March 3, 2025 • 37 mins
Embrace your storms and find miracles in our latest episode, "When Your Storm Won't Stop." Through personal stories and powerful scripture, we delve into the complexities of faith, showcasing how miracles can arise from even the most challenging circumstances. With the backdrop of Jesus walking on water, we discuss the storms of life that test our faith and how we can navigate through doubt by leaning on our spiritual beliefs. Join us as Pastor Chip shares heartfelt testimonies that illustrate the beauty of walking with Jesus through life’s turbulence, along with an open invitation to share your personal miracles. Our community thrives on shared experiences, so let’s come together and support one another as we seek hope and healing amidst life's chaos. Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts!
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
All right, put your hands together for our Upwards
ministry.
Thank you so much.
Upwards families, thank you,clay, thank you for everyone who
served in Upwards, and I wantto say a special thanks to Adam
Sears, our Upwards director.
Put your hands together forAdam and everybody that was
involved in all of our Upwardsand everything that God has been
doing.
We are super thankful and Godis doing so much.
(00:23):
We're so thankful that you'rehere.
We're thankful that you'reonline.
We're thankful for all of ourfirst-time guests in the room
and online as well.
Can we just give one morespecial welcome to all of our
first-time guests?
Put your hands together, man.
God is so good and we'rethankful that you are a part of
us.
I want to tell you a couplethings going on before I dive
into the message this morning.
First of all, I want to bringout Raven Adams.
(00:49):
Raven, if you're back there,come on out.
Give Raven a big round ofapplause.
This is Raven Adams, right hereand Raven just super thankful
for you.
And Raven is.
She actually started coming toour church in December of 2023,
but able to consistently be herewith us serving in our
production ministry for the pastsix months, and Raven has
accepted a position with us.
She is our online servicescoordinator.
(01:09):
What that means is she does alot of different things, but
what that means is when peoplego online to watch this service,
she'll be engaging them at thebeginning of the service, in the
middle of the service and atthe end of the service, because
we wanna do everything we can toengage our community and all of
our online community and evenpeople around the world, because
(01:30):
it is online that takes thegospel to the nations.
Amen.
And so put your hands togetherfor raven.
Thank you so much, raven, forshe completely left me hanging.
That's great, all right,completely left me here.
She turned around.
Um, so, man, god is so good andhe's just.
He's growing our staff, he'sgrowing our ministry and we just
want to say thank you fortaking your part in that, also
want to let you know thatstudent camp is coming up.
(01:52):
Everybody say student camp,student camp is coming up.
It's going to be you'll see iton the screen, I believe but
it's going to be in July and,man, it's going to be awesome.
They're at June sorry, I'm offJune 20 through 23.
The total cost is $319, but thedeposit due today is just 110.
So you got some time to save upfor that, to pay that.
(02:14):
Maybe you're here and you'relike I don't have a student, but
maybe student camp was big foryou in your life and maybe you
wanna give and you wanna help astudent to go financially who
may not have the financialresources to go.
We want every student to havethe opportunity to go.
Everybody say every student.
Well, every student calls campis life-changing and uh man,
(02:36):
didn't pastor christian henry doa great job preaching last
sunday?
And we're so thankful for ourstudent, young adult pastor.
In fact, uh, christian andlaura had a young adult event at
their home last Sunday for allof our young adults and there
were 35 to 40 young adults there.
So we're just very thankful hadEthan, one of our young adults,
baptized this morning.
So we're just so thankful forall that God is doing.
(02:59):
Let me pray, heavenly Father, welove you, god, you're so good.
Heavenly Father, we love you,god, you're so good and, father,
we pray in Jesus' name, lord,that your voice would be heard
this morning in our heartsThrough your word.
God, for the glory of Jesus, wepray All by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
We ask these things in Jesus'name, and all God's people said
(03:20):
amen.
Open up your Bibles with me toMatthew, chapter 14.
Matthew, chapter 14, brand newseries, starting today, that
(03:41):
we're calling I Need a Miracle.
If you need a miracle, wouldyou please raise your hand.
You need a miracle in your life, or if you know someone that
needs a miracle in their life,my hands up.
I need a miracle in my life, inmy family.
Happy March 2nd.
So March 2nd may not mean asmuch to you as it does to my
family.
We were in the adoption processMarch 2nd 2019.
We're in the adoption processfor two years.
We had already, by that time,gone through a lot of rejection.
(04:01):
Adoption is really difficultbecause you're really just at
the mercy of those who are youragents and birth moms and all
that type stuff and we werealready going through about five
years of infertility.
During that time Two years ofour adoption journey we felt
like we couldn't have a baby.
We couldn't adopt a baby right.
(04:22):
It just felt like that nothingwas going right.
We were honestly experiencing alot of discouragement.
On March 2, this day six yearsago, 2019, was the day that we
got a phone call from ouradoption agent telling us that a
birth mom had chosen us.
She was gonna give birth to alittle girl, which she did a few
weeks later, and we named thatlittle girl Brooklyn Rose Dean.
(04:45):
And so we're just incrediblythankful for what God has done.
That God did a miracle in ourlife.
About six months roll around.
We noticed that Brooklyn is notmaking some physical
development milestones and abouta year into Brooklyn's life,
our family, we received ourdiagnosis that Brooklyn was.
(05:05):
She was diagnosed with cerebralpalsy.
So we went from having themiracle to again needing the
miracle.
We continued on in our familyand really even continued on in
our infertility journey.
We wanted to have more childrenand a few years went by and we
were not able to.
We felt like the Lord wascalling us to go through the
(05:27):
fertility route and we werepraying for the Lord to bless it
.
We actually had four failedfertility attempts in about a
year's time.
So we're just wondering, lord,what are you doing, lord?
Why are you calling us to gothrough this difficult journey
together?
In our fifth and finalfertility attempt, our last
(05:48):
embryo, we learned as wetransferred that embryo into my
wife and we were told then atthat point we are pregnant.
And, sure enough, some eight,nine months later, cruz Richard
Dean was born, and so we got toexperience another miracle of
God.
And here he is today.
You know he's probably back inthe kids' ministry somewhere,
(06:09):
tearing it apart or running lapssomewhere, if you know.
You know, and that's just howour son is, but today he's a
little bit speech delayed.
So we find ourselves in need ofanother miracle.
We continued on in ourinfertility journey, reached
through about nine years and,wouldn't you know it, our first
(06:29):
full day in Georgia, when Godcalled us to First Baptist
Church, powder Springs, we movedto Georgia our first full day.
That morning we close on ourhome, a three-bedroom home.
That afternoon we find out thatwe're pregnant with our third
child, who has now been born,eliana Joy Dean, and she's about
nine months old.
And so we just kept goingthrough this roller coaster of
(06:51):
life of needing a miracle, beinggiven a miracle and needing a
miracle again, and that's howlife often is.
And so I want you to know, ifthat's where you find yourself,
the tension of life, where Godhas done miracles in your life
but yet at the same time youneed other miracles that you're
not alone.
That is often what life is likeIn fact, as you'll see on the
(07:13):
screen.
I Need a Miracle.
I just want you to see herethat we have a series all
through this month and there aredifferent miracles that Jesus
does.
That we're going to be studyingToday is the miracle of belief
over doubt.
Next Sunday.
The miracle of freedom overaddiction and sin, march 16,.
The miracle of provision overour need March 23,.
The miracle of healing oversickness disease March 30th.
(07:37):
Jesus loves to bring deadthings to life and maybe you
have something in your life thatyou just feel like it feels
like it's over, but yet youbelieve that Jesus wants to
bring it to life.
We see Jesus doing all of thesemiracles.
Out in our lobby we have a andI need a miracle wall.
(07:57):
This is your opportunity towrite down the miracle that you
or someone else needs in theirlife, writing it down as a
prayer request, and it's allgoing to culminate to Sunday,
march the 30th, and we're goingto have a worship and prayer
night in here at five o'clockthe last Sunday in March and
(08:17):
we're going to pray over all ofthese prayer requests so that we
can see God work, so that Godcan do what only that he can do
in our lives.
Kind of get an amen.
So here's what I wanna talk toyou about this morning.
From Matthew, chapter 14.
I wanna tell you this morningabout a sermon that I've
entitled when your Storm Won'tStop.
(08:38):
When your storm won't stop,because often you need a miracle
when there is a struggle inyour life, when you are going
through a storm the top 10storms in people's lives or when
you've received a diagnosis, ormaybe you're going through
loneliness, maybe you'reexperiencing grief, you're going
through marital issues or youwant to get married.
(08:58):
You're going through parentingissues, or maybe you want to be
a parent.
You're going through relationalissues in your life, brokenness
.
You're going through financialissues, you're going through
spiritual issues, or maybeyou're experiencing some mental
issues in your life, or you justhave a huge decision to make
and you are not sure what to do.
(09:21):
I want you to know that if youare going through a storm, you
are not alone.
My family, you are goingthrough a storm.
You are not alone, my family,we are going through a storm
right now.
My guess is you're probablygoing through a storm right now,
or you're coming out of one oryou're about to go into one.
And aren't you thankful thatGod put a scripture in his word,
(09:41):
a story of a physical, literalstorm, that we get to see what
Jesus does in the middle of ourstorms.
Let's check it out.
Look at Matthew, chapter 14,verse 22.
It says this Matthew, chapter14, verse 22 says immediately.
Everyone say immediately.
It says immediately he Jesus,he made the disciples to get
(10:02):
into the boat and to go beforehim to the other side while he
dismissed the crowds.
And after Jesus had dismissedthe crowds, he went up on the
mountain by himself to pray.
And when evening came he wasthere alone.
Let me explain this passage.
Jesus had actually just done amiracle, the miracle of feeding
(10:23):
the 5,000.
The miracle went so well thatall of the crowd wanted to crown
Jesus king.
But Jesus knew it wasn't thecrown for the crowd to give him,
wasn't there right?
He wanted to get the crown fromhis father, god the father, and
he knew the crown had to comethrough crucifixion, not through
(10:43):
popularity.
So what does Jesus do?
Jesus gets his disciples out ofthere.
He tells them why don't y'allget in the boat, go on the other
side of the lake, I'll go andjoin you, I gotta go pray.
And why was Jesus doing this?
Because he did not want hisdisciples to think that
following Jesus was alwayspopular, that following Jesus
would make you famous.
(11:04):
He didn't want his disciples tothink that following him was
always easy or even alwayscomfortable, so he got them out
of that environment.
Jesus dispersed the crowds andJesus went up on the mountain to
pray.
Can I just remind you thismorning one of the most powerful
things that you can do in yourlife as the scripture says,
immediately, immediately, hemade the disciples for you to do
(11:28):
what Jesus tells you to do Oneof the most powerful things that
you can do today, when you needa miracle, is to get by
yourself and pray and spend timewith God, that you draw closer
to him.
That's exactly what we seeJesus doing.
In fact, I want you tounderstand that God will always
(11:49):
keep something in your life.
God will always keep something.
You'll see it up here on thescreen God will always keep
something in your life that willkeep you on your knees.
You might be wondering God, whydoes this keep happening to me?
Why do I keep going throughthis, god?
Why won't my storms stop?
Why won't my storms stop?
(12:10):
Because God, he'll always keepsomething in your life to keep
you on your knees, because Godloves it when we stay close and
when we're doing well andeverything's easy and
everything's fine.
We don't typically pursue Godwhen you and when I.
We typically pursue God is whenwe are going through the
greatest struggles in our life.
(12:31):
Look at verse 24.
Verse 24 of Matthew, chapterhere we go.
14 says but the boat by thistime was a long way from land,
beaten by the waves, for thewind was against them.
So Jesus sends them out on aboat into this lake.
This lake was about five mileswide right and it says that
(12:52):
Jesus sent them out and theywere a long way.
They could have been in themiddle of this lake, some two
and a half miles from land oneither side.
So there they are, all the wayout, and the Bible says the
storm comes up and it says thatthe boat is being beaten by the
waves.
That Greek word is actually alsotranslated other places in the
(13:13):
Bible as tormented is actuallyalso translated other places in
the Bible as tormented.
It's actually a word of whatSatan does to believers.
In other words, what we seehere in this storm, what is
really happening is that Satanis working against the disciples
and Satan is trying to get themto stop believing in Jesus.
Satan is trying to get them tostop following Jesus.
(13:34):
Satan is trying to get them totake their eyes off of Jesus.
And that's exactly what Satan'strying to do in your storm and
in my storm.
What he wants us to do is hewants us to get mad, he wants us
to get angry, he wants us toget hopeless, he wants us to
feel defeated, he wants us tofeel discouraged, like Jesus
isn't there.
You'll see a picture on thescreen just of what it would
(13:56):
look like to be on the boat inthis storm.
Right, there was no camerasback then.
So this is AI, here we go,right here, ai, right.
And so what would it look likefor these disciples to be out in
the middle of a lake?
I don't know what the rocks aredoing there, but who knows?
But there they are, in themiddle of the storm.
And in there, but who knows?
(14:16):
But there they are in themiddle of the storm.
And here's what we have tounderstand here.
As you'll see the quote on thescreen is that even when you do
what Jesus commands you to do,you will still go through storms
, because these disciples havegot to be thinking wait a second
, didn't Jesus?
Wasn't Jesus the one thatcalled us to get in the boat to
go across the lake?
(14:36):
And isn't Jesus omniscient?
Doesn't Jesus know all things?
So wait, if Jesus told us toget in the boat and to go across
the lake, before him withouthim.
It sure must be nice to beJesus.
He's on the side of a mountainsomewhere, praying all by
himself in peace.
But here we are in the middleof a lake.
Now there are some times inyour life that you will do
(15:00):
exactly what Jesus told you todo, and it will still take you
through the greatest storm ofyour life.
Just because you do what Jesustells you to do does not mean
that everything's gonna go easy,does not mean that everything
is gonna be good.
Why?
Because Jesus said in John 16,33, he said I have said these
things to you that in me,everybody say me, that is Jesus
(15:26):
in me.
In me, you may have peace.
Where is peace?
Peace is not gonna be in yourlife.
Peace is not just gonna be inyour heart.
Peace is not gonna be in yourlife.
Peace is not just gonna be inyour heart.
Peace is not gonna be in yourcircumstances.
Peace is not gonna be found inyour surroundings.
Peace is not gonna be anywhereelse than in Jesus.
I've said these things to youthat in me you may have peace In
(15:51):
the world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, jesus said.
I have overcome the world.
Jesus is saying that you maynever have peace in life in your
surroundings, but you willalways have peace in life in
your Savior.
That is where you find yourpeace.
(16:12):
Verse 25 goes on to say inMatthew, chapter 14, he says and
in the fourth watch of thenight, jesus came to them
walking on the sea.
In the fourth watch of thenight, jesus came to them
walking on the sea.
But when the disciples saw himwalking on the sea they were
terrified and said it's a ghost.
They cried out in fear, butimmediately Jesus spoke to them
(16:34):
saying take heart, it is, I donot be afraid.
The fourth watch of the nightwould be between 3 am and 6 am,
which means they may have evenbeen on this lake battling this
storm, rowing to save their verylives for maybe even upwards of
(16:54):
about nine hours.
Can you imagine how exhaustedthey must feel?
Can you imagine how tired theyare, how mentally challenging
this is?
Can you imagine how hopelessthey might feel.
They are, life threatened bytheir storm.
And maybe you come here todayand you feel like you're in the
fourth watch of your night.
Maybe you feel like you don'thave anything left, you don't
(17:20):
have anything to offer.
Maybe you feel like that yourstruggle is too great.
Maybe you're starting to wonderif you are even going to make
it.
It says that while they're inthe fourth watch or in the last
hour.
In other words, it doesn't looklike that they are going to
make it.
That what happens?
Jesus came to them.
Everyone say Jesus, aren't youthankful that Jesus steps into
(17:42):
your storm?
Aren't you thankful that whenyou have Jesus, that Jesus
always has you?
The Bible says that he came tothem and he was walking on the
sea, the very sea that wasthreatening to kill them.
Jesus walks off the mountaininto the sea, walks somewhere
around two to three miles on topof the stormy, raging waves of
(18:05):
the sea, and Jesus does not havea worry or a fear in the world.
Why?
Because Jesus made the sea.
Can I get an amen?
He was the master of the sea.
So Jesus walks out to them andas he does, they can't even
imagine what they're seeing.
They're seeing someone walkingon the water.
They're thinking we've gotstorm, we've got waves, we've
(18:27):
got rain, we're going to die.
And now the evil spirits arecoming to torment us.
Does anybody see this besidesme?
They're wondering are wehallucinating?
And it says all they can do iscry out in fear.
And sometimes that's where wefind our lives.
We go through so much that allwe can do we just break down in
(18:47):
tears and we just burst outcrying.
But Jesus steps in.
Jesus walks to us and Jesussays take heart, which means be
of good courage.
He says it is I.
Did you know those three littlewords?
It is I is the very same exactphrase ego eimi, which in Greek
(19:10):
is Jesus is saying take heart.
He says I am.
Remember, just a few weeks ago.
Jesus says I am.
Jesus says that he is the light.
Jesus says that he is the door.
Jesus says that he is the bread.
Jesus says he's the vine.
Jesus says he's the way, thetruth and the life.
Jesus says he is theresurrection and the life.
(19:31):
But you would think, becauseyou've heard other stories in
God's word, that Jesus wouldwalk up to the boat and Jesus
would just say peace, be still.
But he doesn't.
Why doesn't he do that for them?
Why doesn't he do that for you?
Why doesn't he do that for meas we're going through our storm
(19:53):
?
Because he said that in otherplaces.
He said it in Matthew 8, inMark 4, verse 39,.
Jesus simply says peace, bestill.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
Why doesn't Jesus walk intothis storm?
And why doesn't Jesus walk intoyour storm?
And why doesn't he walk into mystorm?
(20:13):
And why doesn't he walk intoevery storm?
And why doesn't he walk intoevery storm and just say peace,
be still.
Here's why, and you'll see iton the screen Because walking
with Jesus through your storm.
Go and put that up there.
For me, walking with Jesusthrough your storm is better
than a life of peace without him.
Walking with Jesus through yourstorm.
(20:36):
If Jesus just stilled everystorm and calmed every chaos and
stopped every struggle, then wewould not have to seek after
him, then we would not pursuehim.
So we're called to walk withJesus, verse 28,.
He goes on to say in Matthew 14,and Peter answered him.
So here comes Jesus walking upon the water, disciples in the
(21:00):
boat, and Peter answered him andsaid Lord, if it is, you,
command me to come to you on thewater.
Jesus said come.
So Peter got out of the boat,he walked on the water and he
came to Jesus.
I love this.
Peter was so honest.
He said, lord, if, notice howthat is a statement of faith and
(21:21):
doubt together.
Lord, if Lord, lord meaningJesus, you are Lord, you are
master, you are God, you are incontrol of everything.
Lord, if, if is a word of doubt, if is a word of question, if
is a word of question, if is aword of uncertainty.
And so Peter is saying, lord,if it is, you, command me to
(21:44):
come to you on the water.
In other words, peter isstruggling simultaneously with
belief and doubt, just like I do, just like your pastor does,
just like I do, just like yourpastor does, just like you do,
every single one of us.
If you are a believer in JesusChrist, you have faith in him,
(22:10):
but you still struggle withdoubt.
You need to hear me tell youthis morning that the presence
of doubt in your life does notmean the absence of faith that
even Peter struggled in thismoment.
Lord, if it is you and maybethis is the prayer you need to
pray to Jesus he said command meto come to you on the water.
(22:32):
In other words, maybe you'rejust struggling right now so
much and you're not even certainin your life that Jesus is
there.
Maybe you just need to prayJesus.
If you're there, command me tocome to you, jesus.
I don't even have what I feellike, what it takes to even get
to you Jesus.
(22:52):
Would you just command me tocome to you?
And this is what Jesus answersevery time come.
He answers come.
We all struggle with this.
Mark, chapter 9, verse 24, saysI believe.
A man said I believe, so helpmy unbelief.
You may be a believer thismorning you're saying I believe,
but, man, I'm really strugglingwith unbelief, doubt, questions
(23:17):
, hurt, struggle.
And what does Jesus says?
He just says come to me.
So what did Peter do?
He got out of the boat, hewalked on the water, he came to
Jesus.
What will it take for you to goto Jesus?
What will it take for you tocome to Jesus?
Hear me this morning to get outof your boat.
(23:39):
Jesus had to get out of the boatto get to Jesus.
Peter had to get out of thatboat to get to Jesus.
What boat do you need to getout of today to get to Jesus.
Is it your boat of fear?
Is it your boat of you need thecontrol?
Is it your boat of you feellike a victim here?
Is it your boat of hopelessness?
Is it your boat ofdiscouragement?
Is it your boat of beingdefeated?
(24:01):
Is it your boat of beingdepressed?
What is it that you need tostep out of in order to step
toward Jesus?
Because Jesus is telling youthis morning come, we've got a
family here in our church.
I believe they're here thismorning.
They were sharing their storywith me, as we are encouraging
(24:21):
you to share your stories withus through this series, and they
said they were.
God had given them a son whowas due to be born on May 12.
But there were somecomplications, there were some
unfortunate issues and thatlittle boy was stillborn on
January 13th of 2024.
(24:43):
They wrote me their story andthe wife, the mom, wrote these
words.
She said the following monththat she had lost her son.
She said she was sitting onRosemary Beach in Florida in the
evening.
She said I walked outside andthere was a newly postpartum mom
.
I'm sorry as she was a newlypostpartum mom.
(25:06):
She said she was without herbaby to hold.
She said I walked outside and Isaw a couple taking maternity
photos and I was so angry thatGod would do that to me so soon,
because he knew that being amom was my dream.
She said my husband encouragedme to share what I was feeling
with God.
So she said she did.
She said in her heart to GodGod, why did you do this to me?
(25:29):
You know this was my dream.
This feels cruel.
What's the point of this?
And as gently and calmly shesaid as directly as she had ever
heard God speak to her.
God said because I'm using thisto teach you how to come to me.
She said the answer didn'tfully satisfy me at the time.
(25:49):
She said little did I know that.
It was the beginning of ajourney of discovering how to
come to God with anything on herheart, especially the less than
pleasant parts.
She said, and little did sheknow at the time that she would
come to see and know how Godprovides through the storm.
(26:09):
She wrote last week.
And here I am, one year later,sitting on a beach in St
Augustine, florida now carryingour sweet daughter, and we are
having our maternity photo shoottomorrow.
(26:29):
Amazing how God works in ourlife when we come to him, when
we seek him.
I wanna remind you that, asyou'll see it on the screen, as
Jesus walks with you throughyour storm, walk with him, as
Jesus walks with you throughyour storm walk with him.
(26:50):
In closing, let me share withyou these final verses, verse 30
.
But when Peter saw the wind, asPeter got out of the boat, when
he saw the wind, he was afraidand beginning to sink.
He cried out Lord, save me.
Peter gets out of the boat, hestarts walking towards Jesus.
(27:11):
He's walking on the water.
His eyes are fixed on Jesus.
He was a fisherman.
For the first time in his life,the water is firm underneath
his feet and, as he's laserlocked in his sight on Jesus, he
starts to see the winds and thewaves around him and he starts
to sink into the water.
As Michael mentioned earlier, hehad a sinking feeling of doubt.
(27:32):
That's what happens when I,when you, when we take our eyes
off Jesus and put our eyes backon all of the things surrounding
us, all of the storm that ischaotic, all around us, and we
start to sink in doubt andnotice how Jesus did not say
(27:52):
yeah, peter, you are sinking.
I told you to keep your eyes onme.
I'm the one that told you toget out of the boat.
What are you doing, focusing onthe winds and the waves?
I'm the master of the seas.
You go ahead and sink.
Right now.
Let me teach you a good lessonto see what it's like to live
without me.
Big Peter, what do you thinknow?
What does Peter do?
What does Jesus do?
Immediately, everyone sayimmediately.
(28:18):
Jesus reaches out his hand andhe took hold of Peter saying oh
you of little faith.
Why did you doubt?
I need you to see this morning.
Jesus did not look at Peter andsay he did not say oh you of no
faith.
He said oh you of little faith.
He said oh you of little faith.
Remember, elsewhere Jesus toldus that if we only have the
faith of a mustard seed, we canmove mountains.
(28:38):
Jesus is saying you can bothsimultaneously have faith and
doubt, but every doubt is ourevidence is where we do not have
faith in that area of our life.
In other words, I just want youto see this statement on the
screen your faith will always bemixed with doubt.
(28:59):
So never quit crying out.
Peter cried out Lord, save me.
That's not just a prayer ofwhen you need to be saved from
your sin for eternity.
We pray that to be saved, butwe also pray it when you are
(29:21):
saved.
God save me in my situation.
God save me in my storm.
God save me so I can.
Jesus, I just want to walk withyou, even when he doesn't still
the storm, when your stormwon't stop.
It's even better that youcontinue to walk with Jesus.
(29:42):
In verse 32, and we're done.
And when they got into the boat,jesus and Peter get into the
boat is when the wind ceased.
The Bible never promises thatall of your storms will stop in
this life, but, hear me, theBible promises that every storm
(30:05):
will cease in eternal life.
When you get to heaven and whenyou're with Jesus, every storm
will be stopped, every stormwill be ceased.
And it says and those in theboat worshiped him, worshiped
Jesus, saying truly, you are theson of God.
(30:26):
Let me point a couple of thingsout, and I'm done.
First of all, those in the boat.
Did you know that historianstell us that typically in these
boats it would not just be thedisciples, there would also be
sailors.
There would also be sailors,there would also be passengers.
In other words, they saweverything While Jesus came off
the mountain across the water tothe boat of the disciples.
(30:47):
They saw Peter get out of theboat.
They saw Peter walk on thewater.
They saw Peter sink.
They saw Jesus save him.
They saw all of this happenwithin this storm.
Here's the deal is that peopleare watching how you respond in
your storm and God uses us whenwe worship in the middle of our
(31:07):
storm.
In other words, you'll see iton the screen.
When you worship Jesus in yourstorm, others watching can
worship him in theirs.
You're not alone and I'm notalone, and I think a daily
conversation you can have thisweek with people is simply how
(31:30):
are you doing?
What are you going through?
What's your greatest struggleright now?
What's your biggest difficulty?
And listen and let them behonest and then you can share
with them the storm that you'regoing through and you can
worship Jesus and you can tellthem how Jesus is walking with
(31:52):
you and how you're walking withJesus even through your storm,
even when your storm won't stop.
Because they worshiped him,saying Jesus truly, you are the
son of God, because that's whatreal faith is believing that
Jesus truly is the son of God.
(32:13):
Why did Jesus do this?
Jesus wanted them to see himwalk across the waters of the
sea, wanted them to see him.
Call Peter out of the boat.
Peter walking, peter sinking.
Jesus saving Peter again.
Why?
So that when Jesus is crucifiedon the cross and when he raises
from the dead, they can say no,I've seen him.
(32:36):
He walked on water.
He called another man to walkon water.
He saved him.
When he raises from the dead,he can be your savior too.
Can I ask every head to bebowed and every eye to be closed
?
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
(32:58):
Maybe you're here this morningand you're thinking I'm going
through a storm.
My storm won't stop.
I need to walk with Jesus.
Maybe you just need to cry outto Jesus this morning and just
say Jesus, save me, jesus,command me out of my boat,
(33:22):
command me to come to you, andJesus, I'll come to you.
Maybe you're here this morningand you've never given your life
to Jesus.
And right here, right now, isyour opportunity that he will
(33:42):
save you.
And the Bible says when he savesyou, he forgives you of all of
your sin.
The Bible says when he savesyou, he gives you his Holy
Spirit.
The Bible says when he savesyou, you've got a home in heaven
forever.
The Bible says when he savesyou, you've got a home in heaven
forever.
The Bible says when he savesyou, he is with you all of your
days.
So right here, right now, Ican't say this prayer for you
(34:06):
and I can't save you.
But you can pray this prayerand God will save you.
You can pray and you can saydear Jesus, I believe in you and
Jesus, I need you From your ownheart and your own words.
You can say dear Jesus, Ibelieve in you and Jesus, I need
you From your own heart andyour own words.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you truly are the son of
God.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you died on the cross for
(34:28):
my sin and I ask you to forgiveme of all my sin.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you rose from the dead,
you're alive and I, I believethat you rose from the dead,
you're alive and I give my lifeto you and I want to live for
you.
And you can call on him to bethe Lord of your life.
Jesus, be my Lord, because theBible says if you confess with
(34:50):
your mouth that Jesus is Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead.
You will be saved, jesus.
We believe that.
We pray that all in your name,in Jesus' name, and all God's
people said put your handstogether right now.
For anybody who prayed thatprayer.
We're so thankful, so grateful.
We just wanna say welcome tothe family and right now I'm
(35:12):
gonna ask us all just to standup.
Just to stand up right now.
And if that was you Right now,I'm gonna ask us all just to
stand up, just to stand up rightnow.
And if that was you, we've gotthat next step card in front of
you that you can fill that out.
Let us know that you have givenyour life to Jesus or any other
decision on there.
Maybe you need to be baptized,like Ethan.
Maybe you need to join a group.
Maybe you wanna join the church.
Maybe you wanna serve in someway.
I just wanna encourage youimmediately obey Jesus in
(35:36):
whatever it is that he iscalling you to do.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we pray in Jesus' name
that you would just bless thisfinal moment of worship together
and God, we worship Jesus rightnow, even in the middle of our
storm, because Jesus truly isthe son of God.
(36:02):
In him we find our peace.
In Jesus' name and all God'speople said
All right, put your hands together for our Upwards
ministry.
Thank you so much.
Upwards families, thank you,clay, thank you for everyone who
served in Upwards, and I wantto say a special thanks to Adam
Sears, our Upwards director.
Put your hands together forAdam and everybody that was
involved in all of our Upwardsand everything that God has been
doing.
We are super thankful and Godis doing so much.
(00:23):
We're so thankful that you'rehere.
We're thankful that you'reonline.
We're thankful for all of ourfirst-time guests in the room
and online as well.
Can we just give one morespecial welcome to all of our
first-time guests?
Put your hands together, man.
God is so good and we'rethankful that you are a part of
us.
I want to tell you a couplethings going on before I dive
into the message this morning.
First of all, I want to bringout Raven Adams.
(00:49):
Raven, if you're back there,come on out.
Give Raven a big round ofapplause.
This is Raven Adams, right hereand Raven just super thankful
for you.
And Raven is.
She actually started coming toour church in December of 2023,
but able to consistently be herewith us serving in our
production ministry for the pastsix months, and Raven has
accepted a position with us.
She is our online servicescoordinator.
(01:09):
What that means is she does alot of different things, but
what that means is when peoplego online to watch this service,
she'll be engaging them at thebeginning of the service, in the
middle of the service and atthe end of the service, because
we wanna do everything we can toengage our community and all of
our online community and evenpeople around the world, because
(01:30):
it is online that takes thegospel to the nations.
Amen.
And so put your hands togetherfor raven.
Thank you so much, raven, forshe completely left me hanging.
That's great, all right,completely left me here.
She turned around.
Um, so, man, god is so good andhe's just.
He's growing our staff, he'sgrowing our ministry and we just
want to say thank you fortaking your part in that, also
want to let you know thatstudent camp is coming up.
(01:52):
Everybody say student camp,student camp is coming up.
It's going to be you'll see iton the screen, I believe but
it's going to be in July and,man, it's going to be awesome.
They're at June sorry, I'm offJune 20 through 23.
The total cost is $319, but thedeposit due today is just 110.
So you got some time to save upfor that, to pay that.
(02:14):
Maybe you're here and you'relike I don't have a student, but
maybe student camp was big foryou in your life and maybe you
wanna give and you wanna help astudent to go financially who
may not have the financialresources to go.
We want every student to havethe opportunity to go.
Everybody say every student.
Well, every student calls campis life-changing and uh man,
(02:36):
didn't pastor christian henry doa great job preaching last
sunday?
And we're so thankful for ourstudent, young adult pastor.
In fact, uh, christian andlaura had a young adult event at
their home last Sunday for allof our young adults and there
were 35 to 40 young adults there.
So we're just very thankful hadEthan, one of our young adults,
baptized this morning.
So we're just so thankful forall that God is doing.
(02:59):
Let me pray, heavenly Father, welove you, god, you're so good.
Heavenly Father, we love you,god, you're so good and, father,
we pray in Jesus' name, lord,that your voice would be heard
this morning in our heartsThrough your word.
God, for the glory of Jesus, wepray All by the power of the
Holy Spirit.
We ask these things in Jesus'name, and all God's people said
(03:20):
amen.
Open up your Bibles with me toMatthew, chapter 14.
Matthew, chapter 14, brand newseries, starting today, that
(03:41):
we're calling I Need a Miracle.
If you need a miracle, wouldyou please raise your hand.
You need a miracle in your life, or if you know someone that
needs a miracle in their life,my hands up.
I need a miracle in my life, inmy family.
Happy March 2nd.
So March 2nd may not mean asmuch to you as it does to my
family.
We were in the adoption processMarch 2nd 2019.
We're in the adoption processfor two years.
We had already, by that time,gone through a lot of rejection.
(04:01):
Adoption is really difficultbecause you're really just at
the mercy of those who are youragents and birth moms and all
that type stuff and we werealready going through about five
years of infertility.
During that time Two years ofour adoption journey we felt
like we couldn't have a baby.
We couldn't adopt a baby right.
(04:22):
It just felt like that nothingwas going right.
We were honestly experiencing alot of discouragement.
On March 2, this day six yearsago, 2019, was the day that we
got a phone call from ouradoption agent telling us that a
birth mom had chosen us.
She was gonna give birth to alittle girl, which she did a few
weeks later, and we named thatlittle girl Brooklyn Rose Dean.
(04:45):
And so we're just incrediblythankful for what God has done.
That God did a miracle in ourlife.
About six months roll around.
We noticed that Brooklyn is notmaking some physical
development milestones and abouta year into Brooklyn's life,
our family, we received ourdiagnosis that Brooklyn was.
(05:05):
She was diagnosed with cerebralpalsy.
So we went from having themiracle to again needing the
miracle.
We continued on in our familyand really even continued on in
our infertility journey.
We wanted to have more childrenand a few years went by and we
were not able to.
We felt like the Lord wascalling us to go through the
(05:27):
fertility route and we werepraying for the Lord to bless it
.
We actually had four failedfertility attempts in about a
year's time.
So we're just wondering, lord,what are you doing, lord?
Why are you calling us to gothrough this difficult journey
together?
In our fifth and finalfertility attempt, our last
(05:48):
embryo, we learned as wetransferred that embryo into my
wife and we were told then atthat point we are pregnant.
And, sure enough, some eight,nine months later, cruz Richard
Dean was born, and so we got toexperience another miracle of
God.
And here he is today.
You know he's probably back inthe kids' ministry somewhere,
(06:09):
tearing it apart or running lapssomewhere, if you know.
You know, and that's just howour son is, but today he's a
little bit speech delayed.
So we find ourselves in need ofanother miracle.
We continued on in ourinfertility journey, reached
through about nine years and,wouldn't you know it, our first
(06:29):
full day in Georgia, when Godcalled us to First Baptist
Church, powder Springs, we movedto Georgia our first full day.
That morning we close on ourhome, a three-bedroom home.
That afternoon we find out thatwe're pregnant with our third
child, who has now been born,eliana Joy Dean, and she's about
nine months old.
And so we just kept goingthrough this roller coaster of
(06:51):
life of needing a miracle, beinggiven a miracle and needing a
miracle again, and that's howlife often is.
And so I want you to know, ifthat's where you find yourself,
the tension of life, where Godhas done miracles in your life
but yet at the same time youneed other miracles that you're
not alone.
That is often what life is likeIn fact, as you'll see on the
(07:13):
screen.
I Need a Miracle.
I just want you to see herethat we have a series all
through this month and there aredifferent miracles that Jesus
does.
That we're going to be studyingToday is the miracle of belief
over doubt.
Next Sunday.
The miracle of freedom overaddiction and sin, march 16,.
The miracle of provision overour need March 23,.
The miracle of healing oversickness disease March 30th.
(07:37):
Jesus loves to bring deadthings to life and maybe you
have something in your life thatyou just feel like it feels
like it's over, but yet youbelieve that Jesus wants to
bring it to life.
We see Jesus doing all of thesemiracles.
Out in our lobby we have a andI need a miracle wall.
(07:57):
This is your opportunity towrite down the miracle that you
or someone else needs in theirlife, writing it down as a
prayer request, and it's allgoing to culminate to Sunday,
march the 30th, and we're goingto have a worship and prayer
night in here at five o'clockthe last Sunday in March and
(08:17):
we're going to pray over all ofthese prayer requests so that we
can see God work, so that Godcan do what only that he can do
in our lives.
Kind of get an amen.
So here's what I wanna talk toyou about this morning.
From Matthew, chapter 14.
I wanna tell you this morningabout a sermon that I've
entitled when your Storm Won'tStop.
(08:38):
When your storm won't stop,because often you need a miracle
when there is a struggle inyour life, when you are going
through a storm the top 10storms in people's lives or when
you've received a diagnosis, ormaybe you're going through
loneliness, maybe you'reexperiencing grief, you're going
through marital issues or youwant to get married.
(08:58):
You're going through parentingissues, or maybe you want to be
a parent.
You're going through relationalissues in your life, brokenness
.
You're going through financialissues, you're going through
spiritual issues, or maybeyou're experiencing some mental
issues in your life, or you justhave a huge decision to make
and you are not sure what to do.
(09:21):
I want you to know that if youare going through a storm, you
are not alone.
My family, you are goingthrough a storm.
You are not alone, my family,we are going through a storm
right now.
My guess is you're probablygoing through a storm right now,
or you're coming out of one oryou're about to go into one.
And aren't you thankful thatGod put a scripture in his word,
(09:41):
a story of a physical, literalstorm, that we get to see what
Jesus does in the middle of ourstorms.
Let's check it out.
Look at Matthew, chapter 14,verse 22.
It says this Matthew, chapter14, verse 22 says immediately.
Everyone say immediately.
It says immediately he Jesus,he made the disciples to get
(10:02):
into the boat and to go beforehim to the other side while he
dismissed the crowds.
And after Jesus had dismissedthe crowds, he went up on the
mountain by himself to pray.
And when evening came he wasthere alone.
Let me explain this passage.
Jesus had actually just done amiracle, the miracle of feeding
(10:23):
the 5,000.
The miracle went so well thatall of the crowd wanted to crown
Jesus king.
But Jesus knew it wasn't thecrown for the crowd to give him,
wasn't there right?
He wanted to get the crown fromhis father, god the father, and
he knew the crown had to comethrough crucifixion, not through
(10:43):
popularity.
So what does Jesus do?
Jesus gets his disciples out ofthere.
He tells them why don't y'allget in the boat, go on the other
side of the lake, I'll go andjoin you, I gotta go pray.
And why was Jesus doing this?
Because he did not want hisdisciples to think that
following Jesus was alwayspopular, that following Jesus
would make you famous.
(11:04):
He didn't want his disciples tothink that following him was
always easy or even alwayscomfortable, so he got them out
of that environment.
Jesus dispersed the crowds andJesus went up on the mountain to
pray.
Can I just remind you thismorning one of the most powerful
things that you can do in yourlife as the scripture says,
immediately, immediately, hemade the disciples for you to do
(11:28):
what Jesus tells you to do Oneof the most powerful things that
you can do today, when you needa miracle, is to get by
yourself and pray and spend timewith God, that you draw closer
to him.
That's exactly what we seeJesus doing.
In fact, I want you tounderstand that God will always
(11:49):
keep something in your life.
God will always keep something.
You'll see it up here on thescreen God will always keep
something in your life that willkeep you on your knees.
You might be wondering God, whydoes this keep happening to me?
Why do I keep going throughthis, god?
Why won't my storms stop?
Why won't my storms stop?
(12:10):
Because God, he'll always keepsomething in your life to keep
you on your knees, because Godloves it when we stay close and
when we're doing well andeverything's easy and
everything's fine.
We don't typically pursue Godwhen you and when I.
We typically pursue God is whenwe are going through the
greatest struggles in our life.
(12:31):
Look at verse 24.
Verse 24 of Matthew, chapterhere we go.
14 says but the boat by thistime was a long way from land,
beaten by the waves, for thewind was against them.
So Jesus sends them out on aboat into this lake.
This lake was about five mileswide right and it says that
(12:52):
Jesus sent them out and theywere a long way.
They could have been in themiddle of this lake, some two
and a half miles from land oneither side.
So there they are, all the wayout, and the Bible says the
storm comes up and it says thatthe boat is being beaten by the
waves.
That Greek word is actually alsotranslated other places in the
(13:13):
Bible as tormented is actuallyalso translated other places in
the Bible as tormented.
It's actually a word of whatSatan does to believers.
In other words, what we seehere in this storm, what is
really happening is that Satanis working against the disciples
and Satan is trying to get themto stop believing in Jesus.
Satan is trying to get them tostop following Jesus.
(13:34):
Satan is trying to get them totake their eyes off of Jesus.
And that's exactly what Satan'strying to do in your storm and
in my storm.
What he wants us to do is hewants us to get mad, he wants us
to get angry, he wants us toget hopeless, he wants us to
feel defeated, he wants us tofeel discouraged, like Jesus
isn't there.
You'll see a picture on thescreen just of what it would
(13:56):
look like to be on the boat inthis storm.
Right, there was no camerasback then.
So this is AI, here we go,right here, ai, right.
And so what would it look likefor these disciples to be out in
the middle of a lake?
I don't know what the rocks aredoing there, but who knows?
But there they are, in themiddle of the storm.
And in there, but who knows?
(14:16):
But there they are in themiddle of the storm.
And here's what we have tounderstand here.
As you'll see the quote on thescreen is that even when you do
what Jesus commands you to do,you will still go through storms
, because these disciples havegot to be thinking wait a second
, didn't Jesus?
Wasn't Jesus the one thatcalled us to get in the boat to
go across the lake?
(14:36):
And isn't Jesus omniscient?
Doesn't Jesus know all things?
So wait, if Jesus told us toget in the boat and to go across
the lake, before him withouthim.
It sure must be nice to beJesus.
He's on the side of a mountainsomewhere, praying all by
himself in peace.
But here we are in the middleof a lake.
Now there are some times inyour life that you will do
(15:00):
exactly what Jesus told you todo, and it will still take you
through the greatest storm ofyour life.
Just because you do what Jesustells you to do does not mean
that everything's gonna go easy,does not mean that everything
is gonna be good.
Why?
Because Jesus said in John 16,33, he said I have said these
things to you that in me,everybody say me, that is Jesus
(15:26):
in me.
In me, you may have peace.
Where is peace?
Peace is not gonna be in yourlife.
Peace is not just gonna be inyour heart.
Peace is not gonna be in yourlife.
Peace is not just gonna be inyour heart.
Peace is not gonna be in yourcircumstances.
Peace is not gonna be found inyour surroundings.
Peace is not gonna be anywhereelse than in Jesus.
I've said these things to youthat in me you may have peace In
(15:51):
the world.
You will have tribulation, buttake heart, jesus said.
I have overcome the world.
Jesus is saying that you maynever have peace in life in your
surroundings, but you willalways have peace in life in
your Savior.
That is where you find yourpeace.
(16:12):
Verse 25 goes on to say inMatthew, chapter 14, he says and
in the fourth watch of thenight, jesus came to them
walking on the sea.
In the fourth watch of thenight, jesus came to them
walking on the sea.
But when the disciples saw himwalking on the sea they were
terrified and said it's a ghost.
They cried out in fear, butimmediately Jesus spoke to them
(16:34):
saying take heart, it is, I donot be afraid.
The fourth watch of the nightwould be between 3 am and 6 am,
which means they may have evenbeen on this lake battling this
storm, rowing to save their verylives for maybe even upwards of
(16:54):
about nine hours.
Can you imagine how exhaustedthey must feel?
Can you imagine how tired theyare, how mentally challenging
this is?
Can you imagine how hopelessthey might feel.
They are, life threatened bytheir storm.
And maybe you come here todayand you feel like you're in the
fourth watch of your night.
Maybe you feel like you don'thave anything left, you don't
(17:20):
have anything to offer.
Maybe you feel like that yourstruggle is too great.
Maybe you're starting to wonderif you are even going to make
it.
It says that while they're inthe fourth watch or in the last
hour.
In other words, it doesn't looklike that they are going to
make it.
That what happens?
Jesus came to them.
Everyone say Jesus, aren't youthankful that Jesus steps into
(17:42):
your storm?
Aren't you thankful that whenyou have Jesus, that Jesus
always has you?
The Bible says that he came tothem and he was walking on the
sea, the very sea that wasthreatening to kill them.
Jesus walks off the mountaininto the sea, walks somewhere
around two to three miles on topof the stormy, raging waves of
(18:05):
the sea, and Jesus does not havea worry or a fear in the world.
Why?
Because Jesus made the sea.
Can I get an amen?
He was the master of the sea.
So Jesus walks out to them andas he does, they can't even
imagine what they're seeing.
They're seeing someone walkingon the water.
They're thinking we've gotstorm, we've got waves, we've
(18:27):
got rain, we're going to die.
And now the evil spirits arecoming to torment us.
Does anybody see this besidesme?
They're wondering are wehallucinating?
And it says all they can do iscry out in fear.
And sometimes that's where wefind our lives.
We go through so much that allwe can do we just break down in
(18:47):
tears and we just burst outcrying.
But Jesus steps in.
Jesus walks to us and Jesussays take heart, which means be
of good courage.
He says it is I.
Did you know those three littlewords?
It is I is the very same exactphrase ego eimi, which in Greek
(19:10):
is Jesus is saying take heart.
He says I am.
Remember, just a few weeks ago.
Jesus says I am.
Jesus says that he is the light.
Jesus says that he is the door.
Jesus says that he is the bread.
Jesus says he's the vine.
Jesus says he's the way, thetruth and the life.
Jesus says he is theresurrection and the life.
(19:31):
But you would think, becauseyou've heard other stories in
God's word, that Jesus wouldwalk up to the boat and Jesus
would just say peace, be still.
But he doesn't.
Why doesn't he do that for them?
Why doesn't he do that for you?
Why doesn't he do that for meas we're going through our storm
(19:53):
?
Because he said that in otherplaces.
He said it in Matthew 8, inMark 4, verse 39,.
Jesus simply says peace, bestill.
And the wind ceased and therewas a great calm.
Why doesn't Jesus walk intothis storm?
And why doesn't Jesus walk intoyour storm?
And why doesn't he walk into mystorm?
(20:13):
And why doesn't he walk intoevery storm?
And why doesn't he walk intoevery storm and just say peace,
be still.
Here's why, and you'll see iton the screen Because walking
with Jesus through your storm.
Go and put that up there.
For me, walking with Jesusthrough your storm is better
than a life of peace without him.
Walking with Jesus through yourstorm.
(20:36):
If Jesus just stilled everystorm and calmed every chaos and
stopped every struggle, then wewould not have to seek after
him, then we would not pursuehim.
So we're called to walk withJesus, verse 28,.
He goes on to say in Matthew 14,and Peter answered him.
So here comes Jesus walking upon the water, disciples in the
(21:00):
boat, and Peter answered him andsaid Lord, if it is, you,
command me to come to you on thewater.
Jesus said come.
So Peter got out of the boat,he walked on the water and he
came to Jesus.
I love this.
Peter was so honest.
He said, lord, if, notice howthat is a statement of faith and
(21:21):
doubt together.
Lord, if Lord, lord meaningJesus, you are Lord, you are
master, you are God, you are incontrol of everything.
Lord, if, if is a word of doubt, if is a word of question, if
is a word of question, if is aword of uncertainty.
And so Peter is saying, lord,if it is, you, command me to
(21:44):
come to you on the water.
In other words, peter isstruggling simultaneously with
belief and doubt, just like I do, just like your pastor does,
just like I do, just like yourpastor does, just like you do,
every single one of us.
If you are a believer in JesusChrist, you have faith in him,
(22:10):
but you still struggle withdoubt.
You need to hear me tell youthis morning that the presence
of doubt in your life does notmean the absence of faith that
even Peter struggled in thismoment.
Lord, if it is you and maybethis is the prayer you need to
pray to Jesus he said command meto come to you on the water.
(22:32):
In other words, maybe you'rejust struggling right now so
much and you're not even certainin your life that Jesus is
there.
Maybe you just need to prayJesus.
If you're there, command me tocome to you, jesus.
I don't even have what I feellike, what it takes to even get
to you Jesus.
(22:52):
Would you just command me tocome to you?
And this is what Jesus answersevery time come.
He answers come.
We all struggle with this.
Mark, chapter 9, verse 24, saysI believe.
A man said I believe, so helpmy unbelief.
You may be a believer thismorning you're saying I believe,
but, man, I'm really strugglingwith unbelief, doubt, questions
(23:17):
, hurt, struggle.
And what does Jesus says?
He just says come to me.
So what did Peter do?
He got out of the boat, hewalked on the water, he came to
Jesus.
What will it take for you to goto Jesus?
What will it take for you tocome to Jesus?
Hear me this morning to get outof your boat.
(23:39):
Jesus had to get out of the boatto get to Jesus.
Peter had to get out of thatboat to get to Jesus.
What boat do you need to getout of today to get to Jesus.
Is it your boat of fear?
Is it your boat of you need thecontrol?
Is it your boat of you feellike a victim here?
Is it your boat of hopelessness?
Is it your boat ofdiscouragement?
Is it your boat of beingdefeated?
(24:01):
Is it your boat of beingdepressed?
What is it that you need tostep out of in order to step
toward Jesus?
Because Jesus is telling youthis morning come, we've got a
family here in our church.
I believe they're here thismorning.
They were sharing their storywith me, as we are encouraging
(24:21):
you to share your stories withus through this series, and they
said they were.
God had given them a son whowas due to be born on May 12.
But there were somecomplications, there were some
unfortunate issues and thatlittle boy was stillborn on
January 13th of 2024.
(24:43):
They wrote me their story andthe wife, the mom, wrote these
words.
She said the following monththat she had lost her son.
She said she was sitting onRosemary Beach in Florida in the
evening.
She said I walked outside andthere was a newly postpartum mom
.
I'm sorry as she was a newlypostpartum mom.
(25:06):
She said she was without herbaby to hold.
She said I walked outside and Isaw a couple taking maternity
photos and I was so angry thatGod would do that to me so soon,
because he knew that being amom was my dream.
She said my husband encouragedme to share what I was feeling
with God.
So she said she did.
She said in her heart to GodGod, why did you do this to me?
(25:29):
You know this was my dream.
This feels cruel.
What's the point of this?
And as gently and calmly shesaid as directly as she had ever
heard God speak to her.
God said because I'm using thisto teach you how to come to me.
She said the answer didn'tfully satisfy me at the time.
(25:49):
She said little did I know that.
It was the beginning of ajourney of discovering how to
come to God with anything on herheart, especially the less than
pleasant parts.
She said, and little did sheknow at the time that she would
come to see and know how Godprovides through the storm.
(26:09):
She wrote last week.
And here I am, one year later,sitting on a beach in St
Augustine, florida now carryingour sweet daughter, and we are
having our maternity photo shoottomorrow.
(26:29):
Amazing how God works in ourlife when we come to him, when
we seek him.
I wanna remind you that, asyou'll see it on the screen, as
Jesus walks with you throughyour storm, walk with him, as
Jesus walks with you throughyour storm walk with him.
(26:50):
In closing, let me share withyou these final verses, verse 30
.
But when Peter saw the wind, asPeter got out of the boat, when
he saw the wind, he was afraidand beginning to sink.
He cried out Lord, save me.
Peter gets out of the boat, hestarts walking towards Jesus.
(27:11):
He's walking on the water.
His eyes are fixed on Jesus.
He was a fisherman.
For the first time in his life,the water is firm underneath
his feet and, as he's laserlocked in his sight on Jesus, he
starts to see the winds and thewaves around him and he starts
to sink into the water.
As Michael mentioned earlier, hehad a sinking feeling of doubt.
(27:32):
That's what happens when I,when you, when we take our eyes
off Jesus and put our eyes backon all of the things surrounding
us, all of the storm that ischaotic, all around us, and we
start to sink in doubt andnotice how Jesus did not say
(27:52):
yeah, peter, you are sinking.
I told you to keep your eyes onme.
I'm the one that told you toget out of the boat.
What are you doing, focusing onthe winds and the waves?
I'm the master of the seas.
You go ahead and sink.
Right now.
Let me teach you a good lessonto see what it's like to live
without me.
Big Peter, what do you thinknow?
What does Peter do?
What does Jesus do?
Immediately, everyone sayimmediately.
(28:18):
Jesus reaches out his hand andhe took hold of Peter saying oh
you of little faith.
Why did you doubt?
I need you to see this morning.
Jesus did not look at Peter andsay he did not say oh you of no
faith.
He said oh you of little faith.
He said oh you of little faith.
Remember, elsewhere Jesus toldus that if we only have the
faith of a mustard seed, we canmove mountains.
(28:38):
Jesus is saying you can bothsimultaneously have faith and
doubt, but every doubt is ourevidence is where we do not have
faith in that area of our life.
In other words, I just want youto see this statement on the
screen your faith will always bemixed with doubt.
(28:59):
So never quit crying out.
Peter cried out Lord, save me.
That's not just a prayer ofwhen you need to be saved from
your sin for eternity.
We pray that to be saved, butwe also pray it when you are
(29:21):
saved.
God save me in my situation.
God save me in my storm.
God save me so I can.
Jesus, I just want to walk withyou, even when he doesn't still
the storm, when your stormwon't stop.
It's even better that youcontinue to walk with Jesus.
(29:42):
In verse 32, and we're done.
And when they got into the boat,jesus and Peter get into the
boat is when the wind ceased.
The Bible never promises thatall of your storms will stop in
this life, but, hear me, theBible promises that every storm
(30:05):
will cease in eternal life.
When you get to heaven and whenyou're with Jesus, every storm
will be stopped, every stormwill be ceased.
And it says and those in theboat worshiped him, worshiped
Jesus, saying truly, you are theson of God.
(30:26):
Let me point a couple of thingsout, and I'm done.
First of all, those in the boat.
Did you know that historianstell us that typically in these
boats it would not just be thedisciples, there would also be
sailors.
There would also be sailors,there would also be passengers.
In other words, they saweverything While Jesus came off
the mountain across the water tothe boat of the disciples.
(30:47):
They saw Peter get out of theboat.
They saw Peter walk on thewater.
They saw Peter sink.
They saw Jesus save him.
They saw all of this happenwithin this storm.
Here's the deal is that peopleare watching how you respond in
your storm and God uses us whenwe worship in the middle of our
(31:07):
storm.
In other words, you'll see iton the screen.
When you worship Jesus in yourstorm, others watching can
worship him in theirs.
You're not alone and I'm notalone, and I think a daily
conversation you can have thisweek with people is simply how
(31:30):
are you doing?
What are you going through?
What's your greatest struggleright now?
What's your biggest difficulty?
And listen and let them behonest and then you can share
with them the storm that you'regoing through and you can
worship Jesus and you can tellthem how Jesus is walking with
(31:52):
you and how you're walking withJesus even through your storm,
even when your storm won't stop.
Because they worshiped him,saying Jesus truly, you are the
son of God, because that's whatreal faith is believing that
Jesus truly is the son of God.
(32:13):
Why did Jesus do this?
Jesus wanted them to see himwalk across the waters of the
sea, wanted them to see him.
Call Peter out of the boat.
Peter walking, peter sinking.
Jesus saving Peter again.
Why?
So that when Jesus is crucifiedon the cross and when he raises
from the dead, they can say no,I've seen him.
(32:36):
He walked on water.
He called another man to walkon water.
He saved him.
When he raises from the dead,he can be your savior too.
Can I ask every head to bebowed and every eye to be closed
?
Every head bowed, every eyeclosed.
(32:58):
Maybe you're here this morningand you're thinking I'm going
through a storm.
My storm won't stop.
I need to walk with Jesus.
Maybe you just need to cry outto Jesus this morning and just
say Jesus, save me, jesus,command me out of my boat,
(33:22):
command me to come to you, andJesus, I'll come to you.
Maybe you're here this morningand you've never given your life
to Jesus.
And right here, right now, isyour opportunity that he will
(33:42):
save you.
And the Bible says when he savesyou, he forgives you of all of
your sin.
The Bible says when he savesyou, he gives you his Holy
Spirit.
The Bible says when he savesyou, you've got a home in heaven
forever.
The Bible says when he savesyou, you've got a home in heaven
forever.
The Bible says when he savesyou, he is with you all of your
days.
So right here, right now, Ican't say this prayer for you
(34:06):
and I can't save you.
But you can pray this prayerand God will save you.
You can pray and you can saydear Jesus, I believe in you and
Jesus, I need you From your ownheart and your own words.
You can say dear Jesus, Ibelieve in you and Jesus, I need
you From your own heart andyour own words.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you truly are the son of
God.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you died on the cross for
(34:28):
my sin and I ask you to forgiveme of all my sin.
You can say, jesus, I believethat you rose from the dead,
you're alive and I, I believethat you rose from the dead,
you're alive and I give my lifeto you and I want to live for
you.
And you can call on him to bethe Lord of your life.
Jesus, be my Lord, because theBible says if you confess with
(34:50):
your mouth that Jesus is Lordand believe with your heart that
God raised him from the dead.
You will be saved, jesus.
We believe that.
We pray that all in your name,in Jesus' name, and all God's
people said put your handstogether right now.
For anybody who prayed thatprayer.
We're so thankful, so grateful.
We just wanna say welcome tothe family and right now I'm
(35:12):
gonna ask us all just to standup.
Just to stand up right now.
And if that was you Right now,I'm gonna ask us all just to
stand up, just to stand up rightnow.
And if that was you, we've gotthat next step card in front of
you that you can fill that out.
Let us know that you have givenyour life to Jesus or any other
decision on there.
Maybe you need to be baptized,like Ethan.
Maybe you need to join a group.
Maybe you wanna join the church.
Maybe you wanna serve in someway.
I just wanna encourage youimmediately obey Jesus in
(35:36):
whatever it is that he iscalling you to do.
Heavenly Father, we love youand God, we pray in Jesus' name
that you would just bless thisfinal moment of worship together
and God, we worship Jesus rightnow, even in the middle of our
storm, because Jesus truly isthe son of God.
(36:02):
In him we find our peace.
In Jesus' name and all God'speople said
Popular Podcasts
Bookmarked by Reese's Book Club
Welcome to Bookmarked by Reese’s Book Club — the podcast where great stories, bold women, and irresistible conversations collide! Hosted by award-winning journalist Danielle Robay, each week new episodes balance thoughtful literary insight with the fervor of buzzy book trends, pop culture and more. Bookmarked brings together celebrities, tastemakers, influencers and authors from Reese's Book Club and beyond to share stories that transcend the page. Pull up a chair. You’re not just listening — you’re part of the conversation.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com