The Fruit Comes Afterward
The sermon teaches that even in the midst of storms and trials, there is a blessing and a fruit that will come afterward, and that we must trust in God's plan and timing to receive it.
Charles E. Cowman preaches about finding beauty and growth in the midst of life's storms, drawing inspiration from Nahum 1:3. He shares a personal childhood experience of witnessing a storm and how the landscape transformed, only to reveal the storm's impact in the growth of nature the next day. Cowman encourages embracing challenges and trials as opportunities for spiritual growth, likening them to the stormy tempest that brings forth blessings and rich fruitage in the future.
Text
"The Lord hath His way in the whirlwind and storm" (Nahum 1:3).
I recollect, when a lad, and while attending a classical institute in the vicinity of Mount Pleasant, sitting on an elevation of that mountain, and watching a storm as it came up the valley. The heavens were filled with blackness, and the earth was shaken by the voice of thunder. It seemed as though that fair landscape was utterly changed, and its beauty gone never to return.
But the storm swept on, and passed out of the valley; and if I had sat in the same place on the following day, and said, "Where is that terrible storm, with all its terrible blackness?" the grass would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the daisy would have said, "Part of it is in me," and the fruits and flowers and everything that grows out of the ground would have said, "Part of the storm is incandescent in me."
Have you asked to be made like your Lord? Have you longed for the fruit of the Spirit, and have you prayed for sweetness and gentleness and love? Then fear not the stormy tempest that is at this moment sweeping through your life. A blessing is in the storm, and there will be the rich fruitage in the "afterward." --Henry Ward Beecher
The flowers live by the tears that fall
From the sad face of the skies;
And life would have no joys at all,
Were there no watery eyes.
Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring
Its own excuse in after years;
The rainbow!--see how fair a thing
God hath built up from tears.
--Henry S. Sutton
Sermon Outline
- I. The Storm and the Fruit
- A. The storm can be overwhelming and destructive
- B. But the storm can also bring forth fruit
- C. We must trust in God's plan and timing
- II. The Fruit of the Spirit
- A. We must ask to be made like our Lord
- B. We must long for the fruit of the Spirit
- C. We must trust that the fruit will come afterward
- III. The Blessing in the Storm
- A. There is a blessing in every storm
- B. We must look for the fruit that will come afterward
- C. We must trust in God's goodness and love
Key Quotes
“The flowers live by the tears that fall From the sad face of the skies;” — Charles E. Cowman
“Love thou thy sorrow: grief shall bring Its own excuse in after years;” — Charles E. Cowman
“The rainbow!--see how fair a thing God hath built up from tears.” — Charles E. Cowman
Application Points
- We must trust in God's plan and timing, even in the midst of storms and trials.
- We must look for the blessing in the storm, and trust that the fruit will come afterward.
- We must be patient and persevere, trusting in God's goodness and love.