SPEAKER_00: Well, what a joy and an honor, privilege to be back at one of the great churches of our ministry, of my calendar, Antioch East.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Scott.
SPEAKER_00: What a powerful word, as always.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the good song.
SPEAKER_00: I want to give recognition to whom recognition is deserved.
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate Mandy over here on the keyboard.
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate also Allison and blessing our hearts with that powerful sermon and song, Come Jesus, Come.
SPEAKER_00: And uh Brother Ron, Miss Christy, it's an honor to be with you.
SPEAKER_00: Also, I want to thank Brother Tim and uh for his leadership.
SPEAKER_00: And then, of course, we couldn't make this possible because Brother Scott and I recognize that our bread is buttered by those in the sound booth, Brother Joe and Riley there, and Greg up in the crow's nest.
SPEAKER_00: But it's just an honor.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm running out of time, so let's get into God's word and I'll have more liberty to share personal thoughts of my privilege to be with you again this evening if you'll come back at 6 o'clock.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you have a copy of God's word, I'm going to be reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter number four.
SPEAKER_00: We'll begin reading in verse number 35, the remainder of the chapter, and go right into the first verse of chapter 5.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 4, beginning in verse number 35.
SPEAKER_00: We love you, dear pastor, immensely.
SPEAKER_00: And uh I appreciate and would love to reciprocate to him what he has meant to me.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray that the Lord will allow me to be a blessing to you, dear folks, this morning.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 4, are you ready?
SPEAKER_00: If you're there, say amen.
SPEAKER_00: Beginning in verse number 35.
SPEAKER_00: And the same day when the evening was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.
SPEAKER_00: And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship.
SPEAKER_00: And there were also with him other little ships.
SPEAKER_00: And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full, and he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
SPEAKER_00: And he Jesus arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, peace be still.
SPEAKER_00: And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
SPEAKER_00: And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?
SPEAKER_00: How is it that ye have no faith?
SPEAKER_00: And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
SPEAKER_00: And they came over unto the other side of the sea.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we ask your richest blessings upon the reading and the exegedum of your word, for we pray in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen and amen.
SPEAKER_00: I would be remiss if I did not recognize my mentor, Brother James Kemp.
SPEAKER_00: God brought him to our home when I was thirteen years of age, fifty-three years ago.
SPEAKER_00: He was a soul winner.
SPEAKER_00: He was in a church in our subdivision as youth and worship leader on staff full time.
SPEAKER_00: And the Holy Spirit used him to compel me to get in church.
SPEAKER_00: And my family followed suit.
SPEAKER_00: The next year, 52 years ago, God called me to preach under his leadership.
SPEAKER_00: And I just thank the Lord all of these many years as pastor and the last 26 years of full-time evangelism, God's enabled me to stand alongside of Brother Kemp and work many revivals together.
SPEAKER_00: He overcame cancer on three occasions, and we're just grateful.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't he look so well as Brother Ron alluded to?
SPEAKER_00: The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes in chapter number three says, To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
SPEAKER_00: And then the writer begins by saying, A time to be born and a time to die.
SPEAKER_00: A time to be born, every one of us, we have experienced that time.
SPEAKER_00: And a time to die.
SPEAKER_00: None of us have experienced that time.
SPEAKER_00: Now being in evangelism, I've left a church or two on Wednesday night after revivals, and I had my wonders if they had not already died.
SPEAKER_00: But all of you have not experienced that last time.
SPEAKER_00: And then the writer says, between this thing called birth and this thing called death, there are a myriad of seasons.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, he says, there is a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted.
SPEAKER_00: He said there's a time to break down and a time to build up, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance, and various other seasons between this thing called birth and death.
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all of these seasons, there are also what we call storms in life that come upon us.
SPEAKER_00: And storms come upon all of us.
SPEAKER_00: Just because you are a Christian does not mean you're exempt from storms in these seasons.
SPEAKER_00: Storms come upon us in a number of ways.
SPEAKER_00: Storms can come upon us physically.
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm on Medicare now, been on it for a couple of years.
SPEAKER_00: I used to question these old folks talking about going to the doctor every other week.
SPEAKER_00: But now I understand exactly what they were saying.
SPEAKER_00: You go to the doctor, you have lab work drawn, then you go back and have the test results read to you, and you hear those words.
SPEAKER_00: Words that you've heard all of your life, but they've never been directed to you.
SPEAKER_00: You have cancer, or you have leukemia, or diabetes, or Parkinson's, and just like that, you're thrust into a storm.
SPEAKER_00: A storm seizes you before it is ever seen by you.
SPEAKER_00: They come upon us physically, they also can come upon us emotionally.
SPEAKER_00: A man comes into his house one day and says to his wife, I don't love you anymore.
SPEAKER_00: I'm gone.
SPEAKER_00: You can have the house, you can have the kids, but I'm gone.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody hear me right there.
SPEAKER_00: It may not have ever happened to you, and hallelujah, but it's happened to many.
SPEAKER_00: And just that moment they're thrust into a storm.
SPEAKER_00: Or it can be reversed.
SPEAKER_00: The wife comes in and says, I found someone who loves me now.
SPEAKER_00: I don't ask for anything, I'm gone.
SPEAKER_00: You can have it all.
SPEAKER_00: You can even have the kids.
SPEAKER_00: What a storm.
SPEAKER_00: Emotionally.
SPEAKER_00: Storms can come upon us spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Now please hear me out before you throw me out this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to be transparent.
SPEAKER_00: I know I'm a man of God, but I'm also a pawpaw, a husband, a daddy.
SPEAKER_00: Storms can come upon us spiritually.
SPEAKER_00: Cause us to question, God, where are you?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, don't you see me and the circumstances that I'm facing?
SPEAKER_00: Father, I'm I pray and I look for you, but you cannot be found in forms.
SPEAKER_00: As if we think God doesn't know who or where we are.
SPEAKER_00: They can also come upon us and cause us to question the love of God for our life.
SPEAKER_00: That's exactly what happened to these disciples in our text.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just briefly give you an overview.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus had ministered all day long.
SPEAKER_00: He was exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: The evening now is upon them, the day was far spent, and he constrains his disciples to get into a ship, and he also took a pillow with him, and he began to take a nap.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, We're going to go to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: But all of a sudden, these trained and skilled fishermen of the sea faced the greatest intense storm of their life.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, the waves were vehemently beating against the boat, and the ship was coming apart.
SPEAKER_00: It was filling up with water, and these disciples panicked and they rushed, and they asked Jesus this question.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine?
SPEAKER_00: Master, Master, do you even care that we perish?
SPEAKER_00: What a question to ask the Son of God.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible said Jesus stood up, rebuked the wind, calmed the sea, and they made it to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: I'm speaking to folks today that understand storms will come upon every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: You may be in a season right now where you're not facing a storm, but some of us are going through storms.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, churches go through storms.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, what in the world would a church do in a storm?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I jotted down a few of them.
SPEAKER_00: A storm of division where people separate and take sides.
SPEAKER_00: A storm of discouragement where folks lose heart because of slow results and difficult circumstances?
SPEAKER_00: Anybody feel that way?
SPEAKER_00: A storm of decline when the attendance is declining and giving and evangelism or even the decline in spiritual vitality?
SPEAKER_00: What about a storm of death?
SPEAKER_00: The loss of a loved member or leader?
SPEAKER_00: A storm of disaster when tragedy or circumstances that suddenly shake the congregation?
SPEAKER_00: Here's one that I've noticed many churches go through a storm of drought, a season of spiritual dryness.
SPEAKER_00: When prayer and worship seems difficult.
SPEAKER_00: White preachers start off real fast and end up slow.
SPEAKER_00: Black preachers start up real slow and end up fast.
SPEAKER_00: Did y'all catch that a while ago?
SPEAKER_00: But I want to say this before we start preaching.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the most frightening storms that you will ever encounter in life will come when you're obeying the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, everywhere I go, I tell people that you're probably going to have more storms in life after you become a Christian than you ever had before.
SPEAKER_00: Mark chapter 4, 35, the disciples, they were not out of the will of God.
SPEAKER_00: They were exactly where Jesus told them to be in the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Since I was with you two years ago, we've gone through some storms in our personal family.
SPEAKER_00: Your pastor is aware and prayed for us, but my son-in-law of 46 years had a massive stroke.
SPEAKER_00: And we've been dealing with this for a year and a half now.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, he was getting somewhat better, and then it turned on him.
SPEAKER_00: And for three months, the beginning of this year, my daughter and he moved in with us just to have my wife to take care.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you that have dealt with stroke patients, you understand he has all of his physicalities back, but mentally he has just enough to think that he's well, but he's not.
SPEAKER_00: And it's been devastating.
SPEAKER_00: Just like the storms that you face in life.
SPEAKER_00: And most of the messages that I've been sharing in 50 revivals a year are messages that God has given me personally to help me overcome storms in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And so, with God's help and your prayer, can I give you three things that I find in this text?
SPEAKER_00: And this is how we're trying to handle what we're facing in life.
SPEAKER_00: And if we can handle it through these three thoughts from the text, you can handle it as well.
SPEAKER_00: What do you do?
SPEAKER_00: I want to preach on this subject.
SPEAKER_00: The storm that could not stop the other side.
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, what those disciples did not understand was this any storm that you encounter cannot counsel a destination that Jesus has already promised.
SPEAKER_00: So I want to.
SPEAKER_00: Can I get to preaching right now?
SPEAKER_00: I told Joe I wouldn't step down.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to respect him trying to keep up with me until invitation time.
SPEAKER_00: But I feel preaching weather coming on along about now.
SPEAKER_00: Three things that God has helped me and my family in this storm.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, remember his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, We are going to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Not even the Roman naval fleet could have sunk that boat that night.
SPEAKER_00: They're going over there.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 35, let us pass over unto the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Storms may shake the boat, but storms cannot seek a promise.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, We're going to go.
SPEAKER_00: He did not say, let us get into the ship and see how far we can make it.
SPEAKER_00: He said, We're going to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: The storm could not cancel the promises of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: So number one, remember his promise because he's made the same promise to every one of us.
SPEAKER_00: Can I just encourage you, good folks, this morning to remind you that he's never failed any of his promises?
SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, he promised us let not your heart be troubled.
SPEAKER_00: Ye believe in God, believe also in me, for in my father's house are many mansions.
SPEAKER_00: If it were not so, I would have told you.
SPEAKER_00: And then he said, I go and prepare a place for you.
SPEAKER_00: And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again.
SPEAKER_00: What a promise.
SPEAKER_00: This too shall pass.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever storm you're going through this morning, the Lord's going to get you through it to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his promise.
SPEAKER_00: Number two, rejoice in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: Woo! I remind you, good folks, that they were not alone in that little boat.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus was in the boat with them.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: My my.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples panicked because they forgot who was in the boat.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus may have been silent asleep, but he wasn't absent.
SPEAKER_00: He's in your problem.
SPEAKER_00: He's in your boat.
SPEAKER_00: No problem are you facing without the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: My my.
SPEAKER_00: His sleep was not weakness, it was confidence.
SPEAKER_00: He was asleep because he knew they were going to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in his presence.
SPEAKER_00: If Jesus is in your storm, you may be scared, but you're never stranded.
SPEAKER_00: I emphasize, enunciated what I read, there were other little ships with them or with him.
SPEAKER_00: But if you read the entire account in chapter five, you'll discover the only ship that made it to the other side through the storm was the ship that Jesus was in.
SPEAKER_00: All the other little ships perished that night.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, they the scripture says they were with him.
SPEAKER_00: Do you understand?
SPEAKER_00: And I know you do, you can be with Jesus and yet Jesus not be in your boat.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just prove that.
SPEAKER_00: Judas was with Jesus three and a half years.
SPEAKER_00: Heard every sermon he preached, witnessed every miracle he performed, slept next to him, ate with him, traveled with him.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus was not in Judas' boat.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe this morning you're here and you're with the Lord, but it's the Lord in you.
SPEAKER_00: Rejoice in his presence if you're born again.
SPEAKER_00: Remember his promise.
SPEAKER_00: And number three, I love this one.
SPEAKER_00: Rely on his power.
SPEAKER_00: They awoke him.
SPEAKER_00: Master, do you even care that we're going to perish?
SPEAKER_00: And I tell you what, just like most of you this afternoon, no one wants to be awakened from a nap.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Matter of fact, don't try to get up with me for about two hours this afternoon.
SPEAKER_00: I'll have my phone on silent.
SPEAKER_00: And my wife knows it.
SPEAKER_00: It literally teed Jesus off when they awoke him.
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
SPEAKER_00: You say you got Bible?
SPEAKER_00: I have Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Let me tell you, because when Jesus, he'd been exhausted.
SPEAKER_00: He's taking a nap on a pillow, waiting to get to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: Storm's not phasing our Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And when they awoke him, he stood up.
SPEAKER_00: Now stay with me right here, or you'll miss the message.
SPEAKER_00: He stood up and used the most stern word that you find in the New Testament, the word rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: That word rebuke is a word picture of a superior officer looking down on a private and saying to that private, Who gives you authority to go above your command?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus rebuked with sternness.
SPEAKER_00: I mean he rebuked the wind.
SPEAKER_00: And the Bible said, not fifteen minutes later, but that moment the wind ceased.
SPEAKER_00: And then he used another very interesting word when he said, Peace be still.
SPEAKER_00: The same voice that said, Let there be light.
SPEAKER_00: The same voice that said, It is finished.
SPEAKER_00: The same voice that said, Lazarus, come forth.
SPEAKER_00: It's the same voice that said, Peace be still.
SPEAKER_00: The word literally means to muzzle or to hush or to be.
SPEAKER_00: And the wind ceased, and the sea immediately became as smooth as glass.
SPEAKER_00: And then he looked to those disciples, and he asked two questions.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, why are you so full of fear?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you so fearful?
SPEAKER_00: And secondly, he asked, why is it that ye have no faith?
SPEAKER_00: Fear and faith.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't hear anything else this morning that I've said, I pray you will hear this.
SPEAKER_00: Fear looks at the storm.
SPEAKER_00: Faith looks at the Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Fear and faith.
SPEAKER_00: That's the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: You say, well, you didn't preach very long.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's the sermon.
SPEAKER_00: But can I talk to you now for just a moment about our storms?
SPEAKER_00: You know, every one of us are different folks here today.
SPEAKER_00: We certainly are.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of us are members of the same church.
SPEAKER_00: Some of us different memberships.
SPEAKER_00: Not all of us drive the same make of vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Scott, he's in a hybrid.
SPEAKER_00: I'm just in a Ford.
SPEAKER_00: But praise God, I'm not like some of you in a goat.
SPEAKER_00: A ram.
SPEAKER_00: I'm dating some of our ages.
SPEAKER_00: We don't all drive the same vehicle.
SPEAKER_00: We don't all like the same kind of food.
SPEAKER_00: I didn't hear anybody complain about the gumbo.
SPEAKER_00: But some of you have preference over someone else's food.
SPEAKER_00: You may like Mexican, somebody may like gospel bird chicken.
SPEAKER_00: Some of you may like crappie like I do.
SPEAKER_00: But we're all different.
SPEAKER_00: But you know, we all have one thing in common.
SPEAKER_00: We all have one thing in common as the family of God.
SPEAKER_00: We're all brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to listen to this because as a brother or sister in the family of God, we have a divine, awesome responsibility one to another.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible admonishes us to love one another, to forgive one another, as Dr.
SPEAKER_00: Scott so effectively shared in this message.
SPEAKER_00: To pray for one another.
SPEAKER_00: As brothers and sisters in Christ, we are to encourage one another.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible says we are to bear one another's burdens.
SPEAKER_00: We are to provoke one another in love.
SPEAKER_00: We have a responsibility.
SPEAKER_00: Do you agree?
unknown: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: One to another.
SPEAKER_00: That's when revival breaks out.