Treasured Truth Weekend—The Perfect Storm, Part 3

were saved spiritually as the result of that storm. That might be one of the reasons that God allows a storm to come into our lives. But there may be other reasons why God allows storms. We've already looked at how very often God gives storms or allows them to inspect us, to correct us. He also does so to protect us or even direct us. And that's exactly what

Pastor Ford was talking about just a moment ago. God may want us to go down a certain path, but for one reason or another, we're convinced we're to go a different direction. We may even think that we hear God telling us to go that way, but that's not really the way he wants us to go. So in order to redirect our steps, he allows a storm to enter our lives and say, no, that's not where I want you to go. I need to get you back

on track. As Pastor Ford was talking about, that storm or stumbling block ultimately became a stepping stone because it redirected our path back to God's path where he designed us to be. We're going to continue to look at that in today's broadcast. So if you can join us in acts 27 as we continue the perfect storm. Here is Pastor Ford.

A failure to wait, foolish decisions following the crowd, fair weather circumstances. Here it is. Bottom line is this you never know what kind of faith you have until it's tested by the storm, that storms are designed to let us know whether or not we really have the faith that we say that we have, because there's a whole lot of folk that think they have faith. But when the storm comes, they find out they don't trust God at all. And that's really what it's all about. And

so many of us have had that. All of us have gone through that. You had a financial difficulty. Did you trust God? You had you had a health issue. Did you trust God? Relationship problem. Did you trust God? In other words, faith then. Second Corinthians seven five. We walk by faith and not by sight. If we believe what God has said, faith is believing. It is so, even when it's not so, until it becomes so. Because God said so. And so Paul had given them a word.

Will you believe the word? Will you trust what the word has to say? And that's what God was doing with this storm. Will you trust the word? Here's the second thing the storm was designed to correct us. Some storms come because we don't want to obey God. And so we talked about Jonah. Jonah was supposed to go to Nineveh. He wouldn't go. God sent a storm. And then Jonah decided, you know what? I think I'll go

to Nineveh. And that's all he had to do, because God picked up the fare with the Uber fish and took him straight to Nineveh. And so God may be trying to correct us in our storm because we're headed in wrong directions. And, you know, the the the thing about it is he's got time. He's eternal, got more time than we have. And so, you know, and then we saw thirdly, storms are designed to protect us. That's

Roman numeral three. That's what we studied last week. First Thessalonians 518 in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. So we saw we must stand on the promise. Verse 24, we must surrender to God. 25 and 26 we must strengthen our faith. So are you in a storm right now? Let me ask you a question. Are you standing on his promises? Let me ask you another question. Have you surrendered to God? Let me ask you another question. Have

you strengthen your faith? How do you strengthen your faith through the Word of God? Faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. Now let's look at this. Storms are designed to direct us. Uh, so when you look at what's happening with the apostle Paul, uh, he's getting direction. Let me read this. What seems like the best course of action is the worst course of action. If God told us something different. And so now he's

sharing with them. Listen, you guys need to understand something. Uh, God already gave us a word about what's going to happen, uh, to this boat and to us. The boat's going to be destroyed. We are going to survive. You got to believe what God is doing. And you have to understand that he has sent the storm to direct us. You know, I was reading about David, and it's amazing, isn't it? Uh, remember, David was anointed to be king. At what age? Anybody

remember 17 years old? When did he become king? How old? 30 years old. So you have a king's anointing on a kid. So 13 years before he's ever going to get where God wants him to be, God anoints him for that. But here's what I want you to see. And you know, God always calls the things that are not as though they are. And so why did God anoint him at 17? Because he wanted him to know where he was taking him, so he would begin to

head in that direction. But guess what? God God doesn't need us to help him and to go in the direction he wants us to go. Guess what? He can send a storm. So so so so here's what I focus on. Where is he ultimately going to end up? In the palace. How does he get there? A storm named Goliath. See, everybody else was hiding in the officer's club. Saul was in the officer's club. Hiding? Everybody else was afraid of Goliath. He's too big to hit. What did

David say? He's too big to miss. So he kills him, cuts off his head with his own sword. Anybody know what happens after that? He's ushered into the palace. Where's God going to take him? 13 years from the anointing to the palace. What's the first step in God getting him there? A storm? Look at the stepping stones to the palace Alice for David. Storms. Storms. So he comes back in. He just killed Goliath. Saul should be happy, right? But the women are singing a song at the top

of the pop charts. Saul has slain his thousands, David. His tens of thousands. It was probably a R&;B. Or maybe it was hip hop. I don't know. All I know is Saul didn't like it. So you. You overcame the storm of the enemy of the people of God on the outside. Now you come on the inside. You're in the palace, but you're not on the throne. And what happens? Saul wants to kill you. Another storm. Then he runs into the wilderness. Another storm. He goes, uh, down, uh,

to the Philistines. Another storm. But here's what I'm trying to get you to see. Those aren't stumbling blocks. Those are stepping stones every storm was designed to get him where God ultimately wanted him to be. Okay, I guess I'll have to get contemporary. Some of you know, and you've been praying. We appreciate it. Uh, that my wife has been hospitalized in the last month four times. So she just got out of hospital Sunday. Now, let me tell you about this last time. Uh, she has a

doctor's appointment on a Friday. I am on my way to the airport to go to Phoenix, Arizona. And I get a call. Baby? What? Sugar babe. The doctors are going to keep me. And, uh, they're going to hospitalize me. They can't let me go home because I fainted. I said okay. Alright. So maybe what I need to do is just cancel. No. Don't cancel, don't cancel. Call your boys. Tell your boys their mother needs them this weekend. And that's what I did. And both my boys stepped up,

took care of their mother. Here's what happened. So my wife was having chest pains, heart palpitations and all this kind of stuff. Oh, I'm talking about the last time. This is the one before. I'm sorry. I get them mixed up because it was four times in one month. You have a tendency to get them mixed up. Well, the one before I was at morning Bible study and I went and I got a text message, and I called Ethel Hill for it. She said, your wife's having palpitations.

The ambulance is here. They're rushing her to the hospital. And so she thought she was having a heart attack. Get there? No, because of the bronchitis and the acute asthma. Uh, you're bruised, your muscles are sore. All of it feels like a heart attack. But. But you're okay. But you got pancreatitis. So what is that? We. They told us what it is. Well, what happens with that? Well, there's enzymes secreted from your pancreas. It should never be more than a level of 200. What's hers? 900. That was

the first day. Thursday 1500. Friday over 1700. She's going to have to have surgery. We're going to have to do something about that. That's extremely high. That's dangerous for her. Okay, so we need to transfer to our own hospital. That's Sunday. So Sunday night it was over 1700. Monday morning I get a call. Hey, honey, you had sugar, babe. What's up? Uh, come get me. Take me home. What do you mean, take you home? Come get me. Take me home. Aren't we going to transfer you over to our hospital so

you can have surgery? No. Why? Because my level is 200. Amen. I said so what happened? So what happened? Well, she said she really doesn't know what happened. Uh, maybe there was some gallstones that they couldn't see. Uh, that that passed. And I said, what'd you tell him? I told him I got a whole church praying for me. And the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man or woman availeth much. Now, here's my point. Here's my point. There's a storm. She's

got chest pain. We don't know about the pancreatitis, but all of a sudden now, uh, because we had a storm. We discovered something that we wouldn't have discovered ordinarily until it was too late. But the storm brought us to the hospital where we discovered the pancreatitis. God used that to direct us. And often you and I need to understand that God wants to move us and to direct us to places which we don't want to go. Not

thinking about. And so God sends a storm. It happens over and over and over again that we need to realize that God does that. So Paul finds it out that God is doing something. And what seems like the best course of action is the worst. If God told us to do something different.

and moody radio. So if you're growing in your walk with Christ because you're a regular listener, would you give a gift to support? To do so, you can come to our website. Just stop by Treasure Truth Radio org and click on the link that says make a donation. That's at Treasure Truth radio.org. Back to the message again. Here is Pastor Ford.

and they wandered in the wilderness. Now, why did God lead them that way? Now we know because they didn't walk by faith. They walked by sight. They did not want to go into the promised land. But. But let me read to you what it says in Exodus gives us a different perspective, doesn't it? Exodus chapter 13, verse 17. 13. Verse 17. Listen to what God says. This is what

I wanted to do. And it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, let's peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt. Wait a minute. All that wandering in the wilderness, all that drama, all that trauma. God, you could avoid that. Why did you let me go through this? You saw

it coming? Yes, I saw it coming. I led you to the wilderness because I knew if you would have kept going in the direction that you were going, you would meet up with the Philistines, who are some gangbangers. You weren't ready for that. So I detoured you away from that because you weren't ready for it. I directed you by that storm called the wilderness. And sometimes we have to realize that's the perfect storm that God directs us. And sometimes it's through a storm. Now, let me show

you something else. Alright. Imma show you something else. You ain't going to like this one. But Imma show it to you anyway. That even when the storm is your fault and you're in sin now. You don't believe me, do you? Look at judges chapter 14. I'm going to show you something. Judges chapter 14. We talk about him all the time. We need to leave him alone. Samson. He-Man with a she weakness. Yeah, yeah. Women were not his problem. He was his problem. Yeah. And so what happened?

Now watch this. Remember, he goes down to Timnath and saw a woman in timnath of the daughters of the Philistines. And so what happens? He goes down to Timnath. Now get this, get this, get this. Let me tell you this real quick. Timnath means allotted portion. So it belongs to the Philistines right now. But it used to belong to God. It's the appointed place. Get it? In other words, here's what happened. There was something that belonged to God that you gave to the world. And the world took

God's appointment from you. Okay, I know you just went over your head, right? You're saying I don't understand that? Uh, okay. How many times have I said, you're on Facebook, but you're not in his book. So if you spent the time in the Bible that you spent on Facebook, you have more faith. Appointed place. Appointed place. You've given what was appointed to him, to the world. And now that's drawing him. Now get this. Here's my whole point. I just had to throw that out. Check out verse four.

But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord. Let me get this. God knew this man's proclivity. He knows all of ours too, don't he? And everybody has a proclivity, don't we? What's a proclivity? Every one of us has a sin that we're fond of. How do I fight what I like? Yeah. Every one of us have one. Yeah. And so what happens that he didn't know that this was of the Lord? In other words, God chose him not just because of who his parents were and that God knew. I'm going to

use this man's sin to accomplish my purpose. Now the storm is his sin. He got a haircut and the devil's barbershop. And then what happened? Listen, listen to this. But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the Lord. That he sought an occasion against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. Do you see what that verse is saying? He's responsible for his sin. But God is going to

use his sin for his ultimate purpose. So this man goes through this storm, gets his hair cut and and all that kind of stuff chained, read into the story that he killed more Philistines in his death than he did in his life. And then remember this he's overcome by guilt because God didn't say he had to die. He asked God to kill him. Yeah, let me die with him. So God said, sure, I'll do that. But

here's the point. Here's the point. What you're going through right now, you need to get on your knees, is what you need to do and see what God is trying to do in your life, and then work with him in getting that accomplished, because we all over the place. I want to try this, and I want to do this and I want to do that. What's God say? Do what's he say. Do not what your pastor says, not what your mama, your big mama, your daddy says uncle Willie Bubba. Pookie nim. What is God telling you?

Because you gotta connect with that and you gotta roll with that. I'll get this. Let me bring this in. What did Paul want to do more than anything? Does anybody know what Paul wanted to do? Where did he want to go? More than anywhere else? Rome. That's his destination. Question. Did he get there? Yes. How? Chained in a slave ship. He's going in a slave slash prison ship now. I don't know about you, but what it says to me is this. You may like the product, but you may

not necessarily like the process. But we don't worry about what's happening in the process because God is going to put us through it whether we want to or not. We focus on the product. This is where I'm going. And so therefore I'm keeping my eyes on the prize. I'm not detouring because this is where God has taken me. And so Paul went to Rome. He got what he wanted. It was just a rough ride getting in there. How many people know that God works that way? Why? Because

of the next reason. Because of the next reason. What's the next reason? Because God sends us storms to perfect us. Now, now here. Here it is. What's going on? These guys that are on here, they're not listening to Paul. Now they're listening to Paul. Paul has shared with them. I got a word from God about what we're going to do. So Paul told them, he said, listen, let me give you some reassurance. This ship will not. Well, first he reprimanded them. You ain't listen to me. Uh. Then, uh,

he gave them reassurance. An angel of God came to me. Then he gave him revelation and told me ship would be lost. But you won't. And then he talked about his reliance, I trust God. Then they turn around and say, okay, if you trust him, since you told us what you told us and it came true, then what we're going to do is we're going to believe what you just told us. See what happened to them. The word perfect. You know it already, right? What is the word perfect?

It's our old friend Stelios who could holler out what it means. Come on, real quick. What does it mean to be complete? To fulfill the purpose for which you were created? That's why you got to tap into purpose. Purpose keeps you from drifting all over the place. And so he promised them that. That God is doing a work. Here it is James chapter one. He says, my brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

But let patience have her perfect work, that you may be complete and entire, lacking nothing.

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