Sinking In The Storm

mighty God. I give you praise. Who are you great mountain to stand before my God? I give you praise. Lord, I worship you today. Not a shame to praise you, not a shame to celebrate you. After everything you've done for me, I owe you the praise. I owe you hollelujahs. I owe you ten thousand more hallelujahs.

Thank you Lord for letting us get out of the hell of our own heads and our own mines, and just worship you and say Your Holy Lord. For all of the people who didn't jump when I said jump, forgive them, Lord, don't give them a flat tire. They're just a little sore and a little tired and a little insecure about their rhythm. But it's all right, Lord. We came with one purpose, and one purpose only to praise your holy name. Great is your name, greatly to

be praise in Jesus name. Amen. Hunt ten people.

Our Matthew's location is celebrating a sixteen year anniversary today, Praise the Lord. Our Uptown location is celebrating seventeen years of ministry today. That's amazing. That's as old as my middle son. Y'all. I look at my son and Graham sometimes and say, I got campuses older than you. Boy. Yeah, it's good. Remember, Officer, when we used to drive around, we would do Butler High School uptown, get back over

to Providence. This is early days of the church, because we didn't have all of this sinking up between all the campuses and you know, look in the camera and welcome to the campuses. We didn't have all of that. So if I had to get to the campus, I had to get there when they were finishing the last song. And they knew to always have a few extra songs ready. But Josh is a police officer, so he was driving like one hundred and ten miles an hour. Happy birthday

to Josh van Almen. By the way, those are some good memories man, Me and you and that Nissan Maxima just doing ministry at the speed of God. I mean, just running there, huffing and puffing like I am right now, after jumping around and spinning around. By the way, if any of you want to be preachers one day, I would not advise jumping and spinning before you preach. It is very disorienting. But I just got excited about what

God can do. All of a sudden, I got to thinking, what if God answered a prayer that some grandmother has been praying for her granddaughter suddenly today. What if God gave you clarity on something you've been confused about suddenly today. What if you were walking out today and one of the greeters was handsome and single suddenly today. So I'm excited about Jesus. I want to preach about Jesus today.

From Matthew chapter fourteen, verses twenty two through thirty five, first Bible story that I ever preached for our last sermon in the series. That's what I thought, Tell your neighbor, that's what I thought. I say, this is the last one. I think it's the last one. If the Lord wants me to keep going, I will. But my plan is today to take some of the things we've been preaching about and minister them to your heart. Welcome to all of our locations. Put it in the comment on YouTube.

That's what I thought. This is our final installment. Yeah, this is the first Bible story that I ever preached, so I always try to preach it at least once a year, just to check in and see how dumb I was the last time I preached it, or what new thing God will show me. Glad you're here today. Welcome, Welcome to the presence of God. Welcome to a new beginning. Welcome to a space where Grace reigns supreme and where Jesus is Lord and King. Welcome to a place where

you can hear his word. Now, the Bible says a word. We were just singing about this word in verse twenty two, so it's appropriate. Immediately immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side. Well, he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain side by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone boat with the disciples. The boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the

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

was blowing the whole dime. But when he focused on it what was against him. When he saw the wind, he was afraid. Fear comes from focus. So does faith change your focus? Increase your faith. That's why you feel faith when you're in here, because you are focused in here. And when he focused on what was against him, rather than the one who was coming toward him, named Jesus, he began to sink. He began to sink and cried out, Lord, save me. Here it is again. Immediately Jesus reached out

his hand and caught him. You of little faith, He said, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down, and those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, truly, this is the son of God. But go back to that other verse real quick, in verse thirty. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, Lord, save me, And immediately Jesus reached out

his hand and caught him. I want to talk to you today from this subject because this is how some of you have been feeling. I want to talk about sinking in the storm. Sinking in the storm. This is the way it feels at times in our emotions, and in our lives, and in our circumstances, sinking in the storm. And there is a subtitle that you can give your neighbor on the way to your seat, look at them

and say just that quick. Hit your other neighbor and say just that quick, and you may be seated sinking in the storm. Please put the title in the comments on YouTube. Let's welcome our global EPHAM joining up with us right now. Come on, y'all. I know you're getting seated, but let's welcome our entire church family all over the world. Let us know where you're watching from. I want to talk to you today about sinking in the storm. Feeling

that you get sometimes that you're overwhelmed. The feeling that you get sometimes that there's too much month and not enough money, too much need and not enough me to meet it. All that's spread thin feeling, that feeling that you get, and it doesn't always announce itself, And all of a sudden there is a storm and you find yourself sinking in the storm. Any crazy how you can be singing in the church and just a few days

later find yourself sinking in the storm. And this place is a place that God has prepared for us, to prepare us for the storms of our life. You cannot be a student of Jesus without storms as your classroom. Anything else would make you arrogant, anything else would make you write a parenting book. And your oldest kid is three, you're three months pregnant, talking about how to raise teenagers

God's way. What's wrong? Would you go through a storm and then you'll have something to say in this season of your life, God is calling you to be a student of your storm. What does this have to do with thinking? Well, it's amazing to me how quickly I can go from stepping on the water, so to speak, to sinking. And I can really shift quickly from being focused on God to falling down and finding myself in emotional states that do not resemble the fruit of the spirit. Okay,

just me, just me, look at your neighbors. Say. It can happen quick. It can happen real quick. And if your neighbor is looking like they don't know what I'm talking about, cut them off in traffic on the way out and see how quick they go from lifting their hands to lifting one finger. It can happen just that quick.

Can it? Just even your phone can buzz in your pocket, And it might not even be the person that you don't want to hear from, with the news that you don't want to hear, But just the buzz itself can disrupt your peace. Can it? Even just even the buzz in your pocket, it can feel like a shot collar, just reminding you that your challenges are out there in the world. Sometimes it can happen just that quick. Now.

I'm so glad that Jesus is a savior because I'm a sinner, so I need one and I have sinful thoughts. All of my thoughts aren't holy thoughts, good thoughts, pure thoughts, and so I need Jesus for my sinful thoughts, which can become sinful actions, which can become sinful patterns, which may not send me to hell, but may make my life on earth feel like a living hell. I'm so grateful that Jesus is a savior, and I am also so thankful that he is not a surface level savior.

That he doesn't just save me from hell when I die, but he saves me from the hell in my head as he transforms my mind and brings me through life's challenges. I need salvation in my soul. That's my mind, my will, my emotions. I need Jesus to teach me how to think. And in this passage that we just read, there's a conversation between the student of Jesus and Jesus the Savior, and Jesus is watching him sink in the storm. By the way, have you been feeling like you're sinking in

a storm lately in your life. And it doesn't have to even be bankruptcy. It doesn't even have to be something so catastrophic that everybody would take up money for you if they knew about it. It doesn't have to be the worst thing that ever happened in your life. I just found that a lot of times I find myself in like a funk or maybe even a full

blown feeling of depression. And in those moments when God is watching me sink into those states, I'm grateful that He does not give me surface level answers like church people do. Because church people will tell you rejoice in the Lord always, but they ain't rejoicing in the Lord. They only been rejoicing in the Lord because they had a good week. Catch them next week and they might have a different answer. It can happen that quick. And Jesus watching Peter fall in the middle of a storm

that had been raging all night. Remember he's been going through this all night, and he steps out, and he's walking and he's sinking, and he cries out, Lord save me. I think that's such an important phrase. One great theologian who just went to be with the Lord. Doctor John MacArthur used to say, a lot of us refuse Jesus as Lord, but we want to use Jesus as savior. So I think it's important that he called him Lord

before he called on him to save him. I'm trying to say that God wants far more for your life than to just save you from stupid stuff that you do. He wants far more for your life than to just clean up the messes that you make because you never spend time with him. God wants far more for your life than to have to redeem years that you waste because you never get aligned with him. And so now Peter calls out, Lord, save me, and the Bible says,

immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Now we focus a lot, and I really preached this a lot at age sixteen. How Peter had the faith to step out when Jesus said, come, somebody shall come. That's a command. When Jesus gives a command, you can obey it with confidence. When Jesus gives a command, you don't have to start doing the math on how it's going to work out. When Jesus gives a command. He already has the details in mind for how he will meet

that need before you even know about the need. So when he says, come, take a step, and then we talk so much about the command that we neglect the question that I think is just as powerful as the command. He said, come, Peter's coming, He said, walk. Peter's walking. He gave the word, and Peter is walking, not on water,

but on one word from Jesus. I could preach a whole message about walking on one word, just one word that God gives you, and you can hang on through something that you never would have made it through without that word, one word from Jesus, the command to come. But then comes the question. After he caught him, he said, you of little faith, why did you doubt? Why did you doubt? Because if I can get beneath the surface of why you're sinking, I can maybe stop it from

happening so quickly next time. A lot of times we sink into things and we don't stop and ask why. A lot of times we get triggered by something. And after you get triggered, see you get trapped. You don't even realize how you got triggered until you're already trapped. I'll break it down for you. I can see we need a little real life example right now. When Holly and I first got married, we went on a cruise.

I saved up for the cruise. It was a Princess cruise, which is a little step up from some of the other cruises you can buy. I was so proud of that cruise and so broke after I paid for it. Three days on the cruise, she was very quiet one day. And when she got quiet on that cruise, it triggered something inside of me that I didn't know because I equated quiet with board. So when she got quiet, I started to get angry because she was quiet. For Holly,

quiet means relaxed. Quiet means nobody telling me to do anything. I don't have to talk. I love you. We're together just being This is what she was saying. Your essence alone is so captivating. We don't even need a conversation. But I interpreted her quiet as boredom, and we would fight for years in our marriage. Anytime she would get quiet, I would think, you don't like it here, This isn't good enough for you. Your dad took you on better vacations.

What you don't need my vacation. No, I'm relaxed. But see, just in such a stupid illustration like that, you see how years can go on because I'm reading her mind with information that is not true data, and I am triggered by something that isn't even true. But by the time I recognize what I'm triggered by, I'm already trapped in it. And now we're fighting. And so now it's not that we never get triggered in our marriage. But here's what we do, and I want to teach you

how to do this. We catch it quicker, We catch it quicker. Don't your neighbors say, catch it quicker, Catch it quicker before you blow up on them, before you go off on them, before you hit sind on the text, proofread it, hire yourself as a copy editor, and check that thing one more time. Do you really want to say you never? Do you really want to say you always? Do you really need six exclamation points? Is it really

worth that emoji? Is that emoji worth the emotional expense of what you are going to spend the next week cleaning up? And all of that could have been canceled if you would have caught it quicker and read the text and walk up in the morning with fresh eyes and said, I think I'll just have a conversation. But we get triggered and then we get trapped. And that's why the Lord sent a preacher to you today to give you truth, because the truth can keep you out

of the trap. Preach the word, Larry Stevens Vernick Junior. I believe I will. So when you start sinking, you get beneath the surface. And this is what we need to learn to do.

The situation Peter faced where he's stepping, stepping, stepping, doing pretty good and then sinking and doesn't even really understand why. Look at Isaiah chapter fifty five, and I was debating where to start, because the whole passage is so rich. But for the sake of time, I think i'll start around verse six seven. It start six Isaiah fifty five, verse six. Yeah, I did on purpose. Isaiah fifty five,

verse six. Now listen to me. This is an invitation to all of you who have been sinking in the storm. The Lord offers you an invitation. The wind is the trigger and the sinking is the trap, and sometimes you feel like you're drowning in it before you even know what it is. But this is the word of the Lord, and this will be very rich to you for the trials that you're going through. The Lord says, seek the Lord while he may be found, call on him while

he is near. Let's read that again, Seek the Lord while he may be found, Call on him while he is near. I'm coming back to that, call on him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. So this is interesting language. I'll read the whole passage, but that's where I want to camp out around verse six or seven. Let the wicked

forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them and to our God, for he will freely pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are my ways your ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher, higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways. God says, I know how to do my job. God says, I know who to let leave you. God says, I know who to bring into your life. That is

a challenge for you. You keep praying to be a masterpiece, and every time I send someone to be the sandpaper, you push them away. But I know what tools to you to turn you into the disciple that I want you to be. He says, my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it butt and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater. So is my

word that goes out from my mouth. I hear Jesus saying come. When I read Isaiah fifty five, I feel the echo of this prophecy. In Matthew chapter fourteen, I feel the power of one word from God? He says, so is my word just one word? So is my word the full counsel of the Word of God has value, but just one singular word that goes from my mouth. It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose. Many are the plans, but it is the purpose for which I scent it

that will be accomplished. So why did Jesus send a disciple into a storm that he knew was going to happen? And why does God allow challenges to our faith instead of just bolstering us with the Bible so that we avoid them? And Isaiah chapter fifty five gives an interesting strategy. Okay, let me teach you what Isaiah is teaching here. He says, you can seek the Lord, you can call on him, but you have to be willing verse seven to forsake

your ways and your unrighteous thoughts. Now that's interesting language to say that I'm going to forsake a thought. That's crazy to me me because when you say forsake something, it's something that you have become very attached to. You don't forsake something that you don't even know, You don't even know it. To forsake something is to walk away from something that it is assumed you have responsibility for.

So when God says I will never leave you nor forsake you, forsaking has baked into it the idea that I am responsible for this. I'm not saying it right. I say it. You can drop a thought like this book. You can drop a thought he said, forsake your ways because My ways are higher, and your thoughts that are not from God. And how many times have I been drowning in my mind and in my life because of

the thought that I wouldn't drop about my situation? How many times have I clung to an offense while I'm drowning in my bitterness and I am asking God to help me forgive. But if I don't drop, I'm gonna do it again. If I don't drop the thought, I drown. That's what I'm trying to say. Now. I said it the way I want to say it. Tell your neighbor

drop it or drown. That's the only two options you have right now, because you can't afford to play around with this right now, because there's too much at stake at this juncture of your life. Right now, it's drop it or drown. You've got to stop thinking childishly about this and waiting on people to come around and make it right. And you just got to get your heart

right with God. And you've got to let him show you what he's going to do from the place that you're at, not the place that you want it to be. Punch your neighbors say, drop it. Drop it so you don't drown. Drop it so you don't keep sinking. Drop it so it doesn't weigh you down. Drop it so you don't miss the last the next season that God wants to give you crying about the season that you lost.

You better drop this thing. And the thing about dropping a thought is it's kind of hard for me to drop my thought until I understand that God can also drop a thought. This is one thing I'm ready to preach today. This is one thing that me and God have in common. We can both drop thoughts. I can take a thought in my mind. I can take a tempting thought. I can take a bitter thought. I could take an angry thought. I can take a victimized thought. I can take a catastrophizing thought. I can take a

wicked thought. I can take a thought, and I can look at it, and I can separate myself from the thought, and by the grace of Jesus, by the grace of God, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I can look at the thought and realize that just because I think it doesn't mean I have to be it. So I can drop a thought. And how dumb would it be for you to drown on this sea because of something you won't drop. How dumb would it be? The Bible says, forsake your thoughts when they're not God's ways. His ways

are higher. So when He shows you the higher way, don't stay down in the way you did it, the way they did it, the way you thought you were gonna do it. Drop your thoughts so God can drop his What you mean, God can drop a thought? I mean like airdrop. I mean like how I could take my phone and put it next to your phone, and if it's near enough, you can choose to share with me what's on your phone On my phone. If we are close enough to connect, you can drop something to

me that I didn't come with. And now you know why it was important for you to be at church today so you could get close to God and close to somebody, fist pump your neighbor and say, I'll drop you some faith today. Fist bump them real quick and say I got something for you. Tell them I'll air drop you some peace today. I'll air drop you some joy today. The Bible says that if two of you will agree, well we got a lot more than two, baby boy. And the holy ghost in me is the

holy ghost in you. And if you came a little empty today, there is a word from God. And if you don't feel it right now, then grace him by faith. Know something clicks in your spirit and you get the sense I think I'm gonna be all right. Top five your neighbor, like your air dropping something. Oh that's good, isn't it? Isn't that good to know that God can drop you a thought. Forget about a human They might

not have it. But if I'm close enough to Jesus, what I didn't get from other people, what I didn't have in my flesh, God did by sending his son. See, so you can drop a thought, and so can God. And the moment you drop your low thought, the moment you drop your human thought, the moment you drop your sinking thought. Notice the Bible says that immediate lee, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Why did Jesus catch him at that moment and instead of keeping him

from the storm. Good question, because probably wouldn't be a good story. Second thing I want to mention to you is what Jesus was doing before he joined the disciples on the rough sea. When you get in those situations, doubt in fear, flooding your heart, drowning in doubt, flooded with fear, drowning in doubt, flooded in fear. Oh, it came so quick. I don't know what to do. There is something that Jesus models for us that is so

important to remember. And at our Elevation Night's events, if you ever come, you'll see a very special moment that we have that we host each night in each city where we sing the song the Blessing. And before we sing it, I have Abby and Holly join me on stage, and Abby, since she was about eleven years old, comes up and reads the scripture. She has it my memory now of course numbers chapter six, verse twenty two through twenty four. She'd say it backwards now, but the first

time asked her to do it. I was like, would you mind coming up and reading the scripture that the blessing comes from and sang it over the people. I think it'll be really special. And I was expecting her to be nervous to do that. I was like, would you like to do it? Would it be too scary. It's like, let me be scary. I'd love to do it, just very confident, very quickly. She got up the first night and nailed it, and she has nailed it every

single night well. On the last tour. On the last tour, I made a few changes to how I wanted to present it. And when I made a few changes and alterations, you know, I saw her start to get a little uncertain. She was like, well, no, wait a minute. If Dad announces the scripture here and it comes after this song, because when things change like that, it could be destabilizing,

even if you really know what you're doing. I am coming for you today, because things can change on you and you're like, no, wait, I know how to do this, but not like right here, like this right now, not with them right here right now. I'm just kind of be stabilized. So she was kind of complaining to Holly that Dad is changing the schedule, and Dad is changing the order of elevation nights, and this is going to

mess up my flow. And Holly pulled her to the side and she said something, and I was very proud to hear her tell Abby this. She said, Abby, if there is one thing I have learned in over twenty years of doing ministry with your dad, it's that if you are with Dad on stage, you don't need to worry if he is near you. If you're next to Dad, he won't let it go bad. Abby. Even if you drop the line in the middle, even if you say Halley, he'll say Lujah. Even if you say praise the he'll

say Lord. He is not going to let it go bad. If you are next to Dad, he won't let it go bad. And you got to think. The Disciples have been doing ministry with Jesus for a little while now. This is Matthew chapter fourteen, not Matthew chapter one. They've seen some things, and they've even been through storms. But this one is different because the last storm they went through with Jesus, he was on the boat with them.

This one's a little different because they just got done with a spectacular miracle and I want to tell you something about spectacular things that God does in your life. Just as quickly as you start to celebrate the spectacular, a new struggle can show up just that quick. Somebody say it just that quit. I mean they just picked

up the leftovers. They just dismissed the crowds. Jesus says, I need you boys to go to the next appointment, But he conveniently leaves out the detail that you are going to encounter a violent, furious squall on the open sea getting to where I'm sending you. But I'm not telling you about that part because, as I taught you last week, details follow obedience. So when Jesus gives a command, he does not have to give you every single component of that command. He wants to put you in school

to know. Will you be my disciple if I don't give you the details, will you do what I told you to do when you don't know where it's leading? And into this atmosphere. The disciples are straining in the boat all night long. I mean, you really can't see it from Matthew's account. It says in Mark's account that they were straining at the oars. It means that they were all rowing together all night long, but Jesus was

not physically with them. What was Jesus doing? In Matthew Chapter fourteen, verse twenty two, the Bible says, immediately after sending the crowd away, dismissing them and sending them home, and the disciples in the boat to go to the next appointment and go on ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowd verse twenty three. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountain side by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone next verse, and the boat was already

a considerable distance from land. You don't have to be nervous when you're next to Dad. But now I'm in a season where the boat is out here and Jesus is back there. Yet note what Jesus is doing. He is praying. Watch this. Jesus is getting alone with God to get aligned with God. And sometimes when you're facing all of these crazy thoughts in your life, you've got to remember to get alone with God to get aligned with God. Alone with God, to get aligned with God.

He's praying on a mountain. My ways are higher. See remember the people wanted to make Jesus an earthly king, but he came to die on a criminal's cross, and at this moment in his life, it was really important that he did not follow the crowd's recommendation for his next step, because to follow the crowd at this moment would have pulled him off of the path of his

father's purpose. Are you in that moment, pulling at you from one side, pulling at you from the other, one person telling you that you need to be skinnier, one person telling you that you could stand to put a little meat on the bones. I went on Holly's Instagram feed the other day. I didn't know they were telling women to eat protein and creatine to be reserved for teenage boys. When did the women get to do the protein and creatine that's supposed to be our thing? Man?

Now she's being told. I'm like, what are you doing, Holly? You're lifting weights? Used to do cardio. She's like, yeah, that's what I'm supposed to do now, And if you're not careful, you'll be lifting a weight and drinking a protein shake and putting on weight and losing weight because they will change it in three years. We are only three years away from them telling us that creatine causes cancer and it makes your mom hates she gives you bad breath and make all your babies born to form.

I mean, they're changing it all the time. So if I don't ever get alone with God, I can't be aligned with God because it's too much noise, it's too much crowd. I'm sinking. Am I sinking because I'm not sitting? And if I would sit with God sometimes, or even just in a moment where I'm about to walk into something, if I was myself and say, oh, Lord, you know I'm about to be triggered in here. Well, I don't want to get trapped. Lord, you know it's about to

be windy when I walk into this situation. I wonder what one moment with God could do for you this week before you go into a windy condition. Just a moment with him. Now, Jesus, he's up there praying all night, and he has to because what He's about to do is so amazing. When he lands on the other side, he is going to heal the sick. But the disciples don't know that. When he lands on the other side, there is a revival waiting. But the disciples don't know that.

All they know is they're going through a storm. And may I remind you you have no idea what God has on the other side of your storm. You have no idea how He's going to use you. You have no idea how He is going to unleash something that could have never otherwise been unleashed in your life. See now, I see the passage a little bit differently. In Matthew chapter fourteen, when it says Peter began to sink, put

that back up there for a minute. It says Peter began to sink, and he cried out, Lord, save me, verse thirty one. Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. You have little faith, I realized as I read that over and over again, and I thought about Jesus spending all night praying alone on the mountain and making intercession for us and Heaven. Right now I realized that Peter wasn't the only one sinking. Jesus was too. Y'all think I'm a hero itic. Hold on, I got

to explain this the right way. Thinking has two different meanings. If you spell it si NK, it means going down. But if you spell it sync. It's more than a boy band. It means if you've got something on your phone that I need on my phone, and we get close enough, we can sink. So maybe this passage isn't about a sinking Peter. Maybe it's about a sinking savior. Phone drop moment, Phone drop moment, Phone drop moment, Because now I realize, no, no, keep celebrating, keep celebrating. I

need a way to preach this. Now I realize that the whole time he was on that mountain, he was praying for Peter, because while Peter was sinking, Jesus was sinking. And my way are higher than your ways, and my thought are higher than your thought. So I came to declare, you're not going down. Jesus is praying for you. He's praying for you. He's praying for you. He sees you in this storm, he sees you in this dilemma. He

sees you, and he's sinking. He's sinking. Sometimes you gotta sink in the storm, not go down in the storm, but hook up with God and say, if it's you, tell me to come, give me a worse, show me away, send me a path, make me away. God, Your neighbor, you look like you're sinking. I'm sinking with a C. I'm sinking with a what yo? When I got this phone. I remember, I got this new phone, and none of the stuff was on it that was supposed to be

on it for a little while. And if I would have assumed that the new phone was worse because all of the old pictures, all of the old songs, all of the old data, all of the old files was not on the new phone, I would have been incorrect. Because everything that was on my phone before I got the new one was still there. It was just in something called the cloud. Now I don't know where the cloud technically is. I kind of get it, but I

thought about Isaiah fifty five. As high as the heavens are above the herd, so or my ways above your ways. I tell your neighbor, I got something in the cloud. I got a promise that's yes, and amen, I got a sure work for God. He put me here, he called me here, and so it was sinking. It was sinking. Jesus didn't leave them. He was sinking. He was sinking. He had to let them struggle a little while so

they could know who he is. As a matter of fact, they didn't even call him the son of God till the wind died down, So how could they know who he was when the wind died down? If the wind never blew. I'm telling you you're gonna know God in a way that you couldn't have known God had you not been a student of this storm. How much better would you feel about the storm if you knew that God was sinking you in the storm, that He was bringing things, pictures and sounds that had to come to

the phone. And how dumb would you be to throw it away because it hadn't sink yet. Yeah, even Peter was sinking. He is still Simon at this moment. He hadn't sync yet. I said, he hadn't sync yet. Where's my real church at I know we always got spectators, but I said, don't give up. You hadn't sync yet. That's not good grammar. Yeah it is, and it's good theology. No eye see, no ear has heard, neither has it

entered into the heart of a man. Okay, Okay. So I'm driving to church today, right and I'm like, Lord, I'm excited to preach, but I need one more illustration to tell him how to get in sync, how to get in sync, Yeah, exactly, how to get in sync, how to get in sync, And so it's so much easier to do it when you've got somebody in the boat rowing with you, which is why when I come to church on Sunday, I always bring Abbey with me.

If I can get her to wake up on time, I beg her to come with me, because she unlocks my love. And I don't want to come up here in front of y'all and not have love. And if I can ride to church with Abby and unlock my love, I can talk to you from the love that I have for her, and through that love, hopefully I can communicate God's word. And hopefully I will not be like playing symbols, just shouting stuff and spelling stuff and saying stuff,

but hopefully my love will come through. And one of the practices that we have in driving to church is a playlist that consists of songs that will lift our spirits, a playlist of songs that are not Taylor Swift, although she's fine, and that are not Gracy Abrams. But Sunday mornings are not for Gracy Abrams. Just for the grace

of God is for the glory of God. So I hand her a phone and she picks out the songs, and today she picked out a shout no want, I shall not Want, and we start singing the last verse of shall not one. I remember when we wrote it and we were talking about when this life is over, I'm gonna live again, gonna trade this cross for a crown. No, it's not the end. When he calls my name, I will take my wrestlers. I'm mansioning glory and you're gonna meet me there and I shall no Want. And I

told Abby, you know what song inspired me? Because a lot of times on Sunday I use it as a catch up time to show her songs that I listened to when I was her age that made me love worship and gospel music like I love it. Oh, I mean, I show her some great stuff today, I said, I need to show you He'll welcome me by John p He and the New Life Community Choir from circ About nineteen ninety four. Because you need to hear He'll welcome

me to understand shall not Want. Because if I never heard He'll welcome me, I went in the road shall not Want. So I need to play he'll welcome me. And when the song came on, I got dangerous on the driving because it's a fast song. It's not a slow song. And then all of a sudden, I couldn't stop my hands from clapping. I mean, I'm supposed to be driving. I don't have a tesla, and I'm just clapping.

Put my hands off the wheel, and I'm singing every ad lib, every single ad lift, every single ad live. I'm living this life, just live up dead and with a lord. I know that aunts out man. I'm a tender watchers out shall stray with him? I say, who love? This is Junn. I know every adelote in the night, I know them all. He to be going, he to be going. I'm clapping, I'm praising. I feel like I just snorted cocaine or something. I'm so excited and I

never did that before. For the record, for the record, for the record, for the record, But I'm clapping my head all of a sudden, Abby start just to troll me started. That's the one in the three, that's the white people be. She's literally killing my spirit, killing my spirit if she won't get in se see if we're gonna do this ah end up on your feet. If we're gonna do this, if we're gonna do this together, we gotta get in this boat and clap.

get his sink, get his step. That's those hands. And just like this room shifted when we got in sinc God said, when I send you a word from heaven, my ways are not your ways, and my thoughts are not your thoughts. So do what the disciples did. When you feel what the disciples felt, and when you feel like you're starting to sink in the storm, the Bible says, call on the Lord, for he is near, and get what he has for you and beg him to save you. And do you not realize that Jesus was not late

to save Peter? Because the Bible says that the moment that he called the name of Jesus, immediately he reached out his hand. Why because while Peter was sinking, Jesus was sinking. That's what I came to tell you. That's why I came to tell you. Wow, That's what I came to remind you is that you're not really alone in the boat. That's why I came to encourage you when your life feels barren and dry, that as the rain falls from the heaven and waters the earth. What's

that synchronization? That's y N means together, cramous means time, synchronize. God knows how to bring it together at the right time the rainfalls in the season is supposed to. It's amazing now Jesus knew just the right moment to step in that boat. Don't you think that Jesus was at least trolling them this much to wait until just before the dawn to show up. And does it feel like maybe right now he's running a little behind your schedule?

As well, that's okay. In fact, Mark's Gospel says that Jesus pretended like he was going to pass them by, and they thought. Everybody say, they thought he was a ghost. Maybe this thing isn't a ghost. Maybe it's God coming to get you. Maybe the thing you're afraid of is the thing that God is using to answer your prayer. Maybe it's him. Let's see, you don't know that when you're in the storm. You really don't know. It was God in the storm till the storm is over, and

then the wind died down, and then they worshiped. But if you can be like Jesus and sink before the storm, you won't sink in it. That's what I wanted to tell you. That's what I wanted to remind.

the one who slipped for a minute. Yeah, I don't know where you've been slipping. I don't know where you've been sinking. Just that quick, just that quick, just as quick as he called his name. That all you have to do is call on the name of the Lord, and you will be saved. Bow your heads right now, all over this room, at every location. The Bible says that whosoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. It is by grace, through faith you are saved,

not of yourselves. It is a gift of God. Lest anyone should boast means all you got to do is reach for him. He's already right there, And just that quick, he'll forgive your sins. Just that quick, he'll wash you with this blood. As quick as you repent, he'll forgive turn to the Lord today, forsake your ways and embrace His heads bowed, eyes closed. If you're watching online, maybe

you didn't even plan to join us today. But God had a plan for you, and at this moment He has synchronized this moment, so that this word would hit your heart in this moment today, for those of you who want to give your life to Jesus Christ for the first time or come back to God, I'm going to lead you in a prayer right now. It's a simple prayer like the one that Peter prayed. Lord, save me, Save me from my sin, Save me from myself. I believe that you died for me, and now I want

you to live in me. Save me. God. This is my new beginning. And right now, if that's your heart, I want you to bow your head, close your eyes, and we're praying out loud together for the benefit of those who are coming to God. Repeat after me, Heavenly Father. I am a sinner in need of a savior, and I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the savior of the world. And today I make Jesus the Lord and savior of my life. I believe he died that I would be forgiven and rose again

to give me life. I receive this new life. This is my new beginning. I am a child of God. On the counter, three shoots your hand up. If you prayed that one two, three, put them up together. That's amazing. That's amazing, incredible God, blessing, incredible, incredible. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. We're bringing you a Bible, praying for you. We're here for you, we love you, for all of you. Hey, don't leave. I'm about to bless you. Don't leave before

you get the blessing. Stop stop, stop, stop, stop stufstalk, thank you. We leave in sync, and then I'll say bye bye bye. All right, Praise the Lord. Campus fastors. You can give e group instructions. Do I need to say anything? JJ talk to talking again some other believers. Just sync down. Ask somebody next to you who you got in your boat? Ask them? Are they rowing in the right direction? Join hands together. We're gonna pray together

and get out of here. And we're gonna take what we got here on the mountain today, and we're gonna carry it into the storm that we face tomorrow. And even if we don't see it coming, Jesus does, because the whole time they were in the boat straining, he was on the mountain praying. He is a sinking savior. He caught Peter immediately when he fell, because he is

a sinking savior. And you won't go down. Because now unto Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, immeasurably more than you ask or imagine, to him, be gloried through Christ Jesus in the Church, now and forever. Amen. If you love him, say amen. If this same thing you know is say amen. Now you are business. God blessing. Well. If you enjoyed the series, I sure love preaching it to you. I love you God. Don't sink this week, sink sink. Get with God. Man. He's gonna show you,

He's gonna use you, He's gonna show you up. We're praying for you. Thank you for joining us.