Storms

Psalm 148 7 sermon number 3. praise the Lord that's a good idea right praise the Lord from the earth you dragons at all deeps fire and hail snow and Vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word Psalm 4 148 is a call for all of creation to praise the Lord and in the middle of this Psalm that calls for praise the Lord gives us an Insight that the stormy wind fulfills his word I want to speak to you tonight about storms God bless you please be seated tropical storms are referred to by the labels hurricanes typhoons and tropical Cyclones it depends on where they are in the North Atlantic and Northeast Pacific they're called hurricanes in the Northwest Pacific they're called typhoons and in the South Pacific and India notion they're called Cyclones but they're all just a lot of wind and in the Mediterranean in the Bible that great storm that the Apostle Paul encountered in Acts 27 was called your rock blood in it was a really big bad storm there's some negative impacts that occur because of storms storms Surge and storm tide that can affect the coastal areas often be many feet and can inundate all those dwellings that are along the shoreline the coastline and also up River there that are vulnerable there can be Inland flooding due to heavy rainfall usually there's six to 12 inches and if you've been following our most recent hurricane I'm the weatherman in our family and so I I follow it carefully I was raised in Florida I was superintendent of Georgia for nine years so anything that affects Florida or Georgia especially I pay special attention to but catastrophic and destructive flooding is a result of of hurricane storms a very serious threat maybe the greatest threat that for Inland residents the high winds we moved here in 1995 and because we couldn't sell our house in St Louis for about a year we rented a home and we woke up in the morning right after we moved in and there were trees laying everywhere we were so exhausted from the move that we didn't realize that hurricane opal had raced all the way up through Atlanta and there are trees laying all around our house sister John's mom was staying with us helping us move in and she alerted us to this reality but we didn't hear a thing the wind or the crashing trees a friend of mine in Florida had a wall blew out of his barn today early this morning from the winds from Hurricane to Dahlia rip currents can also affect people in a hurricane in 2008 Hurricane Bertha Was A Thousand Miles offshore but it caused rip currents along the New Jersey Shore that killed three people in a necessitated 1500 rescues by lifeguards in the coming week just from that so far offshore sometimes there's tornadoes they form along the eye wall or in the middle of thunderstorms that are embedded in a hurricane there's of course a destruction of buildings billions and billions of dollars in damage the effect on humans the loss of human life earlier today I know at least one person died from this hurricane injuries the impact of damages on rebuilding and cost my aunt and uncle live in Panama City and we've been down several times since Matthew hit there my cousins lived there grew up there and it took years I'm not even sure they're all back together from what happened from that hurricane there's an ecological impact 1992 a Hurricane Andrew did tremendous damage to South Florida you've heard me talk about this before maybe but we had come back from a trip or visiting my parents and Hurricane Andrew was barreling down on Miami and I said to my wife you know what the boys have never been in a hurricane why don't we stay we could get out but why get out I was raised in this little house we've been through lots of hurricanes it's just a hurricane they'll never forget it we can stay and help Mom and Dad clean up after the storm well Hurricane Andrew is a small tight powerful hurricane much more damage was done in South Miami Kendall where my brother's church is there but it looked like when you went down to Kindle that South Miami area it looked like someone took a chainsaw and just cut all the pine trees off at a certain level tremendous amount of damage that took place and hurricanes can wash away creatures that live along the beach and coral reefs can be affected oysters beds by sediment and erosion also the depositing of new soil there but one of the things that introduces salt water into freshwater streams and can cause habit degradation there can be an agricultural impact of course damaging crops killing cattle but also polluting from salt water caused by the flood waters that happen but there's also some positive impacts from storms this is all in the natural so far I know you already know the Bible part so I just tell you the non-bible part I'm kidding uh tropical Cyclones can bring a lot of rainfall to areas that desperately needed it needed in 2012 tropical storm Debbie erased the drought in the Deep South but also caused some flooding that was bad there can be the break of the bacteria and the red tide I've been following this summer all of the the grass that's growing there and they can cause problems but hurricanes can break that up which is a very good thing that's a result it breaks up patches of bacteria can bring in early into the red tie and also the wind can cause a good oxygenation of surface water so tropical storms storms are not all bad one thing that I really didn't know much about is that they can provide a global heat balance it is a way of moving heat away from the equator toward the poles hurricanes are very powerful in doing this their size and interaction with the upper levels of the atmosphere are very efficient movers of Equatorial heat so that's a good thing they can also replenish Barrier Islands we think of all the damage from erosion but if it wasn't for storms these Barrier Islands would eventually erode away but even though they look beaten up after a storm they get replenished by sand as this tropical storms move through so that's a good thing they can also replenish Inland plant life they move a lot of seeds and Seed spores down across streams and flying through the air and moving them Inland and can do a lot of good by that sometimes a thousand miles away those seeds can replenish lost growth after fires and even urbanization they can thin out foliage if you've ever seen all the limbs knocked down from a storm that can actually be a good thing fresh sediment and nutrients are brought by the downstream flow of water those are some of the negative and positive effects of storms now in the church and in life even non-Christian people would a fur would refer to difficulties or trials as storms the storms of life and sometimes people feel like they're going through a storm because of something that they have done I was thinking about what insurance companies call acts of God an act of God would be something that you didn't have any control over it didn't happen because of anything you did the damage from storms that are cause an act of God floods earthquakes natural catastrophes trigger what are called acts of God it's also intriguing to me that secular people would refer to storms as an act of God many of them don't believe in God or that if there is a God that is not involved in the Affairs of men but uncontrollable by human intervention storms occur by causes that are outside of anything that we do anything that we can cause Psalm 107 speaks of God's awesome power in nature let them offer sacrifices of Thanksgiving and sing joyfully about his glorious acts some he said went off to seeing ships plying the trade routes of the world they too observe the Lord's power in action his impressive works in the deepest Seas he spoke and the winds arose stirring up the waves their ships were tossed to the heavens and plunged again to the depths the sailors cringed in Terror they reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wit's end Lord help they cried in their trouble and he saved them from their distress he calmed the storm to to a whisper and still the waves but a blessing was that Stillness as he brought them safely into Harbor Psalm 107 31 let them praise the Lord for his great love and for the wonderful things he has done for them Psalm 107 sounds a little bit like life doesn't it we set sail on life and then there are storms and we call on God to intervene and he does and he brings us safely to our Harbor to the destination that's the New Living Translation if you didn't recognize the phrasing amen now it's not related so much to a storm but Jesus was talking one day about tragic events that happened to people and he talked about some people that were killed by by pilate galileans and then he said what about those 18 people who were killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed where they were sinners in other people but he said no I tell you except you all repent you shall likewise perish sometimes we look at catastrophe that happens to other people storms that happen to other people and we wonder what did they do why did God punish them but sometimes human beings are caught in a storm that is not of their making now I do want to cover just a couple points about storms that we go through like for example acts 27 God used the storm to fulfill his will but really in Acts 27 they knew that the time of sailing was dangerous you would never sail at that time of the year and Paul the preacher who was not really a sailor who is not an expert in nautical matters he said you know what we should not do this if we do there's going to be a lot of damage not only to the lading of the ship but even to our lives the Bible says that the Centurion the Roman Captain he believed the master and the owner of the ship more than the things that were spoken by Paul now that seems pretty logical doesn't it if you've got a preacher what does he know he tells you be careful this is not a good idea you've got a sailor who tells you I know it's the wrong time to sail but we've got a south wind blowing they were very superstitious and uh so let's just go ahead and do this anyway and they sailed into a dangerous storm that I plan to talk about later in this message there are some storms that God may send as a consequence of rebellious Behavior like Jonah who flees to tarshus from the presence of the Lord Now isn't that a foolish thing to try you're going to run away from God who is omnipresent he's everywhere at the same time he's also omniscient he knows everything he is also omnipotent he's all-powerful so Jonah you can run but you can't hide he faces consequences by a really bad decision to run from God and the Lord God sent a great wind into the sea and there is a mighty Tempest in the sea so that the ship was like to be broken consequences from bad decisions I'm giving you a little fine print here because sometimes we bring our own troubles Galatians 6 and 7 says be not deceived God is Not mocked whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap for he that soweth to the flesh shall love the flesh reap corruption but he that soweth to the spirit shall of the spirit reap life Everlasting so storms can be brought on by listening to the wrong advice by rebelling against God and by sowing to the wind and reaping the Whirlwind the Bible says but I want to I want to establish or maybe three things that come out of storms that storms teach us that he is God and we are not storms test us and storms and still trust in God but I'm going to lay another little background about storms and your our text Psalm 148 7-8 praise the Lord from the earth you dragons in all deeps fire and hail snow and Vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word the Bible is very clear that God is in control of everything that all of nature Praises him and all of nature is under his governance Spurgeon wrote about this that though this wind is storm is rushing within calculable Fury the storm and the wind is still under law it still Moves In order to carry out the designs or the will of God Psalm 107 29 says that he makes the storm a calm so that the waves thereof are still in the New Testament we read about Jesus God in flesh controlling a storm marked 4 36 you can read a couple instances of storms in the synoptic gospels for sure but this is Mark 4 36. when they sent them away the multitude they took him even as he was in the ship and they were also with them other little ships and there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full see if Galilee is where they are and it is like a funnel this is not a very big lake fresh water lake but it is like a funnel of the mountains Mount Hermon and the mountains to the north and just without warning that wind can come whipping down that channel in Galilee can be calm one minute and stormy the next and that's what happened he's in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow I know you've never felt like God had checked out when you're in a storm but they thought he had they awoke him and they said Master carest thou not that we perish don't you care Jesus that we're about to die and you're sleeping he arose and rebuked the wind and set unto the sea peace be still and the wind ceased and there was a great calm and he said unto them why are you so fearful and how is it that you have no faith and they feared exceedingly and said one to another what manner of man is this that even even the wind and the Sea obey him now this is a cool story and I like the way Mark says it that there is a great storm and there is a great calm a great storm and a great calm but it was all under the control of Jesus Christ so storms teach us that we are not in control Psalm 107 25 for he commandeth and raise it the stormy wind which lifteth up the waves thereof Psalm 89 and 8 O Lord God of hosts who is a strong Lord likened to thee or to Thy Faithfulness round about thee thou rule us the Raging of the sea when the ways thereof rise thou still is them now mankind would like to try to control storms we like to try to make it different and I've read some interesting theories about how to store how to comb a hurricane I looked it up and the the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration keeps the list of all the suggestions that you send in about how to stop a hurricane suggestion number one they said it comes up almost every year drop an atomic bomb I'm not making this up drop an atomic bomb in the hurricane it will disrupt it well apart from the fact that it's not a very good idea for the sake of the environment there could be devastating environmental problems they said that another reason is not a good idea that it would require so much energy to disrupt a hurricane than an atomic bomb may not even do it it would be a bad experiment for sure and then someone else came at the idea that what we really need to do because hurricanes feed on Warm Water the reason this last hurricane Adelia intensified so quickly from one to category four and then back down to three before it hit landfall is the ocean was very warm brother Phil Strauss works for FEMA cannot be here he's working on the hurricane and he was texting about that last night he said there's some extremely warm water in the Gulf so these Geniuses have come up with the idea that what we need to do is tow is tow some icebergs if warm sea temperatures cause this why don't we get some tugboats and pull an iceberg down there because August and September are the hottest activity there right cool it off with some icebergs and what meteorologist Rebecca Berry said that would be like dropping an ice cube into a bathtub there's another idea what we need to do is find a way to get the dust from the Sahara Desert and drop it in the hurricane because earlier in the year when there are all these plumes of dust that originate in the Sahara Desert they move across the Atlantic it does quiet it down for a while but they've decided that's not a very practical idea even though the dust is dry and hurricanes need moisture to develop it would be really hard to get enough of it at the right time to move it these are people who are looking maybe at a computer screen and have never really imagined how vast our Earth is so they decided that's not that's not feasible so then there's another idea suggestion number four is to use wind turbines to push the storm 2017 hurricane Irma was bearing down on Florida and tens of thousands of people joined a Facebook event pledging to appoint their fans at the storm and blow it away now they said it was a joke but they said everybody get your fans out point it toward hurricane Irma and blow it away air compressors blow gun attachment whatever you have to do but someone is actually suggested that you get wind turbines you know because there are steering currents and high and low pressure areas that affect hurricanes but are you out of your mind they said it comes back to the sheer size and power of the storm that nothing we can produce on our human scale could compete with the energy and size of a hurricane he would be like pricking the huge storm with a needle like it wouldn't even know that it happened now when I was a kid I remember this next suggestion is suggestion number five what we need to do and this happened in the early 60s throughout the 80s the U.S government conducted experimental a program called project storm Fury where they were going to bring hurricane modification by using chemical compounds we're going to take this artificial stimulation of convection outside the eye wall by seeding it with silver iodide I actually remember this being in the news either as a boy or a teenager and are people talking about the government has got the answer we are going to stop the storm well they said they tried this and there's you know it might have had some effect at first but not much and you have to think about the sheer magnitude of a storm it's beyond comprehension they tried it on four different hurricanes on eight different days it had almost no effect they don't have enough super cool water in the hurricane for seeding to work is one of the reasons they gave so it didn't work at all but there's a sixth idea this is more recent someone said if it's cold water that does the trick what we need to do is we need to install giant tubes down into the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and Florida and we will pump cold water we'll let bubbles come out of this it'll only cost a half a billion dollars they're rate they've been raising money this has been going on for the last several years why won't these methods work they say they fail to appreciate the size and power of tropical Cyclones the awesome power magnitude of hurricanes is simply too much for current human current human technology to overcome I mentioned Hurricane Andrew a while ago I read that in 1992 that the energy the heat energy released around the eye of Hurricane Andrew was five thousand times the combined heat and electrical power of the generation of Turkey Point that's the nuclear power plant down there I've seen it before over which it passed in other words that hurricane had five thousand times the power that was generated by that power plant in other words storms bring a lot of humility that teach us teach us they teach us that he is God and we are not that there's a lot of things in our life that we cannot control amen storms teach us that God is the only one who can control the storms of life now if you've done something dumb to bring it on repent and change I covered the fine print right a while ago but when you're in the middle of a storm now you did not cause and you cannot control you just need to look up to heaven and say God I am in your hands I know that you can start a storm I know you can stop a storm I know that you're the only one that can affect what's going on right now amen storms also test us Jesus taught the effect of storms in the parable of the two foundations I want to compare Matthew 7 with Luke Chapter 6. there's a distinction there and really what Jesus says is he closes Out The Sermon on the Mount is that someone who hears and does what I say is like a wise man who builds his house on a rock someone who hears only and does not obey my commands is a foolish person who builds their house on the sand let's read it Matthew 7 24. therefore whosoever heareth these things these sayings of mine and do with 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 that storm tested the faith of that man who had heard and obeyed the word of God you remember James in his writing said that we should be doers of the word and not hearers only it's really important that those of us who say we love Jesus and that we are his disciples that we do not just let it go in one ear and out the other because there will be many people who say in that day Lord Lord they will profess that they knew him that's in the same passage in Matthew 7. so it's founded upon the rock then the other man verse 26 and everyone that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth him not shall be likened into a foolish man which built his house upon the sand and the rain descended everybody say testing storms test us the rain descended the floods came the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it that's what Jesus said God allows storms in our life to test our faith and they have a dramatic effect on us I want you to see what Luke said there's one Insight that sheds light on this entire idea Luke 6 47. whosoever coming to me and heareth my sayings and do with them I will show you to whom he is like he is like a man which built a house and digged deep dig deep it wasn't just lucky that there was a rock there he dug down until he found one and laid the foundation on the rock in the flood arose this train beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it the Bible said we're receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken but everything that can be shaken will be shaken so that which cannot be shaken will be revealed right could not shake it for it was founded upon a rock but the reason it was founded upon a rock is that man dug past all of the unsuitable soil and if you think about it there's a lot of stuff in our lives that is unsuitable for a walk with God he may have to dig through a lot of human the family history you may have to dig through a lot of bad habits Amen Brother jury spoke last week about the words we say there's a lot of stuff that was programmed into us by the way we were raised you might have to dig through more than someone else but all I can tell you is keep digging till you get to a rock a foundation to build your faith upon that will be unshakable verse 49 but he that heareth and doeth not this is the key is like a man that without a foundation built his house upon the Earth he just built it on the on the dirt against which this stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great same storm same circumstances of life the Bible said it rains on the just and the young just that's typically meaning good things happen but bad things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people and the storm that just came through Florida and Southern Georgia which may loop around and hit Florida again is a weaker version of it that storm and I know we've seen cases where a church is standing in Maui and a house is standing in God can do that but it doesn't always work that way sometimes we we're affected by the same storms but what keeps us standing strong in our faith is that we have dug deep through all of the unsuitable soil until we built Our Lives On a Rock Amen storms test us in case you like to go back I preached a sermon more than once in 2008 maybe but for sure February 4 2009 in a series on foundations if you want to hear a whole sermon about digging deep that's in our archives online so storms test us storms reveal if we are superficial Christians if we are Christians in name only nominal Christians we hear a lot but we never apply it to our lives storms reveal the True Believers that have dig deep and built on a sure Foundation so I want you to know that storms test us but if we're obedient disciples they will not destroy us they cannot destroy us the difference between a disciple who survives the Storm and The Casual followers who do not survive the storm is hearing and obeying the word of God Matthew 7 24 just that heart of that text again therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and do with them I will liken unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock Luke 6 47 whosoever coming to me and heareth my sayings and do with them I will show you to whom he is like he's like a man he built a house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock and when the flood arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it I'd like to be that guy I want you to be that man that woman because storms will come and they will teach you that he is God and you are not and they will test you but you can survive them I taught for two weeks on the importance being submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ hearing and doing the will of God the word of God not my will and bow now surviving the storm is dependent on being obedient to the Bible being submitted to the lordship of Jesus Christ the Bible is very clear proverbs 10 25 that storms destroy the wicked but the righteous stand proverbs 10 25 New Living Translation when the storms of life come the wicked our world away but The Godly have a lasting Foundation storms teach us that we are not in control they humble us storms test us and storms also and still Trust if you ever notice that God doesn't always explain himself and learned a long time ago working for a Bible College as a student even that the administration can't always explain itself you're a little defenseless but God doesn't even feel the need to he doesn't feel like he needs to come tell you job I've had a conversation with the Devil and you're getting ready to go through the storm of your life just hold on when it's all over you're going to come forth this pure gold I'm going to give you twice as much as you had in the beginning God often doesn't explain himself when the Apostle Peter says to think it not strange concerning the fiery trial we we know that but rather than ask God why why this storm why don't you ask what what can I learn from this storm God knew why but job did not in the middle of all the catastrophe that's happening in his life his sons and daughters are having a celebration in the oldest brother's house and there's a storm there's a wind that smote the four corners of the house have often thought about that how the four corners was it a tornado that just destroyed that house it collapsed on itself and killed everyone but to serve it the acts 27 you rock let in the hurricane and the Mediterranean that Paul is in there's a few things I want to just highlight I'm not going to go through this passage for the sake of time it's a great story to read Acts 27. the Bible said in Acts 27 20 that they did not see the Sun or the stars for many days and all hope that they should be saved was taken away in the middle of a storm there will be a time when there looks like there is no hope but in the middle of that God will instill trust in your heart he's in charge of the storm will test you but it will not destroy you if he built on a firm foundation in the middle of the storm God comes to Paul and it says be of good cheer cheer up you can't say anything can't see sun moon stars 14 days haven't eaten anything you guys are about to die but cheer up I want to teach you to trust me In This Storm because I'm going to give you a word Paul it's not getting it's going to get worse before it gets better but be of good cheer Paul said there's an angel of God he stood by me this night when you have a word in a storm it instills trust Paul said there sit by me this night an angel of God whose I am I belong to him and whom I serve if fear not Paul you must be brought before Caesar a storm can't kill you I've got a plan for your life there's a prophecy on you that ananias gave when you were saved that you're going to appear before Kings that hasn't happened yet you're not going to Die In This Storm but I will teach you to trust me in it so he says sirs be of good cheer for I believe God to you I believe God that it shall be even as it was told me in the middle of a storm they are some men soldiers they're thinking you know what we need to do is bail out and they start lowering life rafts off the side of the ship into the sea there are 276 Souls the Bible said on this ship 276 soldiers men prisoners merchants so some of these guys say you know what I think we we have a better chance on our own than staying in the boat this boat feels like it's creaking a little bit Paul says to the Centurion that Roman Captain over a hundred except these abide in the ship cannot be saved you may think it's safer on your own but you just need to hang in there so you need to stay in the ship in A Storm of Storms and still Trust more than once but acts 27 38 they ate Paul told them to eat and then they lighten the ship and they cast out the wheat into the sea and so I've learned that in a storm there are some things that were important yesterday but now they're not that important the week was the cargo that's the profit that's the money I'm sure they would be paid for delivering the prisoner safely but here's what we're we've got this ship it's a merchant ship it's a cargo ship but now we've got a higher value we don't want to die and if we lighten the ship we might be able to save our lives so let's throw out of our Lives let's throw out of this ship but really doesn't matter in a storm your values will change as you learn to trust God in a storm storms incite Trust and then Paul you know they wanted to kill Paul all the prisoners it's a centurion favored him and wanted to save him so they told him what we need to do is if you can swim they they I didn't tell this part in my notes but but the ship they stuck in a place where two ways meet and the front of the ship is there they cast out anchors and wished for the day and they're they're now stuck the front of the ship the bow is stuck and the the stern the back of the ship is being buffeted by the violence of the Waves it's breaking apart so now it's time to get out of the ship right so now if you can swim jump in and get to land if you're not a very good swimmer find a board find a broken piece of the ship and here's my next point about trusty guys hold on for dear life hold on for dear life when they got to shore they counted 200 76 men all got there safe because they had a word from God and they learned to trust God in a storm amen Psalm 107 29 and 30 that story I told you earlier the Lord said he maketh the storm of Kong so that the ways thereof are still then are they glad you better believe they're glad this is not talking about Psalm 10 Psalm 20 I mean acts 27 but Psalm 107 kind of feels like that a little bit he bringeth them to their desired Haven they just ride it out so I want to assure you that God can spare you from the destructive forces of the storm he can save you from the storm he can blow the other way but it can also save you through the storm and I can just tell you the storms are real they're a fact of life my wife and I have ridden out a storm or two in our life I told you about Hurricane Andrew there's been some that are probably worse tests misunderstanding false accusations unprovoked attacks physical sickness taking care of aging and firm parents we've been to our share of funerals a storm is a good time to search your heart really cleanse your spirit it's always a good practice it's always needed but I've learned sometimes when you prayed and you know and I don't want to tell this whole story about a time in our life Justin was born heart surgery all of that you pray and it doesn't go and you pray and it doesn't happen sometimes you just hold on for a dear life you just keep praying and you keep living and you just believe God and there's another day amen that God will test You In This Storm he will keep you in the storm you'll learn to trust him in the storm amen if you're able please stand Isaiah 24 5 and 4. thou has been a strength to the poor a strength to the needy in his distress a refuge From The Storm Nahum wrote about it that little minor prophet nahim that God has his way in the Whirlwind and in the storm Psalm 89 and 8 on the screens oh Lord God of hosts who is mighty Like You O Lord your faithfulness always also surrounds you you rule the Raging of the sea when its waves rise you still them amen Psalm 148 7 our text praise the Lord from the earth you dragons in all deeps fire and hail snow and Vapor stormy wind fulfilling his word storms teach us that we're not in control storms test us and storms and still Trust I told you about the destructive nature of Storms and that they have benefits those practical things it's in my notes but for all the negative things we think about storms God created them God allows them and God uses them so let's face them with faith amen if you have a few moments you're welcome to join me at the altar I'm going to pray before we go if you need to leave you can be dismissed some of you have very early mornings and I respect that [Music] I don't know where you are but I can assure you of what I taught tonight God's going to keep you amen let's lift our voices to the Lord we're going to sing in a minute spend some time receiving the word of God internalizing it I want you to hear it but I want you to do it when you walk out the door in just a few minutes