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Calamity - Waves of Destruction

Calamity - Waves of Destruction. Text: Luke 13:1-5 February 22, 2005 David Pike. Introduction.

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Calamity - Waves of Destruction

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  1. Calamity - Waves of Destruction Text: Luke 13:1-5 February 22, 2005 David Pike

  2. Introduction • We live on a planet “plagued by great natural disasters – earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, megastorms – that strike without warning leaving havoc and destruction in their wake.” (Reader’s Digest – Great Disasters) “At nearly 0800 local time on December 26, 2004, a titanic shift of tectonic plates triggered an immense 9.0 earthquake in the Indian Ocean, 250 km from the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake was much greater than any to rock the world since 1964. The consequent tsunami devastated coastlines around the ocean and killed around 226,000 people, with millions left destitute. ” (NewScientist.com) 20,000 people each year worldwide lose their lives in great disasters, yet hero’s emerge, places are rebuilt, and accounts of extraordinary individual courage occurs against all odds.

  3. Some Great Disasters In The Bible A World-wide Flood destroys inhabitants (Ge 6-9). A great world-wide famine was used to save a Israel (Ge. 41-47). The walls of Jericho fell flat and all the inhabitants destroyed (Jos. 6). An earthquake occurred after Jesus died (Mt. 27). Fire and brimstone destroys two cities (Ge. 19). Plagues used against an Egyptian nation (Ex. 5-12). The earth opens up and kills the sons of Korah (Nu. 16:32) A tempest shipwrecked Paul vessel (Ac. 27) In the book Great Disaster’s, 195 great disaster’s are cataloged since the dawn of time. This is not exhaustive!

  4. Great Disasters Will Continue! Great Disaster’s are not just confined to the “ring of fire.” There are no boundaries, limits, or prevention. The Making of the Sahara The Burning of Rome The Black Death The Great Chicago Fire Galveston's Killer Hurricane Wrath of Vesuvius The San Francisco Earthquake Mount St. Helens Many great disasters are closer to you than you may think. Earthquake in NE Ohio 1812 New Madrid Quake Ohio River Floods 1974 Xenia Tornado The 1913 Flood in Dayton What lessons can we learn from calamity?

  5. Lesson 1: Calamity Happens To All Myth: Bad things only happen to bad people. Fact: Bad things happen to good and bad people. “…who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind. Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.’” (Jh. 9:2-3) “ Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you , no; but unless you repent or you will all likewise perish.” (Lk. 13:4-5) We may not know all the reasons why calamity happens to us all, but we should obey God and not question His divine purpose.

  6. Lesson 2: God Is Impartial God is holy and righteous. He brings good and bad on all people. “…for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, He sends rain on the just and the unjust.” (Mt. 5:45) “That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isa. 45:6-7) “The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works.” (Ps. 145:9) “…Behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” (Jer. 18:11) Calamity is a tool God uses on all.

  7. Lesson 3: God Is Active & Powerful Do you see God still active and in-charge of His creation? “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Am. 3:6) “But the very hairs of your head are numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Mt. 10:30-31) “giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ep. 5:20) “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:22) “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice.” (Ph. 4:4) We do not need to fear anything! Be thankful and rejoice everyday!

  8. Lesson 4: Time and Chance We have time and chance to obey God now – “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to men of understanding, nor favor to men of skill; but time and chance happen to them all. For man also does not know his time; like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them.” (Eccl. 9:11-12) “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a little vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (Jm. 4:13-15) Live the moment as if it is your last in obedience to God.

  9. Lesson 5: A Warning To Repent God’s blessings and warnings should lead to repentance – “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and a lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord. I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, but they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord. I blasted you with blight and mildew, when your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord.” (Amos 4:6-11) Calamity from God was a warning to cause people to repent!

  10. Lesson 5: A Warning To Repent “I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; your young men I killed with a sword, along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord. I overthrew some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord. Therefore thus will I do to you O Israel; and because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” (Amos 4:6-11) “And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the Lord had said. So the Lord said to Moses: Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people Go.” (Ex. 7:13-14) Heed the warnings! Repent or perish. Prepare to meet Your God!

  11. Keeping Calamity in Perspective “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong…Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” (Job 1:21-22; 2:10) “By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.” (Hb. 11:24-27) Calamity will test our faith and cause us to look at the promise and not the circumstances. We must discern between flesh and spirit, and temporal and eternal.

  12. Are You Ready For The Greatest of All Disaster’s Yet To Come? “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (II Pt. 3:9-13)

  13. “Prepare To Meet Your God!” “Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:14-15) “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of righteous judgment of God.” (Ro. 2:4-5) Calamity can happen to you. Don’t be caught unprepared. Tomorrow may be too late. Today, do not harden your hearts. Obey God’s commands now.

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