PROVEN | Week 2 | Sermon

Matthew chapter eight, this is the moment where Jesus is going to have kind of the proverbial kickball rolled to him. And he's going to not just tell, not just say it, but he's going to show the world who he is. And at the end of Matthew eight, I think even really for the first time, the disciples are going to see Jesus

for who he really is. And they're going to understand that this isn't just a good teacher, this is God. And he's in a boat with me and he's given me the opportunity to follow him and trust him with my life. But we'll see in a second, that moment happens

as Jesus leads the disciples into a storm, into a really difficult and dark period of their life. And it's in the middle of that storm that Jesus will show them who he is. And here's why I think Jesus uses storms in our life because it's in storms, it's in difficult seasons, it's during trials that our faith is put to the test

And it's as our faith is put to the test that we can really begin to trust that faith and it will begin to become what the Bible refers to as a complete and perfected

faith. Here's the big idea I wanna try to show you that we're going to look at in Matthew eight. It's only when our faith has been tested that it can become perfected. It's a tested faith that can become a perfect and complete faith. The thing that God is trying to give every single one of us is a faith that is complete and perfect that you can trust like a solid foundation.

Okay? Matthew chapter eight, here's how the chapter begins in verse one. It says, Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. Now I know it's just one verse, but the story begins with large crowds already starting to come to listen, to see who this Jesus is. Now, Jewish person was in hopeful anticipation

that the Messiah was going to come. And so every time there was a new rabbi, they were hoping that this was him. And at this point, they're thinking that maybe Jesus is the Messiah. And so the crowds are following Jesus.

And it's interesting to me that Jesus was never led by the crowds, but he was following something different and the crowds were following him. See, I think Jesus' life, it shows us what a life led not by public opinion,

not by people's decision, not by getting the crowd to go your way. It shows us what a life led by the spirit of God looks like, because Jesus is going to do a lot of things that just they make no sense.

He's going to turn right when everything would say you should go straight or turn left here. But Jesus was led not by public opinion, but by the spirit of God. And as this crowd is following him, Jesus is going to show the crowd who he is. The first miracle recorded in Matthew eight is a man that has leprosy.

Now leprosy, again, I know it's not big in our culture, but in this time, leprosy was essentially a death kneel. You would be excommunicated from your society. You would go and live in a leper colony. You couldn't touch your family members. You could never hold your children.

You were ceremonially unclean. You couldn't go to church. And if you were walking and somebody saw you, you had to declare and cry out, don't come near me because I am unclean. And all throughout the Old Testament Jews knew for us who were clean, if you ever came into contact with somebody who was unclean,

the moment you touch them, you now also became unclean. You can't go to church, you can't go to temple

and Jesus' first miracle is to go to a man with leprosy and he doesn't just speak to him, he touches him and he heals him. And Jesus is showing us what the kingdom of God looks like that he has ushered in. Where no longer does the unclean thing make clean things unclean but

the clean thing can touch an unclean thing and it now becomes clean and you are not what you have done. You are not what has been done to you. You are not the labels that have been put on you. You can be made new in Christ. Jesus' second miracle is he goes to a Roman soldier

that says, Jesus, I have a servant at my house that's sick and I need you to come heal him. And Jesus says, your faith can heal him. And so he actually heals this man without even going to him. And then eventually they'll go to Peter's house and Peter's mother-in-law is sick and Jesus is going to heal Peter's mother-in-law. And Peter's like, Jesus, do we really need to heal every person? Like does everybody That's a mother-in-law joke. You'll get that one later.

I'm sure Peter loved his mother-in-law just like I love my mother-in-law if she's watching this message. Okay, she's awesome. And I wish Jesus would heal her as well if she was sick. Okay. Jesus heals Peter's mother-in-law, does multiple miracles. The crowd at this point has worked into a frenzy. People are coming from miles to meet the miracle working savior that they've heard about. They're coming to have a touch from heaven, but it's in this moment where you would think, okay, that the Instagram following has been built. The YouTube channel is there. Jesus has all the influence. He has all the people. He has all the power. You would think this is the moment where he would take his disciples and say, guys, get the healing tent, get the oil. We've got ministry to do, we're gonna get people healed.

But he doesn't do that. It's when the crowd is built that Jesus takes his disciples and he says, it's time to leave. There's almost like this constant rejection of the crowd and of reputation and of publicity that Jesus does all of the time. And this is the story that I want us to really look at this morning.

It starts in Matthew eight twenty three, after the crowd has been built into a frenzy. Here's how the story starts. It says in verse 23, Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. See, Jesus decides

when the crowd is large, when the expectation looms on who he is and what he's supposed to do, that he tells his disciples it's time to leave. It's time to go to the other side, which doesn't make any sense. Like, no, no, the crowd's here. Jesus, the people are here.

They're sick people that need you to heal them and we're gonna leave. But Jesus again, wasn't led by the crowd. He was led by the spirit of God and the spirit of God was saying, it's time to go. Now, what I wanna read you is the same story in the gospel of Mark.

Okay, there's four gospel accounts, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They all record the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are what we call the synoptic gospels. They all cover essentially the same stories.

The gospel of John is kind of a standalone gospel, but in all three of the synoptic gospels, we see this story we're about to read recorded, which tells us the importance of it. Every one of them wrote this down. And in Mark chapter four, I wanna read you the same couple verses, the same beginning of this story, because it will frame the context of which we're going to see this story unfold.

Mark chapter four, same story recorded in verse 35 says it this way. It says, That day when evening came, he being Jesus said to the disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side, leaving the crowd behind.'

They took Him along just as He was in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. Okay, couple details that help us see this story that will make sense in a second. Jesus says, we're leaving the crowd behind. I'm not here for approval. I'm not here for a reputation.

I'm not here for a following. I'm not here for influence. I'm here to start a revolution that will change the world. And he takes his disciples and he tells them, there's a promise. We are going to the other side.

We're going to get to the other side. There's something for us to do on the other side. And the reason that that's so important is because what we're about to see is Jesus is going to lead his disciples on a boat into the scariest storm of their life.

But this journey begins with a promise that this storm, though it might feel like it, it won't destroy you. It will not break you. We will get to the other side of this. And it tells me that sometimes when it feels like life is falling apart for you and I, we have to remember that we've been given a promise as well.

That though it might feel like it will break you and seasons will get really hard,

we've been given a promise as well. That there is a day where all of this will make sense. There is a day where we will be in eternity and all the tears will be wiped away, sickness will be no more. And all of this that we're in the middle of right now, it's temporary. We are just passing through, but there will be a day where all of this makes sense. It's not just their journey, it's our journey as well that starts with a promise that we will get through this. We will get to the other side of this.

And then the disciples have to make a decision. See Jesus invites them into a journey that doesn't make any sense. Like he wants us to leave the crowd. He wants us to leave the sick people who need healing

and they had to make a decision to follow Jesus even when it doesn't make sense. This is what I think walking by faith really is. The real invitation that you and I are given. The real choice that we're asked to make every day, Monday through Friday to follow Jesus even when it doesn't make sense.

And I read it this week when it said that the disciples got into the boat and they accepted Jesus. They got in with Jesus just as he was. And it was like the letters jumped off the page to me.

And I was like, man, I wonder how many of us are following Jesus and accepting him for who he really is and taking him for face value. So I think my fear of being a pastor in America in 2024 is that we don't follow Jesus for who he actually is. We follow the Jesus that we hope that he is.

We've accepted a version of Jesus that the Bible doesn't even say that he is.

We've accepted a version of Jesus that's like, this is who I hope that he is. There's some combination of like a magic genie plus God. And the real invitation of faith is to accept Jesus, not for who you hope that He is, not for who you're hoping that He is, but for who He actually is as revealed in the scriptures.

The disciples are given the same ask, the same choice that you and I are asked all the time to follow Jesus when it doesn't make sense. They choose to get into the boat with him but the promise is they're going to get to the other side of this thing. Look how the story continues in verse 24.

It says, suddenly. Everybody say suddenly. Suddenly out of nowhere, a fierce storm struck the lake with waves breaking onto the boat, but Jesus, come on somebody, Jesus was taking a nap. Where am I napping people at?

This right here, this is biblical proof that if Jesus needed to take a nap after preaching, I am taking a nap after preaching as well, okay? Jesus has been preaching all day. He's like, I'm taking a nap. You guys will be all right. And this story doesn't fit into a lot of our American westernized Christian theology

Because Jesus told the disciples to get into the boat. He led them into what the Bible says now is a massive storm. The next verse we'll read in a second, the disciples are actually convinced they're going to die.

They think this storm is going to overwhelm them and they're going to be drowned out here in the lake. And here's what's really interesting. Most of these guys that are in this boat who are now the disciples of Jesus, do you know what their professions were before they were disciples of Jesus?

They were professional fishermen. They were guys who spent their life on the sea, where they are on the Sea Of Galilee, they've been there countless times before. And they know unexpected storm on the Sea Of Galilee, that's not unusual.

That is incredibly normal because the Sea Of Galilee is a body of water that sits 700 feet below sea level. And it's surrounded by a basin of mountains.

And what happens is this cold air comes over the mountains and it collides with the warm air that's on top of the water. And when it happens, all of a sudden out of nowhere, storms erupt all the time. This one would have been the first storm they've ever been on on the Sea Of Galilee.

But for some reason, this storm is the one that they're convinced is gonna kill them. How big would a storm have to be to convince a bunch of professional fishermen this is the one that's gonna take you out? This is why theologians argue that what this storm is, it's actually a supernatural one. Don't miss this,

that Jesus didn't just allow that potentially Jesus himself cost, But that doesn't fit into our framework of understanding who God is. Wait, I thought Jesus was supposed to make my life better

and take away my problems. And then you read a story like this and it goes, wait, Jesus, you had them leave the fun stuff and the miracles and the life change and the celebration and the awesome moments. And then you lead them into the scariest storm of their life. Help me make sense of it. How?

You're supposed to make things better but right now Jesus is making their life ostensibly worse. He's leading them into a storm which tells me that maybe, maybe God understands that there's purpose in storms that you and I don't understand. Maybe there's potential in difficult days that we don't get.

See, you gotta remember what Jesus was ultimately doing. They thought this storm was gonna be the one that destroyed them. But Jesus knew in just a few short years, they were gonna face the most incredible storm of their life because he was gonna go and die on a cross.

And the person that they had put all of their hope in, that their reputation had been attached to, that guy was now going to die a criminal's death. And Jesus knew when that day happens, all hell is going to break loose in your life. And I've gotta prepare you for that day.

I've gotta prepare you for the darkest storm that you're ever going to encounter. And how do you get somebody prepared for something like that? How do you convince 12 knuckleheads to give their life to changing the world and starting a revolution that would literally change the entire face of the planet?

By slowly and incrementally increasing the storms that they become accustomed to. To putting their faith in moments where it's going to be tested but they'll realize that though it's tested, it's not broken. And when you come on the other side of this, you will be stronger when you get through this.

It tells me that God knows that there's purpose and potential in storms if we can see them the way that he sees them.

And maybe we don't have to just pray for the hard days and the difficult moments to just pass quickly, but instead our prayers that God, would you teach me what you're trying to teach me in the middle of this? See, think we forget that storm by their very nature, they're meant to be revealing.

Do you know that some of our greatest archeological discoveries that have happened over the years, they haven't come because of our strategic digging and our really smart decisions to go and excavate the right areas. Some of the greatest archeological discoveries that we've made have happened because a storm,

a hurricane has hit a certain part of the world and when the storm passes through, what's left is the remnants of some crazy archeological

discovery. I wanna show you a picture. There was an old mob boat that they knew had sunk. They knew that it sunk somewhere, but nobody could find it. Well, a hurricane hit the West Coast and all of a sudden when the hurricane passed and the rain stopped, they walked out onto the beach and that's what was sitting there.

And if you can see it in nature, you'll begin to see potentially the purpose of why God allows us to walk through storms as well because storms, storms in their very nature, they are revealing. They show what's there that we don't like to admit that's there, both good and bad.

And sometimes the storms of life, they show us the parts of us that we don't want to admit that are there, but they also show us the things that we're strong in that we can rely on the next time a storm comes through.

It's interesting to me that we like testing in most areas of our life. Like nobody wants to buy a house where they haven't tested the waiting of the two by fours. They haven't tested the foundation of the house. We like to make sure that things have been tested,

but we often forget though it's uncomfortable, we're gonna go through the same testing period with our faith as well to prove to us what's actually in us. But the problem is, is when you and I are convinced that as a Christian, our lives are exempt from storms.

We'll miss the purpose and the potential that the storms can produce in our life. I wanna tell you as Christians, you and I, we're not exempt from storms but the good news is we are exempt from storms without purpose. We are exempt from going through hard seasons where God won't use it,

where He won't actually grow us in the middle of it because storms are going to come. Storms are going to be a part of our reality.

But the good news is, is that we don't have to be derailed by them. See, I think oftentimes we think this story should preach something like this where Jesus tells the disciples, Hey guys, we're going to the other side, but there's a big storm that's gonna come.

And because my job is to insulate you and to bubble wrap you and make your life really safe, here's what I've done for you. I've gone two thousand years into the future. I've brought back with me this thing called a submarine. Peter, don't ask questions. You're not gonna get it right. Like, but it's a submarine. Okay, just go with me.

We're gonna all get in the submarine and together we're gonna go under the water. We will be protected. We'll look up at the water where it's all chaotic and we will see all the non Christians in the boats, freaking out in the storms going suckers, you should have given your life to Jesus, but we're down here.

And then we'll get to the other side and life will be amazing. But it isn't how the story is preached because Jesus actually leads his disciples into the darkest, most deep storm of their life, which tells me that sometimes maybe the things that we're going through, God has allowed in his sovereignty to teach us something,

to grow us in some way but we have to see these storms differently. Charles Spurgeon says it this way. He says, Storms help to make sailors sturdy and trials help to make Christians strong in their faith. And friends, we are in a time where the church needs a backbone.

The church needs to be strong. God needs his church to be strong again. And you and I have to understand that sometimes it only happens through trials and difficulties. James says it this way. He says, Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way,

considered an opportunity to post on Instagram and tell everybody about your life falling apart. He doesn't say that. He says, consider an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, here it is, your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow.

For when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. It is a tested faith that can become a perfected and complete faith. But the picture, if you can see it is powerful.

In the middle of the storm, the disciples are freaking out. Professional fishermen thinking they're gonna die, grabbing every bucket that they can, getting the water out of the boat, yelling at each other. Guys, get the bucket. Get moving. We gotta get this water out of the boat. They're like, Jesus, get a and then they're like, wait, Jesus, just wake up. Like you're sleeping?

Like you're just asleep on the boat right now. And the funny part is every time I've read this story, I've always pictured this boat. That's like, you've seen it before. Like the Pirates of the Caribbean or the Little Mermaid, like the real big boats with like the fancy bedrooms downstairs. I've always been like, the disciples are up top in a panic and Jesus is down in like a comfortable king-size bed, just chilling. And they're like, Jesus, come help us, man. We're struggling.

And then I looked up what a first century fishing boat looks like. I'm like, oh wait, these look nothing like the boats in the Pirates of the Caribbean. They're tiny.

Mark actually says the boats weren't big enough for all 12 disciples to fit into one of them. There was multiple boats. You have a tiny boat where Jesus is asleep, not down below in a comfortable place, but he's literally right next to the disciples, which tells me two things.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus will never leave you or forsake you. And no matter how dark and bleak your days will get, the promise of God is that he will always be right next to you. He will always be with you in the middle of the diagnosis that you never thought you'd be in, in the middle of the financial ruin, the God of the universe is sitting right next to you and I love the picture.

He's sleeping and I know that that can seem careless but again remember Jesus' life is supposed to be an example of what a life led by the spirit of God looks like. Jesus is at rest while the world around him is falling apart.

And I go, that's what us as Christians are supposed to be able to do. We are supposed to be at rest while everything around us seems like it's in conflict. And I think one of the greatest witnesses to a lost and dying world is a bunch of Christians who watched the same debate happen,

but instead of going, we've gotta freak out. We've gotta run around and cut like Chicken Little or the world is falling. We've gotta get rid politicians. We've like, everything is falling apart. For them to look at us and they go, Why aren't you freaking out?

You go, Because the God of the universe is in my boat and I trust that I know it might feel like it's gonna break us. I promise you it won't. And I promise you we're gonna get through this.

And I promise we'll get to the other side of this. This whole thing started with a promise from the beginning. This isn't gonna break us. This isn't gonna destroy us, but there is potential for it to grow us. You and I have access to a peace on high that we can access at any point

but we have to make a conscious decision to do it. I was on a plane a few years ago and there was turbulence that was like, again, my wife, if she's on any plane and there's like any movement, she's like, we're dying. I'm like, we're not dying. It's just a little turbulence, chill.

This flight, I was like, we're dying. This is actually the one that's gonna take us out. Like at one point we fell, I felt like 20 yards down, like it was chaotic. All of us were screaming in solidarity with each other. You know what I mean? Like it was a really impressive thing.

And then I looked up and like two rows up ahead of me, one seat over was a pilot that was being flown to another plane that he was going to fly. And I looked at him, all of us are in an absolute panic and this man was sleeping so deep. He was like almost snoring. And I was like, maybe if the pilot,

the one that knows how these planes work better than all of us, if he's able to be at rest right now, maybe I can be at rest too. I wanna tell you, here's when you can freak out in your life. If you look up and Jesus is freaking out, you should freak out too. If you look up and Jesus is in a panic, you should panic.

But if the God of the universe who's in your boat is at rest, you can also be at rest. Remember what Jesus told us. Jesus told us in John chapter 14, he says, I'm leaving you a gift. Here's the gift, peace of mind and heart.

And the peace that I give you is a gift that the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid. Your soul can be at rest even when things are falling apart around you. Verse 25, the disciples finally realized, okay, maybe we should ask Jesus for help.

The disciples went and they woke him up and they shouted, Lord, save us. We're going to drown. Eventually, the Bible doesn't tell us how long it is, but they're panicking for a little bit and eventually they move to a place of crying out to Jesus in desperation.

And I think part of the reason that God allows us to go through hard seasons is because it's usually only in hardship where we stop looking inward, we stop looking around and we start to look up.

And sometimes it's in the middle of our storms that we will get to the end of ourselves and we will become desperate enough to cry out to God for help. In the gospel, the good news is that while you and I are still a far ways off, while we're still in the middle of our mess,

that if we are faithful to cry out to God, if we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart that Jesus is Lord, that in that moment, the Bible says that the God of the universe comes running in, he steps into our brokenness, he steps into our boat, he steps into our storm and he begins to do something about it. And I think this story shows us,

this is what I think real spiritual maturity is. Real spiritual maturity is learning to shorten the timeframe when life causes you to panic, when things begin to happen where you go, I felt this before, I need to cause, I need to freak out, I need to panic. As you can shorten the timeline from going from panic to peace,

I think that's real spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is like, oh, I've felt this before. I've been here before. And I know that I have access to a peace on high that I don't have to try to go into control mode. I don't have to try to protect everybody. I don't have to try to control everything.

I can just cry out to God and watch him do what he does. So I think often we think spiritual maturity

is how many Bible verses we have memorized. And again, I think that's helpful and it's a great resource. I laugh. My kids can literally tell you every book in order of the old testament and the new testament. Like, dad, how many do you know? I'm like, dog, I went to public school. You went to Christian school. I know four. You know 66.

Good for you. But it isn't the ultimate marker of spiritual maturity. Real spiritual maturity is when you feel the moment to panic, how quickly is it shorter than the last time that you moved to peace?

Because that's what we have access to. That's the God that we have potential to trust in and lean into because the God of the universe cares about our circumstances. Psalm chapter 42, David says it this way. He says, why my soul are you downcast?

Why so disturbed within me? And then he starts to command. He starts to speak declarative over his soul. He says, Put your hope in God for I will yet praise him, my savior and my God. David turns and looks at his soul and he says, Why are you so downcast?

You have the ability to cry out to God who is your hope, who is your savior and he cares about your circumstances and he will do something. I came here this morning to tell you if you find your soul downcast, cry out to God. See, I think real faith is getting to a point where we begin to expect

miracles in the middle of our mess. When life is falling apart, we go, this is where God does his best work. This is where God is gonna show up. And I know what he's gonna do. I know that God is gonna show up because this story proves when the disciples finally get desperate enough and they cry out to Jesus,

he intervenes and he cares. Look at what Jesus does. Verse 26, Jesus responded, why are you afraid? You have so little faith. And then he got up and he rebuked the wind and the waves and suddenly there was a great calm.

Just like out of nowhere came a great storm, suddenly when the God of the universe spoke and rebuked the winds, there became a great calm. And I go, dang man, Jesus talked to nature like I talk to a toddler. He's like, cut it out. But unlike my toddler, nature listens was like, my bad bro, I'll be quiet.

The disciples cry out and Jesus steps up and calms everything, Christ all of the storm that's happening. And he says something that every time I've read it, I've always thought it was a rebuke because he says, why are you so afraid? You have such little faith.

And I've always thought he was rebuking them and he was correcting them. And I do think there's a level where he's like, guys, come on. You gotta start to know who I am. You gotta remember who's with you in this thing. But he doesn't say you have no faith. And there's multiple points in scripture where Jesus calls people a faithless generation.

So he's not afraid to say you don't have any faith. But in this moment, he reminds the disciples, guys, you do have a little faith. And even in the darkest moments,

when it feels like everything is crashing around you and the marriage is falling apart and the finances aren't gonna recover and the business is not going to make it and you don't know how you're going to get through, I promise you, you can find just a tiny bit of faith

and you and I serve a God that can do big miracles with a little faith. But the enemy will try to take the little faith that you do have and say, yeah, God can't do anything with that but what I know all you and I need, what God needs from us is just a little bit of faith to do really, really big

miracles. You remember what Jesus told the disciples? Matthew chapter 17,

another time where they're trying to heal people and they're not getting it figured out. They can't heal them and they ask him, why can't we heal this guy? And Jesus says in verse 20, you don't have enough faith. He says, I tell you the truth. If you have faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, move from here to there and it would move.

You know what mustard seed faith can do? He says, nothing would be impossible.

Jesus says, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you could speak to this mountain and the mountain would move. Nothing would be impossible in your life, in your finances, in your health if you could conjure the faith the size of a mustard seed. Do you know how big a mustard seed is? I was gonna bring one on stage with me, but you literally wouldn't be able to see it. So I got a picture to show you. That is what a mustard seed looks like.

Jesus says, if your faith is that big, you can begin to usher in the supernatural into your circumstances. You can begin to usher in miracles

because we still serve a God who's in the business of healing. We still serve a God who's in the business of performing miracles. But what he needs from you and I is not all the faith, not big faith, but just

little faith. The faith of a mustard seed can grow into something really big. This little seed will turn into a tree that looks just like this. A massive thing can come from something so small. Jesus is saying that's what faith can do for you and I. If you're here this morning and you're desperate for a miracle,

let me remind you to not discount the little faith that you do have. Don't let the enemy rob you of the small glimpses of hope that you do have. Bring that hope to the God of the universe and watch what he'll do with it. Watch the miracles that He can work in your life with just a little bit of faith,

but we have to bring it to Him. We have to trust Him with it because when we cry out to Him, He steps in and He cares and He intervenes. And I wanna tell us church, it's okay to start with a little faith, but we can't stay at a little faith.

See the point of having our little faith met with big miracles is so the next time we can start to grow big faith and dream big prayers and pray bold prayers and ask for audacious things. Little faith is an okay place to start but little faith isn't where we stay.

We are supposed to be faith filled, bet the farm, risk takers going. We are going to leverage everything we have

everything. Look how the story ends for the disciples. Verse 27, it says, The disciples were amazed. Who is this man? They asked. Even the winds and the waves obey him. See all three of the synoptic gospels, they all record the absolute calm and the absolute stillness that was ushered into the sea in a moment.

And they all knew this wasn't a coincidence. This wasn't random. And they also knew throughout the old testament that it's only God, it's only the Lord that can control the seas and the ocean. See Jesus was taking them out onto the sea, yes, to show his power, but he was specifically showing them his authority.

They knew that only God could control the seas and this was the moment where every one of the disciples looked at Jesus and there was no longer any question.

This is God

and he's sitting in the boat with me And He's invited me to be in this journey with Him. And He's asked me to go on this faith filled journey with Him. And the God of the universe is sitting there and the disciples were confronted with what I think is the most important question you and I will ever answer with our life, who

is this man? Because if He's God, if He really actually is who He claimed to be, then it means that He can change the circumstances of what you're living in. He can begin to quiet the storms that are raging inside of your soul this morning.

He can begin to quiet the storms that are raging all around you. All we have to do is in faith with a mustard seed of faith, cry out to him and believe that he can actually meet us and step into this mess

and transform every single part of who we are from the inside out. And here's what I believe. I believe all week as I've been preparing this message, God has been speaking to me, telling me that some of you were gonna walk in here this morning with storms that are raging in your life right now.

Some of them are storms because other people have done things that have put your life into a bit of a tailspin. Some of you are in the middle of a storm that was of your own doing,

decisions that you made, things that you just kept pushing past and it's not that big of a deal, we'll get it figured out. It's not gonna blow up that much. And now you're in the middle of a storm.

And I came here to tell you if it feels like God is speaking to you right now and this whole time I've been speaking specifically to you, That's because the Bible says the Holy Spirit, the third part of the triune God, he's alive and he's active and he's moving in your heart. And he brought me here. He brought you here

so that you can hear with just a little bit of faith. If you cry out to the Lord in desperation in the middle of your storm, he's faithful to step in and quiet the storms that are happening around you. And so here's what wanna do, wanna give you an opportunity.

I'm gonna ask every single person in this room right now, just close your eyes and bow your heads where you are. I believe that this moment is a supernatural one that has been prearranged from the beginning of time. You're not here randomly. You're not here coincidentally that God orchestrated

so many things to get you into this place, to hear this message so that you could respond to him. The Bible says that all we have to do is confess with our heart and believe with our mouth that Lord. Jesus And in that moment we will be saved and all of our past, our present and our future sins will be forgiven.

We will be made right with God and we can begin to walk with him and go on a journey of faith with him. And if you're here this morning and you know you need to invite Jesus into the storm of your life, I'm gonna give you a moment. I'm gonna count to three and I'm gonna ask you to respond physically to what God is doing internally and emotionally inside of your heart.

And I know it seems silly, but something happens when we respond physically.

It's been happening all weekend and I know it's gonna happen right now. There are some of you that you know you need to cry out to the Lord and invite him into the storm. This is your moment. When I count to three, just throw your hand up. One, this is your moment.

Two, don't let the enemy talk you out of this. Three, right where you are, throw your hand up in the air. There's hands going up all over this room. There's hands going up all over the auditorium. I see you all the way up in the upper decks, all around here. Don't be ashamed. Keep your hands high.

Let God know, Lord, I'm crying out to you. I'm asking for you to step in and intervene into this storm right now. I believe that you are who you say that you are. I believe that you have miraculous power from heaven that can change my circumstances and change my situations and I'm inviting you into it right now.

If that's you, you can put your hands down. I wanna invite you to pray with me right now a simple prayer. It's not about the words that you say as much as it is about the posture of your heart. Just say Jesus, with the small mustard seed faith that I have, right now in this moment,

I cry out in desperation for you to come in and rescue me. I invite you to be the Lord and the King and the Savior of my life. I believe that two thousand years ago, you stepped into my mess. You became human. You became sin so that I could become the righteousness of God. You died the death that I deserve.

You satisfied the judgment of God. And right now with the faith that I have, I acknowledge you as savior and king of my life. I ask for you to come into my heart and set me free. It is in the mighty name of Jesus all God's people said, amen and amen.

Thanks for joining us online this weekend. Let us know if we can help you in any way. Make sure to follow us on social media and connect with us on the We Are Rock Point app for prayer and everything happening here at Rock Point.