Faith Over Fear

was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, He descended to the dead, and on the third day he rose again. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian. the fellowship of believers, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Amen. Please remain standing. Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning with hearts full of gratitude. You've brought us safely through another week, through challenges we did not expect and blessings we did not deserve. You are our refuge in trouble, our strength when we are weak, and our peace in the midst of uncertainty.

Lord, we confess that too often we let worry and fear crowd out our faith. We focus on what we cannot control instead of trusting in your steady hand, that can control anything. Forgive us for doubting your goodness, for forgetting your promises, for trying to live by our own. Today we choose to rest in you. We lay down our burdens at the foot of the cross, our anxieties, our disappointments, our unmet hopes. And we ask that you will fill us again.

Remind us that you are still at work in the quiet places, turning all things for good to those who Bless those among us who are weary, Lord, comfort the grieving, strengthen those sick, and give courage to those facing unscoring. Be present in our homes, our workplaces, and in our communities.

Help us to be your hands and feet, to bring kindness where there is hurt, light where there is darkness, and hope where there is darkness We thank you, Lord, for the gift of this church, for every person gathered here, for every heart that seeks you, for the privilege of worshiping together in freedom and joy. May your word this morning take root in our hearts, and may our faith grow deeper, our love grow stronger, and our witness shine brightly.

We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen. You may be seated. Good to have you with us here this morning. Good morning to my wife Deanna. She's getting ready to uh take off for uh Alaska. Coast Guard. Valdeese Alaska. It takes six hours to drive. Where she lands. Oh my goodness gracious. So she's not gonna she's making him drive.

All right, this morning's sermon entitled Faith Over Fear: Trusting God When You Cannot See the Way. We're going to read from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 14. Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night he was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them walking on the lake. When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. It's a ghost, they said, and they cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them, Take courage. It is I, don't be afraid. Lord, if it's you, replied Peter, tell me to come to you on the water. And then Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came towards the chief. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to break.

Cried out, Lord, save me. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught. You have little faith, he said, Why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, Truly you are. We live in a world of uncertainty, bills, health issues, relationship struggles, even national turmoil. And when life feels like a storm, we often ask God, where are you in all of this?

In our gospel reading this morning the disciples were in a boat on rough waters terrified by a storm, and then they saw Jesus walking toward them on the wave.

Now the storm was meant to destroy them, but it became the setting for a miracle, which is what I want you to focus on and think about. The storm that was meant to destroy them actually was an opportunity for a miracle. Here's the truth. More often than not, God reveals his power to us in the middle of our storms, not before that.

Everybody wants to experience miracles, but nobody wants to need a miracle to experience the miracle, right? Because when we need the miracle, that's when we panic and we freak, and then we do that, faith goes. You see, people want these miracles, they just don't want to have them, have to have them. Miracles come in the midst of trouble. We were reading not too long ago, we were talking about Joseph.

And his brothers had sold him into slavery and If that wasn't bad enough, he gets accused of a crime he did not commit, and he winds up in prison. for over ten years, a decade of his life gone. And we're talking, you know, not talking about Brown County lack up here. We're talking three, four thousand years ago. Dungeons, it's awful. The worst of possible living conditions a person can imagine. He's stuck in there for a decade.

Then suddenly God hears his cries, and in a day, it was a dramatic, dramatic story, right? He wakes up that morning, he's in prison. Uh the Pharaoh calls for him, and by the end of that day he is now the second most powerful and richest man in the world. It all happened in one day. Which is encouraging for us when we struggle, we think we're never gonna get out of this mess. You don't know. God can do anything.

And he certainly did that for Joseph. That was the miracle. We celebrate that miracle. He got out of prison and established and strengthened one day. That's the good news. The bad news, he was in prison for ten years.

So they come roaring with their chariots. Now this is no small deal. It is the most powerful, skilled, and prepared army in the world at the time. And they turn around and they see these guys coming. And uh and then of course uh Moses parts the Red Sea and they get away from When Pharaoh's army tried to cross, he closed it on them, and they all took a bath. And uh it's an American We celebrate the miracle of the

The bad news is you got the biggest army in the world coming after you. That's the part We read of the three young men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Uh they were in Babylon. The king of Babylon is telling him they have to fall down and worship an idol. And they won't do it. He said, You better do it, or I'm going to throw you into the fiery fur.

And they wouldn't do it. And then uh they stoked the fire so hot it said that the slaves around them who were stoking the fire died from the heat. There's guys dropping it. It's it's that. It's incredible. So it couldn't be stoked any higher or people would die. And he takes the three guys and throws them in the midst of this incredibly Amazingly. They don't get burnt. And the Bible says when they came out, they didn't even smell of smoke.

What a miracle. We celebrate that miracle. Yes, yes, yes, that's the good news. The bad news, you get thrown into the fiery furnace. See, we want the miracle, but we don't want to have to have. The miracle, but it's when you have to have it. It's when God shows up. We celebrate Daniel, thrown into the lines then and survives. That's the good news. The bad news is he got thrown into the lions. Lazarus raised from the dead.

If you remember a story we were reading it last week. And they beat them horribly, they says they were severely flogged, and they were thrown into prison and had their Legs and arms. I mean this is miserable. Horrible. What an awful day. They did nothing wrong. Their backs are bleeding, sores can possibly. They're in a most uncomfortable position in prison and they start to sing. They didn't have the cool band. Or the countable seat. But uh anyway.

God shows up and they get set free. That's what we celebrate. The bad news is you got the snot kicked out of you and thrown into prison in the first place. More often than not, God reveals his power to us in the middle of our storms, not before them. See, what we want is God to show up before the storm comes. That's where we want the miracle.

And if the miracle doesn't come before the storm, then we get upset. Some people get mad at God. They lose their faith. No, no, no. Where's God? He's still there. Hang on. You got don't have enough trouble yet. It's still coming.

Fear comes naturally. But faith has to be chosen. By the way, that's really what courage is. Courage is isn't the absence of fear. It's being f afraid and even terrified, but doing it anyway. I love hearing the stories. incredible things in balance. Man, weren't you scared? Yeah, that was terrible. But they did it anyway. Everybody else was too afraid to move. These guys were not afraid. We heard the story of Greg Steuby, Special Force Assault. So

was blown apart in Afghanistan. What a credible miracle. Yeah. If you miss that you want to catch that, that'll be the first weekend in November. And uh he's coming to preach to us he may be motivated to go to a Packer game. But it's these guys do incredible things, and it's not because they're not terrible.

Everybody's terrified. When people are trying to kill you and things are blowing up and people around you are going down, that's horrifying. But these guys keep moving even when they're terrified. It's called courage. When the disciples saw Jesus walking on the water, they were terrified. They thought it was a ghost.

Why would they think that? No no this is before the dawn, it says it's always the darkest before the dawn, right? So it's black as black can be the wind, the waves, everything's going crazy. Uh these guys are terrified. And these guys are not weekend boaters. out on a pontoon boat. These guys are seasoned. When they're terrified, it's a bad storm. Anyway they see Jesus coming, and the only way they can tell it's pitch black is flashes of lightning.

So and lightning's very white. So Jesus is coming all so you flash there's there's a white guy on the w water. Whew, what was that? Flash, there's another one. That's why they thought it was a goat. And they were terrified. The closer they came, Peter and looked and he could recognize Jesus. And uh he calls out to him. Fear was the first reaction. It's always our first reaction, right? Fear says, I can't handle it. Faith says I can do all these things through Christ who gives me strength.

Fear focuses on the storm. Faith focuses on the Savior. Jesus immediately said, Take courage. It is I. Don't be afraid. Now I don't know how much of this is lost in translation. I don't know if he actually said, do not be afraid, it is I. My guess is going, quit freaking out, it's just me. Peter said.

Tell me to come to you on the water. That's both faith. He stepped out of the boat while everybody else stayed seated. He was the only one eventually he sinks, and we always criticize Peter for singing, but he's the only guy who got out of the boat. He's the only person that we know of who ever walked on water. He did for a while. Ask yourself, what's your boat today? What is God calling you to step out of? Fear, doubt, comfort, or pride?

Faith is not just believing in Jesus, it's trusting him enough to move when he says come. But we read that when Peter saw the wind and the waves he started to sink. Fear took his focus off of Jesus and put it back on the problem. And that's how the enemy works in our lives distraction. He distracts us. He knows he can't destroy you but So he tries to distract. If Satan can shift your eyes away from Christ to the chaos. He's already winning. But here's the good news.

When Peter began to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. And did Jesus didn't yell at him, you idiot, what's wrong with you? And he didn't let him just sink. He reaches out and pulls him up. When your faith falters, God's grace. No matter how far you sink, you're never outside of his reach. Every storm is a setup for a stronger faith.

Well, they climbed back into the boat, the wind died down, and the disciples worshiped Jesus, saying, Truly you are the Son of God. So this is early on, early on in the ministry. They're following Jesus. He's a great teacher. Wow, this guy's got great and he prayed for me, he'd see miracles. Wow. But when this happens, the wind creates he's walking on water. How many people walk on water for heaven's sakes? And then as soon as he gets in the boat, the wind stops and they all went.

Whoa. Dude, truly you are the son of God. God uses storms. Not to destroy your faith. But the deepest... He uses storms to reveal himself so that you can know his power. He uses storms to refine you so you can trust him more. He uses storms to re redirect you so you'll follow his purpose. Don't get mad. The storms. Waterfight you're going through right now isn't a punishment, but preparation. You may not see it, but God is building your faith one way.

Sometimes the storm is the classroom where faith is taught. So how do we live out faith when the storms keep coming? First of all, feed your faith daily. You can't fight fear with an empty spirit. Get into the scriptures, the world, let it get into you before the world gets into you. Secondly, speak faith even when you don't feel. Words have power. Say positively.

Say the right things. Don't be going around, Oh man, this is horrible. I don't know how we're gonna survive. We're all gonna die. It's gonna be awful. I don't know how you know. Speak positive things, speak God's word, speak words of faith. Thirdly, you want to surround your people with faith filled people. Who you walk with determines where you end up. And remember that God has what and always remember what God has already done. If he carried you through before, he'll carry you again.

Whenever I go something really hard I just remember some of the stuff God has brought me. Psalm twenty seven one says the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? But Pastor, I'm in a terrible storm. Well faith doesn't ignore the storm, it invites Jesus.

So there's always a choice between fear and faith. Fear builds walls, faith builds bridges. Fear sees obstacles, faith sees opportunities. You can't control the wind, but you can control who to trust in the storm. So this week when worry creeps in, say, I Lord, I choose faith and And when you feel like you're sinking, always remember Jesus still walks on water, Jesus still calms storms, Jesus still reaches out his hand. Let's stop asking what if I'm not going to be able to do

We're gonna have our time of communion right now. The ushers are gonna get ready to serve. This is when we remember what Jesus Christ did for all of us on that cross two thousand years ago. He died on the cross as a punishment for all of our sin. He made it possible so that we could have forgiveness of sins. Jesus said, My body was broken so you could be made whole. My blood was shed so you could have the forgiveness of sins.

And this is what we remember when we take communion. The Bible says before we do this we should pause and examine ourselves. So with those words in mind, let's bow our heads as I pray a prayer of forgiveness over all of us. Heavenly Father, before we partake of the bread and the cup this morning, And in obedience to the scriptures. If we've sinned against you in thought, word, or deed, doing something that we should not have done.

If we fail to do something If we've allowed our hearts to be shaken, our faith. To be dominated by fear. If we've not loved our neighbors as ourselves for the sake of our