SPEAKER_01: So, how in the world are you all doing?
SPEAKER_01: Is this PA system working?
SPEAKER_01: Can you all hear me?
SPEAKER_01: Those of you in the back row, especially, I'm gonna keep my eyes on you.
SPEAKER_01: What a delight it is to be back here.
SPEAKER_01: I was here two years ago.
SPEAKER_01: That was 2017.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's 2019.
SPEAKER_01: I think that's two years.
SPEAKER_01: You know that seven out of six people have trouble with math, but I think that's correct.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm just sorry that Jesse isn't here, but I'm so glad that he's ministering in Rwanda and having a great ministry there, and what a wonderful thing it is for your church to have such a worldwide impact.
SPEAKER_01: There's one correction I would like to make that Jesse said in his introduction.
SPEAKER_01: I do not have a PhD from Loyola.
SPEAKER_01: I did finish all of my course requirements, passed my comps for a PhD, but never did the dissertation because I became the pastor of Moody Church and other things became more important.
SPEAKER_01: So that clarification, you know, there was a man, and I have not told this story for years, though I used it, I think, at word of life, some of the people here from word of life, vorg das Lebens, if you say it in German, as God intended, uh, you know, he was introduced as having made a million dollars in oil in California.
SPEAKER_01: And he stood up and said, I just want to make a few corrections.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, he says it wasn't in oil, it was in coal.
SPEAKER_01: He said it wasn't in California, it was in Pennsylvania.
SPEAKER_01: He said it wasn't a million dollars, it was only a half million dollars.
SPEAKER_01: And he said it wasn't me, it was my brother.
SPEAKER_01: And he said he didn't make it, he lost it.
SPEAKER_01: I thought that was funny too, but you guys didn't, huh?
SPEAKER_01: So it's a great delight to be here.
SPEAKER_01: Now I am two years older than I was here, and Rebecca and I we get the privilege of speaking at places like Boca Ratone, Florida, where old people go to visit their parents.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know, we heard a story there recently, which probably is true, perhaps.
SPEAKER_01: A widower was looking across the table to a widow, and he said to her, Would you marry me?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Well, she said, uh, she thought about it for five seconds and said, Yes.
SPEAKER_01: And uh the next day, though, he could not remember how she answered.
SPEAKER_01: But he had her phone number and said, You know, yesterday we had a great time together.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I asked you whether or not you would marry me, but um, what was your answer?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I said yes with all my heart.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, but I'm so glad you called because I forget who it is that asked me.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way it is in old age.
SPEAKER_01: I just want to say a word regarding my book, The Church in Babylon.
SPEAKER_01: Jesse was so kind to make those remarks.
SPEAKER_01: It deals with immigration, five false gospels within the evangelical church, transgenderism, a whole host of other topics that relate to America today.
SPEAKER_01: So I feel very deeply about it, and uh I'm so glad that your church has it on hand, and I think later on I will be able to uh personalize it for you after the service.
SPEAKER_01: So great to see you.
SPEAKER_01: Today I decided to speak to you on the topic of how to survive a storm amid all of the things that I could talk about.
SPEAKER_01: And if you were at Word of Life, you know that my last sermon had to do with the American left and the responsibility of the church toward it, but we're not going there today.
SPEAKER_01: I want to lift your spirits and I want to give you hope.
SPEAKER_01: Because all of us experience storms.
SPEAKER_01: You may be going through a health storm.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe this past week your doctor said something to you that you thought could only be true of somebody else.
SPEAKER_01: For many of you, it may be a financial storm.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's a relational storm.
SPEAKER_01: Your marriage seems to come unraveling.
SPEAKER_01: I have a friend who said that, you know, speaking of marriage, he said, you know, I for my birthday, somebody gave me a humidifier and somebody gave me a dehumidifier, so I put them in the same room and just let them fight it out.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way marriage is.
SPEAKER_01: God in heaven puts two people together.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, I wasn't going to say this, this isn't a lecture on marriage, but you folks getting up here so early to church, you deserve a special insight regarding marriage.
SPEAKER_01: Marriage is actually two people solving problems together that they'd have never had if only they'd stayed single.
SPEAKER_01: All right.
SPEAKER_01: Do we have a witness?
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to know that no matter what your storm is today, you're going to receive hope on how to survive a storm.
SPEAKER_01: Turn to the 14th chapter, and of course, if you're young, you didn't bring a Bible, did you?
SPEAKER_01: You have your cell phone, you have your jackhammer, you have your iPad.
SPEAKER_01: Well, no matter which way you have it, turn to the 14th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew chapter 14, it's on page 820, if you have a Bible like mine.
SPEAKER_01: And you'll notice the passage was actually read to us.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.
SPEAKER_01: And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray.
SPEAKER_01: When evening came, he was there alone.
SPEAKER_01: But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them.
SPEAKER_01: Is there someone here today who says, That is me?
SPEAKER_01: The wind is against me.
SPEAKER_01: No matter where I turn, there are difficulties, there are challenges, one after another.
SPEAKER_01: One gust of wind comes and another follows.
SPEAKER_01: The wind was against them.
SPEAKER_01: If that's you, you're in the right place today.
SPEAKER_01: And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea, but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost.
SPEAKER_01: They cried out in fear.
SPEAKER_01: But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Just that far for now.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in this age of technology, I'm very glad to say that my outline is actually going to be on the screen.
SPEAKER_01: So it's going to be very easy for these folks up here, one, two, three, four, five.
SPEAKER_01: They're all taking notes.
SPEAKER_01: I just noticed it when I sat down over there.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, and and I'll tell you that in heaven, their head is going to be tilted because their crown is going to be so heavy.
SPEAKER_01: So God bless you.
SPEAKER_01: And it'll be easy for you to do that because the outline is up there.
SPEAKER_01: Seven lessons on how to survive a storm.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is what I want you to do.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to write them down.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to laminate them and put them on your refrigerator.
SPEAKER_01: That's your assignment because if you don't need them today, you'll need them tomorrow because you are either going into a storm, you're either in one or you're just coming out of one and waiting for the next one.
SPEAKER_01: So, how do you survive a storm?
SPEAKER_01: We're going to be very simple.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jordan, you are Jordan, right?
SPEAKER_01: You're not the Sea of Galilee, but you are the Jordan River.
SPEAKER_01: My staff in Chicago used to pray that God would keep me simple, and many people think he's overdone it.
SPEAKER_01: So, what I want to do is to be simple, but these lessons are transforming.
SPEAKER_01: Number one, simply this, that storms often come to us in obedience to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: They come to us in obedience to Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Let me ask you a question.
SPEAKER_01: Were the disciples in the will of God when they got into that boat and went to the other side?
SPEAKER_01: Of course.
SPEAKER_01: Don't you wish that God spoke to you like that?
SPEAKER_01: Get into this boat and go to the other side.
SPEAKER_01: In obedience to Christ, they encounter one of the greatest storms that they ever encountered on Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And I need to say that oftentimes when we're in a storm, we think, well, I must be out of the will of God, not necessarily.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes it is in obedience to Christ that we encounter those storms.
SPEAKER_01: The holiest path in life is oftentimes not the smoothest path.
SPEAKER_01: Many times we think that if we're in the will of God, we're going to be walking along this pathway, and there are going to be beautiful flowers on each side, and we're going to have health, and we're going to have wealth, and everything is going to go well, and everybody's going to be healed, and everybody's going to have enough money.
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no.
SPEAKER_01: The will of God is oftentimes a hard road.
SPEAKER_01: This storm actually was created for them by Christ.
SPEAKER_01: The storm was part of God's will for them.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, just to put it clearly, this storm was appointed by Jesus for these disciples.
SPEAKER_01: You're in a storm today, things aren't going well at work, people aren't appreciating you the way they should.
SPEAKER_01: You've been hurt by some relatives.
SPEAKER_01: You're going through a time of difficulty and challenge.
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean you're out of God's will.
SPEAKER_01: The will of God is often difficult, hard, and filled with headwinds.
SPEAKER_01: That's lesson number one.
SPEAKER_01: Lesson number two is simply this storm should remind us of the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: Remind us of the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: You say, well, where's that in the text?
SPEAKER_01: When Pastor Jesse teaches, you should always ask, Pastor Jesse, donde está la text.
SPEAKER_01: Where is it in the text?
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice it says, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, if the creator of the winds and the oceans tells you to get into that boat and go to the other side, you'll make it to the other side.
SPEAKER_01: They could have enjoyed the storm.
SPEAKER_01: They could have said, Jesus said that we're to go to the other side and we know we will make it.
SPEAKER_01: There was no possibility that that boat could go down.
SPEAKER_01: And the reason was because there were still people on that boat, the disciples for whom God had work to do.
SPEAKER_01: Peter had not yet written 1 and 2 Peter, he had not preached his sermons.
SPEAKER_01: John had not yet written his book and the epistles of John, and the work was there that God still had for them to do.
SPEAKER_01: If I might put it clearly, if you're to be hung, you'll never drown.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, the will of God is accomplished by those who walk in his will in obedience.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that we have security.
SPEAKER_01: Security is a big issue.
SPEAKER_01: We go through security everywhere nowadays.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure that you have security at this church.
SPEAKER_01: We have it at Moody Church.
SPEAKER_01: But I'm always comforted to know that there is no combination of men and demons who can put us to death if God thinks there's still work for us to do.
SPEAKER_01: Because ultimately we are in his hands.
SPEAKER_01: Now, when you're going through a storm, what you want to do is to cleave to the promises.
SPEAKER_01: When I was a little boy growing up in Canada, we used to sing the song Every Promise in the Book is Mine.
SPEAKER_01: Every chapter, every verse, every line.
SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
SPEAKER_01: God made some promises to Abraham that he didn't make to me, but there are plenty of promises that you can learn and memorize.
SPEAKER_01: And notice these two young people right on this front row over here, you're not too young to begin to memorize the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: Will you remember that?
SPEAKER_01: Can you go like this?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for that obedience.
SPEAKER_01: His alternatives were limited.
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know, you think, for example, of Romans chapter 8.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing shall separate us from the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: Tribulation, distress, persecution, nakedness, which means poverty, sword, martyrdom.
SPEAKER_01: Nothing shall separate us from the love of God.
SPEAKER_01: There are times when we need the last part of Romans 8.
SPEAKER_01: Actually, we need the whole chapter, but the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: Could I think of another one this morning?
SPEAKER_01: 13th chapter of Hebrews, verse 5, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
SPEAKER_01: In Greek, there are five negatives in that verse.
SPEAKER_01: God says, I will no not leave you.
SPEAKER_01: I will no not forsake you.
SPEAKER_01: Five times God says, never, never, never, never, never.
SPEAKER_01: And there are times when we are going through the storm, where we have to cleave to the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Martin Luther once said, What happens when you look around?
SPEAKER_01: Islam was growing during his time.
SPEAKER_01: He lived during the time of the Ottoman Empire.
SPEAKER_01: It seemed as if Christians were being killed and countries were being absorbed.
SPEAKER_01: So Luther's point is this: what does the Christian do when he looks around and sees no reason to believe that God is on his side?
SPEAKER_01: Luther says, at that point you believe God's bare word.
SPEAKER_01: There are times in life all that we have is the promises of God.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's hurry on to number three.
SPEAKER_01: Number three, and this may be the most important.
SPEAKER_01: Number three is simply this: even when we can't see Jesus, Jesus sees us.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we can't see Jesus, Jesus sees us.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that they could see Jesus there on the mountain?
SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
SPEAKER_01: Rebecca and I were in Israel in March, and as we went across the Sea of Galilee in a boat, we noticed that off in the distance, of course, there are these hills.
SPEAKER_01: They're called mountains in the Bible, and we don't know which one Jesus was on.
SPEAKER_01: But the point is that during the night, four o'clock in the morning, they could see Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: Of course not.
SPEAKER_01: But even though they could not see Jesus, Jesus could see them.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the longitude and the latitude of their little boat.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the strength of the wind.
SPEAKER_01: He knew the strength of every single board.
SPEAKER_01: And he knew the depth of the water.
SPEAKER_01: And there are times in life when we can't see God.
SPEAKER_01: There are times of such darkness and distress when everything fades.
SPEAKER_01: I played tennis with a man for 20 years.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, tennis players make terrible husbands usually because to a tennis player love means nothing.
SPEAKER_01: But my tennis player by the name of Mark was told that he had terminal cancer.
SPEAKER_01: And before he died, of course, this would have been before he died, he came out of the room, he told me, in the last days of his life, and he said he was so full of pain in the middle of the night, such darkness.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Irwin, he said, it just seemed as if all faith drained from my soul.
SPEAKER_01: There are times when we can't see God.
SPEAKER_01: Even when we have his promises, we can't see him.
SPEAKER_01: But the good news is that even when we cannot see God, God sees us, and when push comes to shove, as it often does in life, it is more important that God see us than that we see God.
SPEAKER_01: And God sees your little boat today, tossed and turned and the wind being contrary, everything going wrong.
SPEAKER_01: God knows the longitude and the latitude of your life.
SPEAKER_01: He knows whom you married.
SPEAKER_01: He knows your past.
SPEAKER_01: And in our darkness we must always remember that even when we cannot see him, he sees us.
SPEAKER_01: Well, number four is simply this: that Jesus comes to us at the right time.
SPEAKER_01: He comes to us at the point of our desperation, at the right time.
SPEAKER_01: Notice I read the text.
SPEAKER_01: At the fourth watch of the night, Jesus comes walking.
SPEAKER_01: The fourth watch of the night.
SPEAKER_01: What is the fourth watch of the night?
SPEAKER_01: That's four o'clock in the morning when it's the darkest.
SPEAKER_01: It's the time when the disciples are most confused and the most weary.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, Galilee isn't that far across if you've been to the Sea of Galilee and gone across it.
SPEAKER_01: The fact is this that they began in the evening and still had not gotten across, maybe seven or eight miles.
SPEAKER_01: We're not sure exactly where they were.
SPEAKER_01: But the point is that they were weary and they still hadn't make it.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that would have been normally a piece of cake for these hardened disciples.
SPEAKER_01: By that I mean physically hardened and able disciples to make it, but the wind was against them.
SPEAKER_01: So all night, basically, until four, they are rowing, and Jesus finally comes to them on the lake at the point of their desperation, at the time of their darkness, he shows up.
SPEAKER_01: God loves desperate people.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that amazes me is that in this hour of history here in America, during a time of great darkness, and it's dark and it's getting darker, Christians still don't pray.
SPEAKER_01: We still don't really call on God, and we have to do that if we do it with deep repentance over our own sins and over our own failures.
SPEAKER_01: And God brings people, though, to the point of desperation because only desperate people pray, and God loves to answer the prayer of the desperate.
SPEAKER_01: Rebecca and I know a woman who was involved in an immoral lifestyle.
SPEAKER_01: That's the way she made her living.
SPEAKER_01: And she told us that she used to pray, God, get me out of here.
SPEAKER_01: But he never answered her prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Until one time in utter, total desperation, she fell on her knees and said, Oh God, get me out of here or kill me.
SPEAKER_01: But to one or the other, and she meant it.
SPEAKER_01: And that day she walked free.
SPEAKER_01: Today she's married to a man who had a similar background, and they are ministering to people who are broken.
SPEAKER_01: And there are plenty of broken people in our world.
SPEAKER_01: Desperation.
SPEAKER_01: God is the just in time, God.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see that here's Abraham willing to sacrifice Isaac.
SPEAKER_01: And the knife is already gleaming in the morning sunlight as Isaac is laid on the altar.
SPEAKER_01: And just in time, God says, No, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: And then just in time, there's a ram caught in the thicket to be offered instead of Isaac.
SPEAKER_01: Just in time.
SPEAKER_01: A point of desperation, the point of darkness.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus shows up.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're hurrying here.
SPEAKER_01: We're making very good progress.
SPEAKER_01: Number five, our fears might be Jesus in disguise.
SPEAKER_01: Our fears might be Jesus in disguise, not in disguise.
SPEAKER_01: I remember saying this to somebody, and he thought, you know, you fly the friendly skies, disguise, of United Airlines or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what's going on here.
SPEAKER_01: I mean disguise, camouflage might be another word.
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice that they don't recognize Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They cry out and they say it's a ghost and they cry out in fear.
SPEAKER_01: But actually they don't know it's Jesus coming to them.
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we don't recognize that Jesus is coming to us in our storms.
SPEAKER_01: All that we see is the wind.
SPEAKER_01: If I might refer to my friend Mark again, about a week or two before he died, I said, Mark, have you ever thanked God for your cancer?
SPEAKER_01: He said, Oh yes, I thank him every day, because to me he said heaven was very theoretical.
SPEAKER_01: Now it's very real.
SPEAKER_01: Well, I can tell you this that when he was told he had terminal cancer, he was not thanking God every day.
SPEAKER_01: When we finished playing a tennis game, we'd sit down.
SPEAKER_01: Together and he'd weep, and I would listen to him and weep along with him.
SPEAKER_01: All that there was was fear.
SPEAKER_01: I remember him describing, you know, the fear of the unknown, the fear of dying, fear, fear, fear.
SPEAKER_01: But now that he accepted it, he saw that it was Jesus coming to him.
SPEAKER_01: Would you write this down?
SPEAKER_01: This is from Elizabeth Elliot.
SPEAKER_01: She said these words, in acceptance, there is peace.
SPEAKER_01: In acceptance, there is peace.
SPEAKER_01: Don't strive against God.
SPEAKER_01: Don't argue with him.
SPEAKER_01: Don't fight against him.
SPEAKER_01: Your trial might be Jesus in disguise.
SPEAKER_01: Even some of the demonic warfare that we are involved in, and I believe in spiritual warfare, the fact is this that if all that we see is the devil, if we don't see that beyond the devil, behind the devil, there is also Jesus and God teaching us as a result of our failures and our struggles, if all that we see is the wind, let me put it this way.
SPEAKER_01: The wind that brought them the storm is the same wind that brought them Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So sometimes we have to look all the time, really, beyond our storms, and we have to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: It may be him trying to put his arms around us.
SPEAKER_01: And our trials might be the way in which he is doing that.
SPEAKER_01: And if all that you see is the wind, it's very, very distressing.
SPEAKER_01: Our fears might be Jesus in disguise.
SPEAKER_01: Well, let's hurry on to number six.
SPEAKER_01: The water that threatens to be over your head is actually under his feet.
SPEAKER_01: The water that threatens to be over your head is actually water that is under his feet.
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice that the disciples, of course, are fearful because of the fact that the wind is blowing their boat, but Jesus is walking across the sea as if it is a marble floor.
SPEAKER_01: He walks with confidence.
SPEAKER_01: He does not struggle.
SPEAKER_01: He does not walk wobbly like I do.
SPEAKER_01: As I told you, I'm going to need some help going down the stairs.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't do that.
SPEAKER_01: He walks with absolute confidence.
SPEAKER_01: He is the creator of the winds, the waves.
SPEAKER_01: Walks.
SPEAKER_01: What is it that you fear today?
SPEAKER_01: The water that threatens to be over your head, your difficulty, is under the feet of a sovereign Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: The Apostle Paul said in the book of Ephesians that Jesus is above every principality and every power and every name that is named, both in this world and in the world to come.
SPEAKER_01: And so I want you to visualize for a moment your situation, your storm, possibly a divorce, possibly a wayward child, injustice.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to see that Jesus walks confidently above that.
SPEAKER_01: And that there is no storm happening in your life, but that Jesus is sovereign ultimately over the storm, even though there may be intermediate kinds of situations brought on by people, brought on by circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is above that, and he walks over the water with confidence.
SPEAKER_01: We must see him today as the one who reigns.
SPEAKER_01: Now, he doesn't reign directly as he will during the Millennial Kingdom, but he still reigns.
SPEAKER_01: There's nothing, you know, I wrote a book, I don't know if it's here or not.
SPEAKER_01: It's entitled now God's Devil.
SPEAKER_01: And I wrote it because that quote actually is attributed to Martin Luther.
SPEAKER_01: Even the devil is God's devil.
SPEAKER_01: The devil cannot wiggle unless God gives him permission.
SPEAKER_01: Sovereignty of Christ over our storms.
SPEAKER_01: Well, we're coming to number seven now, and I'm reading the text, and number seven is our ability to walk.
SPEAKER_01: Our ability to walk depends upon the focus of our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Our ability to walk depends on the focus of our eyes.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 28, and Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Come.
SPEAKER_01: So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: But when he saw the wind.
SPEAKER_01: Let's not hurry over that.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in the habit of underlining your Bibles, you might want to underline that phrase, seeing the wind when he saw the wind.
SPEAKER_01: And don't you and I always see the wind?
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the wind seems clearer to us than Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: When he saw the wind, he was afraid.
SPEAKER_01: In beginning, he sank, he cried out.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have to tell you, Pastor Jesse isn't here.
SPEAKER_01: I, as a pastor, have preached, and I have oftentimes led the congregation in long prayers, and I'm sure he has too.
SPEAKER_01: But you know, when you're going under, you don't have time for a real long prayer.
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes there's only time for three words.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, save me.
SPEAKER_01: And immediately Jesus reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying, Oh, you have little faith, why did you doubt?
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: If you're underlining your Bibles, isn't it amazing how Jesus is the immediate Jesus?
SPEAKER_01: In verse 22, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 27, immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.
SPEAKER_01: Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, Oh, you have little faith, why did you doubt?
SPEAKER_01: Now here's the thing.
SPEAKER_01: We as pastors, I've done it too, sometimes we criticize Peter.
SPEAKER_01: We say, you know, if Peter had just kept his eyes on Jesus, he could have walked all the way to the other side of the lake.
SPEAKER_01: And of course that's true.
SPEAKER_01: But we should give Peter credit for being willing to get out of the boat.
SPEAKER_01: There are tons of people who have not failed at anything because they don't do anything.
SPEAKER_01: They've never gotten out of the boat, they've never taken any reasonable risk, they've always played it so safe that they cannot fail.
SPEAKER_01: If I might put it to you very clearly and hopefully concisely, a wet Peter is better than a dry Thomas.
SPEAKER_01: Peter was willing to get out of the boat and go to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And as long as he was looking at Jesus and not distracted by the wind and talk about distractions.
SPEAKER_01: In my book that God wants you to have that I mentioned earlier, I have a whole chapter on technology and all of its dangers and distractions.
SPEAKER_01: And we live at a time when everybody's distracted.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I have my cell phone here this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I left it on the chair so that I can't, this is a joke, of course, so that I can't read my text while I'm preaching.
SPEAKER_01: The simple fact is that we're all distracted.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter was distracted by the winds, but as long as he looked at Jesus, he was able to walk.
SPEAKER_01: Now I have a question for you today.
SPEAKER_01: What was Peter's greatest problem?
SPEAKER_01: Was it the depth of the water?
SPEAKER_01: Was it the speed of the wind?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: His greatest problem was lack of faith.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you of little faith.
SPEAKER_01: And your biggest problem when we go through a storm, and my biggest, and I've had my share of storms, is always this.
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you of little faith.
SPEAKER_01: You believe that Jesus isn't walking with you?
SPEAKER_01: If you keep your eyes on Jesus, and how do we keep him on Jesus before Mark died?
SPEAKER_01: He showed me 120 promises, laminated.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Whenever I'm filled with fear, I go to the promises of God, and I see it there.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, I was going to mention when I was talking about the fact that Jesus comes to us in disguise.
SPEAKER_01: A number of years ago, I read an article by a mother who had a 13-year-old child.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this child was born with a limitation, a special needs child.
SPEAKER_01: When that child was born, the couple was so angry because, you know, other people, it's embarrassing.
SPEAKER_01: Other people have healthy children.
SPEAKER_01: Why did God give us this?
SPEAKER_01: All those things.
SPEAKER_01: But now, 13 years later, she saw that Jesus was coming to her in that storm.
SPEAKER_01: She said that this child revealed to them their selfishness, their need.
SPEAKER_01: And this was a tremendous gift.
SPEAKER_01: And it doesn't appear at times that Jesus is coming to us.
SPEAKER_01: We see the wind, we see the storm.
SPEAKER_01: But in the storms, we have to see Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Tony Evans is a great African-American preacher.
SPEAKER_01: He's a friend of mine, and he tells this story, which I verified with him, that he and Lois were on a boat, on a ship, on a cruise, and it came over the intercom that what you need to do is to buckle up because we're going to hit a storm.
SPEAKER_01: We're going through a storm.
SPEAKER_01: And so his wife, Lois, didn't like that, so she tried to call the captain.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, Why are we going through the storm?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we just put down anchor and then after the storm was over, proceed?
SPEAKER_01: She didn't actually speak to the captain.
SPEAKER_01: She spoke to an assistant.
SPEAKER_01: He said, I'll talk to the captain and get back to you.
SPEAKER_01: A few moments later he called back and said, I spoke to the captain, and he has two things to say to you.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, and I'm sure it was said very kindly, uh, tell her that she's not in charge, I am.
SPEAKER_01: And then he said this.
SPEAKER_01: And here's another thing for you to write down.
SPEAKER_01: Tell her, I want you to remember this on your deathbed.
SPEAKER_01: Tell her that this ship was built with this storm in mind.
SPEAKER_01: And when you trust Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, who rose again and ascended into heaven, you're trusting a captain, and he had your storm in mind, and he can take you all the way to the other side of the lake.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: I preached on this text for quite a while, and until recently, I hadn't really read the next verse.
SPEAKER_01: It says, when they got into the boat, he gets into the boat and he goes with the disciples all the way to the other side of the lake.
SPEAKER_01: He's with them.
SPEAKER_01: You know, Jesus could have stayed on the shore and simply said, Peace be still, and everything would have been calm.
SPEAKER_01: He did that in other contexts.
SPEAKER_01: Peace be still, it would have been calm.
SPEAKER_01: But he comes to us in our storms.
SPEAKER_01: And I know that Jesus is in heaven bodily, but remember, he said, I'm with you till the end of the age.
SPEAKER_01: He actually comes to our boat.
SPEAKER_01: He comes to your home.
SPEAKER_01: He comes to your situation.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, I am here to carry you all the way to the other side of the lake.
SPEAKER_01: Now there are some people who will never, never, never yield to Jesus until their little boat is smashed all along the shore.
SPEAKER_01: And then they say, Whoo, I need a captain.
SPEAKER_01: And there may be somebody here just like that.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to go from pillar to post, from one rock to another, and you're going to destroy your little boat, and it's going to be shattered, and finally you say, you know, I really think I need a Savior.
SPEAKER_01: Why wait till then?
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to do something I frequently do, usually with a different message rather than this one, but I want us to give God our storms at this time.
SPEAKER_01: What are your storms?
SPEAKER_01: Think of the three biggest ones.
SPEAKER_01: Don't think of all of them because you won't have enough paper probably to write them all down.
SPEAKER_01: But what are your biggest storms that you are facing today?
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we just give them to the captain of the ship?
SPEAKER_01: To help you, Rebecca and I fly to Europe every once in a while.
SPEAKER_01: And when we flew to Israel, we flew to Frankfurt, and then I think we caught a plane from there.
SPEAKER_01: Let's suppose after we left O'Hare Field that I said to, you know, and with American Airlines, what if I were to say to the flight attendant, you know, I wonder if some of the, if the captains, the pilots, they may have fallen asleep.
SPEAKER_01: Would you check to see if they're awake?
SPEAKER_01: So she goes and she maybe calls them on the phone or whatever and comes back and says, yep, they're awake.
SPEAKER_01: An hour later, after we begin to cross the ocean, I say to myself, you know, I've known people who have fallen asleep in an hour's time.
SPEAKER_01: Would you check to see if the pilots are awake?
SPEAKER_01: And so she does and she comes back.
SPEAKER_01: An hour or two later I'm talking with her and saying, you know, what is it like to be a flight attendant?
SPEAKER_01: What time does this plane land in Frankfurt, etc.?
SPEAKER_01: And I say, because I'm a little embarrassed at this point, but I say, well, now that we're talking, would you check to see if the pilots are awake?
SPEAKER_01: And at that point she becomes very frustrated and she said, let me make a deal with you.
SPEAKER_01: I'll pour you a cup of coffee if you promise to step outside and drink it.
SPEAKER_01: And then she says to me, You're insulting American airline pilots.
SPEAKER_01: And I would be.
SPEAKER_01: Brothers and sisters, you and I insult God every single day.
SPEAKER_01: We give him a prom a problem, and instead of saying, Lord, it's on your shoulders, I'm going to give you praise, we just keep, well, have you done anything?
SPEAKER_01: Well, look at a month has gone by, years have gone by, and you're not doing anything.
SPEAKER_01: Are you awake?
SPEAKER_01: Are you listening?
SPEAKER_01: Instead of saying, Father, we take this and we put it upon your shoulders, and rather than asking you over and over again what we're going to do is to leave it with you, and when the burden comes back, to affirm that it is on your shoulders and not mine.
SPEAKER_01: After all, the governments of the world are going to be upon his shoulders.
SPEAKER_01: He can handle our storms.
SPEAKER_01: So rather than living a life of pleading, though that isn't all wrong, we begin to live a life of praise.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you are going to leave here lighter than you came, because you're going to give your storms to God.
SPEAKER_01: It's difficult.
SPEAKER_01: You can't do it in a minute.
SPEAKER_01: We're going to pray for a minute, but you can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: I had a woman say to me, Pastor Luther, you told us not to worry.
SPEAKER_01: If I stopped worrying, I'd have absolutely nothing to think about.
SPEAKER_01: All that I do from morning to evening is worry.
SPEAKER_01: That's the whole point.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think she can just give it up in a moment?
SPEAKER_01: No.
SPEAKER_01: And you can't either, but we can begin.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to lead in prayer, and then I'm going to give you an opportunity of silent prayer, where you give your storm to God and say, God, what do you want to teach me?
SPEAKER_01: This is your storm, not mine.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to trust you all the way to the other side of the lake.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we thank you today for this marvelous story, a true story, of course, of Jesus Christ's sovereignty over the waves.
SPEAKER_01: There are people here today with tremendous storms.
SPEAKER_01: The wind is against them.
SPEAKER_01: Would you enable all of us, O Lord God, we pray, to give those storms to God and to say that we can't handle them.
SPEAKER_01: We've tried, and the wind is stronger than we are.
SPEAKER_01: But we give them to you for your glory, for your honor, and as a credit to your kingdom.
SPEAKER_01: Now help these dear people, even during this moment of silence, as they give their storms to you, casting all their care upon you because you care for us.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, I pray for those who have never savingly believed on Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Help them to see that they need a captain, a savior.
SPEAKER_01: In whose blessed name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being with us today.
SPEAKER_00: And now a parting word from Pastor Jesse.
SPEAKER_03: If you have any questions about what you heard today, or if you want to learn more about what it means to follow Christ, please visit our church website, emmanuelbible.church.
SPEAKER_03: If you're not a member of the local church and you live in the Washington, D.C.
SPEAKER_03: area, we'd love to have you worship with us here today.
SPEAKER_03: I hope to personally meet you this Monday after our service.
SPEAKER_03: But no matter where you live, it's our hope that everyone who uses this resource is involved in their own local church.
SPEAKER_03: Now may God bless you this weekend constantly to serve the Lord faithfully and share the gospel bothly.