Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation
Speaker 1: Church and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope
Speaker 1: it builds your faith. Hope it gives your perspective to
Speaker 1: see God is moving in your life. Enjoy the message.
Speaker 1: I'm going to share one verse and then I'm gonna
Speaker 1: let you be seated. And the verse is actually an
Speaker 1: Ecclesiasties eleven. I have unintentionally been working my way backwards
Speaker 1: through this passenger of scripture, and I haven't started a
Speaker 1: series lately, but I've unintentionally just been using these thoughts
Speaker 1: from Solomon, who has us enrolled in the school of wisdom,
Speaker 1: and he has the right to do it because some
Speaker 1: people called him the wisest man who ever lived. He
Speaker 1: was like Elon Musk of the Old Testament. But the
Speaker 1: only difference between Solomon and Elon Musk is he wrote
Speaker 1: his treatise to help us see that if you succeed
Speaker 1: but you're not fulfilled, or if you succeed but you
Speaker 1: don't have peace, or if you succeed but you're succeeding
Speaker 1: at things that don't have real meaning, you will come
Speaker 1: up empty in the end, and so he helps us
Speaker 1: with that with a few principles from the Word of God.
Speaker 1: And this one today I want to share is very,
Speaker 1: very simple from the school of Solomon. Ecclesiastes, Chapter eleven,
Speaker 1: verse four says this, whoever watches the wind will not plant,
Speaker 1: whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. So I
Speaker 1: know I told you it's going to preach today, but
Speaker 1: really this is more like an announcement of a fight. Okay,
Speaker 1: So really we came to watch a fight today. And
Speaker 1: the title of this message is called wind versus Word.
Speaker 1: In this corner is the wind and his opponent is
Speaker 1: the Word. And I believe this message is for someone
Speaker 1: today who is conflicted between the wind and the Word
Speaker 1: of God. And I believe today God is going to
Speaker 1: speak to your heart. Do it Lord in Jesus' name, Amen,
Speaker 1: touch somebody, say ding, ding, Amen, you may be seated.
Speaker 1: One thing that is interesting to me, and the verse
Speaker 1: really suggests the same reality, is how when your spirit
Speaker 1: makes a decision to do something, your mind will find
Speaker 1: reasons not to do it. Now, now, if you decide
Speaker 1: to do something like go on a diet, your mind
Speaker 1: will immediately start calculating why it's not a good idea
Speaker 1: to go on a diet. Now, some of y'all are
Speaker 1: already doing the math. Well, you know, Christmas is right
Speaker 1: around the corner. It's like months till Christmas, but you
Speaker 1: already got the countdown timer, because it's easy to find
Speaker 1: a reason. And really, the way that our human minds
Speaker 1: work sometimes is in opposition to our spirit, which is divine.
Speaker 1: And that's why you could find yourself even with the
Speaker 1: apostle Paul, who lamented one time, what I want to do,
Speaker 1: I don't do. What I don't want to do, I do,
Speaker 1: because often your mind will contradict your spirit. And it's
Speaker 1: actually deeper than that, because the way this works in
Speaker 1: daily life is that your heart reaches a verdict and
Speaker 1: then gives evidence to support the verdict, whether or not
Speaker 1: the verdict was true. In a court of law, this
Speaker 1: would be a mistrial, but in our lives this is
Speaker 1: often just standard operating procedure. Is that we come to
Speaker 1: a conclusion, and then once we've come to that conclusion,
Speaker 1: our mind is brilliant, like some kind of you know,
Speaker 1: four hundred dollars an hour attorney to find evidence to
Speaker 1: support the conclusion, and in so many areas of our
Speaker 1: lives we find a reason. I mean, you can find
Speaker 1: a reason. And this is what Solomon is saying. If
Speaker 1: you look for a reason not to sew, or if
Speaker 1: you look for a reason not to reap, you will
Speaker 1: find one every time. It's very true, because right now,
Speaker 1: I promise you you can find a reason. Your mind
Speaker 1: can find a reason to complain, even though your spirit
Speaker 1: knows that God has been good to me. How many
Speaker 1: of you, in your spirit you know that God has
Speaker 1: been good to you and better than you deserve, And
Speaker 1: yet you could find a reason, couldn't you. I'll give
Speaker 1: you one. You want one. If you just need a
Speaker 1: reason to complain, I'll give you a reason right now
Speaker 1: to complain. For some of y'all, it is too cold
Speaker 1: in the auditorium. If you just need a reason to complain,
Speaker 1: if the praise songs of the Most High God didn't
Speaker 1: give you enough reason to praise, let's find something for
Speaker 1: you to complain about. Some of y'all, This sermon is
Speaker 1: going to be too long for you. Some of you,
Speaker 1: it's going to be too short for you. Some of
Speaker 1: you don't like a preacher in type briches, and some
Speaker 1: of you, you know you can find one if you
Speaker 1: need one, And it's really not that hard to find
Speaker 1: a reason to complain. In fact, if we want to
Speaker 1: go even deeper than that. And I don't mean to
Speaker 1: take a dark turn early in the sermon, because it's
Speaker 1: really good atmosphere in here, and I don't want to
Speaker 1: mess it up. But if you wanted to, you could
Speaker 1: find a reason to go into a whole depression. If
Speaker 1: you wanted to think about a certain problem in your
Speaker 1: life right now, you could distract yourself with a problem
Speaker 1: that is not in this room, to the point that
Speaker 1: you don't hear another word. I say this whole sermon
Speaker 1: because your your mind will collect evidence for a verdict
Speaker 1: that you've already decided on. And that's why when you
Speaker 1: wake up some mornings like I do and say is
Speaker 1: just going to be one of those days, you will
Speaker 1: find every reason why it's one of those days, because
Speaker 1: your heart reached a verdict, and now you sent your
Speaker 1: mind in investigative search of the support. Y'all know I'm
Speaker 1: preaching in my introduction. I'm rested for this message. And see,
Speaker 1: even if you want to try to be tired, you
Speaker 1: can try to be tired. If you want a reason
Speaker 1: to be tired, you can have a reason to be
Speaker 1: tired right now. I mean if you want to find
Speaker 1: a real if you just need a reason, you can
Speaker 1: find a reason when you need a reason. And that's
Speaker 1: why it's a bad idea. Watch the sharp turn to
Speaker 1: sit around watching the weather. My least favorite thing about
Speaker 1: being a pastor is when inclement weather. And by inclement weather,
Speaker 1: here's what I mean. For church people. I'm about to
Speaker 1: have some group therapy. Inclement weather means it could mean
Speaker 1: that is so beautiful outside that we can't possibly go
Speaker 1: to church. We need to take this time to go
Speaker 1: be outside. I'm not talking to y'all talking to the
Speaker 1: people who skip church. Let me look at the camera,
Speaker 1: because y'all are safe. Y'all are here right now. Inclement weather.
Speaker 1: It's not too cold. We don't have to go out
Speaker 1: in the rain. It's not too perfect. We're not missing
Speaker 1: anything outside. It is perfect church weather. We actually have
Speaker 1: a little joke on our staff when it's just it's
Speaker 1: just a little too cold for you to be outside.
Speaker 1: But it's not too cold where you have to, you know,
Speaker 1: suffer for five seconds before your seat warmers kick in.
Speaker 1: Is perfect church weather, and it's really hard to be
Speaker 1: a pastor, especially when they are forecasting, you know, torrential
Speaker 1: weather that may or may not even hit our state.
Speaker 1: And what's really difficult about it, and I promise you
Speaker 1: this is in the text, is that sometimes all the
Speaker 1: milk and all the bread will be off of the
Speaker 1: grocery store shelves and there will be no snow on
Speaker 1: the ground. But it was the it was the threat,
Speaker 1: or I could say like this, it was the forecast
Speaker 1: that created fear of something that was never even in
Speaker 1: our future. Now you went to Sam's and Costco bought
Speaker 1: out all the batteries, and the sun was out and
Speaker 1: it was seventy seven degrees. Now. One thing that I
Speaker 1: love about our church is when a real tragedy happens,
Speaker 1: we've already got supplies on the ground in the Bahamas
Speaker 1: because of your giving. We've already got supplies moving toward
Speaker 1: people when there's an emergency. And that's not the part
Speaker 1: that I struggle with as a pastor. The hard part
Speaker 1: is knowing that so many people see my dad used
Speaker 1: to wake up every morning and watch the news and
Speaker 1: he would always I thought this was so weird. Growing up,
Speaker 1: he would always cuss out the weathermen. And I need
Speaker 1: to give you full the closure because this is a
Speaker 1: very complicated part of my personal psychology. I did not
Speaker 1: want to be a preacher when I was a little boy.
Speaker 1: I wanted to be a weatherman. I think it was
Speaker 1: a form of rebellion because I would stand with my
Speaker 1: sesame street globe and an antenna that I broke off
Speaker 1: my TV so I could point at the globe and
Speaker 1: I would forecast the weather. This is like six years old,
Speaker 1: seven years old, and I would forecast the weather in
Speaker 1: places in the world that I couldn't pronounce. I liked it.
Speaker 1: I liked the ability to predict the future. But then
Speaker 1: my dad he would cuss out the weatherman, and I
Speaker 1: was conflicted. And what made him so mad about the
Speaker 1: weatherman was that he understood that even though I respect meteorologists,
Speaker 1: remember I could have been one. If it had just
Speaker 1: gone a little bit different, just a little different path,
Speaker 1: I could have been one. But the thing that my
Speaker 1: dad couldn't stand about it was to watch how people
Speaker 1: would go into a frenzy over something that was in
Speaker 1: a forecast. And now my dad is no longer living,
Speaker 1: but I just want to say to him, if he's
Speaker 1: watching this on a heavenly celestial livestream broadcast channel, that
Speaker 1: I get it now, because it's frustrating when you're trying
Speaker 1: to plan church and people don't come, not because it's snowing,
Speaker 1: not because it's raining, but because it might You know
Speaker 1: how many things that the devil has kept you from
Speaker 1: doing in your life that God called you to do
Speaker 1: because of what might happen if you did. And a
Speaker 1: lot of us, the enemy doesn't even have to fight
Speaker 1: us with real events or circumstances. Just even the suggestion
Speaker 1: of a disaster is enough to send some of us
Speaker 1: into retreat. And so just even the thought that what
Speaker 1: if they don't like you is enough to keep you
Speaker 1: in the house, or just even a thought if what
Speaker 1: if they break my heart is enough to keep you
Speaker 1: from extending yourself in relationship, or just even a thought.
Speaker 1: You know, many of you are reluctant to get involved
Speaker 1: in this church because you had a previous bad church experience.
Speaker 1: And I understand that because once you have been through
Speaker 1: a storm. I lived through Hurricane Hugo. I was eight
Speaker 1: years old when Hurricane Hugo hit Charleston, South Carolina. It
Speaker 1: terrified me. I didn't want to spend the night away
Speaker 1: from home for two years after that as a little boy,
Speaker 1: because one thing. After you have survived a storm, after
Speaker 1: you have survived bad weather, after you have survived abuse,
Speaker 1: what people don't tell you about is that even after
Speaker 1: the storm is over, it still rages on on the
Speaker 1: inside of you. And the saddest thing in the world
Speaker 1: is to see a Christian who has been set free
Speaker 1: by the love of Christ, to know that neither height,
Speaker 1: nor depth, nor anything else in all, neither death nor life,
Speaker 1: neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future,
Speaker 1: nor any other power shall be able to separate me
Speaker 1: from the love of God that is in Christ. Jesus,
Speaker 1: my Lord. What I'm trying to say, some of us
Speaker 1: need to fire the devil as our weather man. We
Speaker 1: have been consulting the wrong source to find out what
Speaker 1: our future looks like. And so now we stay indoors,
Speaker 1: and we stay in fear, and we stay in paranoia,
Speaker 1: and we never plant, and we never reap. Solomon said,
Speaker 1: because we watch the wind, what a weird image. You
Speaker 1: really can't see the wind, You can only see the
Speaker 1: effects of it. And he says, when you watch the wind,
Speaker 1: you know, like, is this a good time? I'll give
Speaker 1: you one. This one looks like to watch the wind.
Speaker 1: Causing about that phrase watch the wind, and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is not a literal message. I'm not using it
Speaker 1: to talk about physical storms. I'm using it to talk
Speaker 1: about when the sewer goes to sew, he wants the
Speaker 1: wind to work with him, and when the wind is
Speaker 1: blowing the opposite direction, all your seed smacks you in
Speaker 1: your face. But you never feel like everything you so
Speaker 1: just you ever feel like stuff just backfires on you.
Speaker 1: You're trying to be nice to somebody. That's the last
Speaker 1: one of those I'm doing. I got appreciate this twice
Speaker 1: tomorrow any my brain cells. But you ever just been
Speaker 1: smacked by your own seat, Because that's what he's saying.
Speaker 1: When the wind is blowing against you. Some of you
Speaker 1: have had the wind against you your whole life. You
Speaker 1: didn't have the right shoes, your parents didn't make a
Speaker 1: lot of money. You had to learn to fit in.
Speaker 1: You had to learn how to be tough, you had
Speaker 1: to learn how to be hard, and you learned how
Speaker 1: to survive a storm. But the problem with that, the
Speaker 1: only problem with that is sometimes the wind isn't even
Speaker 1: against you, but you still feel like it is because
Speaker 1: your mind is collecting evidence in support of a verdict
Speaker 1: that is no longer accurate. See watch the wind, try
Speaker 1: to find out what's popular, it's not popular. I'm apprecious
Speaker 1: to our students. They've got Rhythm Night coming up next
Speaker 1: next Sunday night. And I want you to talk about
Speaker 1: this in some form. Tim is that watching the wind
Speaker 1: is like trying to determine what's going to gain you clout,
Speaker 1: and then you let clout overrule character. And watching the
Speaker 1: wind is trying to be like, oh, do they like me?
Speaker 1: Do they like me? Is this what I need to be?
Speaker 1: To be like that? That's watching the wind? Can I
Speaker 1: give you another one that's watching the wind. Is needing
Speaker 1: to be in a good mood to keep your commitments.
Speaker 1: That's watching the wind. Because some of my weather systems
Speaker 1: are internal, and I found out a long time ago
Speaker 1: that usually the mood that you're in when you make
Speaker 1: a commitment will not match the mood that you're in
Speaker 1: when it's time to keep the commitment. And so to
Speaker 1: watch the wind is for those of us who sometimes
Speaker 1: need to feel it in order to fulfill it. And
Speaker 1: Solomon says, the wisest man, the richest man, the man
Speaker 1: who said that to do things for Vanity's sake is
Speaker 1: like chasing after the wind. He uses this metaphor lot
Speaker 1: in his book Ecclesiastes the Collected Teachings, which are like proverbs,
Speaker 1: but it's written in such a way as to convince
Speaker 1: the knowledge of the universe and the futility of vanity.
Speaker 1: He uses this image of the wind. Why because it
Speaker 1: is an invisible force. And he says, if you are
Speaker 1: always checking with and con insulting how you feel, you
Speaker 1: will always find a reason to contradict your responsibility. So
Speaker 1: there will always be a reason watch this that you
Speaker 1: don't feel like forgiving people. But if you want to
Speaker 1: be free, you might have to go against your feelings.
Speaker 1: In order to live in freedom. I'm saying you might
Speaker 1: have to walk against the wind. You might have to
Speaker 1: forgive against the wind, especially in marriage. I love Holly
Speaker 1: so much because she decided a long time ago that
Speaker 1: I was the man for her. She reached the verdict
Speaker 1: on verdict before she ever took my name as her own.
Speaker 1: And because she reached the verdict that she loves me
Speaker 1: and I'm a good man in our marriage. She works
Speaker 1: to collect evidence to support that I'm the man for her.
Speaker 1: She could just as easily do the opposite. She could
Speaker 1: find fifteen reasons. Well, he's only five foot nine, he's
Speaker 1: bigger on screen, you know. She could find fifteen reasons
Speaker 1: I'm usually moody three and a half days out of seven.
Speaker 1: She could find fifteen reasons not to feel that way
Speaker 1: about me. But sometimes commitment means facing resistance with resolve
Speaker 1: in your heart. You can find a reason to leave
Speaker 1: this church in the next three days if you want one.
Speaker 1: Matter of fact, the law of average says that there's
Speaker 1: somebody on your row right now who if you get
Speaker 1: to know them, they will give you a reason to
Speaker 1: leave this church in the next three days because they
Speaker 1: will disappoint you with their lack of Christian character. But
Speaker 1: if you move one person over on the same row,
Speaker 1: I bet you there's somebody on that row that loves Jesus.
Speaker 1: There's somebody on that row who is honest. There is
Speaker 1: somebody on that row that is sincere. But you'll never sew.
Speaker 1: We'll see. I'm gonna get my I'm gonna do I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get my I'm gonna do the tithing thing, but
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do it after I get my thing, because
Speaker 1: the thing after the thing is gonna do the thing.
Speaker 1: And then this thing happened. There was the thing, but
Speaker 1: the economy, but the presidential election. You see how we
Speaker 1: do it consulting the forecast instead of consulting our faith.
Speaker 1: He who regards the wind or observes the wind will
Speaker 1: never sow, and he who looks at the clouds will
Speaker 1: never reap because it always looks like it could rain anytime,
Speaker 1: and you can't get the harvest in when it's wet.
Speaker 1: And Solomon didn't have a weather channel. And Solomon didn't
Speaker 1: have a weather channel. He's dealing with people who would
Speaker 1: consult the conditions before keeping their commitments watching the wind.
Speaker 1: How many people have not started what God told them
Speaker 1: to start because they've been watching the wind, been waiting
Speaker 1: for more spare time. I'm gonna write a book one day.
Speaker 1: You don't even keep a journal right now. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: write a book one day where you're gonna write it. Well,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna build a cottage in Maine. It's the thing
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do one day. You got some family landmope.
Speaker 1: It's an imaginary scenario that keeps you from an actual opportunity.
Speaker 1: Do you see it? Watching the wind is wishing that
Speaker 1: you had a different wife instead of loving the one
Speaker 1: that you've got, Like Christ loves the church. This is
Speaker 1: getting good. This message is going to be better than
Speaker 1: your beard by the time I finished with it, my brother,
Speaker 1: And that's saying a lot. But you know, Peter knew
Speaker 1: something about watching the wind though, didn't he? Peter the
Speaker 1: apostle who was always wanting to do something impulsive. Sometimes
Speaker 1: it worked for him, sometimes it worked against him. But
Speaker 1: one thing that you got to love about him, he
Speaker 1: did not wait for perfect circumstances to say. He didn't
Speaker 1: wait until he had knowledge to give his opinion. You
Speaker 1: ever lived with somebody like that, it's terrible. And I
Speaker 1: noticed something about God, and I wanted to give this
Speaker 1: to you because they have these things in church. They say, well,
Speaker 1: God is an on time god. Yes he is. He's
Speaker 1: an on time god. He's seldom early, but he's never late.
Speaker 1: Ask Lazarus if he was ever late, Laszar, he is
Speaker 1: about four days late. Decomposing body worms working their way
Speaker 1: into the eye socket by the time Jesus got there
Speaker 1: and Mary and Martha had set their watch by it.
Speaker 1: Ask Peter if Jesus was ever late, Ask him, Ask
Speaker 1: him if one time they did not get sent out
Speaker 1: into a storm by the instruction that Jesus gave to
Speaker 1: go to the other side. Now, this has been really
Speaker 1: exciting to me as I've studied it this week, because
Speaker 1: the real thing of faith is do you trust God's timing?
Speaker 1: You know that, right? And that was the test for
Speaker 1: Mary and Martha. Jes said, I am the resurrection and
Speaker 1: the life. And she said, well, you know, I am
Speaker 1: the resurrection. And she said, well, I know my brother's
Speaker 1: going to rise again at the last day. He said, no,
Speaker 1: I am the resurrection. It wasn't that she didn't trust
Speaker 1: what he was able to do. It was are you
Speaker 1: able to trust when God is going to do it?
Speaker 1: You can trust somebody's intention, but not trust their timing.
Speaker 1: And since I already talked good about hollyod the sermon,
Speaker 1: let me just say I trust her with my life.
Speaker 1: I trust her to be faithful to our marriage vows.
Speaker 1: I trust her if she cooks for me or orders
Speaker 1: for me off of a menu, I trust she knows
Speaker 1: what I want to eat more than I want to eat.
Speaker 1: She knows me like that. I trust this woman with
Speaker 1: everything but time. When she says it's going to be
Speaker 1: thirty minutes, I allot three hours because she taught me
Speaker 1: that her concept of time is different than mine. One
Speaker 1: is correct, one is delusional. And I trust her, I
Speaker 1: really do. I trust her. I put her in a
Speaker 1: room full of supermodels, men calendar men and trust her
Speaker 1: in there. But if she said we're going to leave
Speaker 1: in an hour, I would set three alarms because I
Speaker 1: trust her with everything but time. Some of us trust
Speaker 1: that God is going to get us to heaven one day.
Speaker 1: Some of us trust that he died on the cross
Speaker 1: for our sin. We trust him with everything, but let
Speaker 1: him not do something at the moment that we want
Speaker 1: him to do it. Let him leave us in the
Speaker 1: fiery furnace. Four seconds too long and we'll be screaming, God,
Speaker 1: get me out of this. But God said, the real
Speaker 1: test for a mature Christian is do you trust me
Speaker 1: with my timing? Trusting him in the meantime is where
Speaker 1: maturity is developed. And Jesus was always doing stuff at
Speaker 1: a bad time. He was always going to Jerusalem at
Speaker 1: the time when they all wanted to kill him. That's
Speaker 1: a bad time to show up. When they're looking for
Speaker 1: you to execute you. It's a bad time. Five thousand men,
Speaker 1: women and children show up on the other side. Now,
Speaker 1: this is right after John the Baptist. I just want
Speaker 1: you to know how often God does things in our
Speaker 1: life at a bad time, because some of y'all are like,
Speaker 1: right now in your life, like, well, this is a
Speaker 1: bad time for me. God. And I used to have
Speaker 1: this friend. Every time he called me on the phone,
Speaker 1: he was so respectful. He would say good time or
Speaker 1: a bad time. Always wanted to know that before he
Speaker 1: said anything else. And I believe the Holy Spirit is
Speaker 1: say him to somebody today, good time or a bad time,
Speaker 1: and you're like, this is a bad time. I'm too
Speaker 1: old to be doing this now, I'm too young to
Speaker 1: be doing this now, I'm too busy to be doing
Speaker 1: this now. I used to have a better job, I
Speaker 1: used to have more money. It's a bad time. But
Speaker 1: God likes to bless people at a bad time. He
Speaker 1: likes to raise people. On the Fourth Day. And when
Speaker 1: Jesus had heard that John the Baptist had his head
Speaker 1: cut off by heard it was a bad time, and
Speaker 1: he wanted to get away from the crowds. So he
Speaker 1: went over to the other side with the disciples, and
Speaker 1: when they got there, there was a crowd waiting to
Speaker 1: get autographs and healing and fish and chips and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. As a matter of fact, when he did
Speaker 1: the miracle and feeds the five thousand, the first thing
Speaker 1: the disciples said was, what it's late. It's a bad time.
Speaker 1: It's a bad time. And Jesus when he took the bread,
Speaker 1: blessed it, broke it and gave it to them. He
Speaker 1: did the miracle at a bad time. Now I'm divorced,
Speaker 1: Now I'm a single mom. Now it's a bad time
Speaker 1: for me to be believing God. It's a bad time.
Speaker 1: I really wasted a lot of years. It's a bad
Speaker 1: time for me to be doing I think I made
Speaker 1: the wrong decision. I don't even think I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: live in Roanoke. I don't even think I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: live in Charlotte. I even it's a bad time. It's
Speaker 1: a bad place. That's what the disciples said. They said,
Speaker 1: it's a remote place, and it's already late. So send
Speaker 1: the crowds away and Jesus said, no, I want to
Speaker 1: bless him when it's too little and when it's too late,
Speaker 1: because I want to bless you when you think it's
Speaker 1: a bad time. So I can teach you how to
Speaker 1: consult your faith instead of consulting your forecast. You got
Speaker 1: the wrong weather man. You keep watching the weather, and
Speaker 1: so now you live in fear of everything that could
Speaker 1: happen and everything that has happened. And as long as
Speaker 1: you watch the weather, as long as you you keep
Speaker 1: that wrong weather man. This is what God showed me.
Speaker 1: The weather is meant to be checked, not watched when
Speaker 1: you sit. When you sit around and watch it all day,
Speaker 1: it scares you. Oh everything. It's good to plan, it's
Speaker 1: good to make provision, but don't watch the weather. If
Speaker 1: you watch the weather, you'll get in your feelings and
Speaker 1: you'll get out of your faith. And now the wind
Speaker 1: watch this will work against you to contradict the word
Speaker 1: that God spoke to you. So this is the point
Speaker 1: where Jesus, after feeding the five thousand, sends the disciples
Speaker 1: into a storm. And I want to read this to
Speaker 1: you for everybody who's been watching the wind in your life,
Speaker 1: worrying about uncertain situations that you cannot control. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about those of you that are trying to make
Speaker 1: a plan to pay off your debt. That's good, that's
Speaker 1: not a lack of faith. That's a that's a presence
Speaker 1: of wisdom. But watching the wind is trying to calculate
Speaker 1: something that you can't control. You are worried your kid
Speaker 1: is going to end up dropping out of school, and
Speaker 1: they are three months old, and they don't like Baby
Speaker 1: Einstein enough yet, and you are worried that they won't
Speaker 1: get into Harvard. You watch in the wind trying to
Speaker 1: figure out stuff that's in the future. Now watch this.
Speaker 1: This is so weird because it says immediately after Jesus
Speaker 1: blessed all the multitudes and the crowds at a bad time,
Speaker 1: he made them go into the boat twenty two and
Speaker 1: go on ahead of him to the other side. Well,
Speaker 1: he dismissed the crowd. So at some point during his
Speaker 1: instructions he told them, I will meet you on the
Speaker 1: other side. He gave them his word. He gave them
Speaker 1: his word. I will see you on the other side.
Speaker 1: He gave them his word. Touched somebody next to you
Speaker 1: and say he gave you his word. No, I need
Speaker 1: you to help me preach this, not look at me
Speaker 1: with a little church face. Tell him he gave you
Speaker 1: his word. But the challenge is not believing that you
Speaker 1: will see him on the other side. Is how long
Speaker 1: is it going to be before I get there? He
Speaker 1: gave me his word that he would never leave me
Speaker 1: nor forsake me. He gave me his word in this corner,
Speaker 1: weighing in at unlimited pounds, hailing from eternity made flesh
Speaker 1: by the will of the Father to redeem humanity. Is
Speaker 1: the living, breathing logos word of God, Jesus Christ. In
Speaker 1: the beginning, what's the word? And the word was with God,
Speaker 1: and the Word was God, and all things were made
Speaker 1: by him and for him, for he was with God
Speaker 1: in the beginning. He gave me his word. After he
Speaker 1: had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain side
Speaker 1: by himself to pray. And when evening came he was
Speaker 1: there alone. But the boat was already a considerable distance
Speaker 1: from land, buffeted by the waves. Because why the wind
Speaker 1: was against and his opponent raging on the storm tossed
Speaker 1: sea the wind. And we came to church really today
Speaker 1: to find out which one's gonna win the calling that
Speaker 1: God put on your life for the circumstances that contradicted
Speaker 1: your faith or your fear. The wind versus the Word,
Speaker 1: the Challenger, you ever watch him in may Sometimes I
Speaker 1: like to preach the Word and then watch people beat
Speaker 1: each other after death on Saturday nights. This shah a
Speaker 1: recovery method. It's kind of my own spiritual cry of therapy.
Speaker 1: But the challenger and then you got the undefeated, undisputed
Speaker 1: heavyweight champion. Anyway, I'm gonna get back to the text
Speaker 1: because it said the wind was against the boat, and
Speaker 1: the boat did not represent disobedience like it did for
Speaker 1: Jonah who was going away from God. They were going
Speaker 1: into their assignment, which led them into a storm, which
Speaker 1: meant that they had to keep moving forward against the wind. Now,
Speaker 1: if you watch the wind, you'll never set out. If
Speaker 1: they would have had a weather channel app they would
Speaker 1: have never gotten in the boat. Sometimes we know too much,
Speaker 1: Sometimes we overthink things. Who's this message for? If you
Speaker 1: are a chronic overthinker, you are a wind watcher. Well,
Speaker 1: and Mike did a flat tier. They've been doing a
Speaker 1: lot of construction. I don't know if I should take
Speaker 1: this job or not so? Verse twenty five. The fourth watch.
Speaker 1: The Romans divided it up into four quarters all right
Speaker 1: six pm to six am, four watches, three hours each
Speaker 1: six pm to nine pm. First watch nine pm to midnight,
Speaker 1: Second watch midnight to three am. Third watch. And when
Speaker 1: does Jesus show up? I mean, this dude, is that
Speaker 1: disrespectful to call him that he was fully God and
Speaker 1: fully man? And he shows up not the first watch
Speaker 1: of the night, second watch, third watch. What I like
Speaker 1: about the text is even the term watch has significance
Speaker 1: because if you remember what I just read you, it
Speaker 1: said that he went up on a mountain side to prey. Now,
Speaker 1: the sea was situated well below the mountain, which means
Speaker 1: that as they went through the storm, even though he
Speaker 1: didn't stop it, he saw them in it. I want
Speaker 1: you to be encouraged today, my sister, my brother, my
Speaker 1: fellow child of God. Just because the storm is raging
Speaker 1: doesn't mean God has left the scene. And just because
Speaker 1: he hasn't stopped it doesn't mean he doesn't see it.
Speaker 1: And just because the devil started it doesn't mean he
Speaker 1: won't use it. And just because I don't know how
Speaker 1: long until we get there, doesn't make me doubt his
Speaker 1: presence in the middle of it. He was watching the
Speaker 1: whole time. He knew just when he wanted to step
Speaker 1: in so they could see him as he had never
Speaker 1: been seen. And I believe God is speaking over somebody's
Speaker 1: situation today, that his eye is on you. I believe
Speaker 1: that He has numbered the hairs on your head. I
Speaker 1: believe that even the bad things that have happened in
Speaker 1: your life, he kept every tear in a jar. And
Speaker 1: I don't believe that one of them is beyond redemption. Now.
Speaker 1: The Bible says that when it got to the last
Speaker 1: watch of the night, after they have rowed four to
Speaker 1: five miles in their own strength, Jesus went out to
Speaker 1: them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him
Speaker 1: walking on the lake, they were at peace. Nope, First,
Speaker 1: when you see God, your first response is fear. Why
Speaker 1: you don't know if this is really him. That's the problem.
Speaker 1: I don't know if this is God, or I don't
Speaker 1: know if this is the devil, or I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm supposed to do this, or I don't know
Speaker 1: if I'm supposed to do that. And the challenge is
Speaker 1: trusting God in uncertainty, and you got to believe that
Speaker 1: the disciples were wondering, did we hear him right? Did
Speaker 1: he really take it in the boat? Surely he wouldn't
Speaker 1: have sent usen to a storm like this. And now
Speaker 1: enters the mythology that the Jewish people would have believed
Speaker 1: at this point that underneath the sea was controlled by
Speaker 1: an evil spirit. So when Jesus comes walking to them
Speaker 1: and they can't fully trace his silhouette because it's still dark,
Speaker 1: and because it's foggy and the wind is against them,
Speaker 1: their first instinct is it must be a ghost. See,
Speaker 1: you keep thinking, when God shows up in the situation,
Speaker 1: it's gonna feel better all of a sudden. But this
Speaker 1: will blow your mind. The Bible doesn't say they were
Speaker 1: scared at all until Jesus shows up. Now you see
Speaker 1: why you can't go by your feelings. Sometimes the moment
Speaker 1: when he's closest is the same moment when the wind
Speaker 1: is blowing the strongest. So they were terrified. It's a ghost,
Speaker 1: they said, and they cried out in fear. Now Jesus,
Speaker 1: instead of rebuking them for their fear, responds to their initiative,
Speaker 1: and he said, remember, this is a significant term. Yahweh,
Speaker 1: I am the name of God. It's a name that
Speaker 1: Jesus embodied in flesh. God is that in spirit. But
Speaker 1: Jesus shows us that in flesh. And when he says
Speaker 1: take courage, it is I. It's more than him just
Speaker 1: saying it's me. Boys. He's identifying his presence and connecting
Speaker 1: it to the eternal God and the eternal Word. When
Speaker 1: he speaks it is I don't be afraid. Peter, in
Speaker 1: equal parts doubt and equal parts curiosity because he just
Speaker 1: got to participate in a miracle of feeding five thousand,
Speaker 1: is like, I want to get in on this one too,
Speaker 1: And I'm tired of being in this boat with John.
Speaker 1: He gets on my nerves. He doesn't row, you know.
Speaker 1: John was laid back, and Peter's like, if it's you,
Speaker 1: get me out of this boat, tell me to come.
Speaker 1: I preached this for a long time the wrong way,
Speaker 1: and I've corrected it since. I used to say that
Speaker 1: Peter walked on water. But if you look at verse
Speaker 1: twenty nine, Jesus said come, and then Peter got down
Speaker 1: out of the boat and walked on the water, but
Speaker 1: he was really walking on the word. I'm gonna just
Speaker 1: ask you something. This is not a preachery question. Have
Speaker 1: you ever had to just walk through something just on
Speaker 1: sheer faith that if God brought me out here, he
Speaker 1: will not leave me? Now, that's what it means to
Speaker 1: walk on the word. Have you ever had to move
Speaker 1: towards something in your life that scared you to death
Speaker 1: and you don't have any experience for it, and your
Speaker 1: nautical knowledge did not prepare you for this incident, But
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, the sea became a hardwood floor
Speaker 1: underneath your feet with each step. That's what I mean
Speaker 1: by walking on the word. Have you ever had to
Speaker 1: take a promise from God's word and just hold on
Speaker 1: to it for dear life? A promise for someone that
Speaker 1: you love who's sick, A promise for provision when you
Speaker 1: don't see where it's coming from, a promise that God
Speaker 1: is going to fulfill his purpose for your kids, and
Speaker 1: even if you don't know how it's going to. Have
Speaker 1: you ever had to hold on so tight to something
Speaker 1: in the fourth watch of the night, That's what I
Speaker 1: mean by walking on the word. And Peters walked on
Speaker 1: the word. But he's walking against the wind, and so
Speaker 1: are we see Jesus didn't stop the wind. He gave
Speaker 1: the word come. He said, that's no more instruction than
Speaker 1: you give your golden retriever. Come. And maybe a golden
Speaker 1: retriever is smarter than some of us, because a golden
Speaker 1: retriever doesn't question the Master. But yet some of us
Speaker 1: the first trace of wind the first trace of disappointment.
Speaker 1: And I always thought Peter fell down walking to Jesus,
Speaker 1: because you know, he gets out there a little waves,
Speaker 1: and most of us do. We get out there a
Speaker 1: little ways, and we ingrain to have it for a
Speaker 1: little while, and we go in and do direction by
Speaker 1: faith and trust God for a time. But at somewhere
Speaker 1: during the process, the Bible says that after Peter had
Speaker 1: walked on the water and came toward Jesus verse thirty,
Speaker 1: he made a critical mistake. He saw the wind. Which
Speaker 1: one is stronger, the Word or the wind? I want
Speaker 1: to say, it depends which one you watch. I want
Speaker 1: to say that the wind did not have the strength
Speaker 1: to knock Peter off of his feet. The only reason
Speaker 1: he went down is because he took his eyes off
Speaker 1: of the Word and started watching the wind. See, faith
Speaker 1: is not an imaginary state where I get myself worked
Speaker 1: up into a deluge like nothing's ever going to go
Speaker 1: bad again, and then I'm surprised when bad stuff happens.
Speaker 1: Faith is a focus. Faith is the ability to say,
Speaker 1: I'm putting my eyes on the goodness of God in
Speaker 1: this moment, and I'm not looking back, and I'm not
Speaker 1: looking forward, and I'm not looking around. My mind has
Speaker 1: already reached a conclusion. God is for me. God is
Speaker 1: with me. If the wind be against me, if the
Speaker 1: world be against me, if all hell power nails him
Speaker 1: to a cross, in three days, he will rise because
Speaker 1: my faith is focused on the Word of God that
Speaker 1: I'm walking toward. And I want to prophesy over somebody
Speaker 1: today and declare over your life. The wind doesn't have
Speaker 1: to stop for you to keep walking toward Jesus, and
Speaker 1: the situation doesn't have to get better for you to
Speaker 1: see the glory of God. I'm telling you what I know.
Speaker 1: If everything goes worse, if everything gets crazy, if everything
Speaker 1: rises up against you, God is an army. God is
Speaker 1: a second circle. God is an ever present help in
Speaker 1: the time of trouble. And if your life is built
Speaker 1: on the foundation of His word, there is no wind
Speaker 1: that can rage against you. That can shake it off
Speaker 1: because I'm not walking on water and I'm not watching
Speaker 1: the wind. I love how the Old Testament prophet Elijah
Speaker 1: he went up on this mountain and there had been
Speaker 1: a drought in the land for like three and a
Speaker 1: half years, and he heard something. He heard the sound
Speaker 1: of the abundance of rain. He heard a prophetic indication
Speaker 1: that God was about to sin blessing on the land again.
Speaker 1: So he did something that looked weird, is that he
Speaker 1: put his head in a prayer posture by his knees,
Speaker 1: and he sent his servant to go look to check
Speaker 1: and see if there was anything at the sky. Now,
Speaker 1: when I read that passage, I thought, how at that point,
Speaker 1: if Elijah had looked at the weather, if he would
Speaker 1: have looked at the surface of his situation, or if
Speaker 1: he would have consulted what he felt or what he saw,
Speaker 1: he would have lost his faith. And that's why he knew.
Speaker 1: You can't watch the weather. You can't spend all this
Speaker 1: time in your life. Look, man, the reason that you're
Speaker 1: stressed out might be over stuff. That is a hypothetical
Speaker 1: scenario that the enemy suggested to try to get you
Speaker 1: off track, because he knows if you walk on this word,
Speaker 1: no wind is strong enough to knock you off your balance.
Speaker 1: You're in a situation right now and it's wind versus word,
Speaker 1: and the one that is going to win is going
Speaker 1: to be the one that you focus on. Agree, And
Speaker 1: you can't afford to be doing like this to see
Speaker 1: if it's okay to serve God. Look, I can give you,
Speaker 1: I can give you ten reasons right now why you
Speaker 1: could question if God even exists. We could all do it.
Speaker 1: We see horrible things happen all the time. I could
Speaker 1: give you ten reasons. But see, I know that He
Speaker 1: is with me, and so I'm not collecting evidence to
Speaker 1: see if he's with me. I already know he's with me,
Speaker 1: because how would I have made it this far if
Speaker 1: he wasn't. How would I have life or breadth or grace.
Speaker 1: I know he is, and I just want us in
Speaker 1: this moment to be very sure that if he has
Speaker 1: spoken at that nothing you can see in your situation
Speaker 1: or nothing that you can see. Look, your eyes are tricky,
Speaker 1: your ears are tricky, Your senses are tricky. When he
Speaker 1: saw the wind, when he trusted his senses, he slip.
Speaker 1: Your faith will always slip. When you start consulting your feelings,
Speaker 1: it'll always slip. We just want to take a moment
Speaker 1: and do what the disciples did when they got back
Speaker 1: in the boat. Really interesting little phrase that Matthew puts
Speaker 1: in the gospel that he says that after Peter sank
Speaker 1: and Jesus helped him back up. You know, Jesus is
Speaker 1: so gracious. He doesn't hold him underwater for fifteen seconds,
Speaker 1: so he'll learn the lesson real good. You know that
Speaker 1: view of God that you grew up with that said
Speaker 1: that he was just looking for an opportunity to punish you.
Speaker 1: And nah, he was right there to catch him. Go
Speaker 1: go gadget arms or something like that. He could do anything.
Speaker 1: And when he asked him the question why did you doubt?
Speaker 1: Verse thirty one, the answer was the wind. He doubted
Speaker 1: because he lost focus. And focus is about what you
Speaker 1: choose to look at. It doesn't make anything go away.
Speaker 1: It just redirects your attention to what you need to
Speaker 1: be thinking about, what you need to be looking at,
Speaker 1: what you need to be considering. So when they climbed
Speaker 1: into the boat, the wind died down. The wind die
Speaker 1: down so that the miracle could happen. In fact, the
Speaker 1: wind was against them to prove that God's word was
Speaker 1: greater than the wind. So let's just take a moment
Speaker 1: right now and clap our hands that the wind may
Speaker 1: be against me. Come on, I'm gonna need you to
Speaker 1: stand up and worship for a moment, to get back
Speaker 1: in the boat and worship him that he is God
Speaker 1: in this storm. By your strives, I am here with
Speaker 1: one sets. I am made. You have. That's the word
Speaker 1: in the honor. You've been in a storm. Lift your hands,
Speaker 1: this cky in your you ha spoke Hona bad is so.
Speaker 1: By your starts, fi we wanted, I am made all
Speaker 1: you have spoke in the honor bady is so. And
Speaker 1: in this you have and you're all let me go.
Speaker 1: You have spoke Insera bad is so. I want to
Speaker 1: pray in this moment with your head by and your
Speaker 1: eyes closed, for those of you who have been working
Speaker 1: against the wind. I understand that the nature of life
Speaker 1: is that all of us will face challenges in any
Speaker 1: twenty four hour period, and so it kind of depends
Speaker 1: on when we catch you. But what I mean is
Speaker 1: that you've been in a season where, like Solomon says,
Speaker 1: you've been watching the wind instead of remembering the word
Speaker 1: of God and focusing on the things that He's placed
Speaker 1: in your life to help you. You've been thinking about
Speaker 1: things that didn't happen or might happen, and it's just
Speaker 1: got you watching the wind. I want to pray for
Speaker 1: you right now, fathering the name of Jesus. I lift
Speaker 1: up every wind watcher to you, because we're meant to
Speaker 1: be word walkers, not wind watchers, and we are meant
Speaker 1: to believe something deeper than what our eyes can see.
Speaker 1: And so I pray today that as this word that
Speaker 1: you gave me in my own personal time with you
Speaker 1: has gone forth to them, that they received it on
Speaker 1: the level that they needed it, that they received the
Speaker 1: word that they needed to walk on in the coming week,
Speaker 1: and they might just have to walk on it, one
Speaker 1: moment at a time, one step at a time, one
Speaker 1: moment at a time, because I can't see and because
Speaker 1: I can't feel. But I'm walking on the word of God.
Speaker 1: And so I will survive because he gave me his word.
Speaker 1: And I will make it because he gave me his word.
Speaker 1: And I will do it because God is not a liar,
Speaker 1: and I will see it on the other side, because
Speaker 1: the God I served has never failed. Come on, let's
Speaker 1: lift our voices in praise and worship and thanksgiving that
Speaker 1: he is God, that he is lord over every storm.
Speaker 1: Come on, Let's give him worship. Give him worship about
Speaker 1: the wind, give him worship about the warfare, give him worship.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of
Speaker 1: you who give generously to this ministry. Is because of
Speaker 1: you that this ministry is possible. You can click the
Speaker 1: link in the description to give now, or visit Elevationchurch
Speaker 1: dot org slash podcast for more information and if you
Speaker 1: enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe. You can share it
Speaker 1: with your friends. You can click the share button, take
Speaker 1: a screenshot and share it on your social stories and
Speaker 1: tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God
Speaker 1: bless you.