Last week we
talked about the 3 visuals that we are going to use throughout the remaining
parts of this study. They are:
The calm before the storm: The place we spend most time
Raging Waters: The reason we are probably here
Still Waters: The cove of His peace and rest
Tonight we
are going to hit the Raging Waters head on.
If you have
your bible turn with me to Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
What I want
us to look at in this scripture reference is that this passage says nothing
about “if”…it says when “when”.
When you
pass through the waters…when you pass through the rivers…when you walk through
the fire…
Today we are
going to read about a story where some people we may know are in the midst of a
literal storm and to say the least…the waters were raging.
So open your
Bibles to Acts 27 - The Storm (give some history on Paul and what he was
doing).
While I am
reading this I want you to be thinking about the storm that you are facing and
how the waters feel.
Read Acts 27:9-44 - STOP here and read!!! or go to biblegateway.org
I realize
that the story that we just read was a literal storm and we are using the storm
as a metaphor but what I don’t want you to miss is this.
· No one could jump ship or no one would survive
-Philippians 4:13 I
can do all this through him who gives me strength
· They had to keep up their courage
-
Joshua 1:9 Have
I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be
discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
· They had to do what they needed to do physically (in their case eat) to
survive / Someone needs to hear this tonight
-
Romans 12:1-2, Therefore,
I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living
sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what
God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
1. I believe that in the midst of the
stormiest weather we realize at some point that we are not in control, we turn
to him and form a trust that is more intense then when the waters are calm.
2. In the midst of a storm we tend to
see God in a different light, we not only know that he is God, he becomes God
Almighty and we are frightened by his power and authority he has over our life
and over our loved ones even if we don’t understand it.
3. We are flat out too tired to fight against
him anymore and hand over the wheel.
As long as
we live here on planet earth we will in some form or fashion deal with
suffering and loss. I think some of us get this false notion that when we
devote our life to Christ that means that nothing bad will ever happen. And
sometimes when bad things happen we are plagued with guilt that if we would
have only done things differently or given more or lived life as a better
Christian then these things would not have happened.
When the
fact is we know that we will face trials and tribulations, the hardest part of
it is dealing with the reminisce of the suffering and loss they leave behind.
We need to know that guilt does not
come from God.
Don’t misunderstand me
here. When we received Christ we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, If we are living in sin then we need to know that there are consequences
for that, and the guilt you feel is coming from the HS doing its job. However, if you have repented of that sin and turned to God and asked for
forgiveness then that sin has been wiped away
I felt like
God wanted to me say this tonight and if this strikes a chord in you then
listen closely:
If for any reason you are dealing with an
enormous amount of guilt over something that you have sought godly repentance
over then you need to know that is not
from our God, that is from the enemy…
AND if you
are for some reason carrying around guilt over the specific thing that has
brought you here to this bible study then you need to know that is not God’s
will for you and I want to one on one pray for you tonight.
We are free
to live free from the guilt through
Jesus Christ. And Let me dare to say that if we choose to not live free from
that guilt then we are playing with fire and handing over authority over our
life to something that can bind us up so fast we won’t be able to get ourselves
loose. I have done this one…and I can promise you this one (guilt) takes on
many forms in our life and it slips into every crack a crevasse and then before
we know it, before we meant for it…we are enslaved to it.
Galatians 5:1
It is for freedom that Christ has set
us free.(A) Stand firm,(B) then, and do not let yourselves be
burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
We need to
know that when we are forgiven over something and God heals us from the guilt
and shame we have over it then that is it. If we are still carrying around the
guilt over the thing, then we aren’t accepting God’s grace and love and then we
are ultimately altering the power and the purpose of the cross.
Romans 8:35-39
Can anything separate
us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or
calamity, or are persecuted, or are hungry or cold or in danger or threatened
with death? (Even the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day;
we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things,
overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced
that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t.
The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears today, our worries tomorrow,
and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high
above in the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be
able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our
Lord.
I know that
life isn’t fair, but our God will heal our wounds. I think we need to just be
honest with Him. I just recently went through the loss of a very important
person in my life and all I think I said to God (aside praising Him that he
finally accepted Him) for the last two months is that “my feelings are just
hurt over it”. I’m not mad at Him, I’m just hurt over the loss and the huge
void that it has added to the other voids in my life.
I do know
this, even if I haven’t seen it yet or felt it. The reason for our suffering is
to ultimately glorify God. I want to Glorify God when my life is good but I also want to love Him enough to Glorify Him when it’s the hardest.
I want to cut the ties that are binding me to the things that are pulling my under and live free through the love and mercy he has promised us.