Peace/Anxiety | Part 6

But before we get there, I wanna tell you a story about growing up. So when I grew up, I used to do this crazy thing that, for the young people, I'll try to explain what it is. But we used to do this thing called playing outside. And

it's essentially like if you take your little character like my son who plays Minecraft or Roblox or something, and you take that little character that you've created in the virtual world that you live in, and you take him outside of the house that you've created, and you go outside with some of your virtual friends. We used to do that in real life, and it was awesome and incredible.

And can I just get an amen from everybody that grew up playing outside? Right? Come on. I

look at my kids often, and I'm just so glad that I grew up when I did. And I'm like, you are gonna be such weird adults. So, you know, get outside and play with your friends. But we used to live on the street that was just like the place to be, man. Tons and tons of kids. And I lived at the end of the street on the cul de sac where all the kids would kind of congregate, and we would just play all types of different games. But in our neighborhood, the go to game was kickball. That's what we were playing probably,

you know, six out of seven days. And we would take these little pieces of cardboard and create all the bases that were, you know, gonna be where we were gonna play. And every now and then, get crazy and put slip and slides out there and just just have a blast. And we would play all the time. And we would play the basically the end of the cul de sac where the driveway started before the bushes and way before the trees is where the home run line would be. Well, the family that lived two doors down from us, they ended up moving away when I was in junior high. Then we had this new family that moved in. And they were that neighbor that when they drive in, you're like, oh, hey, neighbor. And you do like the neighbor neighborly thing and you wave and you don't really know each other. And they would look at you and just

drive home into their driveway, not even acknowledging your presence. And I was like, are they a serial killer or something? Like, what's wrong with them? How do they not at least do the basic neighborly thing where you wave back? And again, if you're here this morning and you are that neighbor,

you don't have to listen to the rest of this message. You just need to know that your neighbors think that there's something wrong with you. You should at least wave and say hi to them. Okay? So this man, don't really know. They're kind of interesting, but they have a son that goes to our junior high. And we would see him every now and then, but he would never really come out and play with us. We didn't really know much about him. And

this their house was literally up this massive driveway that looked like a small mountain. And one day he came cruising down when we were playing kickball. And to put it nicely, David wasn't

athletically built. Alright. It's a nice way to say it. He looked like he played a lot of video games and stayed inside frequently. So all as he's walking down, all of my buddies are like, he's not on my team. I'm like, I'm not taking him. Like, you've gotta put him on your team, bro. Like, he's closer to you. You're already in the field. Like, you guys just and we're having this whole debate. They're like, just tell him he can't come because we've already put the teams together and just come back in a couple weeks or something. I'm like, we have to give the kid a shot. Like, let's just see what he can do. You know? Let's see let's see his ability. And so I asked him. I was like, hey, bro. Here's how we play. We roll the ball here. We kick it. Here's the home run line. Here's the bushes. Here's the trees. How far do you think you can kick this kickball? Because I wanna know is if he's good, I want him on my team, if he sucks, I want him on their team. Right?

And so I asked him, how far do you think you can kick this kickball? He's like, bet you I can kick it over these trees.

And I'm like, dude, this is like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite. It's like, can throw this football over these mountains, you know. Like, he had this poor kid's been inside for so long, he has no concept of how far somebody can actually kick a ball because none of us have ever kicked it past the bushes, let alone even got to the bushes. And then the concept of hitting a tree or getting over the tree is just absolutely impossible. But we're like, all right, somehow he ends up on my team. And eventually he comes up to the plate, and I'll never forget the moment. I roll him the ball, and this kid comes up and just punch this thing. And it was like that moment where your neck like tweaks because you whiplash back so hard. And we watch, and this kid literally kicks this ball, and it sails over

the cul de sac, past the driveways, over the bushes, clears every tree, and hits one of our neighbor's house. And that moment is like seared into my mind as a child where we just watched him jog the bases and we were like, who is this man amongst boys? Like this is

How did this little weird white body just do that? Like that was the craziest.

And so we asked him and he was like, man, I played soccer my whole life. Like I was trying to tell you guys that I'm actually pretty good at this and that I could do this. And the two things that I learned that day is that number one, soccer players are actually athletic. And number two,

the reason that I tell you any of this this morning is because he could have told us all day long about who he was and what he could do. He could have talked about his ability. He could have told us about how good he was. But the truth is,

we had made all types of assumptions on who He was and what He could do based on our perception of who He was. But it wasn't until He actually got the chance to display who He was and what He could do that we actually became aware of His true ability.

The reason that I tell you that is the story we're gonna read in Mark chapter four,

is where Jesus is gonna be with His disciples and He's gonna get an opportunity to come to the plates and they're gonna roll Him the ball, having a perception and an understanding of His ability. But for the first time, Jesus is going to display to them that he is so much more powerful. He is so much bigger

than what they understand. And I think the point for us, as we read this story, is it's much deeper than just going, okay, Jesus is big. Jesus is powerful. I think that's part of it. But I think the reason that Jesus has this story, the reason that three of the narrative stories of Jesus' life record this event,

is because this story is going to prove something powerful to us. And here's really what I think it is. Here's kind of the big idea if you're taking notes. It's that it's only when our faith has been tested that it can actually be trusted.

I think so many people walk around with a faith that they think they can trust, but the truth is that faith has never been tested. And the reality of it is, is you and I don't know what's in us and who's with us until we get put into environments where what we have

is put to the test. The truth and the reality is, is we live in a world that is very much dependent on testing. We like testing a lot, whether we know it or not.

You would never buy a car that has not been safety tested. You wanna go on vacation and jump on a zip line that has never been pressure tested. The guy is like, Hey man, do you wanna go on the zip line? You're like, Yeah, what's the rating for this rope? How many pounds can it hold? And we're like, I don't know, a dude said that it can hold a thousand, but we've never tested. You wanna try it? You're like, nope, I'm good. Why? Because we inherently know

that something can only really be trusted. Something can only truly be trusted after it's been tested. If only we could figure out a way to test all of our politicians before we put them in office, right? We

understand. It's why we turn the water on and stick our hand in the shower to feel it before we melt our face off, because we know that you have test something to see the truth of what it's made of. And here's what we have to see this morning. Our faith is no different.

The invitation of faith that we've been invited into, the journey that we are on with God is no different. What we have must be tested so that, not so that God can go, okay, you're good enough. You've gotten into heaven. You, you're level two of heaven. That's not what the testing's for.

The testing is so that you and I can truly see the power, the majesty, the might, and the glory of the God that's with us, that the Bible says is living and active in us. Because here's the thing that we're gonna look at in Mark four. This is a storm

that takes place in these disciples' lives that is different than any other storm that we see in the New Testament. So let's read.

Mark chapter four, verse 35. I need you to respond when I ask this. Are you there? Yes. There we go. This is, man, we are getting it people. I like this. Mark chapter four verse 35. It says, that day when evening came, he, Jesus, said to his disciples, let us go over to

the other side. Okay? Here's how the story starts. I hate to be the guy that like reads one verse and then talks about it a bunch, but I just have to do it because the story's kinda short. So

Jesus, the story starts with him saying, let us go to the other side. Let us get into the boat and go to the other side. If you go back and read the beginning of Mark chapter four, this is the very, very, very beginning of Jesus's public ministry.

Up until this point, really all he's done is he's grown up, he's lived his life, and he's now recruited his team. He's gotten his disciples, and he's convinced them that he is something more than just a regular guy. And potentially, he really truly is the Messiah that they've been waiting for their whole life.

And they have hitched their wagon to this pony. They believe that he truly is who he says that he's going to be, practicality yet. They only know it by what he has claimed.

In the beginning of Mark four, Jesus is teaching some of the most incredible stuff that you will see in the New Testament. He's talking about these things called the secrets of the kingdom of God. He says, I'm gonna reveal to you all of the secrets that you've always wanted to know about heaven and about this kingdom that I'm ushering in. And essentially what he says is the secret

that there is no secret. I will make plain the things of who I am. And he starts to talk about the fact that all of you have thought that the kingdom that's gonna be ushered in, that the Messiah was going to come in and overthrow the current government and the current kingdom by power and might and force.

But it's not how I'm gonna do it. He says it's gonna be like a mustard seed. It's gonna be this thing that seems really insignificant, that people are going to overlook. They're going to completely undervalue. But I promise you this little thing when it becomes planted,

when it begins to take root in people's hearts and it becomes the message that is spread around the world, it will change everything.

And he's teaching literally all day to these crowds of people on the Sea Of Galilee, and the crowd becomes so large. There becomes so many people listening to these crazy parables that Jesus is talking about. That eventually Jesus has to go to some random guys like, hey bro, can I borrow your boat? And he literally gets in the boat, pushes out to the water so that he can see and teach to everybody at one

time. And he teaches all day. And his disciples are there in the classroom setting, much like this gathering, listening to him get up and orate and talk about the kingdom indeed. And then he looks at the disciples when all of the teaching is done and he says something incredibly bizarre, but powerful.

And he says, I'm about to show you and teach you the things that have been very up here, that have been very kind of ambiguous.

I'm gonna make them very plain and clear to you. So he says let's get into the boat and let's go to the other side. Because there's ministry we have to do on the other side of the Sea Of Galilee. But it's important to note how this story starts. This story starts by Jesus telling the disciples to do something

and they listen. Oftentimes, we believe in our life. The reason that that matters is we often believe that the storms that happen in our life are a direct result of our disobedience. And if we could just be more obedient,

if we could just listen better, pray more, come to church more, tithe more, go through the motions more, be a better Christian, then we wouldn't face trials in life. And don't hear what I'm not saying. Some trials and some storms that come into our life are a direct result of our disobedience.

Sometimes we are living in the natural consequences of the poor choices that we make and we blame God for them. And the truth is, we did this. But this story shows us something incredible. Because the disciples are gonna find themselves in the middle of a storm that Jesus led them to.

This challenges the very notion that we often think about God when we say, you know what God's ultimate responsibility is? His ultimate responsibility is to lead us through every storm.

To get me through every hardship. To get me through every difficulty. And I believe like Jesus will in this story, he will get them through the storm. But what do we do with the fact that in this story, Jesus actually leads them to the storm? And what I think is that in God, with Jesus, there's purpose in storms.

There's purpose in trials. There's purpose in difficulties. Because if not, why would he lead his inner core group of guys right into the middle of one? It's probably God calling. You should answer it.

Dude, last night, literally the craziest thing ever. So I'm I'm like in the middle of this message preaching about the storms and storms of life, and literally every phone goes wah wah wah. We look and it says massive incoming storm heading your way.

And I was like, let's close in prayer before we all die. Alright? Like, let's it was crazy. Verse 36. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him just as he was in the boat. There were also other boats with him. K? So there's a bunch of boats on this water.

And it says that a furious squall came up. I know you say squall all the time, but if you don't know what a squall is, it's just a storm. Okay? A big sea storm comes up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.

Okay? So here's what's happening. They are on a body of water that's essentially a big lake that's called the Sea Of Galilee. And if you lived during this time in this region, you would know that the Sea Of Galilee was the perfect place for random storms

to hit. Because the Sea Of Galilee sits at 700 feet below sea level. And it sits in a basin surrounded by mountains where cold air would sit on top of the water. And then what would happen is warm air would come over the mountains and drift down to the water. And when the cold air would collide with the warm air, it was the perfect recipe for a storm.

So the guys that Jesus has recruited to his team, a lot of them, what they did before they followed Jesus, they were commercial fishermen. Okay? This sea, this body of water that they are on, would have been one of the places that they fished all the time.

So none of them would have been surprised by the fact that the sea that they've been on a ton is going to have a storm hit it. The Sea Of Galilee is notorious for these kind of storms, especially at night. But there's something different about this storm.

Because this storm causes the disciples to think they're going to die. You have to think how big would a storm have to be? How big would the waves have to get? How much would the boat have to creak and twist and turn to convince a bunch of seasoned fishermen

who've spent their life at sea that this was the storm that was going to destroy them, that this was the storm that was going to kill them? Most theologians actually believe that there is a supernatural source to the storm. That this is not a regular storm. This is a storm that Jesus didn't just lead them to.

This is a storm that he actually created.

Because again, you have to remember, Jesus has the disciples for three years. He has a three year window with them to convince them that who He is is real. And to convince them that following Him, though it's gonna cost them everything, it will be worth it. That following him will be difficult, but it will be worth it.

And this boat in the Sea Of Galilee, in Mark chapter four, is one of the greatest classrooms for him to teach. So the question is, is when the storms of life rage, where's Jesus? In this scene, where is Jesus? The storms are crashing, the waves are coming in the boat, and look what the next verse tells us Jesus is doing.

Verse 38, Jesus was in the stern, the back of the boat, sleeping on a cushion. It's like number one, Jesus, where'd you find a cushion, dude? That was like the only cushion on the boat. And now you're using it to sleep? I don't you you have to see this scene. K? It's a boat in the middle of the water that's

everybody is freaking out. Chaos is ensuing. And they go and they're like, we don't know what to do. We tried rowing. We tried doing this stuff. We were gonna throw Judas over, but we we figured we're not going to yet. We don't know what to do. And then somebody had the bright idea. Find Jesus.

Let's ask him. Maybe he knows. He was telling us about all these secret things, and he said he's gonna tell us what it means plainly. Go ask him. And then somebody comes back and they're like, dude, he's asleep.

And again, the part that I absolutely love is I now have biblical evidence of the the the supremacy of scripture that supports the post preaching nap because it's I'm telling you it's a thing. You better believe your boy after this message is going home and taking a nap. But I'm gonna tell my kids, Jesus did it, okay? He preached all day and then took a nap. That's why I have to do it, right? And

it really is this incredible picture that shows us this duality that Jesus lived with. 100% God. 100% God. But also 100% man, simultaneously. And he was tired. He was so tired that he fell asleep and was sleeping in the middle of a storm. And some theologians debate on this issue. Was he sleeping

because he was tired, because he was a 100% man and he was just exhausted? It could be. Or was he sleeping, but not really sleeping? He was just kind of faking it to mess with the disciples to kind of see what are they gonna do? What are do they truly understand who I am? Have they really been listening?

Because he understands. Your faith, when put to the test, what is truly in you is what will come out of you. Here's the thing that you and I have to understand about storms. Storms in their very nature are designed to reveal things. Storms are designed even in nature to be revealing.

Did you know that in the last five hundred years, some of the greatest archeological discoveries that have taken place in our world, do you know how the items that have been found were discovered? How they were unearthed? After a storm,

after a massive hurricane. I wanna show you one. I've been saying the whole time that this was on the East Coast. Somebody told me last service it was actually the West Coast. So hopefully people's salvation is still intact. But this ship, just kidding, this ship was actually just found off of Coronado Island.

It was an old mob owned boat that they had rumors of where it was, but nobody actually knew where it had sunk. And then a massive hurricane hit the island. And a couple days later, they walked down and that's what was sitting there. And the part that's mind blowing to me, go look it up for yourselves.

Some of the greatest things that we have discovered have come as a byproduct of storms. Why does that matter? Because storms even in nature are designed to reveal things. They're designed to find the weak points of our life.

This begins to give us insight and understanding as to why God would take the disciples and lead them into the storm that they thought was going to kill them. Because here's what we have to agree on. Jesus is not like the local weatherman basically wakes up and he's like, okay, I'm gonna do the weather broadcast today. It's gonna rain. Sorry, it didn't rain. Tomorrow, it's not gonna rain. It rains. Like what other job can you be wrong like 50% of the time and still be employed, right? But

that's not Jesus. He didn't go, hey, we've gotta get to the other side, so I think this is a good time to go because there's gonna be no storms. And then about half hour later, he's like, dang it. My bad. This huge storm. We'll get through this. Like, hang on boys. Like, he for sure knew

if he spoke creation into existence, if in his very words, he holds the balance of the universe, he knew for sure there was gonna be a storm on the sea that night. So why would he send the disciples into the middle of it?

Because I think the only way that he could take the things that he'd been talking about up here, the things that we learn in environments like this. The only way to ever make it more than something that's an intellectual concept

and to actually make it something that we can base our hope and our life in is we have to take it out of the classroom and we have to see how it plays itself out on the playground. If you've ever tried to teach a kid how to ride a bike,

you can't sit in the garage for two weeks and tell them every day this is what pedaling is like. This is what balance is and you're gonna feel like this and you're gonna wanna do this and you're gonna wanna steer and then you're gonna have to do this and then you're gonna apply the brakes. You can teach them a little bit about riding a bike in a protected environment, but then comes the moment

that you have to know, hey, the only way you're gonna truly understand, not the concept

of balance, but the practical application of what this means and how to deal with it is to get out on the street and probably fall over a few times as you learn to pedal. And it becomes the point where every parent is running behind the bike trying to do their best to protect their child as they learn

to do something new. It's no different with our faith. I wish I could tell you. I wish that I could tell you that a lot of the messaging of faith, of the message of Jesus in the Western Christian world was true. That this was gonna give you a blessed life, and you have a life of abundance

and ease, and it was gonna be easy and comfortable, and you were gonna live your best life, and it's gonna be incredible, and it'll be a great truth, and you're gonna just float around on earth until you get to heaven one day and then you'll be floating around on the biggest clouds ever.

But if you've been following Jesus for any amount of time, you know that's not true. And sometimes we do our kids a disservice by telling them that following Jesus is not gonna be expensive. That it won't be the most difficult thing that you've ever done. That it won't cost you everything.

But that's the paradox of our faith. That it's the moment that we lose our life that we finally find true life. The invitation that we've been given is today we pick up our cross, not our mattress, and follow him. He looked at his disciples in the face and told them, you are gonna know suffering, but take heart

because this isn't your forever home. He says, now you're in the in between. This is where we were, but that's where we're going. You're gonna be on a boat in process of getting there,

and you better believe we will get there. We will get to the other side. We will arrive and spend eternity with God, and it will all make sense one day. But what do you do in the in between? What do you do when you find yourselves in the middle of life's storms?

And the hard part is, is a lot of times our messaging in church tells people that it's gonna be easy and it's gonna be blessed. And if you have problems, you just don't have enough faith. And you know what the truth is? Some of the hardest moments of my life I've walked through as a Christian.

Some of the most difficult moments of my life where I thought I was going to be broken came on the other side of salvation.

And the reason that this story matters so much is yes, Jesus will deliver you through the storm, But sometimes he has a purpose in the storm. He has a lesson for you and I to learn in the storm. But if our theology,

if our understanding of how God operates is that he only is up in heaven to be my genie to call on to fix the problems of my life, You are setting yourself up for more failure than you ever thought possible. You have created a faith in you and potentially your kids that will not last.

It will not build endurance like James says. You will have a faith that is contingent upon your life being perfect. And Jesus knew he only had three years with his disciples. He has three years to convince a bunch of guys to change the world.

How do you in three years convince 12 guys to be willing to die a brutal death for the cause? That a cause that's gonna be so difficult, but it will be worth it. I think the only way you can do it is by putting them in real life situations and showing them the truth of who he was. Because look at how the story continues.

Jesus is asleep on the cushion, and the disciples wake him up and they said to him, teacher, do you even care if we drown? One of the other gospel accounts says, do you even care if we die?

And the truth is Jesus knew that this storm would bring out what was truly in them. You know, we say a lot like when we get into a pressured environment or, we get really stressed out and we lash out at somebody and we say something and then later we come back and we say something like, hey, I'm sorry I said that. I didn't really mean it. I was just really stressed out. I think that's a nice way that we try to lie and cover up the truth that we really did mean that. We're just not super proud of the fact that we said it.

Because the truth is, is when we're pressed, when we're stressed, when life presses in on us, I think what's truly in us is what comes out of us. The Bible says it this way, out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak. When you are pressed, when you are put to the limits,

the truth of who you really are will be revealed. It's what storms do. It's how they're designed. So Jesus puts these disciples in a boat, gets them in a storm so they can come face to face with the fact that they don't really actually truly know who Jesus is.

They understand that he's talked about an ability. He said that he can kick the ball over the trees, but they're like, dude, there's no way. You don't actually practically believe it. So they go, we're gonna die. This is it. And you don't even care. And this is what Jesus says.

Verse 39.

Jesus gets up. He rebukes the wind, says to the waves, quiet, be still. Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. And then he looked at his disciples and he says, why are you guys so scared? Do you still have no faith? In the moment of their greatest panic,

with the waves of life crashing around them, Jesus gets up and treats nature like I treat my six year old, like, stop it, no, cut it out. And the weird part is the waves were like, oh my bad, sorry. Like, unlike my six year old, the waves listen when Jesus goes, stop.

And then he looks at the disciples and goes, you guys, you guys still don't get it. You still don't get who I am. And I know it seems random. I know it seems like some weird story that he just happens to do this on a lake and a boat in the middle of the Sea Of Galilee.

But you have to understand what these Hebrew men would have known. These Jewish men grew up knowing what the psalmist said about who God was. In Psalm 89 verse nine it says that God is the one that controls the sea. He's the one that controls the storms. They knew

that the only person that had the ability to control the ocean, to control the seas, to calm nature was God. And so Jesus, in a very act of deliberacy,

comes out, puts the disciples in the middle of this boat, causes a storm so that the disciples can freak out, get to know themselves, and we're gonna die. And then they wake him up and he goes, and all of nature ceases.

And in that moment, they would have known what Paul says in Colossians, that Jesus was the visible image of the invisible God that we can't see. That standing in their boat wasn't a good teacher. Wasn't a guy that lived a good life that we should follow because of his morality. That standing in the boat with these guys

was God in human form. Yes, 100% man, but 100% God. And I love the disciples response because they were scared. They thought they were gonna die. They were terrified of the seas. And then Jesus stands up, rebukes the wind and watch the disciples response in verse 41. It says that they were terrified and they asked each other,

who's this guy? Even the wind and the waves obey him. The disciples were afraid of the storms that were happening outside of their boat. But then the moment Jesus stands up and tells nature to be quiet and nature listens, the waves stop. They're like, man, I'm a thousand times more scared of that guy.

That was scary and he in just a stop made all of it stop. And all three accounts of this story talk about the complete stillness and calmness that went over the water. The complete quiet. The complete calm that Jesus in one word spoke and created. And what they just realized is what the Bible teaches us. When we truly

actually understand who Jesus is, that's the captain of our boat. The guy that's in the boat, when we truly understand who he is, his majesty, his full glory, the full power and the weight of who he is, that our response to that should be

fear. And not like I'm afraid and I'm gonna run and I'm gonna hide, but it's a holy reverent fear of like, if this really is true, and if you really hold my entire life in the balance in the palm of your hand, and in a very moment in a slight twist or a spoken word, everything that I have, this the illusion that I have of control could be lost in an instant. You hold it all in a balance.

But the Bible says that the fear of God,

that's the beginning of wisdom. That's where we begin to be able to walk through life by faith and not by sight. Because what it says is it doesn't matter what happens outside of the boat, because we're so terrified of the one that's in the boat with us. That the stuff that's out there, we're like, good try, sucker. You gotta try and get through this guy. Good luck, man. Like, can try, do what you want, do as you may. But in a breath, in a single word, you'll go stop and you'll go, my bad.

That's the God that's in the boat with us. But what so many of us do is we've taken this Jesus and we've put him into this little tiny box that I promise you he doesn't fit in. And we've tried to go, yeah, that's my faith. That's what we go through life. And we wonder why when storms hit,

so many of us fall away and we wonder the same question the disciples did. God, are you even listening? Are you even there? And I think a lot of us have been sold of faith that says this story should preach something like this.

That says, hey, Jesus was teaching all day long. He got really tired after preaching. And so he gathered his disciples and says, hey guys, We've gotta go to the other side of the sea, because there's these demon possessed people, and we have to go cast these demons out. We're gonna go do the work for the glory of God, and we've gotta get to the other side. But

listen, in about thirty minutes, the storm's gonna ravage this place. And there's gonna be all these other dummies that are on the water, and they're just gonna freak out, and we're gonna laugh at them. And I know you guys have no concept of what I'm talking about. Begin remember, I'm the alpha, the omega. I'm God, the beginning and the end. Like, I'm that guy. And in about a few thousand years, they're gonna build this thing called a submarine.

K? Here's my first magic trick. Boom, created a submarine. We're all gonna jump into my submarine, and I'm going to protect you and insulate you from the problems of life. We will go underneath the water, and we'll watch all the non Christians

struggling through life, going through the the waves and the storms of life. And we'll look up and go, man, if only you had Jesus, you could get into our insulated bubble called a submarine. And he would take you and guide you underneath the storms of life. But the problem is that's not how the story unfolded.

Jesus put them in the middle of the boat full, knowing what was going to happen. Which tells you and I that when it seems like we're going to be broken,

when it seems like the things that we're going through are going to be the end of us, that maybe our prayer doesn't have to be, God, just make this stop as soon as possible. Maybe, just maybe, our prayer could be, God, what are you trying to reveal in me? What are you trying to teach me through this?

And here's the thing that I know. I know some of the stuff that you guys are walking through. I know the reality of how hard some of the situations you're in right now are.

And I would be doing you such a disservice if I just said, yeah, but you know you've got Jesus in the boat with you and he will deliver you through it. And that's true. He does. He does quiet the storms.

But sometimes he allows the storms to come into our life because there's a lesson to be learned in them. And the only way that we can truly,

actually learn them, to build a faith that we can depend on, not one that is just surface level. Not one that is just convenient. Not one that is just fun when we like it. A life of absolute reckless abandon. A life of truly following God. Not cultural Christianity,

of actually being disciples, walking so close to Jesus that the dust that he kicks up is covering us. I think sometimes the only way that we can learn them is trial by fire. And a few of these guys that were in this boat later on recorded,

they wrote their own letters talking and reflecting back on moments like this and the lessons that they'd learned. And one of them, James, Jesus' brother says this in James chapter one. Here's how he learned to deal with trials and troubles. He says this in verse two. He says, dear brothers and sisters,

when troubles of any kind come your way, consider them an opportunity for great joy.

He says, when you face struggles and difficulties and trial, consider them an opportunity for great joy. Here's why. Because you know that when 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.

He says, this is what trials will do. Trials will give you an opportunity to realize your faith can last. Your faith can get you through. You can persevere. You can build endurance. You can align your suffering with Jesus' suffering. And then the suffering can begin to bring purpose and meaning and significance.

And you can begin to learn in the middle of the trials and you don't have to have a faith that is just contingent on everything being perfect. He says, when you walk through difficult things, consider it an opportunity for joy. But we have to understand what he's saying is not the same thing as happiness.

Joy and happiness are not the same thing. Happiness is a situational, circumstantial thing based on the happenings around us. What he's saying is that you have an opportunity. If you truly understand who Jesus is, who God is in your boat,

and you can rest in the promise that he has said, you will get to the other side. You will get to the other side of this. You will get past this. This storm will not break you. You will get through this. If you truly understand that, if you truly believe that, then you

can take the one cushion on the boat and go sleep in the back and rest in his sufficiency while everybody else is freaking out. That's the invitation that we've been given in the middle of trials, to rest and sleep in what he has done.

We don't have to be tossed to and fro by the waves of this life. We can actually have joy when life is crazy. And then one of the other disciples, Peter, says it this way. In the letter of first Peter, he says this in verse five. He says, and through your faith,

God is protecting you by his power until you receive the salvation. Okay, he's talking about the second coming of Christ when he comes back and restores this world. The moment where there is no more brokenness, there is no more hurt, there is no more trial. Every tear is wiped away. Death will be no longer. Cancer won't exist. We will be restored.

He says, when that day happens, which is ready to be revealed to us on the last day for all to see. Verse six, he says, So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead. Even though you must endure many trials for a little while, these trials will show that your faith is genuine.

It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold, though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world. He talks about this incredible process.

The trials are to us. He talks about the process that we will be in for the majority of our life on this side of heaven. You could argue that much of life is a storm.

Maybe you're in the middle of one, maybe you just came out of one, or maybe you're getting ready to go into one, but most of life can be described as some type of storm. That's the bummer part about us living in a broken and fallen world on this side of eternity. He says, but here's what God will do with those trials.

They will be like the fiery furnace where gold is purified. And if you look at the process of what a goldsmith does to take gold and refine it down to get out all of the impurities,

he will take a raw piece that looks just like a rock to somebody that doesn't know what they're looking at. And he will take a furnace and he'll heat it to 1,200

degrees, put this rock that he knows inside of it, there's gold, but it's got a bunch of stuff that he's gotta get off of it. And he will heat it to 1,200 degrees to the point that everything melts. And what will begin to happen is all of the impurities will begin to rise to the surface, and he'll come back, and he'll scoop them all out. And then he'll come and he'll check on it again, there'll be more impurities that have risen to the top, and he'll heat it hotter, and he'll scoop those ones out. And the goldsmith knows, this is crazy. This is what Peter's talking about. The goldsmith knows that the process of gold being refined is finished.

When he comes back to look into the cauldron and what he sees is not impurities, but it's his own reflection. That's what Peter says you and I are in the process of right now on this side of heaven.

That you're going to walk through things. You're going to get reports that aren't good. You're going to watch loved ones pass away. But all of them are part of the process that's refining our faith, that's making it more precious than gold. And the thing that we have to understand is our faith cannot be.

We trust God in the absence of storm. The thing that we have to develop is a faith that says it doesn't matter what I face. My circumstances, my situations, they don't dictate who I believe that God is.

He has declared a promise over my life. He's declared a promise over your life. You will get through this. He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion. You want proof? Every one of you got one of these as you walked in this morning. One of the final teaching moments that Jesus had with his disciples.

On the Sea Of Galilee in Mark chapter four, Jesus taught the disciples that what he could do is that he could calm the storms that existed out there, that he could control nature, that he could make the waves bow, that he could make nature stop.

But then the night before he was betrayed, if you need a communion cup, just throw your hand up. On the night before he was betrayed, before he went to the cross for our punishment, he gathered his disciples one more time for one of the most important lessons that he would ever teach them.

And he sat him in this upper room and he told him, listen guys, here's what's gonna happen. Tomorrow, one of you is gonna betray me, and I'm gonna die a brutal death. I am going. Broken. My blood will be shed. And here's what you have to understand. I am about to endure the greatest storm that anybody has ever seen.

And I promise you, everybody's going to look at this moment and all they will see is death and destruction and defeat. But I'm telling you right now, that's not the truth of what this moment is. He says on the the Sea Of Galilee, he looked at nature in the face and said, stop.

But if I'm gonna be able to look at death in the face and say, stop. If I'm gonna be able to look at your anxiety and say, not here. No more. If I'm gonna be able to look at the face of depression and say, not today. Not here. I am going to overcome this.

If I am going to be able to reach all of these lost and broken people, I have to weather the greatest storm that anybody has ever seen. And the Bible says that he was beaten, mocked, and brutalized. Beaten to a point that he was beyond recognition, and he hung on a cross. He hung on a tree declaring emphatically

to you and me who sit here today, and we wonder, God, are you silent? Do you even see me? The cross is the forever reminder to you and I that it doesn't matter what we face. It doesn't matter what we walk through. Jesus in one breath can stand up and say, not today. Be still, and we can enter into his embrace.

And I don't know what it is that you're walking through this morning. I don't know what financial struggles, relational issues that you're going through, but here's what I know. God wants to develop in you a faith that can endure.

He wants to develop in you a faith that you can trust, that you can depend on for the rest of your life. And sometimes we have to begin to see the tests differently. And in that letter that we read about first Peter, Peter continues with one of the most profound things I think in all of scripture.

He goes on to say that one day, one day you and I will be in heaven and we will know all of the secret things of God. What he says is one day, you will be able to look back on this exact moment when you wondered where God was, and you will be able to see exactly what he was doing. You will see why he took you from point a to point b, and then you went there, and then you got here, and it moved you to this place, and you will see the whole plan of God, and it will all make sense.

And your response, Peter says, in that moment when you see, you will be with the angels in heaven, and you will just begin to praise God. You will praise him for not giving up, for not forsaking you, for pursuing you, for creating in you this life beyond your wildest dreams.

And so what Peter implores all of us to do is he says, you will know it one day. So here's my challenge. Worship God. Praise God today as if you know it now because you will one day. He says one day you'll know.

So why don't you now while you're standing in the in between between where you used to be and where you want to be, why don't you praise God as if you already know? Because that's how we defeat Satan.

That's what communion is. Communion is our moment to go. I know I'm not there yet. I know I don't have it all together, but here's what I do believe. I believe that God is good and one day it'll make sense. And so I'm gonna stand here in this gap, and I'm going to trust, and I'm going to believe, and I'm gonna declare his goodness. That's what worship is. That's why we're gonna sing a song that says we're gonna raise a hallelujah.

We don't sing that just when life is good. I would challenge you to sing it even more when life is terrible, Because we believe that God is good. And even though we don't understand, we trust that he's working it out.

So here's what I'm gonna ask all of you to do this morning. I don't know what it is that you're walking through, but I know that God is good. And we have this incredible reminder called communion to take us back to that moment. And

the band's gonna lead us in a couple songs, and we're gonna worship, and we're gonna praise, and we're gonna declare the promises of God over our circumstances and our situation.

And if you're here and you have no relationship with Jesus, don't worry about taking this thing. You need to just start by bringing him into your boat, inviting him into your life, and asking him to be the captain of your ship. But for the rest of us,

one of the greatest things that you can do is go to God in prayer before we get into worship, and just let him speak to your heart. When you're ready, just take communion, and then worship God today as if you understand the things that you will understand someday. Amen? Amen.

In the fire sitting next to me. There was another in the water holding back the seas. And should I ever

battle because I know that's where you're.

So no matter what storm you may be in, we're gonna praise our God who is greater, and we're gonna raise a hallelujah. Come on. I raise a hallelujah in

louder. Come on. Sing a little louder. Sing a little louder. Sing a little louder. I'm gonna sing a little

Come on, church.