This Too Shall Pass by Rev. Billy Cole

let's move on to another verse now and look at one of the most astounding things that Paul ever said absolutely incredible it is truly apostolic because he was always apostolic but he said something in verse 22 that just kind of takes my breath but it also once I understand what he says it helps me because I have found myself in circumstances that I didn't know what was going to happen and it's comforting to know that the Apostle Paul who was such a great man of God also found himself in that kind of a circumstance I read for you in verse 22 and this will be all the time that we have and this will be the last thing that we will enlarge upon that the Apostle Paul has said in this great speech but in verse 22 he says and now behold I go bound in the spirit under Jerusalem or in other words he has to go the Spirit has made him to understand that he has to go to Jerusalem that this is the will of God but then he adds some words here that just is breathtaking astonishing not knowing the things that shall befall me there the Apostle Paul was in fact a human being subject of human frailty summing subject to human frustrations subject to human confusion and anxieties and uncertainties you know when you're thinking of the Apostle Paul you're thinking well let's God he had so much power with the Lord if something raised its head up to give him trouble or something he would just zap and that would be the end of it he would just zap it away but that's not the way it worked at all he was he was subject to human frailty and sometimes people can get the attitude towards us especially if you're greatly used the Lord and in the public eye they somehow feel like that you're superhuman and not AB uh and and and don't do the normal things of a human being suffering the normal anxieties of human beings I remember one time when we had some very fine people come into the church that I was pastoring he was a very successful businessman having the costume business of the whole area and the wedding gowns and the tuxedos and all of that plus all other kind of costumes he in fact was the president of the costume business throughout the entire United States and he came into the church out of the Methodist Church and was baptized and filled with the Holy Ghost and is very very lovely wife and God gave them a great experience with the Lord well one night after church sister Cole and I as quite normal to many people we needed some groceries in our house because we needed to eat so we went to a supermarket that was open 24 hours well this very precious and new family showed up at the supermarket about the same time and they were pushing their buggy through the supermarket and we were pushing our buggy through the supermarket and we came close to each other and they seen us I'll never forget the look on their face as long as I live he didn't say anything but sister looked at us and said brother Cole what are you doing in a supermarket well I'll tell you what not to do it is over there getting my fat self some country so I could stay fat you have to eat the steak fat but the thing that I want to point out to you was that sometimes people will put the pressure on you that because you're in the work of God anointed of the Lord and maybe even have the gifts of the spirit and use of God in a great way that you're not a normal human being and that in itself puts a lot of pressures on us amen the Apostle Paul was so human that he even in some occasions worked with his own hands he had a job of making tents and in the second Corinthians the 12th chapter the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church in this fashion 2nd Corinthians chapter 12 let me read that for you and verse 12 and 13 truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you and he was talking about himself being there his own ministry truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all patience in signs and wonders and mighty deeds well what is it wherein you were ye inferior to other churches accept it to be that I myself was not burdensome to you in other words I didn't receive any offering from you you didn't provide me a room you didn't feed me you didn't take care of me you give me nothing I took care of myself and that made you inferior to the other churches not burdensome to you and he asked them to forgive him for this wrong forgive him for not taking an offering from them forgive them forgive him for not receiving something from them for his ministry the Apostle Paul wrought among them great and mighty miracles and at the same time was making tents with his own hand he was a very normal human being in many many ways a man and sometimes problems will arise and we will feel confused and frustrated and we're not just sure what's about to happen and somehow the enemy will speak to us and and take advantage of us and say see you're not office Tolly who do you think you are you you think you got the gifts of the Spirit and you're anointed of the Lord to help people receive the Holy Ghost and here you don't even know what's about to happen you see God has departed from you that is not true that is not true but the Choi young what Ana John of Thailand was one of the great men of God and truly an apostle an apostle to Thailand and was greatly used of God in that nation and he had such keen gifts of the Spirit and he is now the superintendent of the work in Thailand I hold an honorary position in Thailand but he is the actual superintendent in Thailand they hold me in great esteem and they're very kind to me and my word is very important to them but brother chai yung what kind of John is the real superintendent in Thailand he has he is so gifted in the spirit that when one of his ministers gets into serious trouble or gets into real difficult times he would know it in the spirit God would make him to know it and he would make contact with these people and oftimes be able to minister to them just at the right time because he was so anointed of the Lord to do that type of thing however when it come to himself off times he did not know what was going to happen off time there was no revelation to him concerning his own family I remember on one occasion he had you know he had a very beautiful wife who come from very elite family of Thailand in fact sister winning his wife attended school with the king of Thailand her father was the elite of Thailand and of course they were Buddhists and when she became a Christian she was well isolated from her family and gave up much but she did come from a very elite family and a very beautiful woman and she was a godly woman God allowed things to happen in her life that brought her to be a very very godly woman she at first when she came into this truth and brothers tell you what that John began to preach this gospel I'll have to say she was a bit of a snob she she was a problem with her attitude towards preachers but God allowed her to have a little helpless child that was totally helpless for eight years before they had to bury that child and through that experience her attitude was totally changed and she became a servant of the church totally dedicated totally sold out and sensitive to the Holy Ghost greatly used of God in the Bangkok Church when brother chai young would travel their son was studying for his master's degree in the central part of Thailand in one of the universities there and he had a vision from the Lord that he had seen his father in a terrible wreck and both of his arms was tore off of his body in this vision and he was had blood all over him and his arms was gone and his father was walking around in total frustration in this horrible condition and so he called his mother and related this vision to her and she explained that he was out traveling throughout the nation of Thailand but she assured her son that that her that his father was going to be alright and she hung up the phone she turned to a young lady that was a college student in Bangkok that was staying in the house there with her her name was Joo and she said khun Joo I am going to die because I am chai use arms and chai had just told me of a vision I am chai Yume's arms and this means that I'm going to die and just two days later when he had a heart attack and died it took brother chai you wanted ajahn by total shock and surprise she was able to get a hold of him and urged him to come home urgently and he made it home but when she died there was nothing he could do about it it took him by total surprise if that had been some other preacher's wife he would have known that was going to happen he God would have revealed it to him but for himself there was no revelation he was so moved by that he called me and he was so disrupt and he prayed he was so distraught they wouldn't let he wouldn't let anyone touch her body for eight hours and he stayed on his knees and prayed that God would raise her from the dead but then he realized that that God would not raise her from the dead he had seen people raised from the dead that was the kind of a minister he was but for some unknown reason God did not reveal to him for the child is an anointed man greatly used of God but when it comes to his own family and to his own situation he felt frustration just like many of us do and many other people amen amen we sing that song safe in the arms of the shepherd you know safe in the fold safe in the fold were the 90 and 9 that's a great old song that's a wonderful whole song that we that we sing and we love maybe some of you young ones don't remember it but it was a famous famous song in my youth talking about the one lost sheep safe in the fold were the 90 and 9 the shepherd went out looking for the one well that's a great song and that's a wonderful thought but that's not what the Bible says safe in the foal were the 90 and 9 let me read you what the Bible says and it's the words of the Lord Jesus Christ it's found in Luke chapter 15 and verse 4 it says what man of you having a hundred sheep if he lose one of them does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness it doesn't say the ninety and nine are safe in the fold they are left in the wilderness one time Jesus said we're like sheep among wolves things can happen to us things that are common to man can happen to us a man and so we can get hurt we can get hurt even though we got the Holy Ghost even though you may be an apostle even though you may be a prophet even though you may have the gifts of the Spirit in your life even though you may be a great person in the work of the Lord these things can happen to you even the Apostle Paul here we're talking about the Apostle Paul in the manner of the Apostle Paul and here in this twentieth chapter we're just looking at his speech and just a few chapters later we're in chapter 20 now just turn over seven chapters and what are you going to find you're going to find the great Apostle Paul on a ship in the midst of a storm that is absolutely tearing that ship to pieces and I mean that ship come apart that storm was so bad that for ten days they couldn't even see the moon or the Stars or the Sun and finally they had to throw everything overboard that meant the Apostle Paul lost everything he had everything he owned everything he had in his possession was gone it was overboard and he was struggling to save his own very own life and the ship that he was in came apart it broke half and two and he just like everybody else grabbed ahold of a piece of wood a log or a beam or something and was hanging on for dear life and he was out there in the water in the ocean up to his ears if you please in trouble with the sharks nibbling at his feet a man the Sharks are nibbling at him already and he was in a lot of trouble I'm telling you I have no idea how big those waves must have been but they were big enough to tear that ship apart and they didn't get any smaller when he got out in the water on that log and on that beam or whatever it was he was hanging on to he wasn't there because of his ownself you know he said don't go he told them he said if you sailed on this trip we're going to get in a storm it wasn't his own doing but you see he had no choice he was attached to somebody there was a guard there that had a pair of handcuffs on him arrested him and taken him to jail and taken him to Rome to be in prison it wasn't his own doing but it made no difference he was in the storm and he come dragging himself out of the water all wet and just gasping for his breath and had to pick up sticks on that isolated island to build a fire to kind of dry himself out a little bit and a on a snake got ahold of him and bit him for goodness sakes but the lord stayed with him and he was able to put toss that snake and shake that snake off in into the fire a man and God was with him and helped him it wasn't his own doings it wasn't his own plans but it was a real storm and he was penniless he didn't have a penny he had no clothes except the ones that he was wearing he'd lost his suitcase he had lost everything probably lost his Bible too or whatever it was he had with him he lost everything he was a pauper but he was also still an apostle and you may find yourself in a situation where your house is taken away from you and your car and your clothes and your job and everything is taken away maybe your church is taken away that doesn't mean that you've sinned maybe you have but it doesn't mean that you have it's possible to be an apostle and be in these frustrating circumstances and it can happen to all of us things that are common to man can happen to us I never shall forget one time when an elder that I pastor come into my office he was absolutely hysterical he was a good man he was faithful to church he was faithful in his worship he was faithful in his behavior he was faithful in his finances to the church he was to church on time it was so important to him to be on time his wife who was always late he bought her another car so he could get the church on time and she could come late and he was a good man he was a faithful man he was a wonderful man and he come walking into my office one day in an absolute panic he was a tall man and grasped his hair and pulled his hair and he said pastor why didn't even God has God done this to me I said quiet down elders sit down elder and let me talk to you God has not done this to you that little 14 year old daughter of yours it's not married it has been having fornication experiences it's a Craig NIT now with a child she's the one that's done that to you and if you calm down if you'll calm down and if you lis embrace that child and if you've ever loved that child you better love that child now because that child is going to be in a storm for a long time and because of your attachment to that child God hasn't put you in this storm nor has your own direct lessness put you in this storm this child that you're attached to is going to take you through this storm but if you trust in God and then of course I told him the story that I've just repeated to you about the Apostle Paul God not only saved the life of the Apostle Paul but he saved the life of everybody else that was on that ship they would have all drowned it if the Apostle had not have been on that ship they would have all drownded they would have all died but because the Apostle Paul was on that ship with him he not God not only saved him but he saved them also and I said elder if you'll just calm down you're gonna be in a storm for a long time you're not gonna see the Sun the Moon the Stars and you're gonna feel like you're in the water up to your ears for a long time and you're gonna feel like the Sharks are nipping at your heels but God will bring you out of that storm and he'll bring that child of yours out of this storm and he will save your grandbaby if you will just walk with God and trust God we all get in the storms it makes no difference whether we're full of the Holy Ghost are not full of the Holy Ghost Matthew taught us of an illustration the Lord and it's recorded by Matthew and the Lord Jesus Christ was talking to us in the seventh chapter of Matthew and he talked about two people one of them built their house on the rock and one of them built their house on the sand the interesting thing is that the storm for both people was identical was exactly alike now in verse 25 it describes the storm of those of those that built their house upon the rock and in verse 27 it it describes the storm of those that built their house on the sand now then I would assume that when Jesus using this illustration of someone that built their house on the rock is someone that has built their life on the teachings of the Word of God the rock the unmovable unchangeable Word of God and those that have built their house on the sand are those that just go with the world and totally disregard the will of God and the Word of God I would assume that is the lesson that is there but I'd like for you to look at verse 25 verse 27 and in verse 27 it describes the storm of those that built their house on the sand but I'm not going to read verse 27 I'm gonna read verse 25 and what you're going to discover is that the storm is identical word for word comma 4 comma period for period the storm is exactly the same and the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house but here is the difference this is where the verse changes and it fell not praise the Lord so we don't have the promise when we're walking with God in the gifts of the Spirit and powerful in the spirit that doesn't there's no commitment from the Lord that we're not going to suffer that we're not going to have trials that we're not going to have to job hunt that we're not going to have to house hunt that we're going to have to not take our car and get it fixed all these things are very very normal to man amen there are those however that get into a storm just because of their own deliberate stubborn there was a man of God that did that by the name of Jonah you remember him oh yeah the Lord said in Jonah I want you to go over to Nineveh and tell those people that I'm mad at him and I'm gonna kill him Jonah said don't want to do it I'm not going to go because if I go over there and tell them they will repent and if they repent you'll change their mind you'll change your mind and you won't kill them now if I could be sure that you would kill him I'd be glad to go over there and tell him because I hate him too now I know I'm paraphrasing and not quoting the scripture word-for-word but that's exactly what he meant that's exactly what he was saying he hated them and and if God would really kill him he'd be glad to go there and tell him but he knew they'd repent he knew they'd repent to his preaching and and God had changed his mind so he didn't want to go and he didn't go not for a long time and he took us a ship ride and the storm came up and of course he was the cause of it and they finally discovered that in fact he confessed it and they threw that old boy overboard and he was taken into the belly of a big fish of some kind and I'm telling you that must have been one stinking miserable suffocating horrible ride he was in there for three days and finally was spewed out on the shore he made it he was alive but he was one stinking rotten mess and there's gonna be times that even when you're a man of God you're gonna have puke all over you so to speak you're gonna be in jams like you wouldn't believe and that doesn't mean that God has forsaken you even when you're rebellious even when you're rebellious God will forgive you and God will help you Jonah was as rebellious as he could be and sure enough they repented and God changed his mind just like Jonah said he would and he didn't kill him and he eventually got over there you know they believed him because somebody 1020 and taught him said you've got to believe this guy you ought to see the way he got here he got Tarrant a rather supernatural way a man but there are those storms that we have to go through even the Apostle Paul and through them and we go through them sometimes because of somebody we're attached to sometimes because sometimes because it's just normal to human beings I don't care if you got the Holy Ghost up to your ears and it's raining outside and you go outside you're gonna get wet that's just normal to human beings you'll get sick you'll get colds and even some among us has got cancers and even died but that didn't mean that God has forsaken them do you have the explanation by the code no I don't have the explanation but I believe God and I trust God amen I do know that sometimes we're in storms and we don't get out of the storms since Lee simply because we don't call them the Lord we're trying to do our own thing trying to save ourselves you can't save yourself you need to call on the name of the Lord I was reading something the other days it's been when I say the other day it could be 10 years ago because I'm getting so old but nevertheless some time ago I was reading the scripture in mark chapter 6 and verse 40 45 tells us about a storm and straightway he constrained his disciples to get in to the ship and to go to the other side before unto Bethesda while he sent away the people and when he had sent them away he departed into a mountain to pray and when evening was come the ship was in the midst of the sea and he alone on the land and he saw them toiling in rowing for the wind was contrary unto them and about the fourth watch of the night he cometh unto them walking upon the sea Jesus came to them walking on the sea but notice this I had never noticed this before and would have passed by them he would have just walked right on by he was close and would have passed by except that when they saw him walked upon the sea they supposed it had been a spirit and when they cried out the Lord answered them you may be going through some great difficulty right now call upon the name of the Lord he's right out there in the shadows he sees you even though you can't see him he is seeing you and he will respond to you Jesus is able to rebuked the winds for you praise God hallelujah he's able to hide us the Bible says under the shelter of his wings in 2nd Corinthians the twelfth chapter in verse 8 and 9 he tells us that His grace is sufficient if you're going through a great trial or if you ever go through a great Thailand trial in the future remember that this too shall pass

Channel: Daniel Carlisle

Views: 11,415

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Keywords: 15, This, Too, Shall, Pass

Id: qDzbWu-Zt8g

Length: 30min 44sec (1844 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 07 2012