Speaker 1: Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick.
Speaker 2: I'm the pastor of Elevation Church and this is our podcast.
Speaker 2: I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope
Speaker 2: this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it
Speaker 2: gives your.
Speaker 1: Perspective to see God is moving in your life. Enjoy
Speaker 1: the message. Lift your name up. Lord. Thank you for
Speaker 1: meeting us in the secret place. Lord. Thank you for
Speaker 1: speaking to our hearts that it's going to be all
Speaker 1: right and then we're gonna make it, and that you're
Speaker 1: working your purpose out. Thank you for reminding us today
Speaker 1: how big you are. God. Mountain is nothing to you.
Speaker 1: That mountain is nothing to you. You're a big God,
Speaker 1: a great God, a worthy God, a holy God, a
Speaker 1: mighty God. I give you praise. Who are you great
Speaker 1: mountain to stand before my God? I give you praise. Lord,
Speaker 1: I worship you today. Not a shame to praise you,
Speaker 1: not a shame to celebrate you. After everything you've done
Speaker 1: for me, I owe you the praise. I owe you hollelujahs.
Speaker 1: I owe you ten thousand more hallelujahs.
Speaker 3: If I had ten thousand tomes still, it wouldn't be enough.
Speaker 1: If I had ten thousand comes enough. So Lord, every
Speaker 1: need in this room, every name in this room. You know,
Speaker 1: we know the name that is above every name, the
Speaker 1: name of Jesus in his name. Today we have gathered,
Speaker 1: touching and agreed that it shall be done Your Kingdom,
Speaker 1: come on earth as it is in heaven in our lives.
Speaker 1: Touchdown now, God. I know technically that's not how it works,
Speaker 1: but just bring heaven to earth for a few moments.
Speaker 1: Thank you Lord for letting us get out of the
Speaker 1: hell of our own heads and our own mines, and
Speaker 1: just worship you and say Your Holy Lord. For all
Speaker 1: of the people who didn't jump when I said jump,
Speaker 1: forgive them, Lord, don't give them a flat tire. They're
Speaker 1: just a little sore and a little tired and a
Speaker 1: little insecure about their rhythm. But it's all right, Lord.
Speaker 1: We came with one purpose, and one purpose only to
Speaker 1: praise your holy name. Great is your name, greatly to
Speaker 1: be praise in Jesus name. Amen. Hunt ten people.
Speaker 4: Whoa this is the final week our series.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought. You are sad. You are so
Speaker 1: sad to see this series come to an end. But
Speaker 1: I feel that you have no more need of teaching
Speaker 1: about your mind and your thoughts. I think that we
Speaker 1: have preached all the crazy out of you. If you're
Speaker 1: standing next to your spouse, look at him and say,
Speaker 1: pastor is delusional. Stand a b on your feet. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna read the scripture right now. I'm so glad you're
Speaker 1: here today. A special welcome to two of our locations.
Speaker 1: Our Matthew's location is celebrating a sixteen year anniversary today,
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. Our Uptown location is celebrating seventeen years
Speaker 1: of ministry today. That's amazing. That's as old as my
Speaker 1: middle son. Y'all. I look at my son and Graham
Speaker 1: sometimes and say, I got campuses older than you. Boy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's good. Remember, Officer, when we used to drive around,
Speaker 1: we would do Butler High School uptown, get back over
Speaker 1: to Providence. This is early days of the church, because
Speaker 1: we didn't have all of this sinking up between all
Speaker 1: the campuses and you know, look in the camera and
Speaker 1: welcome to the campuses. We didn't have all of that.
Speaker 1: So if I had to get to the campus, I
Speaker 1: had to get there when they were finishing the last song.
Speaker 1: And they knew to always have a few extra songs ready.
Speaker 1: But Josh is a police officer, so he was driving
Speaker 1: like one hundred and ten miles an hour. Happy birthday
Speaker 1: to Josh van Almen. By the way, those are some
Speaker 1: good memories man, Me and you and that Nissan Maxima
Speaker 1: just doing ministry at the speed of God. I mean,
Speaker 1: just running there, huffing and puffing like I am right now,
Speaker 1: after jumping around and spinning around. By the way, if
Speaker 1: any of you want to be preachers one day, I
Speaker 1: would not advise jumping and spinning before you preach. It
Speaker 1: is very disorienting. But I just got excited about what
Speaker 1: God can do. All of a sudden, I got to thinking,
Speaker 1: what if God answered a prayer that some grandmother has
Speaker 1: been praying for her granddaughter suddenly today. What if God
Speaker 1: gave you clarity on something you've been confused about suddenly today.
Speaker 1: What if you were walking out today and one of
Speaker 1: the greeters was handsome and single suddenly today. So I'm
Speaker 1: excited about Jesus. I want to preach about Jesus today.
Speaker 1: From Matthew chapter fourteen, verses twenty two through thirty five,
Speaker 1: first Bible story that I ever preached for our last
Speaker 1: sermon in the series. That's what I thought, Tell your neighbor,
Speaker 1: that's what I thought. I say, this is the last one.
Speaker 1: I think it's the last one. If the Lord wants
Speaker 1: me to keep going, I will. But my plan is
Speaker 1: today to take some of the things we've been preaching
Speaker 1: about and minister them to your heart. Welcome to all
Speaker 1: of our locations. Put it in the comment on YouTube.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought. This is our final installment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is the first Bible story that I ever preached,
Speaker 1: so I always try to preach it at least once
Speaker 1: a year, just to check in and see how dumb
Speaker 1: I was the last time I preached it, or what
Speaker 1: new thing God will show me. Glad you're here today. Welcome,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the presence of God. Welcome to a new beginning.
Speaker 1: Welcome to a space where Grace reigns supreme and where
Speaker 1: Jesus is Lord and King. Welcome to a place where
Speaker 1: you can hear his word. Now, the Bible says a word.
Speaker 1: We were just singing about this word in verse twenty two,
Speaker 1: so it's appropriate. Immediately immediately Jesus made the disciples get
Speaker 1: into the boat and go on ahead of him to
Speaker 1: the other side. Well, he dismissed the crowd. After he
Speaker 1: had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain side
Speaker 1: by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there
Speaker 1: alone boat with the disciples. The boat was already a
Speaker 1: considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the
Speaker 1: wind was against it. Shortly before dawn, Jesus went out
Speaker 1: to them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw
Speaker 1: him on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost,
Speaker 1: they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately
Speaker 1: said to them, take courage it as I don't be afraid. Lord,
Speaker 1: if it's you. Peter replied, tell me to come to
Speaker 1: you on the water. Come, he said. When Peter got
Speaker 1: down out of the boat, walked on the water and
Speaker 1: came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, it
Speaker 1: was blowing the whole dime. But when he focused on
Speaker 1: it what was against him. When he saw the wind,
Speaker 1: he was afraid. Fear comes from focus. So does faith
Speaker 1: change your focus? Increase your faith. That's why you feel
Speaker 1: faith when you're in here, because you are focused in here.
Speaker 1: And when he focused on what was against him, rather
Speaker 1: than the one who was coming toward him, named Jesus,
Speaker 1: he began to sink. He began to sink and cried out, Lord,
Speaker 1: save me. Here it is again. Immediately Jesus reached out
Speaker 1: his hand and caught him. You of little faith, He said,
Speaker 1: why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? And when
Speaker 1: they climbed into the boat, the wind died down, and
Speaker 1: those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly,
Speaker 1: this is the son of God. But go back to
Speaker 1: that other verse real quick, in verse thirty. But when
Speaker 1: he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink,
Speaker 1: cried out, Lord, save me, And immediately Jesus reached out
Speaker 1: his hand and caught him. I want to talk to
Speaker 1: you today from this subject because this is how some
Speaker 1: of you have been feeling. I want to talk about
Speaker 1: sinking in the storm. Sinking in the storm. This is
Speaker 1: the way it feels at times in our emotions, and
Speaker 1: in our lives, and in our circumstances, sinking in the storm.
Speaker 1: And there is a subtitle that you can give your
Speaker 1: neighbor on the way to your seat, look at them
Speaker 1: and say just that quick. Hit your other neighbor and
Speaker 1: say just that quick, and you may be seated sinking
Speaker 1: in the storm. Please put the title in the comments
Speaker 1: on YouTube. Let's welcome our global EPHAM joining up with
Speaker 1: us right now. Come on, y'all. I know you're getting seated,
Speaker 1: but let's welcome our entire church family all over the world.
Speaker 1: Let us know where you're watching from. I want to
Speaker 1: talk to you today about sinking in the storm. Feeling
Speaker 1: that you get sometimes that you're overwhelmed. The feeling that
Speaker 1: you get sometimes that there's too much month and not
Speaker 1: enough money, too much need and not enough me to
Speaker 1: meet it. All that's spread thin feeling, that feeling that
Speaker 1: you get, and it doesn't always announce itself, And all
Speaker 1: of a sudden there is a storm and you find
Speaker 1: yourself sinking in the storm. Any crazy how you can
Speaker 1: be singing in the church and just a few days
Speaker 1: later find yourself sinking in the storm. And this place
Speaker 1: is a place that God has prepared for us, to
Speaker 1: prepare us for the storms of our life. You cannot
Speaker 1: be a student of Jesus without storms as your classroom.
Speaker 1: Anything else would make you arrogant, anything else would make
Speaker 1: you write a parenting book. And your oldest kid is three,
Speaker 1: you're three months pregnant, talking about how to raise teenagers
Speaker 1: God's way. What's wrong? Would you go through a storm
Speaker 1: and then you'll have something to say in this season
Speaker 1: of your life, God is calling you to be a
Speaker 1: student of your storm. What does this have to do
Speaker 1: with thinking? Well, it's amazing to me how quickly I
Speaker 1: can go from stepping on the water, so to speak,
Speaker 1: to sinking. And I can really shift quickly from being
Speaker 1: focused on God to falling down and finding myself in
Speaker 1: emotional states that do not resemble the fruit of the spirit. Okay,
Speaker 1: just me, just me, look at your neighbors. Say. It
Speaker 1: can happen quick. It can happen real quick. And if
Speaker 1: your neighbor is looking like they don't know what I'm
Speaker 1: talking about, cut them off in traffic on the way
Speaker 1: out and see how quick they go from lifting their
Speaker 1: hands to lifting one finger. It can happen just that quick.
Speaker 1: Can it? Just even your phone can buzz in your pocket,
Speaker 1: And it might not even be the person that you
Speaker 1: don't want to hear from, with the news that you
Speaker 1: don't want to hear, But just the buzz itself can
Speaker 1: disrupt your peace. Can it? Even just even the buzz
Speaker 1: in your pocket, it can feel like a shot collar,
Speaker 1: just reminding you that your challenges are out there in
Speaker 1: the world. Sometimes it can happen just that quick. Now.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that Jesus is a savior because I'm
Speaker 1: a sinner, so I need one and I have sinful thoughts.
Speaker 1: All of my thoughts aren't holy thoughts, good thoughts, pure thoughts,
Speaker 1: and so I need Jesus for my sinful thoughts, which
Speaker 1: can become sinful actions, which can become sinful patterns, which
Speaker 1: may not send me to hell, but may make my
Speaker 1: life on earth feel like a living hell. I'm so
Speaker 1: grateful that Jesus is a savior, and I am also
Speaker 1: so thankful that he is not a surface level savior.
Speaker 1: That he doesn't just save me from hell when I die,
Speaker 1: but he saves me from the hell in my head
Speaker 1: as he transforms my mind and brings me through life's challenges.
Speaker 1: I need salvation in my soul. That's my mind, my will,
Speaker 1: my emotions. I need Jesus to teach me how to think.
Speaker 1: And in this passage that we just read, there's a
Speaker 1: conversation between the student of Jesus and Jesus the Savior,
Speaker 1: and Jesus is watching him sink in the storm. By
Speaker 1: the way, have you been feeling like you're sinking in
Speaker 1: a storm lately in your life. And it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to even be bankruptcy. It doesn't even have to be
Speaker 1: something so catastrophic that everybody would take up money for
Speaker 1: you if they knew about it. It doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be the worst thing that ever happened in your life.
Speaker 1: I just found that a lot of times I find
Speaker 1: myself in like a funk or maybe even a full
Speaker 1: blown feeling of depression. And in those moments when God
Speaker 1: is watching me sink into those states, I'm grateful that
Speaker 1: He does not give me surface level answers like church
Speaker 1: people do. Because church people will tell you rejoice in
Speaker 1: the Lord always, but they ain't rejoicing in the Lord.
Speaker 1: They only been rejoicing in the Lord because they had
Speaker 1: a good week. Catch them next week and they might
Speaker 1: have a different answer. It can happen that quick. And
Speaker 1: Jesus watching Peter fall in the middle of a storm
Speaker 1: that had been raging all night. Remember he's been going
Speaker 1: through this all night, and he steps out, and he's
Speaker 1: walking and he's sinking, and he cries out, Lord save me.
Speaker 1: I think that's such an important phrase. One great theologian
Speaker 1: who just went to be with the Lord. Doctor John
Speaker 1: MacArthur used to say, a lot of us refuse Jesus
Speaker 1: as Lord, but we want to use Jesus as savior.
Speaker 1: So I think it's important that he called him Lord
Speaker 1: before he called on him to save him. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say that God wants far more for your life
Speaker 1: than to just save you from stupid stuff that you do.
Speaker 1: He wants far more for your life than to just
Speaker 1: clean up the messes that you make because you never
Speaker 1: spend time with him. God wants far more for your
Speaker 1: life than to have to redeem years that you waste
Speaker 1: because you never get aligned with him. And so now
Speaker 1: Peter calls out, Lord, save me, and the Bible says,
Speaker 1: immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Now
Speaker 1: we focus a lot, and I really preached this a
Speaker 1: lot at age sixteen. How Peter had the faith to
Speaker 1: step out when Jesus said, come, somebody shall come. That's
Speaker 1: a command. When Jesus gives a command, you can obey
Speaker 1: it with confidence. When Jesus gives a command, you don't
Speaker 1: have to start doing the math on how it's going
Speaker 1: to work out. When Jesus gives a command. He already
Speaker 1: has the details in mind for how he will meet
Speaker 1: that need before you even know about the need. So
Speaker 1: when he says, come, take a step, and then we
Speaker 1: talk so much about the command that we neglect the
Speaker 1: question that I think is just as powerful as the command.
Speaker 1: He said, come, Peter's coming, He said, walk. Peter's walking.
Speaker 1: He gave the word, and Peter is walking, not on water,
Speaker 1: but on one word from Jesus. I could preach a
Speaker 1: whole message about walking on one word, just one word
Speaker 1: that God gives you, and you can hang on through
Speaker 1: something that you never would have made it through without
Speaker 1: that word, one word from Jesus, the command to come.
Speaker 1: But then comes the question. After he caught him, he said,
Speaker 1: you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did
Speaker 1: you doubt? Because if I can get beneath the surface
Speaker 1: of why you're sinking, I can maybe stop it from
Speaker 1: happening so quickly next time. A lot of times we
Speaker 1: sink into things and we don't stop and ask why.
Speaker 1: A lot of times we get triggered by something. And
Speaker 1: after you get triggered, see you get trapped. You don't
Speaker 1: even realize how you got triggered until you're already trapped.
Speaker 1: I'll break it down for you. I can see we
Speaker 1: need a little real life example right now. When Holly
Speaker 1: and I first got married, we went on a cruise.
Speaker 1: I saved up for the cruise. It was a Princess cruise,
Speaker 1: which is a little step up from some of the
Speaker 1: other cruises you can buy. I was so proud of
Speaker 1: that cruise and so broke after I paid for it.
Speaker 1: Three days on the cruise, she was very quiet one day.
Speaker 1: And when she got quiet on that cruise, it triggered
Speaker 1: something inside of me that I didn't know because I
Speaker 1: equated quiet with board. So when she got quiet, I
Speaker 1: started to get angry because she was quiet. For Holly,
Speaker 1: quiet means relaxed. Quiet means nobody telling me to do anything.
Speaker 1: I don't have to talk. I love you. We're together
Speaker 1: just being This is what she was saying. Your essence
Speaker 1: alone is so captivating. We don't even need a conversation.
Speaker 1: But I interpreted her quiet as boredom, and we would
Speaker 1: fight for years in our marriage. Anytime she would get quiet,
Speaker 1: I would think, you don't like it here, This isn't
Speaker 1: good enough for you. Your dad took you on better vacations.
Speaker 1: What you don't need my vacation. No, I'm relaxed. But see,
Speaker 1: just in such a stupid illustration like that, you see
Speaker 1: how years can go on because I'm reading her mind
Speaker 1: with information that is not true data, and I am
Speaker 1: triggered by something that isn't even true. But by the
Speaker 1: time I recognize what I'm triggered by, I'm already trapped
Speaker 1: in it. And now we're fighting. And so now it's
Speaker 1: not that we never get triggered in our marriage. But
Speaker 1: here's what we do, and I want to teach you
Speaker 1: how to do this. We catch it quicker, We catch
Speaker 1: it quicker. Don't your neighbors say, catch it quicker, Catch
Speaker 1: it quicker before you blow up on them, before you
Speaker 1: go off on them, before you hit sind on the text,
Speaker 1: proofread it, hire yourself as a copy editor, and check
Speaker 1: that thing one more time. Do you really want to
Speaker 1: say you never? Do you really want to say you always?
Speaker 1: Do you really need six exclamation points? Is it really
Speaker 1: worth that emoji? Is that emoji worth the emotional expense
Speaker 1: of what you are going to spend the next week
Speaker 1: cleaning up? And all of that could have been canceled
Speaker 1: if you would have caught it quicker and read the
Speaker 1: text and walk up in the morning with fresh eyes
Speaker 1: and said, I think I'll just have a conversation. But
Speaker 1: we get triggered and then we get trapped. And that's
Speaker 1: why the Lord sent a preacher to you today to
Speaker 1: give you truth, because the truth can keep you out
Speaker 1: of the trap. Preach the word, Larry Stevens Vernick Junior.
Speaker 1: I believe I will. So when you start sinking, you
Speaker 1: get beneath the surface. And this is what we need
Speaker 1: to learn to do.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: They'll tell you that in therapy, if you go to therapy,
Speaker 1: they'll talk about triggers and traps and cognitive distortions. And
Speaker 1: you sound like you've been in therapy. Best or Seed,
Speaker 1: no comment. We need therapy, we also need theology to
Speaker 1: produce real faith and real change in our life. So
Speaker 1: I want to show you something that I couldn't end
Speaker 1: the series without showing you from Isaiah fifty five and
Speaker 1: overlay it for this situation that you're facing in your life.
Speaker 1: The situation Peter faced where he's stepping, stepping, stepping, doing
Speaker 1: pretty good and then sinking and doesn't even really understand why.
Speaker 1: Look at Isaiah chapter fifty five, and I was debating
Speaker 1: where to start, because the whole passage is so rich.
Speaker 1: But for the sake of time, I think i'll start
Speaker 1: around verse six seven. It start six Isaiah fifty five,
Speaker 1: verse six. Yeah, I did on purpose. Isaiah fifty five,
Speaker 1: verse six. Now listen to me. This is an invitation
Speaker 1: to all of you who have been sinking in the storm.
Speaker 1: The Lord offers you an invitation. The wind is the
Speaker 1: trigger and the sinking is the trap, and sometimes you
Speaker 1: feel like you're drowning in it before you even know
Speaker 1: what it is. But this is the word of the Lord,
Speaker 1: and this will be very rich to you for the
Speaker 1: trials that you're going through. The Lord says, seek the
Speaker 1: Lord while he may be found, call on him while
Speaker 1: he is near. Let's read that again, Seek the Lord
Speaker 1: while he may be found, Call on him while he
Speaker 1: is near. I'm coming back to that, call on him
Speaker 1: while he's near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and
Speaker 1: the unrighteous their thoughts. So this is interesting language. I'll
Speaker 1: read the whole passage, but that's where I want to
Speaker 1: camp out around verse six or seven. Let the wicked
Speaker 1: forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them
Speaker 1: turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on
Speaker 1: them and to our God, for he will freely pardon.
Speaker 1: For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my
Speaker 1: ways your ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher,
Speaker 1: higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than
Speaker 1: your ways. God says, I know how to do my job.
Speaker 1: God says, I know who to let leave you. God says,
Speaker 1: I know who to bring into your life. That is
Speaker 1: a challenge for you. You keep praying to be a masterpiece,
Speaker 1: and every time I send someone to be the sandpaper,
Speaker 1: you push them away. But I know what tools to
Speaker 1: you to turn you into the disciple that I want
Speaker 1: you to be. He says, my ways are higher than
Speaker 1: your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the
Speaker 1: rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do
Speaker 1: not return to it without watering the earth and making
Speaker 1: it butt and flourish, so that it yields seed for
Speaker 1: the sower and bread for the eater. So is my
Speaker 1: word that goes out from my mouth. I hear Jesus
Speaker 1: saying come. When I read Isaiah fifty five, I feel
Speaker 1: the echo of this prophecy. In Matthew chapter fourteen, I
Speaker 1: feel the power of one word from God? He says,
Speaker 1: so is my word just one word? So is my
Speaker 1: word the full counsel of the Word of God has value,
Speaker 1: but just one singular word that goes from my mouth.
Speaker 1: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish
Speaker 1: what I desire and achieve the purpose. Many are the plans,
Speaker 1: but it is the purpose for which I scent it
Speaker 1: that will be accomplished. So why did Jesus send a
Speaker 1: disciple into a storm that he knew was going to happen?
Speaker 1: And why does God allow challenges to our faith instead
Speaker 1: of just bolstering us with the Bible so that we
Speaker 1: avoid them? And Isaiah chapter fifty five gives an interesting strategy. Okay,
Speaker 1: let me teach you what Isaiah is teaching here. He says,
Speaker 1: you can seek the Lord, you can call on him,
Speaker 1: but you have to be willing verse seven to forsake
Speaker 1: your ways and your unrighteous thoughts. Now that's interesting language
Speaker 1: to say that I'm going to forsake a thought. That's
Speaker 1: crazy to me me because when you say forsake something,
Speaker 1: it's something that you have become very attached to. You
Speaker 1: don't forsake something that you don't even know, You don't
Speaker 1: even know it. To forsake something is to walk away
Speaker 1: from something that it is assumed you have responsibility for.
Speaker 1: So when God says I will never leave you nor
Speaker 1: forsake you, forsaking has baked into it the idea that
Speaker 1: I am responsible for this. I'm not saying it right.
Speaker 1: I say it. You can drop a thought like this book.
Speaker 1: You can drop a thought he said, forsake your ways
Speaker 1: because My ways are higher, and your thoughts that are
Speaker 1: not from God. And how many times have I been
Speaker 1: drowning in my mind and in my life because of
Speaker 1: the thought that I wouldn't drop about my situation? How
Speaker 1: many times have I clung to an offense while I'm
Speaker 1: drowning in my bitterness and I am asking God to
Speaker 1: help me forgive. But if I don't drop, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do it again. If I don't drop the thought, I drown.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm trying to say. Now. I said it
Speaker 1: the way I want to say it. Tell your neighbor
Speaker 1: drop it or drown. That's the only two options you
Speaker 1: have right now, because you can't afford to play around
Speaker 1: with this right now, because there's too much at stake
Speaker 1: at this juncture of your life. Right now, it's drop
Speaker 1: it or drown. You've got to stop thinking childishly about
Speaker 1: this and waiting on people to come around and make
Speaker 1: it right. And you just got to get your heart
Speaker 1: right with God. And you've got to let him show
Speaker 1: you what he's going to do from the place that
Speaker 1: you're at, not the place that you want it to be.
Speaker 1: Punch your neighbors say, drop it. Drop it so you
Speaker 1: don't drown. Drop it so you don't keep sinking. Drop
Speaker 1: it so it doesn't weigh you down. Drop it so
Speaker 1: you don't miss the last the next season that God
Speaker 1: wants to give you crying about the season that you lost.
Speaker 1: You better drop this thing. And the thing about dropping
Speaker 1: a thought is it's kind of hard for me to
Speaker 1: drop my thought until I understand that God can also
Speaker 1: drop a thought. This is one thing I'm ready to
Speaker 1: preach today. This is one thing that me and God
Speaker 1: have in common. We can both drop thoughts. I can
Speaker 1: take a thought in my mind. I can take a
Speaker 1: tempting thought. I can take a bitter thought. I could
Speaker 1: take an angry thought. I can take a victimized thought.
Speaker 1: I can take a catastrophizing thought. I can take a
Speaker 1: wicked thought. I can take a thought, and I can
Speaker 1: look at it, and I can separate myself from the thought,
Speaker 1: and by the grace of Jesus, by the grace of God,
Speaker 1: by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can look
Speaker 1: at the thought and realize that just because I think
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean I have to be it. So I
Speaker 1: can drop a thought. And how dumb would it be
Speaker 1: for you to drown on this sea because of something
Speaker 1: you won't drop. How dumb would it be? The Bible says,
Speaker 1: forsake your thoughts when they're not God's ways. His ways
Speaker 1: are higher. So when He shows you the higher way,
Speaker 1: don't stay down in the way you did it, the
Speaker 1: way they did it, the way you thought you were
Speaker 1: gonna do it. Drop your thoughts so God can drop
Speaker 1: his What you mean, God can drop a thought? I
Speaker 1: mean like airdrop. I mean like how I could take
Speaker 1: my phone and put it next to your phone, and
Speaker 1: if it's near enough, you can choose to share with
Speaker 1: me what's on your phone On my phone. If we
Speaker 1: are close enough to connect, you can drop something to
Speaker 1: me that I didn't come with. And now you know
Speaker 1: why it was important for you to be at church
Speaker 1: today so you could get close to God and close
Speaker 1: to somebody, fist pump your neighbor and say, I'll drop
Speaker 1: you some faith today. Fist bump them real quick and
Speaker 1: say I got something for you. Tell them I'll air
Speaker 1: drop you some peace today. I'll air drop you some
Speaker 1: joy today. The Bible says that if two of you
Speaker 1: will agree, well we got a lot more than two,
Speaker 1: baby boy. And the holy ghost in me is the
Speaker 1: holy ghost in you. And if you came a little
Speaker 1: empty today, there is a word from God. And if
Speaker 1: you don't feel it right now, then grace him by faith.
Speaker 1: Know something clicks in your spirit and you get the
Speaker 1: sense I think I'm gonna be all right. Top five
Speaker 1: your neighbor, like your air dropping something. Oh that's good,
Speaker 1: isn't it? Isn't that good to know that God can
Speaker 1: drop you a thought. Forget about a human They might
Speaker 1: not have it. But if I'm close enough to Jesus,
Speaker 1: what I didn't get from other people, what I didn't
Speaker 1: have in my flesh, God did by sending his son. See,
Speaker 1: so you can drop a thought, and so can God.
Speaker 1: And the moment you drop your low thought, the moment
Speaker 1: you drop your human thought, the moment you drop your
Speaker 1: sinking thought. Notice the Bible says that immediate lee, Jesus
Speaker 1: reached out his hand and caught him. Why did Jesus
Speaker 1: catch him at that moment and instead of keeping him
Speaker 1: from the storm. Good question, because probably wouldn't be a
Speaker 1: good story. Second thing I want to mention to you
Speaker 1: is what Jesus was doing before he joined the disciples
Speaker 1: on the rough sea. When you get in those situations,
Speaker 1: doubt in fear, flooding your heart, drowning in doubt, flooded
Speaker 1: with fear, drowning in doubt, flooded in fear. Oh, it
Speaker 1: came so quick. I don't know what to do. There
Speaker 1: is something that Jesus models for us that is so
Speaker 1: important to remember. And at our Elevation Night's events, if
Speaker 1: you ever come, you'll see a very special moment that
Speaker 1: we have that we host each night in each city
Speaker 1: where we sing the song the Blessing. And before we
Speaker 1: sing it, I have Abby and Holly join me on stage,
Speaker 1: and Abby, since she was about eleven years old, comes
Speaker 1: up and reads the scripture. She has it my memory
Speaker 1: now of course numbers chapter six, verse twenty two through
Speaker 1: twenty four. She'd say it backwards now, but the first
Speaker 1: time asked her to do it. I was like, would
Speaker 1: you mind coming up and reading the scripture that the
Speaker 1: blessing comes from and sang it over the people. I
Speaker 1: think it'll be really special. And I was expecting her
Speaker 1: to be nervous to do that. I was like, would
Speaker 1: you like to do it? Would it be too scary.
Speaker 1: It's like, let me be scary. I'd love to do it,
Speaker 1: just very confident, very quickly. She got up the first
Speaker 1: night and nailed it, and she has nailed it every
Speaker 1: single night well. On the last tour. On the last tour,
Speaker 1: I made a few changes to how I wanted to
Speaker 1: present it. And when I made a few changes and alterations,
Speaker 1: you know, I saw her start to get a little uncertain.
Speaker 1: She was like, well, no, wait a minute. If Dad
Speaker 1: announces the scripture here and it comes after this song,
Speaker 1: because when things change like that, it could be destabilizing,
Speaker 1: even if you really know what you're doing. I am
Speaker 1: coming for you today, because things can change on you
Speaker 1: and you're like, no, wait, I know how to do this,
Speaker 1: but not like right here, like this right now, not
Speaker 1: with them right here right now. I'm just kind of
Speaker 1: be stabilized. So she was kind of complaining to Holly
Speaker 1: that Dad is changing the schedule, and Dad is changing
Speaker 1: the order of elevation nights, and this is going to
Speaker 1: mess up my flow. And Holly pulled her to the
Speaker 1: side and she said something, and I was very proud
Speaker 1: to hear her tell Abby this. She said, Abby, if
Speaker 1: there is one thing I have learned in over twenty
Speaker 1: years of doing ministry with your dad, it's that if
Speaker 1: you are with Dad on stage, you don't need to
Speaker 1: worry if he is near you. If you're next to Dad,
Speaker 1: he won't let it go bad. Abby. Even if you
Speaker 1: drop the line in the middle, even if you say Halley,
Speaker 1: he'll say Lujah. Even if you say praise the he'll
Speaker 1: say Lord. He is not going to let it go bad.
Speaker 1: If you are next to Dad, he won't let it
Speaker 1: go bad. And you got to think. The Disciples have
Speaker 1: been doing ministry with Jesus for a little while now.
Speaker 1: This is Matthew chapter fourteen, not Matthew chapter one. They've
Speaker 1: seen some things, and they've even been through storms. But
Speaker 1: this one is different because the last storm they went
Speaker 1: through with Jesus, he was on the boat with them.
Speaker 1: This one's a little different because they just got done
Speaker 1: with a spectacular miracle and I want to tell you
Speaker 1: something about spectacular things that God does in your life.
Speaker 1: Just as quickly as you start to celebrate the spectacular,
Speaker 1: a new struggle can show up just that quick. Somebody
Speaker 1: say it just that quit. I mean they just picked
Speaker 1: up the leftovers. They just dismissed the crowds. Jesus says,
Speaker 1: I need you boys to go to the next appointment,
Speaker 1: But he conveniently leaves out the detail that you are
Speaker 1: going to encounter a violent, furious squall on the open
Speaker 1: sea getting to where I'm sending you. But I'm not
Speaker 1: telling you about that part because, as I taught you
Speaker 1: last week, details follow obedience. So when Jesus gives a command,
Speaker 1: he does not have to give you every single component
Speaker 1: of that command. He wants to put you in school
Speaker 1: to know. Will you be my disciple if I don't
Speaker 1: give you the details, will you do what I told
Speaker 1: you to do when you don't know where it's leading?
Speaker 1: And into this atmosphere. The disciples are straining in the
Speaker 1: boat all night long. I mean, you really can't see
Speaker 1: it from Matthew's account. It says in Mark's account that
Speaker 1: they were straining at the oars. It means that they
Speaker 1: were all rowing together all night long, but Jesus was
Speaker 1: not physically with them. What was Jesus doing? In Matthew
Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, verse twenty two, the Bible says, immediately after
Speaker 1: sending the crowd away, dismissing them and sending them home,
Speaker 1: and the disciples in the boat to go to the
Speaker 1: next appointment and go on ahead of him to the
Speaker 1: other side while he dismissed the crowd verse twenty three.
Speaker 1: After he had dismissed them, he went up on a
Speaker 1: mountain side by himself to pray. Later that night, he
Speaker 1: was there alone next verse, and the boat was already
Speaker 1: a considerable distance from land. You don't have to be
Speaker 1: nervous when you're next to Dad. But now I'm in
Speaker 1: a season where the boat is out here and Jesus
Speaker 1: is back there. Yet note what Jesus is doing. He
Speaker 1: is praying. Watch this. Jesus is getting alone with God
Speaker 1: to get aligned with God. And sometimes when you're facing
Speaker 1: all of these crazy thoughts in your life, you've got
Speaker 1: to remember to get alone with God to get aligned
Speaker 1: with God. Alone with God, to get aligned with God.
Speaker 1: He's praying on a mountain. My ways are higher. See
Speaker 1: remember the people wanted to make Jesus an earthly king,
Speaker 1: but he came to die on a criminal's cross, and
Speaker 1: at this moment in his life, it was really important
Speaker 1: that he did not follow the crowd's recommendation for his
Speaker 1: next step, because to follow the crowd at this moment
Speaker 1: would have pulled him off of the path of his
Speaker 1: father's purpose. Are you in that moment, pulling at you
Speaker 1: from one side, pulling at you from the other, one
Speaker 1: person telling you that you need to be skinnier, one
Speaker 1: person telling you that you could stand to put a
Speaker 1: little meat on the bones. I went on Holly's Instagram
Speaker 1: feed the other day. I didn't know they were telling
Speaker 1: women to eat protein and creatine to be reserved for
Speaker 1: teenage boys. When did the women get to do the
Speaker 1: protein and creatine that's supposed to be our thing? Man?
Speaker 1: Now she's being told. I'm like, what are you doing, Holly?
Speaker 1: You're lifting weights? Used to do cardio. She's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I'm supposed to do now, And if you're
Speaker 1: not careful, you'll be lifting a weight and drinking a
Speaker 1: protein shake and putting on weight and losing weight because
Speaker 1: they will change it in three years. We are only
Speaker 1: three years away from them telling us that creatine causes
Speaker 1: cancer and it makes your mom hates she gives you
Speaker 1: bad breath and make all your babies born to form.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're changing it all the time. So if
Speaker 1: I don't ever get alone with God, I can't be
Speaker 1: aligned with God because it's too much noise, it's too
Speaker 1: much crowd. I'm sinking. Am I sinking because I'm not sitting?
Speaker 1: And if I would sit with God sometimes, or even
Speaker 1: just in a moment where I'm about to walk into something,
Speaker 1: if I was myself and say, oh, Lord, you know
Speaker 1: I'm about to be triggered in here. Well, I don't
Speaker 1: want to get trapped. Lord, you know it's about to
Speaker 1: be windy when I walk into this situation. I wonder
Speaker 1: what one moment with God could do for you this
Speaker 1: week before you go into a windy condition. Just a
Speaker 1: moment with him. Now, Jesus, he's up there praying all night,
Speaker 1: and he has to because what He's about to do
Speaker 1: is so amazing. When he lands on the other side,
Speaker 1: he is going to heal the sick. But the disciples
Speaker 1: don't know that. When he lands on the other side,
Speaker 1: there is a revival waiting. But the disciples don't know that.
Speaker 1: All they know is they're going through a storm. And
Speaker 1: may I remind you you have no idea what God
Speaker 1: has on the other side of your storm. You have
Speaker 1: no idea how He's going to use you. You have no
Speaker 1: idea how He is going to unleash something that could
Speaker 1: have never otherwise been unleashed in your life. See now,
Speaker 1: I see the passage a little bit differently. In Matthew
Speaker 1: chapter fourteen, when it says Peter began to sink, put
Speaker 1: that back up there for a minute. It says Peter
Speaker 1: began to sink, and he cried out, Lord, save me,
Speaker 1: verse thirty one. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and
Speaker 1: caught him. You have little faith, I realized as I
Speaker 1: read that over and over again, and I thought about
Speaker 1: Jesus spending all night praying alone on the mountain and
Speaker 1: making intercession for us and Heaven. Right now I realized
Speaker 1: that Peter wasn't the only one sinking. Jesus was too.
Speaker 1: Y'all think I'm a hero itic. Hold on, I got
Speaker 1: to explain this the right way. Thinking has two different meanings.
Speaker 1: If you spell it si NK, it means going down.
Speaker 1: But if you spell it sync. It's more than a
Speaker 1: boy band. It means if you've got something on your
Speaker 1: phone that I need on my phone, and we get
Speaker 1: close enough, we can sink. So maybe this passage isn't
Speaker 1: about a sinking Peter. Maybe it's about a sinking savior.
Speaker 1: Phone drop moment, Phone drop moment, Phone drop moment, Because
Speaker 1: now I realize, no, no, keep celebrating, keep celebrating. I
Speaker 1: need a way to preach this. Now I realize that
Speaker 1: the whole time he was on that mountain, he was
Speaker 1: praying for Peter, because while Peter was sinking, Jesus was sinking.
Speaker 1: And my way are higher than your ways, and my
Speaker 1: thought are higher than your thought. So I came to declare,
Speaker 1: you're not going down. Jesus is praying for you. He's
Speaker 1: praying for you. He's praying for you. He sees you
Speaker 1: in this storm, he sees you in this dilemma. He
Speaker 1: sees you, and he's sinking. He's sinking. Sometimes you gotta
Speaker 1: sink in the storm, not go down in the storm,
Speaker 1: but hook up with God and say, if it's you,
Speaker 1: tell me to come, give me a worse, show me away,
Speaker 1: send me a path, make me away. God, Your neighbor,
Speaker 1: you look like you're sinking. I'm sinking with a C.
Speaker 1: I'm sinking with a what yo? When I got this phone.
Speaker 1: I remember, I got this new phone, and none of
Speaker 1: the stuff was on it that was supposed to be
Speaker 1: on it for a little while. And if I would
Speaker 1: have assumed that the new phone was worse because all
Speaker 1: of the old pictures, all of the old songs, all
Speaker 1: of the old data, all of the old files was
Speaker 1: not on the new phone, I would have been incorrect.
Speaker 1: Because everything that was on my phone before I got
Speaker 1: the new one was still there. It was just in
Speaker 1: something called the cloud. Now I don't know where the
Speaker 1: cloud technically is. I kind of get it, but I
Speaker 1: thought about Isaiah fifty five. As high as the heavens
Speaker 1: are above the herd, so or my ways above your ways.
Speaker 1: I tell your neighbor, I got something in the cloud.
Speaker 1: I got a promise that's yes, and amen, I got
Speaker 1: a sure work for God. He put me here, he
Speaker 1: called me here, and so it was sinking. It was sinking.
Speaker 1: Jesus didn't leave them. He was sinking. He was sinking.
Speaker 1: He had to let them struggle a little while so
Speaker 1: they could know who he is. As a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: they didn't even call him the son of God till
Speaker 1: the wind died down, So how could they know who
Speaker 1: he was when the wind died down? If the wind
Speaker 1: never blew. I'm telling you you're gonna know God in
Speaker 1: a way that you couldn't have known God had you
Speaker 1: not been a student of this storm. How much better
Speaker 1: would you feel about the storm if you knew that
Speaker 1: God was sinking you in the storm, that He was
Speaker 1: bringing things, pictures and sounds that had to come to
Speaker 1: the phone. And how dumb would you be to throw
Speaker 1: it away because it hadn't sink yet. Yeah, even Peter
Speaker 1: was sinking. He is still Simon at this moment. He
Speaker 1: hadn't sync yet. I said, he hadn't sync yet. Where's
Speaker 1: my real church at I know we always got spectators,
Speaker 1: but I said, don't give up. You hadn't sync yet.
Speaker 1: That's not good grammar. Yeah it is, and it's good theology.
Speaker 1: No eye see, no ear has heard, neither has it
Speaker 1: entered into the heart of a man. Okay, Okay. So
Speaker 1: I'm driving to church today, right and I'm like, Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm excited to preach, but I need one more illustration
Speaker 1: to tell him how to get in sync, how to
Speaker 1: get in sync, Yeah, exactly, how to get in sync,
Speaker 1: how to get in sync, And so it's so much
Speaker 1: easier to do it when you've got somebody in the
Speaker 1: boat rowing with you, which is why when I come
Speaker 1: to church on Sunday, I always bring Abbey with me.
Speaker 1: If I can get her to wake up on time,
Speaker 1: I beg her to come with me, because she unlocks
Speaker 1: my love. And I don't want to come up here
Speaker 1: in front of y'all and not have love. And if
Speaker 1: I can ride to church with Abby and unlock my love,
Speaker 1: I can talk to you from the love that I
Speaker 1: have for her, and through that love, hopefully I can
Speaker 1: communicate God's word. And hopefully I will not be like
Speaker 1: playing symbols, just shouting stuff and spelling stuff and saying stuff,
Speaker 1: but hopefully my love will come through. And one of
Speaker 1: the practices that we have in driving to church is
Speaker 1: a playlist that consists of songs that will lift our spirits,
Speaker 1: a playlist of songs that are not Taylor Swift, although
Speaker 1: she's fine, and that are not Gracy Abrams. But Sunday
Speaker 1: mornings are not for Gracy Abrams. Just for the grace
Speaker 1: of God is for the glory of God. So I
Speaker 1: hand her a phone and she picks out the songs,
Speaker 1: and today she picked out a shout no want, I
Speaker 1: shall not Want, and we start singing the last verse
Speaker 1: of shall not one. I remember when we wrote it
Speaker 1: and we were talking about when this life is over,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna live again, gonna trade this cross for a crown. No,
Speaker 1: it's not the end. When he calls my name, I
Speaker 1: will take my wrestlers. I'm mansioning glory and you're gonna
Speaker 1: meet me there and I shall no Want. And I
Speaker 1: told Abby, you know what song inspired me? Because a
Speaker 1: lot of times on Sunday I use it as a
Speaker 1: catch up time to show her songs that I listened
Speaker 1: to when I was her age that made me love
Speaker 1: worship and gospel music like I love it. Oh, I mean,
Speaker 1: I show her some great stuff today, I said, I
Speaker 1: need to show you He'll welcome me by John p
Speaker 1: He and the New Life Community Choir from circ About
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety four. Because you need to hear He'll welcome
Speaker 1: me to understand shall not Want. Because if I never
Speaker 1: heard He'll welcome me, I went in the road shall
Speaker 1: not Want. So I need to play he'll welcome me.
Speaker 1: And when the song came on, I got dangerous on
Speaker 1: the driving because it's a fast song. It's not a
Speaker 1: slow song. And then all of a sudden, I couldn't
Speaker 1: stop my hands from clapping. I mean, I'm supposed to
Speaker 1: be driving. I don't have a tesla, and I'm just clapping.
Speaker 1: Put my hands off the wheel, and I'm singing every
Speaker 1: ad lib, every single ad lift, every single ad live.
Speaker 1: I'm living this life, just live up dead and with
Speaker 1: a lord. I know that aunts out man. I'm a
Speaker 1: tender watchers out shall stray with him? I say, who love?
Speaker 1: This is Junn. I know every adelote in the night,
Speaker 1: I know them all. He to be going, he to
Speaker 1: be going. I'm clapping, I'm praising. I feel like I
Speaker 1: just snorted cocaine or something. I'm so excited and I
Speaker 1: never did that before. For the record, for the record,
Speaker 1: for the record, for the record, But I'm clapping my
Speaker 1: head all of a sudden, Abby start just to troll
Speaker 1: me started. That's the one in the three, that's the
Speaker 1: white people be. She's literally killing my spirit, killing my
Speaker 1: spirit if she won't get in se see if we're
Speaker 1: gonna do this ah end up on your feet. If
Speaker 1: we're gonna do this, if we're gonna do this together,
Speaker 1: we gotta get in this boat and clap.
Speaker 3: Our hands like you know that Jesus is praying for you,
Speaker 3: that Jesus is coming.
Speaker 1: Few two three fourths, Flap those hairs like you're from
Speaker 1: North Carolina, like you're from Pearl, North Carolina. Whoa, whoa.
Speaker 1: And when the wind died down. First thirty three says,
Speaker 1: when the wind died down, when the wind died down,
Speaker 1: they worshiped, They worshiped, They worked them, They works them.
Speaker 1: They works up from sacond the second I know it, so,
Speaker 1: God said, as high as the heavens are a buff
Speaker 1: e earth, so are my ways above your ways. Stop
Speaker 1: doing it your way, and get his sink, get his step,
Speaker 1: get his sink, get his step. That's those hands. And
Speaker 1: just like this room shifted when we got in sinc
Speaker 1: God said, when I send you a word from heaven,
Speaker 1: my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are
Speaker 1: not your thoughts. So do what the disciples did. When
Speaker 1: you feel what the disciples felt, and when you feel
Speaker 1: like you're starting to sink in the storm, the Bible says,
Speaker 1: call on the Lord, for he is near, and get
Speaker 1: what he has for you and beg him to save you.
Speaker 1: And do you not realize that Jesus was not late
Speaker 1: to save Peter? Because the Bible says that the moment
Speaker 1: that he called the name of Jesus, immediately he reached
Speaker 1: out his hand. Why because while Peter was sinking, Jesus
Speaker 1: was sinking. That's what I came to tell you. That's
Speaker 1: why I came to tell you. Wow, That's what I
Speaker 1: came to remind you is that you're not really alone
Speaker 1: in the boat. That's why I came to encourage you
Speaker 1: when your life feels barren and dry, that as the
Speaker 1: rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth. What's
Speaker 1: that synchronization? That's y N means together, cramous means time, synchronize.
Speaker 1: God knows how to bring it together at the right
Speaker 1: time the rainfalls in the season is supposed to. It's
Speaker 1: amazing now Jesus knew just the right moment to step
Speaker 1: in that boat. Don't you think that Jesus was at
Speaker 1: least trolling them this much to wait until just before
Speaker 1: the dawn to show up. And does it feel like
Speaker 1: maybe right now he's running a little behind your schedule?
Speaker 1: As well, that's okay. In fact, Mark's Gospel says that
Speaker 1: Jesus pretended like he was going to pass them by,
Speaker 1: and they thought. Everybody say, they thought he was a ghost.
Speaker 1: Maybe this thing isn't a ghost. Maybe it's God coming
Speaker 1: to get you. Maybe the thing you're afraid of is
Speaker 1: the thing that God is using to answer your prayer.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's him. Let's see, you don't know that when
Speaker 1: you're in the storm. You really don't know. It was
Speaker 1: God in the storm till the storm is over, and
Speaker 1: then the wind died down, and then they worshiped. But
Speaker 1: if you can be like Jesus and sink before the storm,
Speaker 1: you won't sink in it. That's what I wanted to
Speaker 1: tell you. That's what I wanted to remind.
Speaker 2: You of.
Speaker 1: The seed and the soil in Isaiah, the rain and
Speaker 1: the earth and the Kingdom of God and the earth.
Speaker 1: It's all about synchronization. Synchronization. Yeah, because I won't let
Speaker 1: you sink. You won't let me sink. That was beautiful
Speaker 1: what you told. Have you stay next to Dad, He
Speaker 1: won't let it go bad. And watch this Peter only
Speaker 1: started to sink. You're like, well, it didn't turn out
Speaker 1: too good for Peter. The Bible says he started to sink.
Speaker 1: But this is not called the drowning disciple. It's just
Speaker 1: the one who slipped for a minute. Yeah, I don't
Speaker 1: know where you've been slipping. I don't know where you've
Speaker 1: been sinking. Just that quick, just that quick, just as
Speaker 1: quick as he called his name. That all you have
Speaker 1: to do is call on the name of the Lord,
Speaker 1: and you will be saved. Bow your heads right now,
Speaker 1: all over this room, at every location. The Bible says
Speaker 1: that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall
Speaker 1: be saved. It is by grace, through faith you are saved,
Speaker 1: not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Lest
Speaker 1: anyone should boast means all you got to do is
Speaker 1: reach for him. He's already right there, And just that quick,
Speaker 1: he'll forgive your sins. Just that quick, he'll wash you
Speaker 1: with this blood. As quick as you repent, he'll forgive
Speaker 1: turn to the Lord today, forsake your ways and embrace
Speaker 1: His heads bowed, eyes closed. If you're watching online, maybe
Speaker 1: you didn't even plan to join us today. But God
Speaker 1: had a plan for you, and at this moment He
Speaker 1: has synchronized this moment, so that this word would hit
Speaker 1: your heart in this moment today, for those of you
Speaker 1: who want to give your life to Jesus Christ for
Speaker 1: the first time or come back to God, I'm going
Speaker 1: to lead you in a prayer right now. It's a
Speaker 1: simple prayer like the one that Peter prayed. Lord, save me,
Speaker 1: Save me from my sin, Save me from myself. I
Speaker 1: believe that you died for me, and now I want
Speaker 1: you to live in me. Save me. God. This is
Speaker 1: my new beginning. And right now, if that's your heart,
Speaker 1: I want you to bow your head, close your eyes,
Speaker 1: and we're praying out loud together for the benefit of
Speaker 1: those who are coming to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1: I am a sinner in need of a savior, and
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God
Speaker 1: and the savior of the world. And today I make
Speaker 1: Jesus the Lord and savior of my life. I believe
Speaker 1: he died that I would be forgiven and rose again
Speaker 1: to give me life. I receive this new life. This
Speaker 1: is my new beginning. I am a child of God.
Speaker 1: On the counter, three shoots your hand up. If you
Speaker 1: prayed that one two, three, put them up together. That's amazing.
Speaker 1: That's amazing, incredible God, blessing, incredible, incredible. Praise the Lord.
Speaker 1: Praise the Lord. We're bringing you a Bible, praying for you.
Speaker 1: We're here for you, we love you, for all of you. Hey,
Speaker 1: don't leave. I'm about to bless you. Don't leave before
Speaker 1: you get the blessing. Stop stop, stop, stop, stop stufstalk,
Speaker 1: thank you. We leave in sync, and then I'll say
Speaker 1: bye bye bye. All right, Praise the Lord. Campus fastors.
Speaker 1: You can give e group instructions. Do I need to
Speaker 1: say anything? JJ talk to talking again some other believers.
Speaker 1: Just sync down. Ask somebody next to you who you
Speaker 1: got in your boat? Ask them? Are they rowing in
Speaker 1: the right direction? Join hands together. We're gonna pray together
Speaker 1: and get out of here. And we're gonna take what
Speaker 1: we got here on the mountain today, and we're gonna
Speaker 1: carry it into the storm that we face tomorrow. And
Speaker 1: even if we don't see it coming, Jesus does, because
Speaker 1: the whole time they were in the boat straining, he
Speaker 1: was on the mountain praying. He is a sinking savior.
Speaker 1: He caught Peter immediately when he fell, because he is
Speaker 1: a sinking savior. And you won't go down. Because now
Speaker 1: unto Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, immeasurably
Speaker 1: more than you ask or imagine, to him, be gloried
Speaker 1: through Christ Jesus in the Church, now and forever. Amen.
Speaker 1: If you love him, say amen. If this same thing
Speaker 1: you know is say amen. Now you are business. God blessing. Well.
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed the series, I sure love preaching it
Speaker 1: to you. I love you God. Don't sink this week,
Speaker 1: sink sink. Get with God. Man. He's gonna show you,
Speaker 1: He's gonna use you, He's gonna show you up. We're
Speaker 1: praying for you. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2: Special thanks to those of you who give generously to
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Speaker 1: Is because of you that this ministry is possible.
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Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. God bless you