Scriptures and Key Points:
- When the storms come, you better be connected.
- We need stability in relationship to God and His Church.
Hebrews 11:7 NKJV By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household…
Genesis 6–9 NKJV Noah and the Ark
Hebrews 10:26-27 NKJV For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.
Hebrews 10:29 NKJV Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
- By preparing and getting in alignment to God’s kingdom principles, both individually and corporately, we can be ready to be a help to others during the storms of life.
Luke 21:13 NKJV But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.
- “There is such need in the world around us today. How can we settle into complacency? How can we be so hardened of heart as to sit back on the beach of comfort, ease, and apathy while so many are still shipwrecked in the sea of despair?”
Lessons From the Book of Hebrews for the Coming Storms
- Hebrews’ recurring theme is of believers standing strong in the Lord during the storms of life and finishing their journey of faith well.
- Six warnings in Hebrews:
- First, the warning and danger of neglect;
- Second, the warning and danger of unbelief;
- Third, the danger of the hardening of our hearts;
- Fourth, the danger of dullness of hearing;
- Fifth, the danger of drawing back or away from God;
- Sixth, the danger of refusing God.
- Nearly every believer claims to desire a transformed life, but these 10 factors often get in the way:
- Failure to hate sin (Hebrews 1:9; 12:1; 13:18)
- Negligence (Hebrews 2:1–3)
- Hardening of heart (Hebrews 3:7–15)
- Unbelief (Hebrews 3:12, 19; 10:38–39; 11:6)
- Prayerlessness (Hebrews 4:16; 5:7–8)
- Dullness of hearing (Hebrews 5:11–14)
- Insulting the Spirit of grace (Hebrews 10:26–29)
- Discouragement (Hebrews 6:11–12, 19–20; 10:23, 35–36; 12:12–13)
- Harboring unforgiveness and bitterness (Hebrews 12:14–15)
- Refusing the Lord when He speaks (Hebrews 12:25–27)
Taking A Closer Look
“We’re content to live without it. It’s too costly. We don’t want God to disrupt our status quo. The Christian life can only be lived one way, and that’s God’s way. And God’s way is that I leave all and follow Him…. When I think I’ve ‘arrived’ at something, the Lord shutters that.” – Leonard Ravenhill, Why Revival Tarries
- Each of us must guard against spiritual complacency.
Revelation 2:4 NKJV Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
- We need people today who exhibit radical commitment.
- God doesn’t owe us anything. For He has already given us everything through Christ.
“Could a mariner remain idle if he heard a drowning cry? Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients die? Could a fireman let people burn without lending a hand? Can you sit at ease in Zion (or as Christians) while the world around you is damned?” – Leonard Ravenhill
1 Corinthians 16:9 NKJV For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
Hebrews 12:25-29 NKJV …But now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.
Shakings and Storms
- From a place of discouragement we must watch out that we don’t compromise our convictions.
- We should call upon the Lord and His emergency hotline to find peace, grace, and mercy.
Philippians 4:7 NKJV And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Jeremiah 29:11-12 NKJV For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
Ephesians 3:20 NKJV Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us
Revelation 3:7 NKJV …“He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”
Jeremiah 8:20 NKJV “The harvest is past, The summer is ended, and we are not saved!”
John 10:10 NKJV The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
- We have the opportunity to bring a message of hope in the midst of life’s storms.
Tethered for the Storms
“I simply argue that the cross should be raised in the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town’s garbage heap; at a crossroads, so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. At the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. That is what He died for. And that is what He died about. And that is where church people ought to be, and what church people ought to be about.” – George MacLeod
“Some like to live within the sound of church or chapel bells; I’d rather run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.” – C.T. Studd
“Our passion for Christ must be greater than our passion for anything else.” – Bishop Dale Bronner
“When God finds someone with courage to pray, preach, and live a life before Him of holiness and compassion, He can literally change the face of a nation.” – Winkey Pratney
- During times of crisis and storms, courage and cowardice both emerge.
“Let others live on the raw edge or cutting edge, you and I should live on the edge of eternity.” – Leonard Ravenhill
Books:
- Leadership Awakening by Doug Stringer
- Why Revival Tarries by Leonard Ravenhill
- Tried and Transfigured by Leonard Ravenhill
- Living Life Well by Doug Stringer
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