WEBVTT - Winded 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:05.440 Matthew, Chapter fourteen, verse twenty two. Immediately Jesus made the 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:07.920 disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.840 him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.240 And after he had dismissed them, he went up on 0:00:14.280 --> 0:00:19.279 a mountain side by himself to pray. Later that night, 0:00:19.360 --> 0:00:22.319 he was there alone and the boat was already a 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:26.479 considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the 0:00:26.520 --> 0:00:32.360 wind was against him. Shortly before dawn, in the Last 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:35.400 Watch of the night, the King James talks about the 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:39.240 last watch of the night, Jesus went out to them 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.360 walking on the lake, and when the disciples saw him 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:48.159 walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:53.920 they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:59.680 said to them, take courage it is I. Don't be afraid. 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.440 This is irrational because I don't care if it is you, Jesus. 0:01:04.880 --> 0:01:09.199 It's weird that you're walking on water, so I'm still 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:11.319 freaked out, even if you are the son of God. 0:01:11.720 --> 0:01:13.839 But Peter watched this. This is the part of story 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:15.440 that usually gets preached about, and it's the part I'm 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.200 gonna preach about too, because good Lord, if it's you, 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.520 Peter replied, tell me to come to you on the water. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:28.080 Come me, he said. When Peter got down out of 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.800 the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 0:01:33.000 --> 0:01:36.080 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and 0:01:36.120 --> 0:01:42.680 beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.720 reached out his hand and caught him, You of little faith, 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:50.920 he said, why did you doubt? And when they climbed 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:57.000 into the boat, the wind died down. I'm going to 0:01:57.040 --> 0:01:59.640 give this message tonight a one word title. I'm calling 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:06.880 this man it's winded. Win did help us Holy Spirit 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:11.919 penetrate through the surface, get deep inside where you can 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:18.000 do your work in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, I know 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:20.160 you're tired. You could be seen to take a seat, 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:26.520 take a rest. Y'all tire? I mean generally in life? 0:02:26.639 --> 0:02:31.560 Are you tired? How many of y'all work out so 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.040 you can have extra energy? How many y'all work out consistently? 0:02:37.840 --> 0:02:41.919 How many y'all work out semi consistently. How many y'all 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.040 going to start in January with the workout plan and 0:02:45.240 --> 0:02:49.840 enjoy the rest. I have a confession to make, all right, 0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:54.760 here's my confession. I work out a lot. I don't 0:02:55.120 --> 0:03:01.840 believe in cardio, believe in it. I'm believe in it. 0:03:03.080 --> 0:03:06.840 I like lifting weights, heavyweights too. Man. I was in 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:09.600 there squatting big weights the other day, proud of myself. 0:03:09.639 --> 0:03:12.120 Nobody was in there to see it but me. But 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.160 I promise you I was squatting a lot of weight 0:03:14.240 --> 0:03:17.080 the other day. Good form too, going down real deep. 0:03:18.520 --> 0:03:21.200 I can bingch press pretty good. I can move some 0:03:21.240 --> 0:03:24.280 pretty good weights. I'm not saying I could enter a 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.480 competition or anything like that. I'm forty two and I 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:29.280 do have a lot of injuries going on, and I 0:03:29.280 --> 0:03:32.120 think I'm gonna be on celebrates for the next seventeen years. 0:03:33.639 --> 0:03:36.360 The point I'm trying to make is that I like 0:03:36.520 --> 0:03:40.520 lifting heavy stuff. But when I went out to play 0:03:40.520 --> 0:03:43.080 pickleball with Elijah the other night, because he's got me 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:50.040 on pickleball. Now y'all play pickleball, he figured out real 0:03:50.120 --> 0:03:55.520 quick how to beat me, make me run. Because no 0:03:55.600 --> 0:04:02.720 amount of biceps, triceeps, trapezoids, what's some other muscles, None 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:06.480 of it matters. Quadriceps, none of it matters when it 0:04:06.520 --> 0:04:09.960 comes to lung capacity. It's the fact of the matter 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.800 is that when I got out there on the court, 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:17.640 even though I work out four days a week, five 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:19.560 days or six days, that we sometimes I work out 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.920 every day, I mean just every day I'll get in 0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.159 there and do something. So why am I out of breath? 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:29.120 Why am I huffing and puffing around this court like 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.400 I weigh eight hundred and twenty pounds, like I'm on 0:04:31.400 --> 0:04:33.480 one of those intervention shows that you see where that 0:04:33.560 --> 0:04:35.280 person can't get out of the bed. Why am I 0:04:35.360 --> 0:04:41.320 huffing and puffing like it's my last breath? Yeah? No cardio, right, thanks. 0:04:42.800 --> 0:04:47.560 It's an illustration, lady supposed to be the volunteers tonight, 0:04:47.800 --> 0:05:00.280 I got hecklers. I'm out there for five minutes. All 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:02.760 the string training in the world isn't doing anything for me. 0:05:02.839 --> 0:05:12.760 I'm winded, and once he figured that out, bam, bam bam. 0:05:12.800 --> 0:05:14.640 If he can make me move enough, I'm out now. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.760 I'm probably exaggerating the point, but it's kind of hilarious 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.320 that I invest so much time into what I call 0:05:20.400 --> 0:05:23.839 exercise and I got seventeen year old wearing me out 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.000 on a pickleball court. This isn't even a full tennis court. 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:29.400 This isn't like the US Open or something like that. 0:05:29.560 --> 0:05:33.320 It's pickleball. How many I don't even know what pickleball is. 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:37.080 I'm out there playing pickleball, just huffing and puffing and 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:44.000 blowing stuff down. Anyway, That's not the kind of winded 0:05:44.040 --> 0:05:45.479 that I want to talk about. But I want you 0:05:45.520 --> 0:05:50.719 to get the feel about it today, because you came 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:56.040 in like that, some of you. The devil figured you out. 0:05:58.640 --> 0:06:01.800 He figured out if he can gets you running bam 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:10.479 boom boom. That although you're really, really, really really good 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:22.359 at Sundays, that sometimes your lack of cardio Christian cardio, 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.960 it tells on you. You know, it never crossed my 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.800 mind all the times I preached on Peter getting up 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.360 and walking to Jesus on the water, because let me 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:37.080 tell you something right now, I have given Peter a 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:42.120 thorough investigation this incident in his life. I never I 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.359 don't know why I never thought of this, but I 0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:49.479 never really stopped to think about how tired the disciples 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:57.919 were at the moment that Jesus finally showed up. First 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.640 of all, they rode all night by not with any 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:06.719 kind of motor But secondly, this is not quite as obvious, 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:11.560 but I think it's worth pointing out they just finished 0:07:12.120 --> 0:07:16.920 feeding twenty thousand people. I was five thousand, five thousand 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:22.800 men and women and children. Twenty thousand is conservative. If 0:07:22.880 --> 0:07:25.360 Larry Brye was counting that, he'd call it fifty thousand. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:30.080 He has no integrity with numbers. Every other area I 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:33.120 trust him, but with a number, uh uh, cut it 0:07:33.120 --> 0:07:35.720 in half, divide it by three. That's the number. When 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.640 he tells your number, I would never let him do 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:46.640 my budget ever, love your skinner. When they finished this miracle, 0:07:46.640 --> 0:07:49.400 now think about how much energy this would take. First 0:07:49.400 --> 0:07:51.680 of all, there is the fact that they weren't really 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:56.960 planning to feed twenty thousand people. Imagine the mental stress 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:00.320 of having to feed five thousand men and women and 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:02.400 children when you really didn't know where it was coming 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:08.040 from to begin with. And even though what God did. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:09.520 I want to stay here too long because it's not 0:08:09.560 --> 0:08:11.360 the real message, but I want to I want to 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.680 bring you into the I want to bring you into 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.920 the miracle, honestly, because even though it was amazing what 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:23.040 Jesus did by feeding this hungry crowd, it was still exhausting. 0:08:24.920 --> 0:08:30.720 It was exciting. We just saw the most incredible thing 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:35.120 that Jesus did. I mean, he just kept breaking off pieces, 0:08:35.280 --> 0:08:37.280 and every time we thought we would run out, we 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:39.560 would come back to him and he would give us more, 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:41.559 and we would take it to them and come back 0:08:41.600 --> 0:08:45.400 to him. And it was amazing, but it had to 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:50.720 be exhausting. When Easter, we had about eight or nine 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.200 worship services just at the campus where I was preaching live. 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.840 The day after Easter, I couldn't get out of bed. 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:02.439 The next I couldn't get out of bed because I 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.160 back then before I had any good sense to play 0:09:05.160 --> 0:09:07.920 a video so I can be around past age forty five. 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:13.719 I preached all of them live, one after another, and 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:16.520 about Tuesday or Wednesday, when I still couldn't get my 0:09:16.640 --> 0:09:19.440 energy up, I started to feel like I wasn't honoring 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.599 God because he had done such an amazing thing. I 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.800 think we had two thousand people give their lives to 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:39.200 Christ that Easter. And I was excite, exhausted. I was 0:09:41.080 --> 0:09:47.080 exhaust excited, exhausted. I was so happy what God did. 0:09:48.720 --> 0:09:50.880 I was so thankful that he let us see it. 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.520 I was so amazed that I got to be a 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.880 part of something of that magnitude. I mean, that was 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:06.040 absolutely incredible and I was absolutely exhausted. I thought it 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:11.760 was a sin, but I was just winded. I thought 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:16.120 I wasn't grateful. I thought, man, I should be running 0:10:16.160 --> 0:10:19.679 around giving God a shabbakh praise. I should be running 0:10:19.720 --> 0:10:22.800 around clapping my hands all you people. I should be 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.320 giving God praise for what he did. And all I 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:27.760 want to do is just lay here because I gave 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:33.640 everything that I had to give, and I'm winded. And 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:39.240 it was wonderful. But I'm winded because guess what I 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:42.559 had to preach the next Sunday and the next Sunday, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.760 and back then it was Saturday and Sunday. Any of 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:54.160 y'all remember Saturday night church? See y'all do that with excitement. 0:10:54.280 --> 0:11:00.280 I'm having PTSD. I'm having PTSD from running from the 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:03.320 ball field over to the church's Saturday night. I'm trying 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.080 to be a good dad, but I need to be 0:11:05.120 --> 0:11:07.280 a good pastor. And the people need a word from 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:09.760 the Lord. But the kids need a dad on the silence. 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:14.400 And I just told you everything I know about God 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.920 last Saturday night, and now you want me to say 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:29.560 something else. I get winded. I get winded. It's the 0:11:29.600 --> 0:11:32.400 worst thing in the world to have a job that 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:39.560 you have to do when you yourself are winded, especially 0:11:39.600 --> 0:11:42.439 when you don't want to show anybody how bad your 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:52.400 cardiovascular conditioning really is. Yeah, winded, I said, Lord, that's 0:11:52.440 --> 0:11:56.520 a weird thing to call a message winded. You know 0:11:56.600 --> 0:12:00.000 why Why would I call it winded? He said, because 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:05.040 in the text it says that the wind was against 0:12:05.960 --> 0:12:11.400 the disciples. But even before the wind started blowing against 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:16.760 their boat, they were already exhausted. And that is a picture. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.360 This is people here in church tonight. The people who 0:12:20.360 --> 0:12:23.160 are in here tonight are people who understand what it's 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:28.240 like to try to worship God when you're winded and 0:12:29.080 --> 0:12:37.600 work for God yourself. I mean, it's not like you 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:41.880 get to just sit around all week waiting for Sunday 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.000 and praying. I came out here one Sunday to preach. Oh, 0:12:46.000 --> 0:12:49.040 I'm preaching hard to boom boom boom. I'm going for it. 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.480 I feel no response from the people, no love from 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:54.440 the people. I go backstage. I'm like, God, what was 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:56.560 the problem. Did I use the wrong text? Did I 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:58.959 exegete it wrong? Did I dishonor you? Did I not 0:12:59.080 --> 0:13:06.760 put enough attention? And the Lord said, they're tired they're tired. 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:14.480 It's an eight thirty am service. They're tired. Some of 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:17.360 them are sleeping good anyway because they're worried about their job. 0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:19.960 Some of them are sleeping good anyway because they're sleeping 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:21.640 in a separate bed from their spouse and they don't 0:13:21.640 --> 0:13:23.440 know how to get the marriage working again. Some of 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:25.560 them are sleeping that good anyway because they're staying up 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.960 all night, playing out things that in their life, reliving 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.960 things from their past, worrying about things in their future. 0:13:31.120 --> 0:13:34.480 They are tired. And at that point, the Lord told 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:36.240 me that I would need to stand up in my 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:39.520 pulpit every week, and no matter how winded I was 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:48.480 from my own life, that I would have to learn 0:13:48.559 --> 0:13:55.600 how to depend on Him, to depend on his wind, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:14:00.480 to depend on his spirit, not to need from the 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:04.200 people a response in order for me to preach God's word. 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:12.600 I'm appreaching a minute when I'm winded. When I'm winded, 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.480 I am susceptible to forms of discouragement that I don't 0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:20.520 even pay any attention to when I'm full of energy. 0:14:20.720 --> 0:14:25.160 When I'm winded, I am vulnerable to temptations that don't 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.400 even incite or arouse my craving when I've got my 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:32.040 full strength. When I'm winded, I start trying to give 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.400 up on stuff that I fought the devil to get 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:38.920 in the first place. When I'm winded. When I'm winded, 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.160 I start thinking crazy stuff. When I'm winded, I don't 0:14:42.160 --> 0:14:44.440 even know if I can sit here with my family, 0:14:44.520 --> 0:14:46.920 even though I know I love them, but I don't 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:51.160 know how to be present because I'm in three places 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:56.960 once I'm winded. And what's this. It's not that everything 0:14:57.000 --> 0:15:02.160 that's happening in my life is bad. What they just 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:07.760 saw Jesus do was amazing and they're not complaining, but 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:12.720 they are human. I want you to write something down. 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:14.280 You had written anything else down tonight, and if you 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:16.080 don't write anything else down, you write this now, so 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:17.760 you have some notes from tonight to prove that you 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:27.280 came here. The Holy Spirit does not consult human schedules. 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:33.880 I know you don't want to hear that again, but 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.200 I'm gonna say it again. The Holy Spirit does not 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:45.479 consult human schedules. Jesus did not turn to the disciples 0:15:45.520 --> 0:15:49.320 after the Feeding of the five thousand and say, y'all 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:57.040 feel like ah, make a little trip. It wasn't any RSVP, 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.080 it wasn't any kind of it was Look how the 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.000 Bible says that in verse twenty two, I'm gonna show 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.680 you this because y'all got Jesus in your head way 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:13.960 too soft, I'll show you verse twenty two. Put on screen, y'all. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:23.920 Immediately Jesus made the disciples, no church vote, no sabbatical. 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:30.960 Jesus said, get in the boat. I see you on 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:40.119 the other side, and that's it. That's it. So famously 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:46.640 he sends them into a storm and they have to 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:50.440 deal with the struggle of going through something that they 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:58.720 did not foresee. What's interesting about this room is that 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.600 I don't know if you've just been so in this 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.080 church for two weeks or somebody was over here. We 0:17:03.080 --> 0:17:09.359 were celebrating ten years. What an amazing thing. What do 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:13.640 you do again, Clemson? I don't remember what they said production. 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:19.040 That's really cool. Who was it back here that was 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:26.600 doing the data entry? Yes, Cindy, Cindy. Has it ever 0:17:26.640 --> 0:17:33.240 been Wendy Cindy? And what I mean by that, let 0:17:33.240 --> 0:17:35.280 me clarify, Let me do this for the whole rom. 0:17:35.280 --> 0:17:37.000 I don't want to pick on Sindy, but well use 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.959 Cindy for an example, because it works really well fanatically, Wendy, Cindy, all, 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:45.600 how many of y'all are greeters in the church. Isn't 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:50.359 it fun to greet people? When is fun to greet people? 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.080 Isn't it fun to greet people when you got a 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:59.640 good eight hours? Isn't it fun to greet people when 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.199 God just answered your prayer? And it fun to say 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:07.360 welcome to elevation when you're happy to be there too. 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:18.480 And Yet the measure of discipleship is not the enthusiasm 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:24.080 that you bring to a task. When the waters are 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:28.880 still and the lake is calm, and the stomachs are full. 0:18:28.960 --> 0:18:32.320 Watch this. Everybody in the crowd is leaving with a 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:39.760 full stomach. The disciples are exhausted having to take the 0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:44.600 bread individually to five thousand family units. Do you know 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:48.320 how much cardio that involves? And then pick up all 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:52.240 the basketfulls of broken pieces that were left over. You 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:55.480 know how big and heavy the baskets were. This is 0:18:55.520 --> 0:18:58.600 a picture of why some people leave church on Sunday 0:18:58.920 --> 0:19:02.320 big smiles, Oh, that was wonderful. The ones who leave 0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.720 early before the invitation even happens, so they don't have 0:19:05.800 --> 0:19:08.720 to fight traffic with four cars in the parking lot 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:12.119 while somebody's being snatched. There's just us tonight, Chris. Is 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:14.760 why I'm not putting this a lot because some people 0:19:14.880 --> 0:19:18.520 leave going, ah, that's wonderful. But sometimes you gotta leave 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:24.800 saying I'm Sto'm success, I'm fired, I'm tired, I'm fired. 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.240 I don't know how I feel, but I want to 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:32.040 do what you want me to do. Jesus am I 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:38.080 right about this. Don't trust the Christian who never breathes heavy. 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.919 Don't trust the Christian who never cries tears. Don't trust 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:44.760 the Christian who never comes in looking like they've been 0:19:44.840 --> 0:19:48.119 through hell, smelling like smoke. Was said, there was a 0:19:48.240 --> 0:20:02.959 fourth man in the fire. I said it. There's some 0:20:03.000 --> 0:20:08.840 cardio for him. This is what it really feels like 0:20:08.880 --> 0:20:15.119 to do ministry. It's like, oh, that was amazing. I'm exhausted. 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:27.720 I feel used by God. I feel used, I feel 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:34.679 taken for granted. Pastor, you got that camera put in 0:20:34.680 --> 0:20:41.639 my house again? Yeah, I got one. Watch this. I 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:44.119 got a camera that's way better than one in your kitchen. 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.359 The Lord, show me what you've been dealing with in 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:51.320 your spirit. So I'm gonna give you something that he 0:20:51.440 --> 0:20:56.320 gave me from my private stash. I don't let just 0:20:56.400 --> 0:21:07.400 anybody have this in any What do you think. I'm 0:21:07.440 --> 0:21:17.320 talking about the Word of God and this is our volunteers. 0:21:19.920 --> 0:21:23.560 I love this church man. There is no place in 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:28.640 the world like elevation. I don't care. I don't care. 0:21:29.960 --> 0:21:43.120 Tell the devils senate, there's no place. So when they 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:47.240 take you for granted, when they take you for granted 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.399 in what you do, you know what that means. You're good. 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:02.240 It means that you have gotten so good at what 0:22:02.280 --> 0:22:06.960 you do that you are on par with oxygen. People 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:10.440 don't even think to thank the air. They just breathe in. 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:16.560 When you get really good, Nobody says you showed up 0:22:17.840 --> 0:22:27.560 on time. They just assume that if you signed up 0:22:27.600 --> 0:22:31.240 to do it when you set you would do it. 0:22:32.080 --> 0:22:38.120 You meant come hell, come high water, come storm, come 0:22:38.240 --> 0:22:49.399 win come. If I set I would, I will. So 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:52.280 that's one of my biggest goals in pressing. I want 0:22:52.280 --> 0:22:56.800 to be good enough to be taken for granted. I 0:22:56.840 --> 0:22:59.240 want to get to the point where I told somebody 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.080 the other day, the proof that you are really preaching 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:06.720 is they stopped thinking about preaching and started thinking about 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:09.720 Jesus in the middle of your preaching, that the Holy 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.720 Spirit was speaking to them so much that you just 0:23:12.800 --> 0:23:15.600 became a ghost in a black hoodie. Nobody even cared 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:17.280 who you were. At the end of the night. It 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:24.080 was the Holy Spirit speaking to their soul. And Yet 0:23:24.119 --> 0:23:29.200 the challenge of this that if we're honest, a lot 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:31.440 of the times, as we are moving and maneuvering through 0:23:31.480 --> 0:23:38.639 the demands of our life, it is very difficult for 0:23:38.760 --> 0:23:43.000 us between breaths to see the big picture of all 0:23:43.040 --> 0:23:44.639 that God is doing. But I'm going to help us 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:51.439 with that. If you came in winded spiritually, and this 0:23:51.480 --> 0:23:56.880 could be from the long marathon, many of you aren't 0:23:56.880 --> 0:23:59.000 winded because of your role in the church. I understand 0:23:59.000 --> 0:24:02.960 that many of you that's your that's your happy place, 0:24:05.160 --> 0:24:10.320 that's the one time in the week where you feel like, man, 0:24:10.359 --> 0:24:18.000 this matters and I love this. Not very convincing. I 0:24:18.119 --> 0:24:23.119 kind of floated that out there, all right. See, I 0:24:23.200 --> 0:24:29.120 know what you're thinking, because you're like, yeah, yeah, I'm 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:35.679 happy to be here, very glad to be here. No 0:24:35.800 --> 0:24:40.960 sooner do they get in the bow than they feel 0:24:40.960 --> 0:24:45.000 the wind is against them. For all of you Christians 0:24:45.000 --> 0:24:47.600 who try to prove that you are in the will 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:54.479 of God by the absence of contrary wind. In other words, 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:58.119 we think that everything God gives us to do the 0:24:58.280 --> 0:25:00.639 proof that he called us to do it, it is 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:10.439 that it's easy. It said from the moment they set out, 0:25:11.720 --> 0:25:16.320 the wind was against them. The crazy thing is if 0:25:16.359 --> 0:25:18.640 they would have turned around and went back, the wind 0:25:18.640 --> 0:25:30.520 would have been blowing for him. But I can't go 0:25:30.680 --> 0:25:36.439 back because I had a word from God that he 0:25:36.520 --> 0:25:44.000 said he expected to see me on the other side. 0:25:46.680 --> 0:25:51.080 What we've been out here an hour and this wind 0:25:51.160 --> 0:25:54.800 keeps saying, we've been out here two hours. It's already late. 0:25:55.240 --> 0:25:57.240 The whole reason that the disciples wanted to send the 0:25:57.240 --> 0:25:59.600 crowds away in Matthew fourteen when the hunger arose is 0:25:59.600 --> 0:26:03.359 because it was already late. So now imagine it was 0:26:03.400 --> 0:26:07.520 already late when they started feeding people. Do the math 0:26:07.560 --> 0:26:10.199 on how long it takes to get food distributed to 0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:15.840 five thousand family units. And now we got to go 0:26:15.920 --> 0:26:25.160 three more miles and they do against the wind. Well, 0:26:25.160 --> 0:26:29.960 here comes Jesus, And did you notice the Bible said 0:26:31.880 --> 0:26:36.320 he came about dawn, or more specifically verse twenty five, 0:26:36.720 --> 0:26:41.920 shortly before dawn, Jesus went out to them. I'm gonna 0:26:41.920 --> 0:26:44.560 ask a question, and it's not rhetorical. Why did he 0:26:44.600 --> 0:26:49.880 wait so long? You're like he didn't know they were 0:26:49.880 --> 0:26:55.080 in trouble. It's Jesus, and he was on a mountain 0:26:55.920 --> 0:27:02.720 so he could see them in the sea. Why did 0:27:02.760 --> 0:27:04.439 he wait? Well, he was up there on the mountain 0:27:04.480 --> 0:27:10.359 praying for them. Maybe was, But at this point I 0:27:10.400 --> 0:27:14.280 could use Jesus as a thirteenth rower, because y'all know 0:27:14.359 --> 0:27:16.879 Judas wasn't rowing anything in the boat. Judas back there 0:27:17.200 --> 0:27:26.800 the other way, so when he show up at the 0:27:26.880 --> 0:27:31.480 last possible moment before the darkness goes away, so that 0:27:32.400 --> 0:27:36.080 they can have trouble recognizing him because the sky is 0:27:36.119 --> 0:27:39.600 not illuminated, so that they would have to trust him 0:27:40.000 --> 0:27:44.480 by faith, based on not what they saw with their eyes, 0:27:44.520 --> 0:27:53.160 but what they heard with their ears. And Peter, Peter goes, 0:27:54.359 --> 0:28:00.359 I want to do that. Peter just has to be different. 0:28:01.400 --> 0:28:03.480 It's not enough just to fall in line and road. 0:28:04.200 --> 0:28:06.359 Peter does good. He starts walking to Jesus in the 0:28:06.359 --> 0:28:10.080 direction of Jesus. I don't know what kind of encouragement 0:28:10.119 --> 0:28:12.560 is going on. Jesus tells him to come. I don't 0:28:12.560 --> 0:28:14.280 know if he reinforced that over and over again. The 0:28:14.280 --> 0:28:16.800 text doesn't say it could be that this is all 0:28:16.920 --> 0:28:18.720 Jesus said, and that Peter had to go off of 0:28:18.760 --> 0:28:22.160 that for the entire journey. I do know that Jesus 0:28:22.200 --> 0:28:24.159 wasn't exactly close to the boat, because if he had 0:28:24.200 --> 0:28:26.120 been close enough to the boat, they would have recognized 0:28:26.200 --> 0:28:27.919 him as Jesus, and they wouldn't have said, if it's you. 0:28:28.440 --> 0:28:31.000 So I know it's some distance and Jesus is coming 0:28:31.080 --> 0:28:33.879 up from some distance, and Peter's moving toward him for 0:28:33.920 --> 0:28:36.959 a long time. We don't really know how many steps 0:28:36.960 --> 0:28:43.280 he took, but he famously fell. And that's what the 0:28:43.320 --> 0:28:47.000 Lord wants to speak to us about tonight. Is right 0:28:47.040 --> 0:28:51.880 there in verse twenty nine, where Peter got down out 0:28:51.880 --> 0:28:54.520 of the boat, walked on water, came toward Jesus. But 0:28:54.600 --> 0:28:58.200 when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning 0:28:58.240 --> 0:29:04.560 to sink. Cried out, Lord saved me. Immediately Jesus reached 0:29:04.600 --> 0:29:07.280 out his hand and caught him. Oh you have little faith, 0:29:07.320 --> 0:29:12.280 he said, why did you doubt? Now that's a complicated question. 0:29:13.640 --> 0:29:17.880 Why did you doubt? It's not easy to explain the 0:29:17.920 --> 0:29:22.160 reasons that we begin to doubt what God has called 0:29:22.200 --> 0:29:25.760 us to do. It's not as easy. You know, people 0:29:25.800 --> 0:29:29.120 will give you simplified solutions for spiritual struggles, Just trust 0:29:29.480 --> 0:29:33.960 the Lord and stuff like that. What about the trauma 0:29:36.640 --> 0:29:41.640 that makes it hard for me to trust anybody, especially 0:29:41.720 --> 0:29:44.880 of God that I can't even see. And when you 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:47.880 tell me to trust the Lord, how do I know 0:29:48.200 --> 0:29:51.280 that it's Him that I'm trusting and not just my 0:29:51.440 --> 0:29:53.960 idea that I had when I stepped out in faith? 0:29:55.640 --> 0:29:59.000 That is a very complicated question. Why did you doubt? 0:30:00.400 --> 0:30:03.000 Did somebody else's voice get in his head? It's a 0:30:03.120 --> 0:30:06.400 very complient. It's a complicated thing to describe your insecurities 0:30:06.440 --> 0:30:09.680 to somebody. A lot of people look at you, how 0:30:09.720 --> 0:30:12.360 handsome you are, how beautiful you are, how strong you are, 0:30:12.480 --> 0:30:15.719 how gifted you are, how talented you are? How uh, 0:30:17.280 --> 0:30:20.160 what's the word it means? Like bubbly? Your personality is 0:30:20.240 --> 0:30:28.720 what's the technical word? Effervescent? Is that right? Effervescent? And 0:30:28.760 --> 0:30:31.200 they look at you and they're like, she's so effervescent. 0:30:33.040 --> 0:30:38.840 If I had her effervescence, Oh, man, Cindy, she's just 0:30:38.920 --> 0:30:44.600