If you stand, please stand for the reading of God's Word. Psalms chapter 107 verse 23. We'll read through verse 32. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm. so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they be quiet, so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Oh, that man would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Father, we thank you for your word. And may we do as your word says, Lord, may we lift you up and point others to you. In Christ's name we pray. Amen. May we be seated. The title of the message is Internal Hurricanes. Internal Hurricanes. We know that we are bombarded by false preachers today. And because we are bombarded by false preachers teaching a false gospel, a false hope, we have a false assumption. And we can easily buy into that lie that if we are serving God, nothing bad will ever happen to us. Have you ever heard that? Ever heard a preacher or somebody say that? Or just someone in general say that if you're serving God, don't worry about it, it's all going to be good, nothing bad is going to happen to you? That's a lie. If this is what we believe, when the storms of life do come our way, we will be unstable as water, and we'll be burdened down, and we'll be wanting to quit. But, if we understand that God is sovereign, we understand that God is in control, in Psalms 107, then we have confidence in the Lord. And if we understand that He is in control, then we know that no storm can arise in our lives that He is not in control of. Now folks, I'm not sure about you, this ought to be comforting. To know that no storm can arise that God is not in control of. We see this with Job. And that Satan could only do what he was allowed to do. It's comforting to know that Satan has to ask permission. That Satan is limited. Ain't it great knowing that Satan is not omniscient? Satan is not omnipotent? He's not all-powerful? He is a tool of God, we could say. He is under the control of God. God is sovereign over him also. God is sovereign over everything. Satan is limited. Yet God uses him to prove you and I. Do you know what a storm does? A storm proves us. A storm tests us. Storms show us where our faith really is. If we never go through storms, we would never want to leave this world. We never want to leave. We wouldn't be looking forward to heaven. We wouldn't be looking forward to being with Jesus Christ. So praise God for storms. Storms affect our flesh. We become weary. We become worn. Often we are cast down. And folks, when our flesh gets in this shape, it affects us spiritually. Your flesh does affect you spiritually. Our mind begins to play tricks on us. Y'all been there? We begin to dwell on assumptions. We begin to dwell on things that are not true. And in doing this, we become a nervous wreck. Our heads are hurt. Our stomachs are hurt. We will want to isolate ourselves from others. And isolation during a storm is devastating. It will be devastating not only to you, but to others who depend upon you. I'll give you an example. If I get down and out as the head of my home, as the soul provider of my home, if I get down and out and isolate myself, does it hurt my family? I promise you it does. If my wife was to isolate herself, it would devastate our family. We depend so much on her. When we isolate ourselves, we focus on ourselves. We tune out everything else, including God. But you know, all we have to do is simply look around and we'll see multitudes of others that's in a worse storm than what we're in. Multitudes. But keep this in mind, we're all robed in flesh, every one of us. We are all capable of being cast down. We are all capable of being discouraged, distressed. So when you see someone down and out, don't kick them. Because though they are there today, you and I may be there tomorrow. So it's important to hold each other up in prayer and point each other to Jesus Christ. Look at verse 23. They that go down to the sea in ships that do business in great waters, these see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. These do business, the Bible says, in great waters. They are not in the deep of the great waters taking a pleasure cruise, They're not out there just having a good time. This involves their lifestyle. The life they live means that they have to be in the deep. The word business here, it means ministry. It means employment, work, or property. Life's road takes us places and circumstances that we often don't want to be in. It may be that your business has you to be where you're at, out there in the deep. And you don't like being there. Look at verse 24. These see the works of the Lord and His wonders, look where we're at, in the deep. Now you've got to understand that back during this time when this psalm was written, People taking a boat and going out into the ocean was uncommon. It didn't happen very often. Matter of fact, those who would travel in a ship was praised. They were actually set up on a pedestal. They have done something that most other people have not done. They went out to the deep and survived and came back. Those who are in the deep, the Bible says in verse 24, they see the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. Folks, if you and I never went through a spiritual hurricane, then we would never see God work in that fashion. If we never went through a spiritual hurricane, we never see God work in that fashion. Understand that no one is exempt from these storms. We know hurricanes affect the land, don't we? We can go back to 2005 and still see the effects of Hurricane Katrina, still see it today. This is 2013. Often when we go clear a land, we'll clear a land and someone will make a comment, that's leftover from Katrina. That happened during Katrina, Hurricane Katrina. So we see the devastation on land. How much more in the deep during that hurricane? How much more devastation, destruction out there during a hurricane. Many of you have people that work offshore in your family. And when a hurricane comes in, what do they do for them? They evacuate them to land. It's dangerous in the deep during a storm. I want you to picture these guys in verses 24 and 20. 5 and 23 and 26 and second as we read it. Picture these guys out in the Mediterranean Sea in a wooden boat. No motor, no gadgets of today, no radio, no life vest, no life boats. Look at verse 25. for he commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths, their soul is melted because of trouble. How quick the calm waters can turn to a raging sea and melt the hearts of men. How many of y'all ever been on the lake and a storm picks up. It goes from calm to bad. Quick. I can remember a time when my dad and I was out there. We was running lines in the lake, Lake Pontchartrain. And it wasn't bad. Whenever we went out, we was in a 19, a 19 foot skiff, right? Lake skiff. And we have to run on lines and I'm young and dumb and The death is not really on my mind. In my eyes, I have my whole life to live ahead of me. And we're out there, and all of a sudden, it starts to get dark, and it's still daylight. Our storms are rising. So we start heading back in. And I don't know how far out we were. I don't know. We were far enough out where we was in trouble. I was laughing, and my dad said, boy, it's time to stop laughing. It done got serious. I was smiling, because we was going way up in the air. And all of a sudden, there'd be no water under, so we'd come down. Pow. We'd go way up in the air. We'd come down. Pow. When we'd come down, you could look around and see nothing but waves above your head. What happened? It went from being calm. to a storm, just like that. And that can melt the hearts of men. Here in the water, here in the deep, is where these people do their business. This is the place they have made their investments. This is the place they have built their livelihood on. This is the place they have built their life around. And this very place is now where the storm is raging. This type of storm will bring out what is in us. Doubt will surface. With doubt comes fear, terrors, anxieties, all because of the unknown. Will the next wave be the one that rolls over the ship or overtakes the ship? Will the ship hold together? We don't know. Where is this raging at? On the inside. It's like an internal hurricane. Over and over. This way, that way, when the wind blows and the sun splashes on you, you're concerned, you're worried, you're anxious. The storm is raging on the outside and it also is on the inside. The Bible says their soul is melted because of trouble. Verse 27, they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. Now folks, this ain't their natural state. These men are strong men, secure men. They are sure men, many that you can count on in a storm. yet they've had so much put on them. It's more than they can bear. And now they're at their wit's end. This means that all their wisdom is swallowed up. They've done all they know to do. It's no longer in their power. It's no longer in their control with the reality they never was to begin with. But they've exhausted their wisdom, they've exhausted their strength, and they are so dumbfounded now that they stagger to and fro like a drunken man. How many of y'all ever seen a drunken man stagger? I mean, I ain't talking about one playing drunk. I'm talking about one showing up drunk. Stagger to and fro. No direction. They've done all they know to do, but to no avail. Guess what's still going on around them? Storm. Still raging. Guess what's still going on on the inside of them? The storm. And the sad fact is that they have come to the realization here that they have no control over their situation. They cannot stand up and rebuke the storm, or they may try. It will not listen. They cannot say, stop, and the storm stop. They cannot say, ship, stop rocking. The ship, stop rocking. They cannot say, wind, stop blowing. The wind, stop blowing. They have no control whatsoever over this storm. Psalms 108, 12 says, give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. vain is the help of man. Folks, God will put us in situations where man cannot help. Or I should say where man cannot deliver. Why? This will make us solely rely upon God. I want you to think about it now. This ship or this boat out in the sea going way up in the air with the wave coming way down to the depth. Who can help them? Can another ship help them? If another ship was to try to help them, what would happen? They'd crash, they'd wreck, and they'd all go under. You know, the storms do get so bad at times during a rescue operation that they cancel the rescue operations lest those who are trying to rescue others become lost themselves. What man can help during this time? No mere man can. So what can you do? Look at verse 28. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and He bringeth them out of their distress. Now, folks, understand that they didn't wait to cry until after the storm was over. They cried in their trouble. They've done all they know to do. They've exhausted all their options. They may have even cried to each other. But no help came until they truly cried unto the Lord. And only the Lord could bring them out of their distresses. Only the Lord. Look at verse 29. He maketh the storm a calm. So that the waves thereof are still. We see here God's power revealed to man. The storm is calm. What did Jesus say? Peace! Be still. Now folks, that don't mean that the boat wasn't battered. That don't mean that the sail wasn't broken or that the oars were gone. No doubt there was some damage from the storm. Yet God still gave them peace. When God, listen, please hear me here, when God is the one that gives you and I peace in the storm, it is truly peace in the storm. He is our peace. When we truly trust Him, our internal storm is also made at peace. We look off ourselves. We are no longer stressed out about the unknown or the storm that is raging around us or in us. We understand we have no control, that God is fully in control, so we know we can trust Him. If the ship was to sink, then we know that God allowed it. And we know that if we are saved and the ship does sink, those songs that we sang a while ago about jesus and heaven we know where we will be we are to simply look to the lord he is our peace think of verse 30 then are they glad because they be quiet So he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Those who have been through a storm can appreciate the quiet. Amen. Those who have been through a devastating time can appreciate the peace. Who are those that have quiet? Who are those that have the calm? Who are those that have peace? Who are those who are brought forth from their distresses? Those who have put their trust in the Lord. And those who have put their trust in the Lord love the calm and the confidence that only He can give. One of the chief, probably the chief desire of someone in a storm is for the storm to end. to be over with. I can remember a few years ago, and I don't know who it was that came up with it, but they was talking about putting some type of a machine in the Gulf of Mexico to cool the waters. Y'all remember that? Some kind of invention someone came up with so they could put it in the waters and help cool the waters so that The hurricanes wouldn't be so strong. Either it really worked or it really didn't. If it really worked, you know, the government wouldn't go for it because then there would be no disasters, et cetera, et cetera, and I'm not going to go down that road. Amen. Or it really didn't work. The more fierce the storm, the more the desire to see it end. Would you agree? Folks, we all go through storms. And we will all continue to go through storms as long as we are alive on this earth. Life has storms. If God delivers you, you are delivered from that storm. How about Noah? Was Noah a preacher of righteousness? Did Noah obey God and build the ark as God commanded him to the saving of his family's soul and his soul, the Bible says, of their lives? Yet was he in a storm? Was he in a place he had never been before? He was shut up in the ark. Don't you wish he'd have swallowed those two love bugs in there? Yet he was in a place he had never been before. It had never rained before. For 40 days and 40 nights it rained. Before another hunter or so, in the ark, not seeing no land. He was in a place he had never been before. Yet, who was this trusting? It was in the Lord. Now, look at verses 31 and 32. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the elders. When we're in a storm and God delivers us through the storm or from the storm, whichever his will is, Watch what the Bible says again in verse 31. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works to the children of men. Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the assembly of the elders. What's He simply saying? We are to tell others. When God delivers you and I When God gets us through a storm, we ought to tell others, the congregation and the elders, to let them know what great things God has done for us. It helps others. Have you ever listened to an old sailor? And listened to the stories when they've been in severe storms out in the ocean? severe storms. Whether they was on a battleship or just a shrimp boat or whatever. And hear these stories and how a miraculous event took place that affected lost and saved by the way. But aren't these stories interesting? They on your minds? Same way with you and I when we're in a storm. When we're in the deep in the storm and God delivers us, we ought to be telling others about Jesus Christ. About what He has done for you and I. How He's gotten us through the storm. Tell them about Him. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 speaks much about comforting others, wherewith we ourselves were comforted by God. The storms you're in today, someone else may be in it tomorrow. And as I look around this church and I see many families who've been through a lot in four months or so. This is a small congregation compared to what we've been through. I believe it's obvious that we're not in control. That God is. And we are to praise Him. Praise Him. I've heard others about Him. There are others about how He has delivered us or is delivering us. He is worthy. Aren't we thankful to be caught by His grace? To God be the glory. Let's pray. Father, we are thankful tonight that You are in control. Lord, I pray that we wouldn't take that for granted, that we wouldn't just say it but that we would truly believe it that you are sovereign nothing oh god nothing can come upon us unless you allow it father we are so thankful that you are in control we're asking for these families that's been in storms still going through storms for grace god Lord, that they may turn to you, to look to you, look off their own situation, simply look to you, for you are our peace, you are our confidence, you are our hope. Lord, help us to tell others about the great and marvelous things that you do. Thank You for loving us. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.