When You Are at Your Wits? End - Part 2

Christian recording of phone runs the was a good review review corner when the blobs of gold from more of the 3.0 marshes was the promise to find a place and purpose in the midst of life's unexpected storm introduce the conclusion of his message. When you return within. Thank you so much for joining us today were studying Psalm 107 were kind of in the midst of the seriousness talking about what to do when were in the storm. What to do when were sheltering well, let's get back to our lesson when you're at your wits end. Some hundred seven Bibles in your hearts, you know that our prayers in the midst of the storm tend to be somewhat short. How many of you know that long prayers in church, but in*they're pretty short.

My wife and I were starting our church in Fort Wayne. We lived on a busy highway in a little house there in the driveway emptied right out into the highway cells, dangerous get out of there. One day I was driving I was sitting in the passenger seat and she backed out into traffic.

She didn't see a car coming. I looked over just in time to see it and I just said, Lord, help like Patterson helpless lawyers like them a car hit us behind where I was seated instead of hitting us where I was seated I would been hurt and then Donna reminds me that I turned to her and said why did you do that he's never let me forget that I said that uncompassionate thing but I want you to know when you see a car coming toward you and your about to get hit, you don't have time for these dolls and anything else that you might remember from church you just a simple prayer can I get a witness. Everybody understand that not what you notice this. This verse is exactly the same as every situation which we have visited so far in the gallery. For instance, what does a wanderer do in the desert when he's lost his way.

Verse six. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distress. What does the captive do when you shut up in the prison house of his own making. Verse 13 says then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distress and what does a patient in the ICU ward do what he's lost all hope. Verse 19.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses.

It's exactly the same verse in every situation as a reminder to us. But no matter what the problem is, no matter what the situation is the only way out is the way up.

The only what you going to get help in a helpless situation is to get help outside of yourself from someone stronger than you are someone who can actually extricate you from the situation. So in every situation. It is a prayer unto Almighty God. Most of us know that in fact I secretly expect to find out when I get to heaven that God has allowed storms plan. Some of them, perhaps even to drive us to our knees and remind us again that is self-sufficient as we may all think we are and as good as we are getting ourselves out of the jambs that we got into there are certain things that only God can control and he loves to bring us to our knees in dependence upon him all that we could learn to pray in times of peace with the intensity that we bring to the prayers in times of storm the prayer in the midst of the storm, then there is a dramatic change in the picture.

That is the peace in the store versus 29 and 36 and he calms the storm so that the waves are still then they are glad because they are quiet. How many of you know that one of the great things about being in the storm and knowing that God because the storm is the realization that the one who caused it. Can shut it down to there's two places on the switch once is on and the other says often. He's in control of both of them and when they prayed unto the Lord in cried out to him and their trouble. He heard their prayer and he calm the storm so that the waves are still I was think about this in connection with the stories in the New Testament about the Lord Jesus with his disciples the Lord, I believe allowed things to happen in the lives of his disciples to teach them lessons they couldn't learning any other way. Some lessons I learned in the classroom.

Do you know that there learned by experience as you go through things together and remember the occasion when the disciples had gotten into the ship to go to the other side of the Lord Jesus got in the ship with them and he crawled into the back of the boat. Any curled up and went to sleep and the got out into the middle of the sea, and it became very stormy and it was evident that the disciples were ready to just forget about everything they thought they were going to die and then it suddenly dawned on them that the one who created the wind and the waves in the sea was in there about asleep in the back and according to Matthew's gospel we read in Matthew 826 but Jesus said to them, why are you fearful oh you of little faith, and he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm but I love what Luke adds two and Luke adds the dimension of the fear in the lives of the disciples.

It says they came to him and awoke him saying master master.

We are perishing. Now think about that. They're talking here to the Lord of glory, who created the waves and the sea and the wind and they're afraid that they're going to go down for the count and he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water and they ceased, and there was calm when the great things about being in the storm. If you know God, because that is you know you're not there by yourself.

I remember when I study this passage some years ago when I was teaching through the Gospels. I wrote this little paradigm in the margin of my Bible it says we are far more secure in the storm with Jesus in our boat and we will ever be on the shore without him.

That is the truth. If you're a believer you're going through stormy times right now. Let me promise you that God is with you. If he is your Savior and your Lord. If you've taken them into your life by personal invitation.

When you go through the storm. He will never leave you.

He will be with you and he will help you through whatever it is you're experiencing any gives you a dimension and a dynamic about whatever storm here and that is not explainable in human terms. My friend Ron Mel tells about a woman who was caught in a frightening storm in the Atlantic Ocean. She was aboard this great ship that had a number of children on it while everyone else was panicking, she gathered the children together on one of the decks and began to tell them Bible stories and kept them calm when they finally got through the storm. The captain came to her to inquire of her why she had done that and how she had done it when she looked up to him.

He could tell that she had the same kind of quiet peace on her face that she exhibited in the midst of the storm, so he finally asked her how did you do it when everyone else was so filled with fear and panic. How did you maintain your call. She said well it's simple. I have two daughters, one of them lives in New York and the other one lives in heaven. I knew I would see one of the other of them in a few hours and it didn't make any difference to me which one you say will that's really foolish now that's the kind of perspective that you get in the midst of the storm when you know the one who created it and who can comment. He brings calm and peace. In a way that you can never find it in the human resources available then of course there is the realization that this is the same thing he does for us no matter what our problem may be, when were in the storm and we cry out to God, he brings us into calm but what about the wanderer in the first picture the piece that he found, as described in verse seven he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city for a dwelling place. When you're lost in the desert. Doesn't that sound like the right thing. What happens to the captive. Verse 14 says he's brought out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their chains in pieces so the person who is captive in prison is set free.

What about the person who is in the ICU ward about to die. Verse 20 says he sent his word and healed them and delivered them from their instructions. How many of you know that wherever you are in whatever situation, whatever kind of storm when you cry out to God in your trouble. He will hear you and he is never unresponsive to you, cry, then we notice at the end of verse 30 that there's a purpose in the storm. There's a purpose in all of the storms.

We may not know some of his purposes here, but sometimes we figure them out. The purpose of the storm goes like this, so he guides them to their desired haven board and just take them out of the storm. He took them to where they needed to go here something I've been learning about storms, the place you thought you wanted to go.

Going into the storm is not always the place you think you want to go coming out of the storm. Can I get a witness. Sometimes storms can change your minds about things that you thought you wanted and what I've observed is this that when you go into a storm that God has created.

If you're receptive to what's going on in your life during the time you will come out of that storm with the desire in your heart that he has for you. Your desire and his desire will be the same, and the place where you wanted to go, which may have been over here will be adjusted to the place where God want you to go in the beauty of it is in the midst of it all. You will want to go there yourself how many of you know that when Jonah was spent upon the ground that he hit the ground running toward the place where he now really wanted to go to the gym and noticed that in studying the book of Jonah. He really wanted to go there.

God changes you want to. In the midst of the storm is not something and then the thing I love about this which is pretty much characteristic of all the Psalms that we study. It's in there thematically.

If not, just purposely and that is that there's praise after the storm. You see it all that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, let them exalt him. Also in the assembly of the people and praising in the company of the elders may ask you something class. What happens when you're in the wilderness, and you get taken to a nice home and you're given a dwelling well I'll tell you what happens. It's in verse eight and nine old men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness.

If you're in the wilderness, and you been delivered the natural responses to praise God for what is done.

What happens if you been in prison, and God has brought you out some addiction or some problem where you felt like you were just shut up to the problem and there was no way for you to get release verses 15 and 16 says all that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, for he has broken the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron into you give thanks to God that you've been set free. One of the things that we love about going to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. We hear the testimonies of people who been brought out of the prison house of crack cocaine and addictions in the things that have happened to them and how God has released them and got to hear them, give praise and thanksgiving to God.

We have Dennis Carbo here on occasion and I remember when she was here. The very first time I went up and told her what a blessing.

Her music was to me and how I loved her singing and she just began to weep and she said all pastor Jeremiah you have no idea what God has done for me. That was the motivation of her music all that men would praise the Lord and give thanks for his goodness and then the interesting thing that happens in the last two pictures of the Psalm is this in the first two they give thanks to the Lord for what he has done in the phrase has to do with the blessing of the Lord upon the person who's been released, but in the last two of these pictures.

It's different.

For instance, when a person is released from illness versus 21 and 22. Record the him all that men would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing and then we come to the storm that we have studied today and in verses 31 and 32 all that man would give thanks to the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men, let them exalt him. Also in the assembly of the people and praise him in the company of the elders. Sometimes people say to me why I don't think you need to worship in public you worship in private. I don't know what Bible you're reading the Bible is constantly reminding us that when we worship. It is exploded in its effectiveness.

When we come together and we give praise to the Lord in the company of the assembly says in the presence of the elders in the presence of the leaders we give praise to God. There's a wonderful evidence here for corporate praise when we come together on the Lord's day. That's what we ought to be doing, you know, there are several passages in the Bible, next to which I have now written my main to redo that this is personal passage that God has just kind of uniquely used. I shared one with you earlier in the series Psalm 71 how that was given to me in the midst of my sickness and God will never ever in my estimation y'all can borrow it if you want to, but that's mine you know that's my Psalm I'll let you use it whenever you need it, but it's something God gave to me what this is one that likewise God has written my name on and it's because of something that happened early in the ministry of our time here. I accepted not only being the pastor of the church, but I became the president of the college and I really believe I did that, under the direction of the Lord and belief, so to this day, but there were some very difficult times. I would say this college was hanging by a thread. And many of us who are part of the inner workings knew that if God had not done something very miraculous that there would've been no hope for the college to continue. It was one particular summer that I remember with vivid color.

We had run out of resources with tuition money was gone. We hadn't raised enough money to sustain the operation of the college to the summer we had been underwritten by the church and those resources were no longer available. They were gone because the church given all that he could give we were having meetings almost every week trying to figure out what to do.

There was some momentum on the part of some of the church to close the college and just get rid of it because it appeared to be a liability and that there were even some of the college or thought perhaps we should do that. In fact there were some meetings that took place between this college and another Christian college on the West Coast to try to merge the two. Perhaps if that could be done and I remember thinking that maybe this is what God is doing, but I couldn't get through my heart in my head why God whatever close something is wonderful is the school that he raised up to train young people. When I saw the evidence of it in so many ways I remember saying to some the guys our staff. One day, you know what, I'm not going to do this if God wants to close and he's going to have to do it and he can do it if he wants to, but I'm not gonna do it. We got into the teeth of the summer challenges and the resources were just not available there just wasn't any money.

I had a little recollection of this in back of my head because my father was the presidency to college and when we took over the college in 1953 we went there as a young family and I remember the first year my dad was there and there was no money and we didn't have any salary or any money provided the whole summer.

We ate out of the garden. My mother planted on back of her house. That's only after the summer. I remember one day I was just so filled with the sense of the storm for like the waves were just crashing over is not in what to do and I gathered up our senior staff. We all went up to Pine Valley. Never forget that Pine Valley is a Christian camp appear and we nobody was there and they let us use one of the conference rooms we gathered around the table up there to pray as far as I could see there was no hope anywhere we've done everything we know how to do humanly. There just wasn't anything left and I had read this Psalm.

Some modern seven. I have been reminded of this little section in the Psalm about the storm and so as we gathered there in the conference room at Pine Valley.

I read this passage to the men and I said, you know, one of things I want to remind you about is this. We have all collectively chosen to do business in the great waters. Not many churches have schools and we got lots of them. We got preschools and grade schools and junior high schools and high schools, college schools, and God has laid upon our heart that makes the job we do much more difficult. We have gone out into the deep, and that's one of the reasons why we have in the storm. We talked about the challenge and I said what we have to do is whip cry out to the Lord and we have to ask God to move into the midst of the situation and do something in a way that it will be only explained by God. I'm not have very many things like this happen in my life I'll never forget this, we begin to pray around the table and I remember it was intense and there were some tears and there was a knock at the door and it was the proprietor of the camp and she motioned for me to come out and went out and she said you need to call your office and there was a pay phone not too far from where we are meeting so I went over and called Glenda at the officer at the church. I remember her asking me this question. Other forget she said are you sitting down. I said Glenda I'm in a phone booth. She said will hang on. This is what she told me she said the women down in the mailroom at the college with just opening the mail in a routine way and they opened an envelope. There was no letter with this. There was just checking the envelope for 1/2 $1 million, and I know what you're thinking is was it good. We knew the name on it and it was good when I heard that I begin to cry. I went back into the meeting and the guys thought somebody had died. You know, and I said no limiting what happened while we were sitting there in the midst of that storm, crying out to God for his help. Then he heard us in our trouble, and he brought us out and into the peace and into the calm I want to tell you that we followed up on it just like it says in this passage of Scripture, we begin to praise God.

Most of us if we look back on our involvement. That was a defining moment in the affirmation that God brought to us that this was a school that he was going to use in a mighty way. I'd hate to think about what would be missing an evangelical community today if we subtracted all the graduates who have graduated from the school.

Since that day when God showed us that he was the God of the storm and he heard her cry.

And you know what I know men and women God is anxious to do that for us. If will trust him. You may not have anything quite that severe financially but your problems in perspective are just as great to you is that problem was to this college, you may not have an illness that would be described best by hanging at deaths door remain. Not like you're lost in the desert but wherever you are in the midst of the stress that God is allowed in your life you need to understand if you feel helpless.

You have just qualified for God to help you if you will reach out to him and asking some hundred and seven market down in your Bible put a loose ring around in your index and remember to go back there because you need to some again as I said before, it's a go do some this Psalm you want to remember and you will love remembering it, especially in the times of life.

Tomorrow were going to begin two days of talking about one of the best-known great Psalms of this book called Psalm 46 and it is Martin Luther's Psalm a mighty Fortress is our God was written from this portion of Scripture. We spent two days talking about it and unfolding it in them unwrapping it so that will know what it says to us today to friends.

I hope you been able to go to church on line on the weekends. As you know we been doing that here from shadow Mountain. You can go to church with us if you want to. This last week we had many many thousand people watching us from all over the world and from all over the United States to great a great opportunity to just join with us in many others as we worship the Lord him last Sunday I talked the Psalm Psalm 46 in our online service and you probably still get it.

It's more than likely up on the in the archives and you can find it and watch it.

One of the failing to mention to you is that we've done a little video called the sheltering God and in his it's from the first two or three pages of this new book and it is been produced with video and she is so encouraging. What can we expect God to do when the sheltering is over you can get that video on going to bless you and encourage you is are you doing going into typing David Jeremiah sheltering God middle pop-up it's four minutes and 50 seconds long. Bless your heart.

Thank you for listening to his message comes from Shadow Mountain Community Church with Dr. David Jeremiah serves as senior pastor report is ministering to you when your eyelid is not Turning Point PO Box 3838, San Diego, CA 92163 visit our website it David Jeremiah don't hold/radio cost for your copy of David's new book shelf in God sure to encourage you in this precedent on Joe's for a gift of any amount you can also download the free sitting .50 after your smart phone or tablet will searching the app store for the keywords to the point of ministry to exit program resources visit David Jeremiah.old/radio Gary hopefully join us tomorrow as we continue the series when your world falls apart. That's erupted point David Jeremiah thanks for taking time to listen to frenzies increased in size and