Good Morning Everyone!
I'm so glad to have you all here today!
It's an honor and a privilege to sharing God's Word with you..
O Heavenly Father,
You, who has led us apart from the busy world into the quietness of Your presence, grant us grace to worship You in spirit and in truth.
Many of us come today, with heavy hearts. We know You are the God of peace, that will guard our hearts and minds.
We ask and pray Lord, that You would comfort of our souls, help us to see all that goes on in this world from Your point of view, and empower us with Your Holy Spirit, that we may respond not only in our hearts and minds, but also in our words and in our actions. with the up-building of every good purpose and holy desire, through Christ our Lord.
Amen
The last time we were together, we talked about storms.
Today, I’m going to talk a bit more about storms.
Because sometimes, in our lives, we all go through difficult times, the storms of life.
There are storms that have come in my life several times but I didn’t cause them.
There are hardships that have come into my life but I didn’t cause them.
If
I wanted to find a perfect scripture for this message I could go to the
book of Jonah where the sailors threw Jonah over board so they wouldn’t
die in his storm.
I could go to the book of Joshua where Achan caused men to die and Joshua had him stoned to death to save Israel.
Or I could go to the book of Samuel where the sins of Saul and the sins of the sons of Eli caused the death of thousands.
There are numerous places to go and see the repeat of deadly storms.
Not storms caused by weather but by men!
The weather had nothing to do with Jonah's storm, it was sin.
The weather has nothing to do with Saul’s defeat and Eli’s sons death, it WAS SIN.
The weather had nothing to do with the storm in the days of Joshua when
Achan caused the death of hundreds of people, it was sin. Joshua chapter 7
1 Chronicles 21:1-17 says
"Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”
Nevertheless
the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and
went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem. Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel. So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying. “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord—the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
What he was saying I don’t know what to do, let God make the choice.
"So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord
standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword
stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in
sackcloth, fell on their faces.
Repentance is the answer! Sometimes, the storm destroys before people will repent!
And
David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be
numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”
We need to make up our minds that we are not going to die in some one else's storm!
Jonah was thrown overboard and the sailors were saved.
Achan was stoned to death and his family but Israel was delivered.
Hophni and Phinehas and Saul died and David was made King.
Uriah the Hittite died for David’s lust. 2 Samuel 3.
Seventy thousand died for David’s sin but David humbled himself and
took the blame for his sins and his repentance brought God back to
Israel.
"And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there."
1 Chronicles 21:26-28
Jonah admitted to the sailors that he was the reason for the storm.
Achan was willing to let his whole family die for his sins and they did.
Saul lead Israel to its death and even his own son Jonathan.
David repented of his sins and God was pleased and restored Israel.
No one needs to wait until they are thrown out or overboard, if Jonah had just obeyed God, none of this would have happened.
If
Saul would have obeyed God and slain all of the Amalekites and took
none of the spoils, Israel would not have lost the battle and men would
not have died.
Hophni and Phinehas, if they hadn’t sinned in the presence of God, Eli would not have died and his wife wouldn’t have died..
If David hadn’t lusted for Bathsheba, Uriah wouldn’t have died.
If David had obeyed God, seventy thousand people wouldn’t have died.
Most of the time, people blame God for the things that happen to them and there
are others who are willing to admit, I caused all this.
Jonah admitted his sin!
David admitted his sin and people were spared, but
the storm they caused was devastating to others!
And there are some, who could care less who dies in their storm, as long as they have their way!
Look, I’m the first to admit it’s not always easy to obey God.. but it is always necessary.
Many innocent
men and women have given up their freedom to protect our country, a friend or a
family member….
But a true friend, that really loves you, will not let you
lose your freedom and make your family suffer to protect them when they
are in the wrong.
I WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR STORM!!!!
Say that with me,
I WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR STORM!!!!
There is storm in our midst, there are people losing their lives because of it.
Some of the storms are caused by them and some of the storms are caused by others who refuse to say God I am the guilty one.
I believe it is time for a prayer of Repentance to go forth and call on the mercies of God to still this storm.
There are storms to try our faith, the disciples were in such a storm in Luke 8:23-25.
"But as they sailed He fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!”
Then He arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm. But He said to them, “Where is your faith?”
And they were afraid, and marveled, saying to one another, “Who can this be? For He commands even the winds and water, and they obey Him!”
If God doesn’t calm the storm there is destruction everywhere….
Lives
are lost…homes broken apart and then there is the long process of
rebuilding.
We have all faced such storms in the past where people spiritually died.
Their home destroyed, lives torn apart.
Children gone astray, the devastation has drove many people to their graves lost without God.
Some people are strong they endure the storms of life and continue to trust the Lord until he speaks and the storm is calm.
Some storms are good it shows our dependency on God and they build our faith.
But
let's be honest, no one likes storms….
Can I get a witness?
Sometimes, they are very scary and we fear the
worst but we have to refuse to die in storms because of the sin of
others.
I will not die in your Storm!!
Say that with me,
I will not die in your Storm!!
Churches have closed because of the sins of others,
Saints who refuse to hear the Word of the Lord has caused many church doors to close.
People who refuse to support the work of God but will eat drink and be merry while the church suffers.
The same is true for our homes, our families..
But allow me to tell you this:
Revival can happen anywhere if we obey this one scripture:
" Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. As
for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do
according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes
and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel."
2 Chronicles 7:15-18
But this is what is happening that hinders the work of God and sinners
are dying by the thousands because people love darkness more than light.
“But
if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I
have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, then I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house which I have sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
“And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and this house?’ Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord
God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and
embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He
has brought all this calamity on them.’ ”
2 Chronicles 7:19-22
In closing...
I WILL NOT DIE IN YOUR SINS!!
God
has given us victory….
I refuse to die because others have denied the
faith and turned back to their weak and beggarly elements.
I have heard every excuse they can give why they shouldn’t live Holy.
What is holy to God is still Holy…. you can’t explain it away.
What God says is sin is still sin…you can’t explain it away.
If God’s word says thou shall not, that is exactly what He means.
I will Help you out of your storm but..
I will not Die in your storm!
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Brian Monzon Ministries