Standing in the Storm 2
(Storms we can Avoid)
Matthew 7:24-27:
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
We started a study of “Standing in the Storms” last week and found.
Every person regardless of their spirituality or lack of has storms.
At one time or another, we have all experienced storms in our lives. Perhaps you are in the middle of one right now. Maybe it’s a storm of sickness or depression. It could be a financial situation or some sort of strife in a relationship.
Storms can take on a lot of different forms but they all share a common tendency. They tend to inhibit or stop your progress toward the wonderful plan God has for your life.
The first thing you must know is this: That trouble isn’t God punishing you or trying to teach you something. Trouble comes simply because we live in a world filled with tribulation.
(John 16:33)In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
The second truth we discover in these verses is this: If you are a doer of the Word, the house of your life will not fall when a storm comes. Jesus said that, as a doer of the Word, you can be assured that, not only will those storms not destroy you, they won’t even shake you up!
Is There a Storm in Your Life?
If you are or have recently been shaken by a storm, you need to ask yourself, “Is there an area of my life in which I am not doing the Word?"
Notice that the basic issue isn’t a lack of faith or knowledge.
VERSE 24 said, Whosoever heareth... So, we must be talking about those who have heard.
And since faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), we can assume that some, whose houses fell, did in spite of the fact that they had faith.
24 "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them..." The key to weathering the storms of life, unaffected, is doing the Word.
IF you have Faith and the Word, How can you fail?
James 2:20 says, "faith without works is dead."
A good example of this would be someone who believes it would be better for them if they quit smoking yet continues to smoke.
The bottom line isn’t what you believe (although I don’t want to minimize the importance of faith). It’s what you do.
Someone has a sick friend and decides to do, James 5:14-15. It says:
Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up;
In a sincere desire to do what the Word says here, they call for the elders of the church, anoint the friend with oil and then pray a prayer that includes, Lord, if it be thy will, heal him.
Did that person do the Word? No. The passage in James said the prayer of faith would save the sick. There was no prayer of faith. The result is a person who truly believes they are a doer of the Word, but in reality are not.
Here’s another pitfall that leads many people to the mistaken conclusion that the Word isn’t working. They evaluate how well they are doing the Word only in the area in which they are having trouble. In other words, if the storm is in the area of finances, they only check their obedience to the Word in matters such as tithing or giving. The problem is, a failure to do the Word in one area can leave you open to storms in another.
Don’t make the mistake of deciding whether or not you are doing the Word by just evaluating the area in which the crisis has come.
Be honest with yourself. You know God’s Word is true. Realize that if a storm is shaking you, it isn’t anybody else’s fault. God says, "If you do the Word, you’ll pass through this adversity without even being shaken."
Ask God to show you where you are not doing the Word.
At this point I need to address those of you who might be saying to yourselves, "I don’t know all of the Word yet. I’ve only been saved a short time. I haven’t even read all of the Word, much less know it. How am I ever going to make it?"
You’re not responsible for every truth and principle in the Word. You are responsible for the Word you’ve heard.
V.24 "Whosoever heareth..."
1 John 1:7 "If we walk in the light...the blood of Jesus cleanseth us from all sin." Obviously, you can’t walk in the light you don’t have or do the Word you haven’t heard.
Don’t avoid hearing the Word in order to remain unaccountable for it.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
The Storms You Can Avoid
As we’ve seen in the Word, storms are going to come to everyone. But some people experience storms unnecessarily.
1 Disobedience
Jonah is one example of someone who could have avoided a storm (not to mention three days in the belly of a fish), if he hadn’t disobeyed God.
Jonah 1: 1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying
2 Arise go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Some storms come simply because of disobedience.
Please don’t misunderstand God doesn’t bring storms to punish you. But disobedience another way of saying a failure to do the Word will open you to a storm you might otherwise have barely even noticed.
2:2 And said I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about even to the soul: the depth closed me round about the weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed Salvation is of the LORD.
10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
How do you get through a storm like that? The same way Jonah did. REPENT! Your storm will then deposit you back up on the shore and you can go on with your life.
2.Because you are being obedient and doing the will of God. (Mark 4:35-41), 35 And the same day, when the even was come he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
36 And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships.
37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full
38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish
They encountered a storm that nearly sank their ship.
The enemy doesn’t want you moving forward with God and he will try to hinder you if he can.
39 And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace be still And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
How do you deal with this kind of storm? Jesus commanded it, "Peace. Be still." Commands of faith will still a storm that has come because you are following God’s instructions.
3 Some storms come because of the people to whom you are unavoidably connected.
For example, sometimes in a marriage, one spouse may be trying to serve God while the other is in rebellion. The obedient partner may be in God’s will and has no need to repent of anything. But because someone else’s will is involved, a command of faith can’t be used and therefore the storm is unavoidable.
The apostle Paul encountered a storm on his way to Rome. (Acts 27:9-44) He knew it was the Lord’s will for him to make this trip but the owner of the ship wouldn’t listen to Paul when he warned him not to leave Crete. It wasn’t God’s will for Paul to be shipwrecked but Paul, being a prisoner, couldn’t choose to stay behind.
When Joshua come against Ai. Jos 7:4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai.
Jos 7:5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted and became as water
In both of these cases the problems were because of others.
The Key is to endure
1. When you are in a storm of disobedience REPENT
2. When you are in a storm of obedience SPEAK
3. When you are in the storm of others PATIENCE
Smooth sailing through the storms of life is not the only benefit of being a doer of the Word.
It will keep you out of deception as well.
We see this truth in James 1:22-24 which encourages us to:
Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
You see, the Bible is like a mirror. You really don’t know who you are in Christ until you see it in the Word.
In it, you’ll see that you are healed, delivered, prosperous, and set free.
If you hear it on Sunday but don’t do it on Monday, you’ll soon forget who you are in Christ.
You won’t remember that you are healed and you’ll only deal with the storm of sickness in the natural realm, forgetting that God’s power is available to heal you.
V.25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
The Lord is promising you here that if you do the Word, you will be blessed in whatever you do.
Overtaken by Blessings
Are you blessed in all that you do? Deuteronomy 28:1-14 gives us a picture of all the blessings that shall come on thee, and overtake thee if thou "shalt diligently hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments... "
Doing the Word of God will cause all of the blessings of God to literally chase you down and jump all over you.
Accept the Responsibility
While the scriptures I’ve shared with you can leave no doubt that doing the Word will empower you to breeze through the storms of life and experience the thrill of being chased down by God’s blessings, there is an attitude I see all too often that will prevent you from fully realizing this marvelous truth.
You must guard against the human tendency to shift responsibility for your circumstances to others.
Let me encourage you not to blame your lack of blessings or success on your boss, your spouse, your color, your socioeconomic background or anything else.
ACCEPT FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE CONDITION OF YOUR LIFE. As we’ve seen in the Word, if you are being shaken by the storms of life, it’s because somewhere you haven’t been doing the Word.
We must humble ourselves enough to allow that truth into our hearts.
When you do, you can honestly say to God, "Show me where I’m missing it and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I purpose to make whatever changes are necessary."
That’s when you will be in position to walk in blessings, prosperity, and success.
