Holding onto Hope Part 2

Ok, here are my notes from last weeks study. Again they are just notes and not a normal writting. PLEASE stop and read the story in Acts 27 when you get to that part. No time to really edit them today...busy trying to complete my notes for tonight. Say a prayer for us!!!

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.

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.

 God could have calmed the sea but instead he made them ride out the storm. Why?

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.