How to Survive Life’s Storms

All of us go through storms, but only some of us make it out of them. As Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount, he taught his listeners how to build the types of lives that can withstand life’s storms

April 11, 2021

Sermon Notes

Matthew 7:24–29

All of us go through storms, but only some of us make it out of them. As Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount, he taught his listeners how to build the types of lives that can withstand life’s storms

Some of the most tragic lives are those who know the Word but fail to apply it.

The Shared Human Experience

  • Everyone encounters God.
  • Everyone builds something.
  • Everyone experiences storms.

The Distinctly Different Outcome

  • The outcomes of our lives are contingent upon whether we ignore Jesus or not.
  • The choice between preservation or devastation is not the amount of information but the degree of application.
  • You cannot avoid storms, but you can prepare for them.
  • Most of the brokenness in our lives comes from our sin or someone else’s sin.

The Greatest Sermon’s Recap

  • Beatitudes: You will not find lasting happiness fighting against Jesus’ direction (Matt. 5:3-12).
  • Salt & Light: Your faith ought to be observable by those around you (Matt. 5:13-16).
  • Law & Prophets: If Jesus is who He says He is, then we need to be who He has called us to be (Matt. 5:17-20).
  • Anger: Unaddressed anger must be confronted in our lives (Matt. 5:21-26).
  • Lust: Personal victory over lust requires an intentional fight (Matt. 5:27-30).
  • Divorce: Marriage should never be cast aside as some temporary or conditional agreement (Matt. 5:31-32).
  • Oaths: Our credibility is determined by the trustworthiness of what we say (Matt. 5:33-37).
  • Payback: Don’t give others what they deserve; give them what they need (Matt. 5:38-48).
  • Generosity: Don’t seek to be noticed when you have the opportunity to give (Matt. 6:1-4).
  • Prayer: Prayer should have more to do with God and others than yourself (Matt. 6:5-13).
  • Forgiveness: When others cause emotional pain in your life, forgiveness is the only restorative option (Matt. 6:14-15).
  • Fasting: Fast to remind yourself how much you desperately need God (Matt. 6:16-18).
  • Worldliness: The danger of decadence is how it numbs us to our need for God and others’ need for us (Matt. 6:19-24).
  • Anxiety: Unchallenged anxiety is a symptom of practical atheism (Matt. 6:25-34).
  • Judging: Don’t refrain from accountability but abstain from hypocrisy (Matt. 7:1-6).
  • Fatherhood: Remember that our Father desires to give His children good things (Matt. 7:7-11).
  • Golden Rule: Christians ought to specialize in doing good to others (Matt. 7:12-14).
  • Make-Believers: Salvation is not contingent upon what you know about Jesus but what Jesus knows about you (Matt. 7:15-23).
  • Obedience: The only homes that can withstand storms are those who built according to Jesus’ direction (Matt. 7:24-27)