Why This Storm? - Part 1 | Jentezen Franklin

Thank you for joining us today on Kingdom Connection. I'm Jensen Franklin, and I believe that this message today is going to change your life. I really believe many of you are supposed to be watching this program. And the reason I say that is everybody can relate to what I'm going to preach. I'm preaching today on why this storm. Why am I going through what I'm going through? And I'm going to explain to you that there are two kinds of storms that every person faces in life. And I'm going to teach you something that I think is going to really help you. And you're going to have three takeaways from this message. Three really weapons, I believe, of God's Word. Three things that you can hold on to no matter how severe and how heavy the storms of life are hitting you and your family. And by the way, at the end of this message, I'm going to come back and pray for you that God will initiate and give you that power and faith that you need to get through this storm. And you're going to get those three weapons, I believe, that really are confessions that I think every person should make when you're facing something that's overwhelming you in the sense of it being a storm of life. Jesus will not leave you unprepared for that storm. He's got the answer, and He's got the help on the way. Listen to this message, Why This Storm. Together, we're inspiring people to live for Jesus. If you're looking for more in life, to live with purpose and peace, to make a difference for your family and those in need around the world, Jesus is the answer. And our mission is to simply point you to Him. You're watching Kingdom Connection with Kenneth Copeland and Joseph Jetson Franklin. If you have your Bibles, I'd like to go to the book of Mark chapter 6. Mark chapter 6 and verse 45. If you are looking at

a Bible, you know that right up above is one of the great stories of the Bible, the feeding of the 5,000. It had been the same day. And now, verse 45 picks up the story immediately. Jesus, He made His disciples. King James says, He constrained them. It's a very different word. Some, if you look it up in translations, one of them says it is very near, but it could have been He even laid hands on them. And because apparently, they did not want to go. The word constrain is used several times through. There's, this is a story in the Bible over and over that's told by different writers. Constrain them. He made His disciples get in the boat and go before Him to the other side to Bethsaida. While He sent the multitude and when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray. Now, when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea and He was alone on the land and He saw them straining at rowing for the wind was against them. Now, about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking on the sea and would have passed them by. And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, be of good cheer. It is I do not be afraid. Then He went up into the boat to them and the wind ceased and they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marvel. And I'm going to preach this morning from this text about the storms of life. Specifically, why do they come? Why does God allow storms to come? Because all of us go through storms. Everybody goes through storms. Sometimes it's a storm that hits your family. Sometimes it's a storm that hits your marriage. Sometimes it's a storm that hits you financially. Hits your business. It's a storm that hits you with one of your

children or some special. And you know, when you get in the storm, you feel like what in the world is going on? And God, how much more can I take? And everything is against me. And I'm in the middle of this and I don't see any way out. And I don't know what I'm going to do. You're not unique. He, the Bible said, in this world, we will have tribulation. Jesus himself said that. You will have tribulation. You will face storms. The reason that God allows storms is what I'm gonna share with you this morning. Why this storm? Why? That's kind of the first question we go to, is why? Why is this happening? And it's a good question to ask. And specifically, I wanna tell you and teach you today that there are two kinds of storms. When I think of storms, I think of the two biggest storms in the Bible, in my mind, the most probably noted storms in the Bible, one in the Old Testament, one in the New, the storm of Jonah, when he goes in rebellion against God's will, and then the story of the storm in the New Testament that we just read about with Jesus and his disciples when he said, go over to the other side. So there are two kinds of storms. One we see in the Old Testament, one we see in the New, and here's the whole lesson

that I'm going to drive home this morning. Number one, there are storms of correction. Jonah's storm was a storm of correction. The disciples' storm was a storm of perfection. God was doing a mighty work in them while they were in the perfect will of God. Jonah was completely out of the will of God, and he went through a storm of correction. The others were in the will of God in the New Testament, the disciples, but it was not one to their destruction, it was a storm of perfection. God is committed to seeing you become what he's called you to be and be ready for eternity, and he will allow you to go through storms to perfect that which he has put in you. And so the two kinds of storms, I want to break it down. Number one, there are storms of correction that God allows to come. We see it in the book of Jonah when Jonah was told by God clearly, go to Nineveh and tell them to repent or they will perish. And he refused it. He knew the will of God, he knew the voice of God, he knew God was speaking to him, he refused to do the will of God. And God loved him so much that he said, I can't just let you go and do what you want to do. You go do what you want to do, but sometimes God, really, I'm just gonna go on and say it.

If you know the Lord and you know the Bible and you know, and you got people praying for you and you've been raised in this stuff and you know what's right and what's wrong and you know deep in your heart, you're not doing right, not living right, you came to the wrong service because I'm gonna tell you, there's a storm of correction coming in your future. Nobody gets by with nothing down here. Whether you're a believer or you're not a believer, you don't get by with nothing. And I'd rather face my correction here in this life than to go into eternity and deal with it for all of eternity. And that's not a mean God, that's a kind God. It's the kindness of God to not allow us to go in the opposite direction. Do you know the Bible said Jonah got on a ship and went in the absolute opposite direction of what he absolutely knew was the perfect will of God for his life. It was rebellion, it was turning his back on everything he knew that was right. He went in the opposite direction and the Lord, the book of Jonah said, sent a wind into the sea, a mighty tempest about to break the ship and sink it. So here's what I want you to get now. When you get in a storm,

the first question you need to ask is how did I get here? You need to ask yourself, is this a storm of correction? Why and how did I get here? The sailors on board were terrified. The Bible tells it in graphic detail. They began to panic being experienced sailors. They knew the ship was breaking apart and going under and they started throwing everything on the boat off just to keep it afloat and Jonah was asleep. And some of you have been asleep and you've been going in the opposite direction and you think you're just having smooth sailing. And he was down in the boat asleep when all of them were panicking. And they wake him up and they said, Jonah, if you've ever prayed, it's bad when people have to wake you up to pray, wake the church up to pray. And he said, please pray to your God. And Jonah immediately knew, he said, it's my fault. This storm is happening to all of you because I'm out of the will of God. And instantly he said, throw me into the ocean. And they threw him into the ocean and instantly the storm stopped. And the Bible said in the same moment, God, listen to this, had prepared a fish to swallow him. How long did it take God to prepare that fish? It was a giant whale or something like that, that, that, that was big enough. It had grown years and years and years and years. And when it swallowed him, it had been prepared. God's will is waiting on you to sell. I love the fact that Jonah didn't mess around when he understood this is a storm of correction. This is serious. This is a big deal.

He immediately jumped off the boat, going in the wrong direction and started going back. And instantly God said, I have, I'll swallow you up in my preparations that I've made for you to get you back to what I want you to do with your life, right where you are. Not another day this morning, stop, get off that boat and get back to where you're supposed to be. The moment you make the effort, God will swallow you up in provision and in his purpose, he'll, he'll move heaven and earth to get you back. He'll restore you prodigal son. He'll restore you. Don't keep going your way. Everybody shouts, stop. You may be in the middle of the ocean, but you can turn around and go God's way. And when he started going God's way, the preparation of God swallowed him up. But then there's this, this second storm that I want to preach about. Ask the question, how did I get here? If it's a storm of correction, if you're doing things you shouldn't be doing, and now you're dealing with the repercussions, stop, stop. Look at yourself from that hole going the opposite direction of God's wheel and say, Lord, I don't want you to have little closet in my life. I give you my whole temple. I give you my body. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit. First Corinthians six, and when you do that, he will bless you again. And he has the perfect salvation remedy and plan for your life. Now listen, then when you read of this storm, there is the storm of correction, but there's also storms that believers go through. When we're in the will of God, when we're in the kingdom, when we've been born again, spirit field went on the 21 day fast and I'm in the worst storm I've ever been in my life, pastor. Why this storm?

It's a storm of perfection. It's a storm like the disciples got in. When the disciples came to Jesus, they came to him. They had went out on their first missionary journey without Jesus. He had sent them out two by two and he told them, don't take any money with you and don't take an extra coat with you. Just go and preach the gospel and come back. And they came back and they were so fired up. The vibe was enthusiastic and joyful. And they said, Lord, in your name, we cast out spirits and in your name, it's just like you did it. We healed the sick. Lord, we, this is amazing. And Jesus just stole all their thunder. And he said, rejoice not, shut it down, stop. Rejoice not over what you did for me, but rather rejoice that your name is written in heaven. Rejoice only over what I can do for you because I don't need you. You need me. So it starts right there. I'm going to teach you something this morning. It starts right there. Everything's going amazing and it's almost like Jesus killed the vibe, you know, and then they. Immediately go to the desert with him. And he starts teaching on about the Beatitudes, the famous sermon. And the people sat all day long and listened to him. And the scripture said, as when the evening came, this is in the book of Matthew,

said when the evening came, the disciples came to him with a tremendous problem. They said, Lord, the people hadn't ate all day. It took hours to get here for them by foot. And they're hungry. If you're gonna go to your leader with a problem, don't just go with the problem. They said, what are you gonna do? And he put it back on them. He said, have you got any money? And they said, no, you told us not to take any money. Because he told them don't take any money. No, you told us. It's like he's blaming them that they don't have any money. And then he said, they said, well, Lord, what are we gonna do? Send them home. We don't want the problem. If you're gonna bring a problem to a leader, it's to help all of you. Don't bring a problem without having the solution that includes you. Anybody can be the problem solver. You know, we got this problem over there and you know this over there and that department over there and that. But when you bring a problem, this is just, this is a footnote. Be a problem solver. And that includes your willingness to get involved.

To criticize is the smallest size. Get involved. It's getting quiet in this Presbyterian church right now. This is your problem, feed them Lord. And Jesus never did feed them. He said, what do you have? Watch him shift. The miracles not in what you don't have. The miracles in what do you have? They said, well, there's a lad that's got a lunch and he's got five little biscuits and he's got three fish. He said, give it to me. And he blessed it and he gave thanks for it. And he broke it. He handed it to them, 12 of them, 5,000 men plus women and children. And you got 12 waiters, 12 waitresses here. Imagine having to serve 5,000 men plus women and children and only 12 servers. Cause it came from Jesus' hand to the 12 and it had to come from him because it was supernatural that the more they handed it out, the more. So there's 12 waiters for 5,000 men. How tiring would it, and you know, there's always some, can I get another glass of tea? Can I serve everybody first in your little group right here? But, you know, and can you imagine, you know, we read these stories, 12 people had to serve 5,000 men plus children plus women. So that's easily 15, 20,000 people and 12 people.

They're worn out. Jesus killed their vibe before they ever got in it. And now they're servants, you know, they went from weak, hostile devils, and now they're servants, you know, they're worn out, they're picking. And then it's really something. Scripture said that he then, after they've hours and hours of serving these people, they're worn out, they're tired. This is, I'm trying to get you to understand, this is how it is. Just when you think you can't take any more, Jesus says, pick up all the bread and fish that remain. We don't wanna waste any of it. If I'd have been there, I'd have said, why don't you just make some more? If we need some more, I mean, if you could do this, but Jesus said, go pick up all the remaining bread that's left over, go get it. We're gonna get some leftover bags going here, 12 of them. You know they were rolling their eyes and they're picking up, it's dark now. They're picking up smelly fish and putting it, that's enough. Well, thank God we finally got it all, Lord. We got 12 baskets. We took it with that little lad home and they got it pressed down, shaking together and running over.

So let's go to sleep. Is the fire, is anybody, we're ready to go to sleep. No, immediately Jesus said, get on the boat and he constructed it. I believe he had to constrain them all much lay hands on because they were like, yeah And I could and you know in fairness Simon Peter and others were fishermen They could tell the Bible said the wind was contrary They knew the wind these sailors they we know if we put our sail up the winds blowing in the wrong direction It's never good when the winds blowing from that direction a storm is coming. They knew it and And they're trying to tell and Jesus finally constrained them I said get in the boat now go And they all reluctantly get in the boat. They can't even put the sail up That's why the Bible said the rowing why because the winds blowing the right if you put you You know You understand what I'm saying? This is not this is stupid. Why am I going through this? Why am I weary? Why is this happening to us? Get in the middle, but I love what the next verse says and when they had left in obedience Everybody say they were in the perfect will of God They were doing everything they knew to do to obey Jesus and they sail right into a storm