FACING STORMS WE NEED TO KNOW… DIFFERENCES CAN HURT AND BACKFIRE…
Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
How many different kinds of chickens are there? Hens, roosters, Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, Silky, Leghorn, Dominique, Cornish, etc. We can talk about the differences in chickens…
OR WE CAN RELEALIZE WHEN IT COMES TO DUMPLINGS IT IS JUST CHICKEN…
IN REAL LIFE WE FIND THERE ARE SHEEP AND GOATS…
Psalm 23:2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
The life style and nature of sheep is much different than a goat. The sheep trust the shepherd and knows his voice.
The Lord is my shepherd, he leads me and he makes me to lie down in green pastures.
A goat will BUTT IT WAY… a goat has horns and loves to BUTT…
But my wife, but my kids, but the pastor,
DARKNESS AND LIGHT CAN NOT COEXIST … we will stumble often if we are walking in the darkness.
Psalm 119:105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
Psalm 119:105 (MSG) By your words I can see where I'm going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
Light and darkness cannot coexist?
Many times I have asked the Father: PLEASE NO MORE STORMS.
Or maybe my prayer has been LET THIS STORM PASS OVER…
Or maybe I have been in a storm and I know Jesus is in my boat and I ask someone to wake him and have him say:
PEACE, BE STILL AND THUS CALM MY STORM. THEN THE STORM RAGES HIGH.
JESUS WHISPERS TO MY HEART: THERE IS A PURPOSE IN THIS STORM, I WILL NOT EXEMPPT YOU FROM THIS LESSON.
YOU MUST LEARN TO TRUST ME AND KNOW I AM THE GOD OF THE STORMS. I WILL NOT CALM THE STORM, BUT I WILL KEEP YOU CALM THROUGH THE STORM, IF YOU WILL TRUST ME….
RECENTLY I LEARNED A NEW LESSON. IT IS POWERFUL AND SO TRUE. IT IS RHEMA … THE LIVING WORD…
DO NOT BE AGITATED, HOPELESS, STRESSED, DISTRESSED…
I have used John 14:1 many times.
From my English teaching days I know that John 14:1 is an IMPERATIVE COMMAND.
The subject ois problem f this sentence is not seen, it is you understand.
Did you know a command is not optional?
John 14:1 (KJV) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.
WE MUST NOT LET THIS STORM TAKE US TO THE GARBAGE CAN?
This storm has a plan and a purpose. It might help us to see the GOD OF THE STORMS…
John 14:1 (MSG) "Don't let this throw you. You trust God, don't you? Trust me.
UNDERSTAND THAT THE MESSAGE, LET NOT YOUR HEART BE TROUBLED FOLLOWS A TERRIBLE MESS… JESUS JUST DELIVERED THE MESSAGE, I AM LEAVING HERE…
Simon Peter’s best friend, Jesus, just told him, I AM LEAVING, and you will not be able to follow me?
PETER YOU ARE GOING TO TOTALLY DISOWN AND DENY ME!
John 13:36 Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37 Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38 Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.
3 TIMES PETER, 3 TIMES --- PETER THIS IS VERY SAD?
This sad storm will pass. THIS STORY IS CLEAR. DON’T LET THIS STORM THROW YOU.
Don’t let YOUR HEART BE TROUBLE…
THIS STORM WILL PASS AND OUR FAITH SHALL GROW.
STORMS WILL PASS, THERE IS A REASON FOR THIS SEASON.
JESUS SAYS: RELY ON ME, DO NOT LEAN TO YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING…
MOST OF US ALL HAVE A “FIX IT MENTALITY.”
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 (MSG) Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don't try to figure out everything on your own.
We cannot always fix the problems. Sometimes we must TRUST THE UNSEEN HANDS OF A Y GOD.
HOPE WORKS DURING THE STORMS…
STORMS WILL TEST YOUR FAITH? STORMS WILL PROVE YOUR CAPTAIN SKILLS?
STORMS WILL PROVE YOUR REAL NATURE…
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT LOVER’S LEAP? Lovers Leap is a 3oo feet high cliff. Lovers can walk to look over. If they are really in love, they can jump over the 300 feet high cliff… and if they were really in love, when they hit the ground there will be no harm?
HOPE: the object of desire, to expect with confidence, to trust confidently, EXPECTATION, ANTICIPATION.
Blessed is the person that that expects nothing, for they shall receive exactly what they expected.
Hebrews 6:18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:
Hebrews 6:18 (MSG) God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable. We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go.
ACTS 27 IS A GREAT CHAPTER DEALING WITH THE STORMS WE WILL FACE. YES, PAUL STOOD ON THE PROMISE HE WOULD SEE ROME. BUT THERE WOULD BE 14 DARK DAYS IN A TERRIBLE STORM, THEY HAD HOPE… THERE ARE TIMES THAT OUR HOPE MUST BE AGAINST HOPE.
God told PAUL, YOU ARE GOING TO ROME… BUT PAUL NEVER UNDERSTOOD THE ROLE OF THE STORMS. The call of God does not mean an easy road…
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
CONTRARY TO MODERN PREACHERS FALSE TEACHINGS, WE MUST KNOW THAT STORMS ARE TOOLS…
PROBLEMS, OBSTACLE COURSES, TROUBLE
2 Corinthians 11:22 Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
23 Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft. 24 Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. 25 Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 In weariness and painfulness, in
watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. 28 Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches.
PAUL, PAUL: WHY STORMS? STORMS TEACH AND STRETCH OUR FAITH.
Paul warned the captain of the ship and the soldiers: DON’T SAIL! DON’T GO NOW!
Why listen to an old preacher? The captain has years of experience. PLEASE LISTEN, THERE ARE STORMS AHEAD.
The message goes UNHEEDED.
There is a time you can’t go forward, don’t go backward, DROP ANCHOR AND HANG ON…
Acts 27:29 (MSG) Afraid that we were about to run aground, they threw out four anchors and prayed for daylight.
What is broken can be mended. What hurts today can be healed…
No matter how dark the night, the sun will rise again…
PAUL HAS GONE THROUGH YEARS OF NEGATIVE STUFF, TERRIBLE TESTING. WANT TO DISCUSS PREACHING FAITH … FAITH WORKS RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STORM… the message of hope goes to you and you must carry it to others.
Acts 27:22 And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man's life among you, but of the ship. 23 For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 25 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
Do what you can, lighten the ship, throw off everything not necessary.
DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU ARE? WE MUST EXAMINE OURSELVES, WE MUST SOUND OUT --- WHERE AT WE? HOW DID DRIFTING? DRIVEN BY THE WINDS? WE GET HERE? HOW DO WE GET OUT OF THIS MESS?
The captain SOUNDED OUT, he had a rope with a heavy weight on the end and a knot every so many feet.
They were in 20 fathoms of water, now 15 fathoms --- WE NEAR SOME UNKNOWN SHORE…
Acts 27:28 And sounded, and found it twenty fathoms: and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again, and found it fifteen fathoms.
266 MEN ARE DEPENDING ON YOUR MESSAGE…
THE MEN ARE WEAK AND EXHAUSTED, LITTLE SLEEP, 14 DAYS OF HOPELESSNESS.
The men are sea sick and can’t eat… PAUL TELLS THEM YOU MUST EAT, EAT BY FAITH…
Acts 27:34 Wherefore I pray you to take some meat: for this is for your health: for there shall not an hair fall from the head of any of you. 35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36 Then were they all of good cheer, and they also took some meat.
THERE ARE MANY THAT NEED YOU TO HEAR FROM GOD AND PASS THE MESSAGE ON TO THEM.
What is broken can be mended. What hurts today can be healed…
No matter how dark the night, the sun will rise again…
I HAVE HOPE, I BELIEVE GOD… I ACCEPT THE MESSAGE: THIS STORM SHALL PASS, WE WILL MAKE IT.
Acts 27:24 Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 5 Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
CONCLUSION: WHEN YOU HAVE DONE ALL YOU KNOW TO DO AND IT NOT ENOUGH, LISTEN GOD HAS GOOD NEWS. Sure the storm is still raging high. I say: God will give us those that sail with us. BE OF GOOD CHEER, FOR I BELIEVE GOD.
We can make it. You can make it. THIS STORM IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO BELIEVE IN GOD AND SPPREAD HIS MESSAGE OF HOPE. This storm shall pass. God faith works in the storm.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
PASS HOPE ON… BE A HOPE GIVER. 2/24/18
