The Storm

Many of us experience storms in our lives.  I have weathered some in my life.  As a child I lived with a terminally ill brother.  I learned how to deal with the reality of knowing that he was not going to be with us for very long and the guilt of realizing that it could have been me and not him.  God has a plan for everything in our lives.
This past summer we experienced a literal storm in our lives.  My two oldest daughters were on a trip to Mexico with their grandparents and the rest of us were getting ready for church.  I was just finishing getting ready when my husband got the two younger girls in the car.  The sky looked pretty black so Jeff put the dogs in the house.  He pulled the van up close to our back door so that I wouldn’t get wet trying to get into the car.   We live out in the country so the wind can really blow with nothing to block it.  I heard the wind start to pick up so I ran and closed all of the windows.  I heard rain so I ran to the door.  It was raining pretty hard so I motioned to Jeff, my husband, that I wanted to wait a minute until the rain died down a little.  The rain seemed to just get worst.  The wind picked up.  I ran into the living room and looked out the window.  The sky was so black that I really couldn’t see anything..  The wind seemed to be blowing so hard that I started to get scared!  I ran out of the room and as I did, hail smashed through the window that I was looking out.   This wasn’t just any hail, it was the size of a grapefruit!  It smashed the windows in my living room and was blowing down the hallway into my kitchen!  If this wasn’t bad enough, my family was still waiting for me in the Van!
Panic started spring up in my heart!  I could barely see the van anymore because the wind was blowing so hard and there was so much debris blowing past.  I could make out my husband grabbing the baby out of the car seat.  He grabbed her and told Jessica, my 9 year old to lay under him.  He covered them both with his body as the window of the van broke out!  My first thought was that there was a tornado in our back yard!  I didn’t know what to do.  I tried the door handle but the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn’t even open the door.  I thought that I was going to see my husband and baby girls die that day.  I wanted to be in there with them!  If they died, I wanted to die too!  Then I thought about my 11 year old and 13 year old daughters in Mexico.  If I died, they would be orphans.   I got on my knees in that hallway and cried out to God!  I said Lord please protect them!  Please send angles to protect them.  I didn’t know it but my husband was also screaming God please protect us!  What I didn’t know at the time was that Jeff and Jessica were also crying out to God.  Jeff was screaming “God protect us!     The van was rocking back and forth from the wind.   It was totally out of my control and totally in Gods hands.  I felt a peace come over me and I knew that God was there.  I knew that he planned this whole thing out.  I didn’t know why he would do this but I knew that it was him.
I don’t know how long the storm lasted.  It seemed like hours.  In reality, I think that it was just a few minutes.  When the wind started to die some, I tried to open the door again.  It opened but the door to the hall slammed with great force!  I knew that it was still to soon to go outside.  I could see the van door try to open and close again.  My little 9 year old was also trying to get out but her dad said no!
Finally the wind stopped!  There was no movement in the van.  Panic rose in my heart again.  I grabbed the phone and called 911.  I told the dispatcher that we were hit by a tornado and that my family was in the van.  I told her that there was glass everywhere and I didn’t know if they were alive!  Jessica came running out of the van!!!  I was so relieved.  Jeff and the baby came in and I could see that they were ok!  God had protected them.  He protected me also.
Our house was in pretty bad shape after the storm.  We were missing several windows and our roof was ruined.  Our siding was smashed in on the west side.   The carpet had glass embedded in it and water damage.   My garden was gone!  Many of the trees were in bad shape.  One of our trees was blocking the road.  Despite all of that, my family was safe.  I knew that God had protected us from the storm; Jeff said that it was like an angle was covering his body with its wing.   Psalms 91:1,4 He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:  I just kept thinking: lord you ordered this up.  You have a plan.
Before the storm hit, we were having some real money problems.  We needed to pay for our daughter’s school and we needed gas in our LP tank for winter.  With cutbacks at my husbands work, and me not getting in hours at my work, we had no idea where that money would come from.  We were broke.   But God is so very good.  He sent that storm to us.  He wrecked our cars.  My van is dented and gets lots of attention but I can drive it just fine.  The insurance paid for our needs.  God supplied the means to meet those needs.  Our old farmhouse needed some work and he has supplied those needs as well.  He knows what we need even better than we do. Phil 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.  I would not have answered our prayer the way that he did, not in a million years.  God is the master at creativity.  He sent a storm to build our character and help us see what is important in life.  God comes through.  He is never earily and he is never late.  He is alwayis right on time.  What a great God we serve.

Everyday for 34 years she sat at the edge of the pool. The water glistened and shimmered begging her to dive in. Around her were stacks of books on swimming, on diving, on everything and anything to do with water. She read the books voraciously, soaking in each word, ruminating on each bit of water wisdom she could find. She sat at the feet of great veteran divers and swimmers who would talk about their glorious days of jumping into the vast deep, and how to fluidly cut through the water with their strong arms. She got it all down; she knew by heart the steps to accomplish the backstroke, the butterfly, even the advanced methods to doing a swan dive. She could taste and see and smell the water around her. If you were to meet her you would be convinced she was a professional swim coach, she knew the lingo, even bought the expensive swimsuit specially designed to cut down on water resistance. She analyzed, agonized, and dreamt about swimming. Over and over she would try to understand how in the world the water would not cause her to drown, how she could actually stay afloat. She wanted to understand it. She wanted to without a doubt feel and KNOW she would not drown and that swimming would be everything she had hoped for. She sought out the best, stopping every person that she knew who could swim and asked them to teach her their techniques, begging them to impart their knowledge and advice. So many times she would dip her toes into the water, first a toe then a leg, never more. When she only stepped in half way she would get angry, frustrated and hopeless for not experiencing what it felt like to be fully submerged in the water. At night when she was alone, fear crept into her room, it overshadowed her, paralyzed her. She secretly felt desperately alone and lost wanting desperately to swim, to experience the water envelope her. She recounted all the techniques, did all the exercises needed to keep her in tip top shape for swimming but the frightening truth was that not one of those days out of the 34 years she had been getting up and going to the edge of the pool did she jump in.

Not once.

I was that girl.

Yes, I was that girl and the only difference was that it wasn’t water I wanted to dive into and know it was God’s love and presence. How many times did I attend the conferences, sit at the feet of pastors and teachers, read every book I could get my hands on, know and memorize the Bible verses on God’s love, attend church and do all I could do to please and perform for God and yet I never dived into his love. At most I stuck my toes in the water and got angry when it never “worked”. I experienced God’s love in the power of my own flesh. I never stepped out on faith, grabbed Jesus’s hand and with wild abandon belly flopped into his arms.

Remember this guy?

Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

I bet the man with the infirmity was like me. Year after year waiting for the lottery to hit and somehow, someway someone was going to bring him healing. If he could just get to the great man or woman of God they would bring him to Jesus and he would be healed, he would feel the presence and power of God’s love. How many times have I put my trust in man to bring me healing, to have the answers, to bring me to Jesus? Oh so many countless times!
I bet the man tried to figure out in his head how to control and manipulate the situation to get the healing he so desperately wanted. If only everyone around him would wake up and do their part and take him to the water!Maybe he thought, if he just prayed harder, just studied harder, just figured it out in his head. Maybe if he was a better person and really believed it would happen, it would. Funny thing the man did not experience God’s love and healing touch and presence until Jesus said the word. No man brought healing and love, JESUS brought healing. Jesus did the work all the man did was rise up and dive in!

Five years ago Jesus grabbed my hand and I jumped in, head first, arms flailing everywhere and dove straight into the heart of Jesus’s love. I plunged into the depths of his presence and never was the water so good, so refreshing, so real. There are times when all I can do is dog paddle, there are days when keeping my head above water is a feat in itself but being in the deep with Jesus is more real, more satisfying, more powerful then all the years I sat at the edge of the pool trying to figure it all out, dipping my toes in, wondering if He really loved ME.

He does.

He loves you too.

Dive in the water the water is amazing. If you do, I suggest a cannon ball its so much fun.

We all need help from time to time. There are no “maintenance-free” Christians. We all need assistance, comfort, instruction, reproof, encouragement, and acceptance. We must avoid, at all costs, the mind-set of the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:17, “I…have need of nothing.” In our text, the Lord uses Paul to remind us that we do not all need the same thing at the same time. Those who are “unruly” will need someone to warn them, as well as the rebellious and disobedient. The Bible tells us to “comfort the feebleminded.”  There will be those who are faint-hearted or discouraged; they are in need of encouragement and comfort. They do not need to be rebuked or warned.  Sometimes, the brethren will be “weak” and in need of someone to help carry their burdens or support them in their weakness. However, whatever the need, we must have patience with everyone in our spiritual family. The verse goes on to say, “be patient toward all men.” We are to be forbearing with all the brethren. One of the greatest mistakes we make, in our attempts to minister to God’s people, surfaces when we try to give the same medicine to every ill person. We do not want to correct and reprove someone who needs support, nor do we want to comfort those who need warning.

How reassuring to know that God knows the spiritual condition of every person, and He knows what we need. We can come to Him with our needs and know that He cares; he holds the perfect answer for our problems. We can also trust Him to give us direction and discernment, when we seek to help those who struggle. We must remember to “be patient toward all men.” None of us have arrived; we all have room to grow, much room.  People, like plants, do not all grow at the same pace. Although we may be further along in a particular area than another brother or sister, if we will be honest, we discover our own weaknesses of other areas.  If we keep this in mind, we will exhibit more patience towards others. Lastly, remembering how patient God has been, and continues to be, with us will grow our patience with others.

May I ask you a question?

Has the Gospel been hid from your loved ones: your brother, sister, dad, mom, son, or daughter? Has it been hid from your grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, close friends, or even acquaintances? How could this possibly happen through the life of born again, blood cleansed, Heaven-bound believers? The answer is in II Corinthians 4:9-12, “Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.”

The Lord Jesus says, “And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” Luke 9:23  Beloved, when you carry a cross around, you will get nailed to it, either by people or by circumstances.

In verses ten and eleven of II Corinthians, the context tells us to continue in the action, meaning always, throughout the day and night.  The Devil’s strives to complete his number one goal of getting us to act natural.  When we act natural, we give him opportunity to hide our Gospel.  Now, how did the Lord Jesus die? Not His death, but how did He die? He was despised, rejected, criticized, laughed at, mocked, lied about, and misunderstood; this describes the normal Christian life.  On the other side of the cross, the natural man wants to be liked, looked up to, thought well of, and accepted. This describes the sin nature that dwells within every lost person and remains in every saved person until we go to heaven. Our enemy constantly shoots fiery darts into people’s minds, hoping they will shoot them out of their mouths.  By using their words of criticism or rejection, he will cause us to lay down our cross and to act natural. The cross that we carry, as we follow the Lord Jesus, is not to bear but to die on, allowing the Lord Jesus to live His resurrected life through us. Always, throughout the day, people or circumstances nail us to the cross; sadly, many times we react in the natural way instead of in our new nature of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance.

No matter how much we confess that we are Christians, when we get in the flesh, that old sin nature hides our Gospel. We must immediately confess our sins to God, receive His forgiveness, and then ask those that saw us and heard us to forgive us.  Tell them that the Lord Jesus did not have anything to do with the way we acted. In doing this, our Gospel will not remain hid and folks can see and hear the real Lord Jesus Christ through us.

Written by Pastor Joe Murray

The training center would house, train, educate, and introduce troubled teenagers to Jesus Christ and build character into their lives.

The call of faith has always been upon this ministry of Harvest Baptist Church. The ministry operates a Christian school, Bible college, and training center without charging monthly tuition.

In the summer of 2000, the training center faced challenging times, due to the low level of support. It was a difficult winter, and at times the utility bills reached $13,000 for one month.  The center had depleted all of its funds.  This challenged the staff and church, once again, to fall upon their face before God and ask Him, the source of our lives, to provide as He had always done for the needs of the children.

While preaching in Toledo, Ohio, the director of the center called and explained of the shortage of food. I challenged the church in Ohio, the members of Harvest, and even the children in the home to ask God to provide.  That summer proved to be one of the most exciting summers for answered prayer. The next morning, after the challenge to call upon the Lord, two grocery stores, in small communities, called and wanted to know if we needed food for the center. They were closing down, and if we would come and get the groceries, they would be delighted to donate them to the center.

That same year, a truck driver came walking up on the property from the direction of Highway 20 and asked the director of the center if wanted some turkeys. His truck had broken down on the interstate, behind the Anchor Character Training Center.  We went and picked up over twenty cases of turkeys for the training center.

To top it all off, a cold storage company contacted Pastor Smith about several cases of fresh hams, left on a dock by a truck driver.  They wanted to know if we needed meat for the center. I could continue on and on with multiple testimonies regarding the faithfulness of God.

I have come to know this, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” II Chronicles 16:9 God is not a respecter of persons, and this same God is interested in your needs regardless of how small or how large. Nothing is too hard for Him. Let me encourage you to stay upon Jehovah. Pray through my dear friend, pray through!

Written by Pastor Marvin Smith