Faithful God - Week 2: Faithful Through the Storm

You know the word faithful means true to one's word, true to one's character, true to one's nature.

And what better word to describe the most high God?

Our God is a faithful God.

And we want to take some time in this series to remind you that whatever you're going through, whether it's difficulty from your past, difficult seasons, or even a storm that you may be facing, our God is a faithful God.

So I want you to buckle up, get your notebook out, be ready to take some good notes to be reminded of the fact that no matter what the situation calls for, your God is ready and equipped just for that.

And also, don't forget, it is school time.

It is time for kids to get back in school.

And if you have not yet figured out the right place for your child or your grandchild, we'd love to have you take a look at Impact Christian Academy, our pre-K through 12th grade school that really is designed to help nurture kids in the academic subjects, but also develop Christian character in their hearts as well.

Go to ICAjacks.com for more information.

And now let's get ready for the faithful God.

Well, today, however, let's let's get back into this message.

Last week we started something in here and we started talking about this character of God, that He is a faithful God.

And I got a feeling, if I gave everybody a chance to come up and grab the mic for a little bit, we could all tell a story of how God has been faithful to us.

I said again, if I gave everybody a chance to get the mic, I got a feeling we all got a testimony of how good and how faithful God has been to us.

That means despite challenges with people, challenges with different places, challenges with our jobs, challenges with this world around us, in the middle of it all, God is still a faithful God.

And to take it back to our definition of what we're calling faithful, the dictionary describes the word faithful as strict or thorough in the performance of his duties, true to one's word, one's promises or their vows, reliable or trustworthy.

And then I like this last definition.

This is talking about God, one who can be depended on.

There's a character trait in us that the Bible describes in the fruit of the Spirit as faithfulness.

But we get that fruit, we get that character from our Heavenly Father God.

And faithfulness is an attribute of the character of God.

And I want you to get this right here.

It's not just what he does, it's who he is.

It's easy to look back and see that God has been faithful.

But when you understand he doesn't just do faithful things, he is a faithful God.

That's how you remind yourself that just because he did it before, he'll turn around and do it again.

Because it's not just what he does, it is literally who he is.

Last week we took a look at the fact that God is faithful in every single season of our lives.

In the mountaintops, on the valleys, God is faithful in every season.

And today I want to remind you, watch this, that God is faithful through the storm.

I want to remind you that God is faithful right in the middle of a storm.

Now, I'll go out on a limb and say that more than likely everybody in this room right now, everybody that's connected online, is probably in one or three places right now.

You're either coming out of a storm that you've been dealing with, you're either right in the middle of a storm right now, or let me just say this way, you're gonna be headed into a storm at some point.

Now, I don't say that to make it a negative confession, but the reality is storms are a natural part of life.

And the question is not, will the storms come?

The question is, do we believe that God is with us in the midst of the storm?

There's no doubt that storms will show up, but the question is, will we have enough faith and trust to know that God is right there with us in the middle of it?

We know that God is faithful, but in a storm sometimes it doesn't always feel like he's faithful.

In fact, sometimes in the middle of a storm, we can get our eyes off of where it should be.

We can lose our bearings and we can forget just how good God has really been.

I was looking at looking at this story back from 1952.

A lady by the name of Florence Chadwick, she attempted to swim 26 miles from Catalina Island to the California coast.

So she's out to break this record, swim 26 miles from the Catalina Island to the coast of California.

And she's doing great, but then fog rolled in.

She couldn't see the shore.

A storm is rolling in.

She couldn't see the shore.

She got exhausted, she was cold, and so she asked the people that were trailing her to go ahead and pull her out of the water.

They pulled her out of the water only to find out that she was exactly one mile from the shore.

One mile from the shore.

She later said this.

She said, I think if I could have seen the land, I could have made it.

In other words, what she was saying was the storm wasn't the problem.

Losing sight of the destination was her problem.

She said, I really had enough energy to keep going, but when I can't see the destination, when I get my eyes off of where God is trying to take me, it causes my strength to disappear.

How many times do we lose sight of our destination in the middle of a storm?

How many times in the middle of a physical storm, a family storm, a financial storm, do we allow ourselves to get our attention so much on the storm that we forget where God's trying to take us?

I want to read to you over here in Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

It's a story that many of you may be familiar with it, beginning at verse 35.

It says, That day when evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side.

Somebody say, To the other side.

Come on, say it again, say to the other side.

So leaving the crowd behind, they took him along just as he was in the boat.

There were also other boats with him.

A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped.

Jesus was in the stern or the back of the boat, asleep on a cushion.

The disciples woke him up and said, Teacher, don't you care if we drown?

Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, Quiet, be still.

Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

So the disciples are out here in a boat because Jesus told them to get in the boat.

They're heading to the other side because Jesus told them, Let's head to the other side.

We could simply boil it down to this.

The disciples were exactly where Jesus told them to be.

I want to make a point right here.

They were exactly where Jesus told them to be.

We could say this way, they were right smack dab in the middle of the will of God.

I'm setting you up for something.

They were right smack dab in the middle of the will of God, and a storm showed up.

They're right where Jesus told them to be, and a storm shows up.

The storm showed up, hear me out, while they were obeying God.

Reminds me of the story over there with the prophet Elijah when the Lord told him to go to the brook cherith, and God fed him with birds in the morning and the evening, and he drank from the brook.

And then the Bible says this, and it came a time that the brook dried up.

Hear me out.

He's right in the middle of the will of God and his brook dries up.

I'm trying to set you up to understand something, and that's this the presence of a storm does not mean you're outside the will of God.

Come on, isn't that the first thing that we start to contemplate?

I must have done something wrong.

What did I do wrong?

The presence of a storm is not necessarily an indicator that you're outside the will of God.

If a storm indicates you're outside the will of God, then Paul stayed outside the will of God.

Because Paul was constantly being harassed, he was constantly being stoned, he was shipwrecked multiple times, left for dead multiple times.

So if you're going through a storm, if that means you must be out of the will of God, then Paul had to have stayed out of the will of God.

But the truth of the matter is you can be right in the middle of the will of God, doing exactly what he told you to do, and a storm may show up.

It's not an issue of if the storm shows up.

The question is, what do we do in the middle of the storm?

Since we know that storms will come, whether we're in God's will or not, watch this.

We gotta learn how to ride through the storm.

I was tired of paying these$5 gas prices.

Now I'm not gonna tell you what kind of vehicle I got, I'm not gonna tell you what color it is, because some of y'all will pull up next week and be looking as if you see my truck.

Just come to church next week.

But I had to go down to South Florida to pick up the vehicle, and as we're driving back, I drove for a little while.

Then my youngest son, who loves cars, he wanted to drive.

So he jumped in and started driving.

Literally, as soon as he got on the freeway, went probably three miles on the freeway, a massive storm just popped up.

I mean, I I've been driving for years and years, and I it there's been very few times I've seen it rain that hard.

And he's driving in through this storm, and you can see cars pulling over.

You can see cars got their flashes on.

I mean, we're literally on the freeway.

We're going about 30 miles an hour because you got to barely creep along.

And I asked him, I said, You want to you want to try to pull over and let me take over?

He said, No, Dad, I got it.

I'll figure out how to drive through this door.

Come on, and the thing is, he kept kept driving, kept driving, kept driving.

And as he kept driving, you can look ahead and you can see it was still raining, but you can see it was bright skies ahead.

And here's what he did: he kept driving until he got to better skies.

Come on, somebody.

We gotta all learn how to navigate, how to ride through the storm.

First thing you gotta understand about riding through the storm is that God's promise is greater than your problem.

I knew you were gonna shout, Amen, right there.

Come on.

I said, God's promise is greater in the storm than your problem.

Notice what we said again in Mark chapter 4, verse 35.

Mark 4:35

That day when the evening came, Jesus said to his disciples, watch this.

He says, Let us go over to what?

Come on, he said, let us go over to what?

Come on, say like I mean.

He said, Let's go over to what?

Notice he didn't say, let's go halfway to the other side.

Notice he didn't say, let's see if we can get out here and survive to the other side.

Notice he didn't say, let's get out in the middle and we probably gonna drown going to the other side.

No, he gave a word.

He said, Let us go over to the other side.

I need you to understand something.

The promise from Jesus was spoken before the storm ever appeared.

God gave a word that we're going to the other side before the storm ever showed up.

And understand this about God's word.

There's enough power in God's word to bring itself to pass.

When the word comes down from heaven, it's like the rain and the snow.

Once it hits the ground and waters the earth, it'll produce what it's supposed to produce.

There's enough power inherent in God's word.

There's enough power in this book right here to change any circumstance in your life.

That's why Jesus gave Peter one word, come, and there's enough power in one word from God to make a man walk on the water.

So Jesus gave a word, and the word he gave wasn't let's try to go to the other side.

He said, Let us go to the other side.

Listen to this.

The disciples should have interpreted the storm through the promise that they had from Jesus.

They should have interpreted the storm through the promise they had from Jesus.

Jesus said, We're going to the other side.

They should have had this mindset, it can't possibly be the end for us if Jesus said we're going to the other side.

Reminds me of uh Abram.

You know, over in the Old Testament, Abram God gave him a promise in Genesis 12 that he was going to give him a son, he was going to give him a nation's gonna come out of him.

How many know in order for a nation to come out of you, you gotta have a child first?

Well, he's 75 at the time, his wife was 65 at the time.

Naturally speaking, they were beyond childbearing years, but God gave them a promise that a nation was gonna come out of them.

Well, they went down to Egypt right after that, if you remember the story, and when they got down to Egypt, Pharaoh wanted to take Sarah, his uh Abram's ride, to be his wife, and so he asked, Who is this girl?

And because Abram thought that he might kill him to take his wife, he got deceptive and said, She's just my sister.

Well, now watch this.

If you really believe that God's gonna make a great nation come out of you, how many know you can't be dead and have a nation come out of you?

He didn't really believe that God was faithful at that moment.

Later on, after it took a while and they hadn't had a child yet, his wife comes up with this great idea that maybe he should go in and have sex with her young Egyptian handmaid, and maybe God's gonna give us a child through her, and instead of him pushing back and saying, No woman, God said he's gonna bring a child through the two of us, he gives into it.

Creates an Ishmael child that gave them trouble for a long time.

Why?

Because he wasn't fully convinced that God would do what he said and bring a child through him.

Well, you know the story.

Eventually, God changes his name, God makes him cut covenant.

He ends up having that miracle child named Isaac, and the name Isaac literally means laughter.

Sometimes God will bless you so good that it makes you laugh at what the devil tried to do.

When Isaac is probably somewhere around 16, 17, maybe as old as 22 years old, God comes to Abram and says, I want you to take your son, take him to this mountain that I will tell you of, and I want you to sacrifice him.

You know the story.

He gets up, he walks for three days, finally gets to the mountain, takes him up to the mountain and ties him up, is ready to stick this knife into his kid.

And the angel calls him and says, You don't have to do it because I know that you trust and you believe God.

Question I have for you is how did this guy who struggle to believe that God could protect him when he went down to Egypt, who struggled to believe that God could bring a child through him and his wife instead of having to have a child with Hagar, how did he grow to the place where when he finally has his miracle, he's willing to sacrifice his miracle?

Because he he he believes some.

Let me read to you what the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19.

Hebrews 11:19

It says, Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, in other words, if God had him go through with sacrificing him, watch this.

God was able to bring him back to life again.

This guy had grown to the place of trusting God to be a faithful God, to where he said, you know what, I'll take him up this mountain, I'll stick a knife in him.

Because if God's gonna bring a mighty nation out of me, my kid can't be dead.

What am I saying?

He was interpreting the storm through the promise instead of interpreting the promise through the storm.

He simply said, I don't know how he comes out, I don't know how he's gonna do it, I don't know when he's gonna do it, I don't know what he has planned in this situation, but I know this much, he told me a nation was coming out of me.

And so if he's telling me to stick this knife in my kid, the Bible says Abram had already reasoned in his mind.

I just believe he's gonna have to raise him from the dead.

I wonder if you would stop trying to figure out how he's gonna do it, when he's gonna do it, and just go ahead and believe that somehow, somehow, God is faithful enough to get it done.

Come on, shout like you believe that, somebody.

See, most of the times the disciples, the disciples did what we often tend to do.

They interpreted the promise through the storm instead of interpreting the storm through the promise.

Listen to this.

If God gave you a promise, the storm cannot cancel what God has already declared.

You know in your heart God has promised you you're gonna have, you're gonna live happily ever after.

Just because it didn't work out with the bozo you were with, don't mean you're not still gonna live happily ever after.

Come on.

Come on, if God promised you that he's gonna supply your every need, that tax bill doesn't change the fact that he said what he said.

If God promised you with long life I will satisfy you, interpret that doctor's report through his promise and make sure you don't give in and start surrendering to the expectation that it's not gonna work out like God said.

You know, it amazed me when you're when you're following a GPS system.

Have you ever noticed that in the middle of traffic, the GPS system doesn't suddenly, after you've been stopped for a while and creeping for a while, the GPS system doesn't just say, you know what, let's go somewhere different.

The GPS system doesn't automatically change the destination because it's taking longer than expected.

No, the route might change.

It may be reroute you.

Watch this, the timing might change.

You may not get there at the time you originally thought, but the destination remains the same.

Come on, I got a word for you that's gonna make you shout right here.

God does not abandon the ultimate destination he has for your life just because you hit some rocky roads, just because you hit a storm or two, come on.

God is still taking you where he told you he was gonna take you.

Here's the second thing we gotta understand about riding through a storm.

God's silence is not God's absence.

God's silence does not equate to God's absence.

Here in Mark chapter 4 again, verse 38, Jesus was in the stern.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

He was in the boat, he was sleeping on a cushion.

He's in the boat with him.

Just because you don't hear God say anything, just because you don't see any motion, just because it's not making sense to you in a moment, don't let yourself become convinced that God is not right there with you in the storm.

The disciples, the disciples were literally panicking and Jesus was sleeping.

Here, I gotta ask you an honest question.

Have you ever felt like God was sleeping right in the middle of your biggest storm?

Am I the only one that have you ever come on?

Have you ever let's be honest?

I know what we're supposed to say in church, but I'm gonna ask you to be honest.

Have you ever literally felt like God was sleeping or on vacation or something right in the middle of your biggest storm?

I mean, you got a bad doctor's report and you you're waiting on to go back to next next time you go and get checked, and they're gonna tell you that that lump is gone.

But it feels like God is sleeping right in the middle of a marriage and a free fall?

Feels like God is sleeping when your your job is on the verge of being eliminated.

Feels like God sometimes is sleeping when you know you've raised this child to follow God, and now they're trying everything they can to walk away and drift.

Have you ever been in that place where it just feels like heaven is quiet?

Have you ever wondered why?

Let me tell you why.

Let me tell you why.

I have no idea.

When I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask him why too.

I have no idea why why there are moments, there are seasons where when you when it feels like I need heaven to speak the loudest, sometimes it feels like heaven can tend to be quiet.

I do have a I do have a couple theories.

One of my theories is this I tend to think it's because heaven is waiting to see if we will do all the stuff we've been taught to do.

Come on, when you sit in a church like this, you've been taught some good word, man.

I'm not bragging on me.

I'm just saying when you're sitting in a church that is actually teaching you the Bible and you shout, Amen, you take all these notes, you got all this stuff you post on your social media.

Sometimes heaven has a step back to give you a chance to see, can you actually activate all of this word that you've been taught?

Remember when Jesus called the storm, the next thing he said to them, he says, Oh, you of little faith, why did you doubt?

In other words, I believe that Jesus literally was expecting one of them to stand up on the front of that boat and command that storm to cease based on the word they had already gotten from him.

See, sometimes we get tripped up because in the early days when we first get saved, God just steps in and rescues us immediately.

Come on, you pray a prayer on Thursday morning, and by Thursday at three o'clock, money showed up.

Some friend calls you out of the blue, you pick up the Bible and you say, I need a word from you, God.

You just open it up and your finger goes to, I am with you always in the middle of difficult times.

But then when you start growing and maturing, come on, God doesn't show up to fix everything so quickly.

Sometimes He's expecting you to do what you've been taught to do.

Come on, somebody.

Come on, somebody.

When you start maturing, I mean it just seems like it's taking a little longer for the answer to show up.

You pick up in the Bible, you open up the Bible, try to do that thing you used to do when you first got saved, and you just stick your finger in it, thou wretched son of a.

All of a sudden, watch this guy not playing goo-goo gaga with you anymore.

Why?

Because he now knows that there's enough in you for you to deal with what's in front of you.

And if he just keeps stepping in to rescue us quickly, then we won't grow up enough to not only see our own victory, but turn around and help somebody else get victory.

Can I get an amen?

I also believe my other theory is this.

I also believe sometimes heaven seems quiet because God is trying to show us our own trust meter.

Sometimes we don't realize where we are on that on that trust meter.

You know how it is, I I came back from a cruise early in the spring, went on a cruise, man, and I came back.

You know, you can tell I tell I've been eating, man.

It's like that I had that scale right there, and every day I said, I need to get on the scale so I know where I am.

But I was nervous to get on that thing, man.

So I kept passing by it.

I said, let me let me let me take a couple days at home to get back eating right.

And I finally got on that scale, and I just knew it was gonna go ding-ding ding-ding ding.

But I was surprised I hadn't even gained any pounds.

Come on, somebody ought to shout hallelujah with me.

Watch this, but I I didn't know where I was until I got on the meter.

Sometimes we don't know where we are in really trusting God until we have an opportunity to actually see.

Well, my when my boys were younger, man, you know, uh both both of them, you know, just have kids, they got different personalities.

My son Caden was always a daredevil.

I mean, when he was young, you know, I'd be in the pool and I'll tell him, you know, John.

In the pool, daddy's in here, and he'd jump in the pool.

He didn't have to have no floaties on, nothing.

He'd jump in the pool.

Sometimes I'd have my back turned, he done jumped in.

I didn't even see him jumping in.

Why said, but as long as he knew I was close by, he'd jump in.

I remember one day I was out there grilling and you know I had him in the pool and I had taught him to teach him how to swim, but he started off with the little float things on his arm.

And he didn't realize that them float things are keeping him up.

One day I'm out there grilling, I just see this shadow come running past me.

Jumps in the water.

Because he thinks he can swim, because them floating things done trick him.

And he first he started off and then he's going down.

But daddy was right there watching.

I raced and grabbed him and snatched him out of the water.

When I'm uh my youngest son, Kazan, he was a lot more cautious.

I remember we're down in Orlando at this resort, and I'm trying to teach him how to swim.

Like I had Tark Kerrigan to swim, Tarkadin to swim, I'm trying to teach him how to swim.

And so he's on the side, and I'm trying to get him to jump into the pool.

Daddy's in the water, right?

Come on, jump into the pool.

And he's standing there, he won't.

He got he got on every flotation device known to man.

He got on a vest, he got on them arm floaty things.

He he looked good.

He got goggles.

But I'm trying to get him to jump in the water, and I'm standing right there, and I'm saying, come just jump right here, son.

And he's nervous, he won't jump.

I got frustrated with him.

You know, if I didn't think they was gonna call DCF on me, I was gonna snatch him on in the water.

But it frustrated me.

Watch this, because I know daddy's not gonna do anything to let any harm come to you.

But he had not grown to a place yet where he trusted enough that daddy would be able to get him safely out of that water.

See, sometimes we don't really know where our trust meter is until a problem shows up.

We sing all these amazing songs, we lift our hands in worship, but we get a chance to find out where our trust really is when a storm shows up.

Isaiah 43, verse 2 says this.

Isaiah 43:2

It says, when somebody shall win, and when somebody shall win, notice he didn't say if.

He said, when you pass through the waters, I will be what?

I'll be with you.

And when, not if, when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.

That's a promise from God.

If you're going through a storm, even if it feels like heaven is silent, God is telling you right now, I'm with you, I'm for you, I'm on your side, and I will never let you go through this by yourself.

I love this quote from V.

Raymond Edmund.

He says, Never doubt in the darkness what God has spoken to you in the light.

Man is here's the third thing we gotta understand when you're going through a storm.

Understand this, fear will sometimes make you forget what faith you should remember.

When you're going through a sometimes, fear has a tendency to make you forget what faith should stir your heart up to remember.

Mark chapter four, verse thirty eight.

The storm has created an illusion for them.

He's been feeding them, he's been housing them, he's been taking care of them.

But because a storm has kicked them, the pressure from the storm has made them forget just how good Jesus has already been to them.

He's already taken care of them, but one storm caused them to temporarily forget what he's done.

This is fear does not just exaggerate our problems, it causes us to forget God's dragon.

I'm preaching better than you saying, Amen.

Fear will make you forget how good God has already been.

You ask us how many times has God provided for me?

Go back and ask how many times has He provided me for me?

How many times has God protected me when I should have been dead?

How many times has God opened doors for me when nobody else could have opened that door?

How many times was it how many times has God healed my body when I didn't know what was gonna happen last time?

Come on, how many times has God made a way when I had no idea?

If you know God has come through, you ought to take about 30 seconds to give him the best praise you got.

Come on, you ought to shout like you know he's been good.

You ought to take a moment to remember the goodness of the Lord, to praise him like he's taking care of you, to rejoice like he's been good for you, to shout like he's provided for you, to praise God like he's protected you.

Thank you, Lord God.

Thank you, Lord God.

Psalm 7711 says, I will remember the deeds of the Lord.

Yes, I will remember your miracles from a long time ago.

And I say today I remember, man.

Some of you just got here in this building.

I remember the mirror roll building when we pulled up, man.

I remember the opening day service.

I remember them sitting there as a little nervous 26-year-old hoping somebody showed up to church that day.

I remember standing there on stage preaching my first sermon in my brand new church.

Reminding everybody that God is faithful, God is good.

I remember growing and we went from one service to two services to three services.

I remember moving to landmark middle school and setting up every week, and then going to two services landmark.

I remember buying an old Wend Dixie building.

People thought I was crazy because it was so ruined when we first bought it, but we renovated and had church there, turned it into our G5G use center.

I remember buying 32 acres of land and we paid cash money for it as a young church.

I remember building a building, having a groundbreaking at 89, 85 Long Star Road with plans to eventually build a whole campus right there.

But we grew so fast that we outgrew the plan and had to start looking.

I remember it took years and years of looking and years of finding land and realizing that that land we couldn't build on it.

Eventually we found this place at the mall.

And I remember buying this spot and thinking we were gonna renovate it right away and move into it within six or seven months.

And it took several years.

Feeling like I had messed up because I done bought this building.

I don't know how to get us in it.

I remember God speaking to me when in the darkest moment God spoke to me and gave me wisdom of what to do.

I remember being ready to start building this, and as soon as we're ready to start building, COVID hits and the whole world shuts down.

I remember moving in here and having our 25th anniversary and could barely have anybody here because you couldn't really gather like we were used to.

I remember through all of that, through the ups and the downs, through the highs and the lows, through the great financial times, through the tough financial times, I remember that God has been faithful through it all.

I remember that no matter what has ever come our way, God has been right there every step.

I remember looking at families that have grown and marriages that have been healed and kids that have come through our impact kids and through our youth service, and now our adults that are worshiping God.

I remember that even when I wasn't faithful, God was still faithful to me.

I remember when I was missing the mark, when I couldn't see straight, God was still right there every step of the way.

Somebody else ought to take a moment to celebrate the goodness of God with me.

Come on, somebody ought to take a moment.

See, the greatest anecdote to fear in the storm is reminding yourself what God has already done.

When you know God has already been good to you, then in the middle of this new storm, you know all I gotta do is keep riding.

Nope, I'm not recalculating, not changing the destination.

Not gonna pull over to the side and just quit on life.

Keep driving toward the sun.

Come on, say it loud, I say I'm driving toward the sun.

Come on, say it again, I say, I'm driving toward the sun.

Even if you can't see the sun just yet, stay on the pathway, stay on the course because brighter days are just ahead.

You could very well be one mile from the shore.

You could very well be so close to your destination that the enemy's trying everything he can to squeeze you, pressure you to get you to quit.

But you gotta have enough perseverance to know you're not by yourself.

The faithful God is with you, and He's cheering you on to your destination.

Here's the last thing I need you to know.

When you're riding through a storm, know this Jesus has authority over whatever it is that's threatening you.

Mark 4:39, Jesus got up, rebuked the wind, said to the waves, Quiet, be still.

Mark 4:39

Then the wind calmed down and it was completely calm.

Notice Jesus didn't get up and negotiate with the storm.

He didn't say, Hey, can the wind settle down a little bit?

Can you take it easy on us?

He got up and he commanded the storm.

The disciples discover something.

The disciples discover something that we need to know.

They feared the storm, but that storm was subject to the Savior that they followed.

Your storm today might be financial, it might be physical, might be relational, might be marital, might be mental, might be emotional.

But you need to understand this.

Always remember whatever has a name stands beneath the authority of the name of Jesus.

Even if they call it incurable, it's still got a name now.

And if it's got a name, hear me out.

It stands below the name of Jesus.

There's a name that is above every other name.

There's a name that is above cancer and lupus and diabetes and sickle cell disease and depression and poverty and lack and marital discord.

There's a name that can arrest your adult child and bring them right back home to the kingdom of God.

But you gotta be willing to trust that in the middle of this storm, God's got you.

Philippians chapter 2, verse 9 says this.

Philippians 2:9

Therefore, God exalted him to the highest place, and he gave him the name that is above every name.

No matter what name you call, I got one that'll trumpet.

It's like when you're playing, when you're playing spades, you got that big joker, you don't care what they got.

They can be sitting over there all happy with that ace of spades.

They can be sitting over there feeling good with that little joker, but you got the big joker.

And you know, whatever they put out, all you gotta do is pa-da.

You need to have that mindset when it comes to your everyday life, man.

Whatever the devil throws at you, you gotta feel you got the big joker.

His name is Jesus.

Come on, you got the trump card of all trump cards.

You gotta be ready and willing to put that name on the line and know that God's got you in the middle of every storm.

Lift up your hands all over this room.

Come on, lift up your hands all over this room.

We worship you, Jesus.

We worship you, Jesus.

Come on, we worship you, Jesus.

I was tossed in the water, but I never went under you always on time Jesus when I went through the fire, you were at the best time, you always on time, and fifty you were all the way to the back always going to stop you all the way.

You were at the time you always always put always good always good always.

Come on, if you know he's gonna be on time this time, well as well.

Give him a praise in advance.

Come on, give him a praise in advance.

We know you're gonna be on time this time as well, God.

Thank you, Lord.

Now I gotta ask you a question.

If you're in this room today, if you're online today, do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord?

Do you know him not just as a passenger in the boat?

Do you know him as the captain of the ship who'll never guide you into bad territory?

Because the truth of the matter is we don't get to heaven, we don't get to have a relationship by our good works outweighing our bad works.

A lot of people think that they think when I die one day, gotta put all my good deeds on one scale, my bad deeds on another scale.

And whichever one is the heaviest, then that it'll send me to heaven or hell.

No, the truth of the matter is if we did nothing but good for the rest of our lives, it would still never be enough to earn a relationship with a holy God.

So God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, Jesus, that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus came to live this life in a sinless way so he could be crucified as a sinner to take our place.

And when God raised him from the dead three days later, he took his blood, applied it to your sin account and my sin account, which means in heaven right now, heaven is not mad at you.

God is not upset with you, he's madly in love with you, and he's waiting on one decision that'll transform your life for the rest of your days.

So, all over this room, if you're standing, I'm gonna ask you to go ahead and be seated for just a moment.

And if you're ready to surrender your heart to Jesus Christ, in just a moment, I'm gonna have everybody bow our heads.

When we bow our heads, there's a little card in the seat pocket that just says say yes to Jesus.

If you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus, that's all it requires.

He's not asking you to write out a list of all the stuff you'll stop doing or get better at.

All he's asking you to do is one simple thing: surrender your entire heart, your entire life to Jesus Christ.

And if you're ready to do that, when we bow our heads, I want you to reach out and grab that card that just says say yes to Jesus.

Hang on to it, because I'm gonna count to three.

When I get to three, I'm gonna ask you to lift that card up high in the air.

I'm not gonna embarrass you, I'm not gonna ask you to stand up, I'm not gonna ask you to come to the front of this church.

Right there at your seat.

I'm getting ready to lead you in a simple prayer, but it'll radically change your life.

So go ahead and bow your heads all over the room.

Reach out and grab that card if you're ready to say yes to Jesus.

Come on, reach out and grab it.

This is personal between you and God.

Hang on to it for just a moment.

And I'm getting ready to count to three.

When I get to three, I want you to shoot that card up as high as you can.

Don't wait, don't hesitate, because the devil's gonna try everything he can to talk you out of this moment.

But this is your moment, life-changing moment.

Getting ready to count to three, lift that card up in the air.

One, two, three, lift it up, lift it up, lift it up, lift it up.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, all over the room.

Anyone else?

Lift that card up high.

Praise God.

If you lift that card in the air, I want you to do this.

I want you to whisper this prayer right there at your seat, just loud enough for you and God to hear.

Say, dear God in heaven, thank you for Jesus.

Thank you for sending him to die in my place.

Thank you for raising him from the dead.

I believe with all of my heart that he's alive right now.

So, Jesus, come into my heart, save me, forgive me, make me brand new.

I surrender my life to you for the rest of my days, and according to the Bible, I am right now born again.

Amen.

Come on, put your hands together and pack.

Did you just make a decision for Jesus?

Welcome to the family.

We're so excited.

Trust me, we're clapping for you, and we believe that you've made an important decision today.

We'd like to help you on your journey.

So if you'll follow the directions that are on screen, there is a free book you can download.

It's gonna take you five to ten minutes of your day for the next seven days.

But our pastors have put together some amazing resources that we believe will help you on the journey ahead.

If you don't want it, nobody's going to email you, text you, bother you, anything like that.

We just want to make sure you are successful in your walk with Jesus.

Now, let me tell you, one of the things you should consider is baptism.

And if you're in the Jacksonville area, we do baptism after our first weekend service every month, and you can just scan the QR code that's on the screen, sign up for that.

I'd love to be a part of that journey with you, or any of our ministers would.

If you don't live in town, we do believe you should find a Bible teaching church and at least go get baptized, even if you're still gonna watch our service.

But download that book, it's free.

We're excited for your journey ahead, and we can't wait to be a part of that.

Now, this is a part of the service where we also demonstrate our generosity.

If you're just checking us out today, you don't feel any pressure to give.

But for those of you, this is your church, you know that we are generous is one of our core values.

And so you can give online or you can give through our app, which I really like.

You have the Apple Pay option right on our app.

Just go to your Google store or your Apple store, download the We Are Impact app.

It's also a great way to study notes that um come from the sermons that you watch on here.

And there's a lot of events on there as well.

But you can give through that app, it's super easy, and we're just grateful that you partner with us week after week.

Well, we're so excited you joined us today.

Hope you have an amazing weekend, and we'll see you next time.