As we continue this week to look into getting through the storms, the tough times in our lives I would like you to remember last week … when we talked about how no matter what you do or what you have done … God loves you.And even though we may want to hide because we feel covered in shame or we may think that this time is the time when God will turn away from me because … look at what I have done … how could He love me … and it feels that the guilt is pushing us away … right then, that is when God’s arms will wrap around us and hug us tighter
John 14:23
“Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”
Jeremiah 31:3
God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will. Expect love, love, and more love!
Romans 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
God is telling you that He loves you no matter what … I pray that you believe this.Knowing and believing this lays the foundation to carry us through when the rain comes into our lives
What a great video, the very first Nooma video … it is just what I needed for today’s message …just what I feel God is telling me some of you may need to hear today.We have this plaque that will be placed on the side wall … actually two plaques to be placed on the side wall that I hope will help you remember this message during times of rain in your life … times of rain for this church.The first one reads God is on Control.The second one reads trust me
The second one is based on Numbers 23:19 … and I love this straight forward translation from the Contemporary English Version God is no mere human!He doesn't tell lies or change his mind. God always keeps his promises.
Will you repeat that verse after me
i.God is no mere human
ii.He doesn’t tell lies or change His mind
iii.God always keeps His promises
It is almost like a set of three rules
i.God is God
ii.You can trust Him always and in every way … what He says is truth and
iii.all of His promises … He keeps
How many times do we forget this especially when the storm hits?We all forget this … In fact I have an example right here of when some people … in the middle of some trouble forgot the three rules
i.God is no mere human
ii.He doesn’t tell lies or change His mind
iii.God always keeps His promises
Mark 4:35-41
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, "Let us go over to the other side." 36Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, "Teacher, don't you care if we drown?" 39He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, "Quiet! Be still!" Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. 40He said to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" 41They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!"
We read that they go wake Jesus up and rebuke Him during the storm … “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”Can you hear them saying this to Jesus … Can you hear your own voice in theirs … When you cry out to God; “Why am I going through this, Why is this happening, don’t you care?” “Have you left me to fend for myself?”
They seem to have forgotten rule number one God is God … Now they knew this but surrounded by the storm and the high probability of dying … or at the very least the boat sinking … their worldly senses took over what they spiritually knew … It is the same thing for us … we know as Christians that we walk with Jesus everyday and He is with us … God is with us everyday traveling with us in every circumstance But when the storm hits and the rains come it can be only the storm that we see.Just like Rob’s son in the video … or the disciples … their focus, their reality became the storm … even though Trace was strapped onto his father’s back and the disciples had Jesus in the boat … the fear, despair, the circumstances of the storm blinded them from seeing that their Father was there with them in the boat, in te middle of the storm.
Isaiah 46:3-4
3 "Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and have carried since your birth.
4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
God is God … He is our heavenly Father.He is always with us … He carries us every day of our lives.Is there a storm blinding you from seeing that God is God and that He is always carrying you?
The disciples also forgot rule number two and three when they believed they were going to down in the storm … the rules they forgot … God doesn’t tell lies or change His mind and God always keeps His promises Jesus said “Let us go over to the other side.” … He did not say we are going to start out for the other side, a storm will hit, the boat will sink and you will drown … He did not even say we will go for a three hour tour and get lost, … No, what He said in that one phrase was … Whatever comes at us … whatever happens on the sea … We are going to the other side.All of us will be on the other side.
He doesn’t tell lies or change His mind
God always keeps His promises
God is always going to be carrying you from the time you were born … always with you … seeing you to the other side of the storm and God carries you, just as Rob carried his son through the rain, with His arms wrapped tight around you for God says in
Isaiah 40:11 that
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart;
I pray that you may remember … that in the time of your storm, as the rain falls in your life;
God is no mere human; He is God, Creator of everything and is in control. That God speaks only the truth and never changes His mind
That God keeps all of His promises
… and His promise to you is to love you always no matter what
… and to carry you every step of the way, wrapped in His arms, close to His heart
… and as God holds you that close,
… may you hear the sound of His’ loving heart
… so it will drown out the thunder, the fear, the chaos of the storm you are in
… and you will be able to hear Him whisper …
“I love you my dearest child.We’re going to make it.Daddy knows the way home. We’re going to make it.I love you.”