Sensing God In The Storm, Part 2

Today on Fellowship in the Word, Pastor Bill Gebhardt challenges you to become a fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ. You can't avoid the pain of the storm. There's pain.

And if you've been through that, if you've lost a loved one, you've battled cancer, you had a spouse that left, whatever it is, you know what I'm talking about. It's painful. The pain doesn't just go away.

The pain is there. But even though the pain is there, notice what he says, you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. Thank you for joining us today on this edition of Fellowship in the Word with Pastor Bill Gebhardt. Fellowship in the Word is the radio ministry of Fellowship Bible Church located in Metairie, Louisiana.

Let's join Pastor Bill Gebhardt now as once again he shows us how God's Word meets our world. I've seen this with people. I see a young person, they're dating somebody, very questionable whether they should have been dating them in the first place, and the person breaks up with them or is unfaithful to them, and they're devastated.

It's the worst thing possible. Until you see them two or three years later, and the right person's in their life. And the Lord protected them from that person.

And there's a good thing going on in their life. There's a lesson to learn. You see, the test here is the measure of my teachability. When I'm in a storm, I have to measure my teachability. Lord, is there something here you'd like to teach me?

You see, really, you want to teach me something. And he always does. He wants to teach us something about himself.

And he wants to teach us something about ourselves. Well, one more storm. Let's go to Jonah chapter 1. Jonah chapter 1.

And this is a storm of a completely different nature. Jonah chapter 1. Right after Obadiah, so there should be no problem. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah. In verse 2, here's what God says to Jonah. Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. Here is Jonah, finds himself in Judah.

God calls him, says, okay Jonah, you're a prophet. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go east and north. And I want you to go to the Assyrian capital of Nineveh.

Clear, clear, clear instructions by the Lord. But Jonah arose and went as far east as he could possibly go. I mean, far west as he could possibly go. God says, go east. Jonah says, that's it, I'm getting up, I'm going west. He says, how far can you go west? They said, well, the end of the world is at Tarshish, right there in Spain, the Gibraltar, that's the end of the world.

Well, let's go there then. I want to go as far the opposite direction of where the Lord wants me as possible. And so Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. And so he went down to Joppa, found the ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare, and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Now, the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so the ship was about to break up. And then the sailors became afraid, and every man cried to his God. And they threw their cargo, same thing, which was on the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below in the hold of the ship, laid down, and fallen sound asleep.

Isn't that interesting how it repeats? In one, you have the Savior sleeping. In this one, you have the sinner sleeping. You see, Jonah doesn't care. I don't care what the storm is. I just know I'm not going to do what God wants me to do.

I'm going the opposite direction. So the captain approached him and said, How is it that you're sleeping? He says, Get up and call on your God. Perhaps your God will be concerned about us so that we will not perish. Each man said to his maid, Come, let us cast lots so that we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us. And so they cast lots.

And by the way, I don't think this is a coincidence. The lots fell on Jonah. And they said to him, Tell us now on whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? A prophet.

I happen to be a prophet. And where do you come from? What is your country? I'm from Israel. Who are your people?

I'm Jewish. He said to them, Look, I'm a Hebrew and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land, but not enough to obey him. And then the men became extremely frightened and they said, How could you do this? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them. And so they said to him, What should we do that the sea may become calm to us for the sea is becoming increasingly stormy?

He said to them, Look, pick me up, throw me into the sea and then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that on account of me, this great storm has come to you. This is a completely different kind of storm. This is when the Lord sends a storm into your life to bring you back to him. This is when the Lord sends a storm in your life to bring you back to him. This often is the case when we realize that we have been willfully disobedient to the Lord completely, just go in a completely different direction in our life. And a lot of you have gone through this kind of storm.

I think it's relatively rare and it's not easily interpreted. By the way, it was easy for Jonah to interpret it was that kind of storm, wasn't it? Because God told him directly, Go east. And he said, No, I'm going west.

So he knew what disobedient he was. For us, it's a little harder sometimes. The test here is this.

The test is the healthiness of my attitude toward the Lord. You see, so many times in our life, we just decide, Look, I know the right way to go. I'm not going. I know the right thing to do, and I'm not doing it. I'm just going to go my own way.

I'm just telling you something. If you're a child of God, the writer of Hebrews says it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. You may not take him seriously, but he takes you very seriously. And you might find yourself in a storm that he prepared just to bring you back to him. There's always a deep personal conviction like Jonah had here.

I know it's me. That's important for you to understand. This kind of storm is not pronounced by others.

Now, don't forget this. This kind of storm is not pronounced by others. I know you're well-meaning, but so many times, Christian parents, friends, spouses. You want to know why there's storms in your life? You want to know why you're going through what you're doing? I'm telling you why. Because you're messing around and you're doing what you shouldn't be doing. By the way, that's exactly the advice Job's friends gave him.

And they were all wrong. So be very careful by telling someone else that's why the storm's in their life. But if you're in a storm, you've got to ask yourself the question, is this a storm he's put in my life to draw me back to him? I read a story of a young boy who got a sailboat as a gift and he just loved it. So he went down to the pond and he put it in the pond and he was just watching the little gentle breeze along the shoreline moving the sailboat. And he was really infatuated with it. And all of a sudden, the little stiffer breeze come out and it started going out in the water. He started toward the edge but realized it's going out too far. And then it went out further and further and he couldn't get his sailboat. So the little guy's pretty ingenious.

He decided, I know what I'm going to do. He went and got a whole bunch of stones, put them in his hand, and he started throwing stones. But he threw the stones further than the little sailboat was out in the pond. And every time the stone landed, the ripple from it, draw it a little closer. Through another one, draw a closer.

Another one, draw a closer. And eventually, he was able to bring that little sailboat right back to him. That's what God has done in some of your lives. He's allowed little storms. He's dropped those little stones right over top of you. You feel the waves.

It's kind of scary for a moment but he's trying to get you back. That's a lesson that he has for all of us. And the test is the healthiness of my attitude toward God. And so we have four different storms here.

Just let me review this because each one is unique in its own way. First, when a storm lasts long enough, it's easy to have all of your hope slowly but surely just vanish. This is often the case when you're in a chronic storm. Some of you are.

Really difficult, especially health issues. The test is the strength of your commitment to the truth. Then there's the storm that is intense enough, so intense that we begin to question the goodness of God in our life. Don't you care?

God, don't you care? This often happens when we have sudden immediate loss and pain and the test is the nature of our faith. There is a third storm when we are often sent into a storm by the Lord and we fail to learn the lessons that he has for us.

This is often the case when a sudden change comes into our lives and we become preoccupied with the circumstances. We see the wind. We feel the waves. The test there is the measure of our teachability in the storm. And the last one, the Lord sends a storm into our lives to bring us back to him. This is often the case because we have decided to be disobedient and willfully go the opposite direction of the Lord.

The test is our healthiness of our attitude to the Lord. Four storms, four different ways we can apply them to our lives. But one thing I said in the beginning and I believe with all my heart, storms are inevitable to all of us. If you've never been in one, you will be.

If you're in one now, you'll probably be in another later. If you've just stopped being in a storm, there's probably a new one on the horizon. It has its seasons and it has its intensities. There are category ones. There are depressions.

There's just tropical storm. Then there's the three, fours and fives. And it's heartbreaking to watch some people have to go three, fours and fives because it's difficult.

It's painful. So what I want to do is go to one passage now that can sort of prepare all of us for the storms of our own lives. Go with me to John Chapter 16, the Gospel of John Chapter 16. John 16 is in one of the most amazing sections of the entire word of God. It is the most intimate passage context in the entire Bible. John 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, those five chapters. There are no chapters in the Bible that have this sense of intimacy. And the reason is, when did this take place? 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17, the night before Christ was crucified.

Who is the listener? His disciples. And Jesus Christ is spending these last intimate moments with his disciples. And he's trying to teach them some things as well as teach us. Remember in Chapter 13, he started out by teaching them to be servants of each other, not to lord it over, not to consider themselves more important than they are.

And he washed their feet. And what you see now in 16 is he is preparing them for a storm that he knows is coming. And by preparing them, he prepares us. So we'll just look at a few of these verses and observe them.

16, 1 and 2, these things I have spoken to you, he says, so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make, he says, you outcast them from the synagogue. And an hour is coming when everyone who kills you, they'll think that they're observing or offering service to God. By the way, that's exactly what happened when Saul of Tarsus killed Stephen.

He thought he was serving God. In other words, he's telling the disciples a storm's coming. You see, and a big storm's coming. Sometimes he lets us see the clouds. Once in a while, he warns us.

And there's a general warning for all of us. Storm clouds are always on the horizon, can come in any moment. Now, look at verse four. He says, but these things I have spoken to you so that when their hour comes, he said that you may remember what I told you of them. He wants us to be prepared for storms. He says, look, when the hour comes, when the storm hits, I want you prepared. By the way, the best time to prepare for a storm is when you're not in one.

That's the time to prepare for when you will be in one. Verse seven, but I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away. He said, for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you. He's talking to them about the Holy Spirit that will come to them and has come to us since Jesus Christ has ascended.

Now, what's so wonderful about that is there's a point he's making. You will never face a storm alone. That's what he's telling the disciples.

You're going to be in a big storm starting tomorrow, but you will never face that alone. I will never leave you nor forsake you. You see, the whole idea is to know he is always with me.

Now, if I have the wrong perspective, I might think he's sleeping in the ship, but he's in the ship. You see, that's what he is trying to tell them. He will never let us face storms alone. Then verse 12, wonderful verse. He said, I have many more things to say to you, but you can't bear them now. That's one of the great things about the Lord. He gives you just enough light for today.

You see, so often we see somebody in a storm, especially as someone in a category four or five. And one of the most astounding things to me and disappointing things that have ever happened to me is I've seen some of you over all the years go through that kind of storm. And you did it with great grace. You did it with a wonderful attitude.

It was amazing to see because it was so different. And shamefully, I've had other believers say to me, they must be in denial. They shouldn't be that positive. They shouldn't be that happy. They shouldn't have that joy. They shouldn't have that peace. They're in denial. How sad.

How sad. You see, the other thing is I can't really identify with it because you say to yourself, I don't think I could go through a storm like that. Well, you don't have to right now. But when you do, the amount of light and grace God will provide you is the amount that you need. You see, you don't get it ahead of time. You only get what's for now. That's all you need. That's what Jesus is saying. I have many more things I could say to you.

You can't bear them now. I grew up in a small town in western Pennsylvania. It was a rural. And living in western Pennsylvania, you have hills and mountains everywhere. It's hard to find a flat spot. And then what happens is you have to drive. And so when you drive, and if you've ever done that on hills and mountains, it's always like this. And so when you drive there at night, you are completely dependent on just one thing, your headlights. Because that's all the light you got. And by the way, you can't see anything. You can't see around the bend. You can't see over the hill. You don't see anything. And you never are paralyzed. You never say, you know, I can't even go to my destination because I can't see it.

I don't have to see it. All I have to do is trust my headlights. And as long as I drive on the basis of what my headlights expose, I get to my destination. And the headlight provides just enough. You see, I don't have to see beyond 350 feet or whatever it would be. I don't have to see beyond that. I just have to drive in this next 350 feet and then the next and then the next.

And in the end, you get to your destination. That's what Jesus is saying. Look, I could give you a whole lot more. You can't bear it now.

And you don't need it now. Now, verse 20, he says, Truly, truly, I say to you that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy.

Here's what he's telling us. Storms are going to hurt. It's going to be painful. It's going to hurt.

You're going to cry. You see, you can't avoid the pain of the storm. There's pain.

And if you've been through that, if you've lost a loved one, you've battled cancer, you had a spouse that left, whatever it is, you know what I'm talking about. It's painful. The pain doesn't just go away. The pain is there. But even though the pain is there, notice what he says. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. See, that's one of the great things.

That's the beauty of being a Christian. Oh, we have pain-free lives. We don't. You never have to suffer again. You do. You never face a storm.

We will. But in the end, joy, joy, joy. See, the worst thing that could happen to you can't happen to you.

You see, and it may be the joy may be short-term or it may take longer. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Now, I think that's a storm, a furnace that they're going to throw you into. I'm just saying that's a storm. And remember what they said. They said, hey, our God is able to deliver us. We'll be all right. They said he may deliver us from the furnace, but he will deliver us from you. Either way, we win. We got joy. Either we're coming out of the furnace again and we'll have joy, or we go into his presence and we'll have joy. But either way, we'll have joy. You see, that's what the Word of God says, and that's what he says. The sorrow is turned to joy, always. Verse 22, therefore, he says, you two have grief now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice and no one will take your joy away from you. We will always prevail because of him.

Always. That's the whole point of our faith. You see, and all of that is based on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's why Paul said, if Christ be not raised, we should be the most pitied of all people. He understood everything that we hang our hopes on is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. And that's what Christ is telling him.

Ultimately, there's joy. And then the last section, verses 31 through 33. Jesus asked the definitive question of them and us. Do you now believe? Do you now have faith? Do you now believe? You see, he's not asking whether believers in him.

These are his disciples the night before the crucifixion. He's saying, do you have the faith to endure a storm? Do you have that faith? Do you now believe? He said, behold, an hour is coming and already has come. He said, well, you will be scattered each to his own home and to leave me alone. And yet I am not alone because the Father is with me. I don't even go through the storms alone.

Except on the cross. He says, these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have. And here's what we look for in a storm. Peace.

You may have peace. He said, in the world you will have, let me paraphrase, a lot of storms. You see, in the world you will have tribulation, but take courage.

He said, I have overcome the world. What great way to prepare us for storms. If you're in a storm right now, or you've had struggles getting through storms in your past, or you're now anticipating a storm that I kept telling you is sure to come, I want you to think about these five questions as I close.

I want you to think about these. Do you think that there is any storm that touches your life that God doesn't know about? Do you think there's any storm that could touch your life that God doesn't know about? Number two. Do you think there's any storm that touches your life that God cannot handle?

You have to answer that for yourself. Number three. Do you think there's any storm that touches your life that doesn't have a purpose from God's point of view? Number four. Do you think there's any storm that touches your life that shouldn't teach you something about yourself?

And number five. Do you think there's any storm that touches your life that shouldn't teach you something about your Lord? You see, in the end, that's what happens in storms. If you're in a storm or you've gone through a storm, there's two things you need to do.

You need to learn something about yourself, and you need to learn something about your Lord. I think what you'll find out is nobody looks forward to going into storms, but you could be better for it. Let's pray. Father, all of our lives are marked with storms. We don't look forward to them. The realism of Scripture is that they are frightening. But Father, they are real, and they happen to virtually every one of us. But the question is, how do we get through the storm? Father, I'm afraid that so many times we spend our time preoccupied with a storm, fixated in our own fright.

We find ourselves questioning you and asking why you won't make it calm. But we never take the time, Father, to see the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ in the storm and His nearness. We never take the time, Father, to learn about ourselves, how little of faith we often have, which is revealed in a storm, but is hard to see in the calm. Father, I pray for those who are going through a storm right now that the words of Scripture are encouraging to them, that they are able to look at these storms and they are able to apply these truths to their own life. And for the rest of us, Father, we know there are storms to come. And Father, I would pray that we would prepare ourselves for that time so that we can benefit in a maximum way as we face the storms of life.

In Christ's name, Amen. Listen to Fellowship in the Word online. At that website, you will find not only today's broadcast, but also many of our previous audio programs as well. At Fellowship in the Word, we are thankful for those who financially support our ministry and make this broadcast possible. We ask all of our listeners to prayerfully consider how you might help this radio ministry continue its broadcast on this radio station by supporting us monthly or with just a one-time gift. Support for our ministry can be sent to Fellowship in the Word 4600 Clearview Parkway, Metairie, Louisiana 7006. If you would be interested in hearing today's message in its original format, that is as a sermon that Pastor Bill delivered during a Sunday morning service at Fellowship Bible Church, then you should visit our website, fbcnola.org.

That's fbcnola.org. At our website, you will find hundreds of Pastor Bill's sermons. You can browse through our sermon archives to find the sermon series you are looking for, or you can search by title. Once you find the message you are looking for, you can listen online, or if you prefer, you can download the sermon and listen at your own convenience. And remember, you can do all of this absolutely free of charge. Once again, our website is fbcnola.org. For Pastor Bill Gebhardt, I'm Jason Gebhardt thanking you for listening to Fellowship in the Word. .