Elder Update & "This Caffeinated Life"

Welcome to Gateway Church's podcast.

Wherever you're tuning in from, we hope you're encouraged by today's message.

Hey Gateway Church, we have got a great day.

It is water baptism across all of our Gateway campuses, and we are thrilled.

In fact, if you want to follow Jesus through the waters of baptism, you can do that today.

And you say, Well, I didn't bring a change of clothes.

We thought of that.

We've got changes of clothes.

We got hair towels.

If you got any hair, uh all we need is a heart turned towards Jesus.

And so uh we've got Stormy here who's given her heart uh to the Lord and she is ready to follow the Lord in the waters of baptism.

Let's celebrate as she gets baptized today.

Come on somebody! Celebrate! Lift up your voice if you're not standing already.

Stand with me.

We've got a very special service.

Let's worship God together.

Hey man, are you ready to worship today?

You would just just for a moment if you would just extend your hands to heaven.

See, we serve a God who can do the impossible.

We serve a God just like we sung moments ago.

We serve a God who can take broken situations and difficulty and and tragedy and turn it into something that is beautiful.

And so, God, as a church, we lift our hands to you as an indication that Lord, it is you that we look to.

God, you are our source, you are our help.

Lord, your word says that you are a very present help.

And Lord, we stand as sons and daughters, recipients of your goodness and grace and mercy and love.

It's in Jesus' mighty name we pray.

Somebody just give Jesus a shout one more time.

Yo, we got a great watching.

We got a free just give me a family, welcome in the church family! Welcome to a church, welcome out.

I'm Trey Wilbanks, and I serve on the Board of Elders here at Gateway.

A few weeks ago, I provided you with an update on behalf of the elders about the events of recent weeks.

And at that time, we committed to providing you with updates throughout this process, and today I wanted to come to you with a very important update about our future.

Specifically, I'm going to update you today on where we are right now, where we're going for the next six months, and what our long-term plans are.

As you can imagine, as important as this news is, we felt it was very important to communicate with our staff first, which we did on Thursday.

I am aware that most of you learned this news in the news.

We felt it was important to communicate to our staff first.

Rather than send you a video announcement, we thought it would be better to do it in person.

So thank you for allowing that.

I do want to tell you, thank you for your patience as we have navigated this particular time.

I'm aware that many of you have been waiting patiently for answers.

And you have a lot of questions about our future.

I know that you might be frustrated because we haven't been quick in providing some of these answers.

I'm also aware that sometimes we have lacked clarity in our communications.

So we understand your frustrations and ask for your continued grace.

We do intend to increase our communication with you in the coming days.

So over the past few weeks, we as elders have been praying and wrestling through many of the important strategic questions.

But before I update you on our next steps, we felt it was important to address Cindy Clemenshire one more time.

Cindy, in case you are watching, we want to again apologize to you on behalf of our entire church for the years of pain that you have endured.

We are sorry for our initial communication, which was clearly incorrect.

You were a child, not a young lady.

Additionally, two weeks ago, Gateway released a statement saying that this was, quote, an inappropriate relationship relationship.

This statement was not correct either.

To be clear, we believe that this was sexual abuse of a child.

Any description falling short of that does not reflect our position.

I'm sorry that we got that communication wrong.

We are in no way attempting to cover up or minimize this situation.

In fact, I would like to say to you, Cindy, thank you for coming forward.

As you know, because of her story, we did move swiftly to bring in an independent law firm to investigate this matter fully, including who knew what and when.

All parties are fully cooperating, and the independent inquiry, as I said before, will be complete, and we will deliver their findings to you as they do complete.

They're making progress, and we hope to be able to come back to you in the near future.

But while that work continues, there are some important questions that we can and should address now.

The time has come to talk about where do we go from here.

As we have weighed this important question, we have diligently sought the Lord in prayer because obedience to Him is our highest priority.

Our decision process may sound very familiar to how you and your family might make a big decision.

We pray about it, we ask the Lord, and we seek godly counsel from wise friends and family who love us.

Many of you have graciously offered us your time and wisdom, and your input is invaluable.

And as elders, we are grateful to you for the feedback that you've given.

So thank you.

This extensive process has taken time, and we're grateful for your patience.

And our focus this past several weeks has been to prioritize what we're hearing for the Lord, even at the expense of speedy communication.

But in all of these conversations, there was a very consistent thread, and the elders are in unity for our path forward.

So, what is happening now?

Earlier this week, the elders met with Pastor James and Bridget, and we jointly made the decision that they would both step down from their current position at Gateway and from leading Gateway in the future.

This was a decision that we came to together.

As you can imagine, the last several weeks have been extremely weighty for them and their family as they have navigated an unthinkable situation.

James and Bridget, you are loved by this house.

We as elders absolutely affirm the call on them to serve as senior pastors at a church.

And we prayerfully believe that this will happen down the road as the Lord leads them.

But first they did need a time to heal and process all that has transpired.

And we fully support their desire to plant a church in the future.

We love them, and we believe in them, and I want to thank them for pouring out to you, to our staff, in the time that they've served here at Gateway.

Our hearts are with you, and we pray that you will be able to take the time to rest, process, pray, and uncover what God has for you next.

I'm going to turn it over to them for a minute because they would like to share with you.

Thank you.

Thank you all so much.

Thank you.

We love you guys.

And when the elders first shared with us, the the part that made it hard is simply that we love you all so much.

We love you at every campus.

We love I've had the privilege of responding to so many emails and everything, and we just love you.

We love Gateway Church so much.

We've loved serving you.

We've loved serving alongside you.

Seeing what the Lord is doing in your life has been the best part of this whole time we've been here.

We love seeing God working in your lives, in the working, in the lives of your kids and your grandkids.

You know, I've been in worship, kids' ministry.

I've been around this building so many times in so many different rooms and at the different campuses.

And it has just been the joy, just an absolute joy to partner with you and to serve you.

So thank you so much for letting us do that.

It truly has been an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity to share with you, to pray with you, to pray for you, to baptize people.

And so it's just been such an honor to have this time to lead in this season and to thank you.

Thank you for letting us do that.

That's right.

I'll say.

And you know, I feel like we're a few days ahead of y'all in our grieving process, but the Lord is starting to give us vision, and so it doesn't uh it doesn't go past me that this is a baptism weekend.

I feel like it's the ending of one season for us and the beginning of a new one.

So that the Lord is giving us vision for the future.

But we do grieve, grieve not being here with you.

And we are very excited about the future, the future of Gateway, the future of what God has for all of us, and even for us as we now go and we pray and we seek God to plant a church.

Now, with that, I will say, even though we're pastoring a different church, we are all the body of Christ.

And we are called to walk in unity, we're called to work with each other.

We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

And so we're still family.

If you see us out and about, you best come give me a hug.

Otherwise, I'll make it awkward and I'm gonna come hug you, all right?

Yeah, absolutely.

We will hug you if we see you out and about.

And so try to beat us to it.

Well, we love you guys.

Absolutely, and I just want to encourage you all that God is so, so good.

God is so faithful, and God has plans for each and every one of you.

God has plans for us, God has plans for a gateway, and we are excited about that.

And just keep doing the work of the Lord.

Love God, love people the best you possibly can.

And we love you, and we love God, and we love God's house, and we are excited about what God will do.

That's right.

All right, guys.

We love you.

Thank you.

Um I appreciate what James says at the end there, because I one of the things that I have picked up from a Bible recap this year, especially going through the Old Testament, that we serve a multi-purpose God, meaning that He is constantly working purposes in my life, in your life, and in James and Bridget's lives, and in Gateway's life.

And it's comforting to know that we serve a God that can do both all those things at one time.

So I do want to turn to what we're doing in the interim.

So here at Gateway, we are incredibly blessed to have two incredible leaders and pastors who have graciously agreed to step in and serve our staff and congregation as interim co pastors for the next six months.

First, Pastor Max Luceto.

He is going to be stepping into an interim teaching pastoral where he'll be sharing and teaching from this platform regularly about twice a month.

Max is one of the world's most respected theologians and authors, and we are so honored that he would come to Gateway to help us during this season.

When I call to ask Max about this possibility, his response to me was, why me?

His humility in that response was striking.

He is such a humble servant of Jesus, and we believe that God has called him to gateway for this season.

Dina Lin, his wife, is already carrying a burden for you, and I'm sure you witnessed that a few weeks ago when she prayed for us.

Serving alongside Max will be Joachim Lundquist.

In addition to taking on preaching responsibility, he is going to also serve in a pastoral capacity alongside the staff at Gateway.

And starting next week, he is going to be in the Gateway offices Mondays through Wednesdays serving alongside our staff.

As we met with Joachim, it became abundantly clear God had called him for this season.

He actually flew from Sweden last Sunday, arrived Monday morning at 7 a.m., met with us for five hours, and then flew back to Sweden at noon.

He has a deep love for you and our staff, and he can't wait to be with you.

He was also one of the first pastors that reached out to us that first week and offered to help in any way that he could.

Turning to our long-term plan, we are going to launch a search for a new senior pastor immediately.

This will be a formal search to find our next senior pastor who God calls to lead Gateway forward.

We expect this search to take some time, and we intend to be very deliberate in hearing the Lord as we want his plan for Gateway to prevail.

As we work through this, we will give you updates as things progress.

Take comfort in knowing God is preparing this person right now.

I don't know who it is, but we serve a God that does know who it is.

It is overwhelming to me to see God's provision during this season.

My faith is strengthened because I know that He will continue to bring the right people to Gateway Church.

And this is an amazing group of servants.

Pastor Max, Pastor Joachim, James, and Bridget.

The Bible talks about seasons, and all of these leaders are beginning a new season in their ministry lives.

And we are grateful to each of them for their example in obedience to Christ.

So this is a big moment for Gateway.

And you can decide how to respond.

For my part, I'm going to press in to him more than ever.

And I want to encourage you to do the same.

Please don't let your hurts from the last several weeks drive you from Gateway.

Move towards what God is doing in this place.

Press in during this season.

God is working purposes in your life here at Gateway.

In February of this year, the elders received a prophetic word from a respected leader in the body of Christ.

I'm going to read it to you in a moment.

This man had been to Dallas in 2019 after that severe storm struck the Park Cities area.

Here is what he said.

There had been a terrible tornado that had come.

Oak trees were split in half.

And the Lord said to me, There are two winds coming to Gateway.

First is a dark wind out of nowhere.

It will uproot precious people, split friendships, but you are not to be afraid, because the Lord is sending a second wind, a growing wind of force that will grow in 2024 week by week.

It will be a wind of visitation that comes from God, and a wave of his spirit will move on gateway.

There will be a healing, a restoration, a return, and a supernatural move of my spirit.

And in 2025, a fresh wave of the Holy Spirit will roll over this church.

Dry bones will come alive.

Things that seem to be gone will even return.

And I think about the word that we got last year from Jensen Franklin about our youth and 10,000 coming to know the Lord.

And I believe that word.

Watch what I do.

This word comforts me greatly, and I hope it does you too.

I'm not going to miss what the Lord has for this place.

And I know that I know that I know that God is not done with Gateway Church.

I believe He's going to move in this place, and we as elders are committed to being obedient to Him and serving you in humility.

In closing, I do want to invite you that if you have a concern, please don't hesitate to talk to one of us.

We want to be available to you.

We want to answer your difficult questions.

We want to pray with you.

This has been hard for us as well, so we would take encouragement from you if you wanted to give us that.

But we believe that the Lord has called us to this season.

And we are grateful to be moving forward with you.

We will get through this.

And we are waiting expectantly upon the Lord.

We're going to invite you to join us in this effort.

We are going to call our church to a time of prayer, fasting, and worship in the coming days, and your campus pastors will give you more details.

For the last 23 years, Psalms 40 has served as a comfort to me in especially difficult times.

And I would like to read to you the first three verses.

I waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined to me and heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and he set my feet upon a rock, and he established my steps.

He has put a new song in my mouth, praise to our God, many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

I'm going to lead us in a prayer in a moment, and after I pray, you are going to get to receive a mess, a short message from Joachim, and about how excited he is to be here with you.

Father God, we love you and we worship you.

We invite you into this place because without you, it is just a building and a structure.

It is you that we are here for, and we love you.

Have your way in this place.

Amen.

But we're currently hosting our main conference at Word of Life in Sweden right now.

But let me tell you this: I am so honored and I'm so excited to be stepping in as your interim pastor together with Pastor Max and to walk with you into this season of healing and rebuilding for the future.

Let me tell you, I know from my experience, and I've seen it with my own eyes, as I walked my church through a similar season of shaking about 10 years ago, that if we allow such a season to bring us to our knees, to bring us closer together and make the changes necessary, then God will allow for us to come out on the other side, not just barely alive, but actually stronger and better than ever.

I can't wait to journey together with you into God's glorious future for Gateway Church.

I'm looking forward to seeing you soon.

God bless you.

I love you.

Well, hello, everybody.

Those of you who are watching online, those of you watching from different campuses, I'm Max, my beautiful wife Neilan.

We love this church.

And um we're feeling at once the uh twin emotions of um sadness over what has brought us here, and yet excitement over what is about to happen.

Um we consider it a high and holy privilege to walk with you in this journey.

We take it very, very seriously.

We love the church, and we believe that God is preparing his church for his return.

And our Lord Jesus could, even in the middle of this message, do so, Jesus.

Come and uh rapture us into his presence, and for that we are longing, and for that we are looking.

Uh, Pastor Joachim and I um are privileged to just do our very best to bring a word of encouragement and a word of hope as the church navigates these waters.

Uh Dean Lin and I uh are thrilled to be here.

I need to say, I've never been an interim pastor.

Ever.

Uh I was ordained in 1979.

I know that predates Noah's Ark.

Um we have served at churches in Miami, Florida, uh, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but most of our time in San Antonio, Texas.

I'm still a pastor of the Oak Hills Church.

Um, I don't know how this works, but I'm gonna pastor both places.

And so we'll put in some flight miles, and um, Pastor Joachim and I are working out the schedule.

We've not got all those details worked out, but we are very, very confident that our God is great and our Lord Jesus is building his church, and that he will make all of this work in a way that glorifies his name.

I've got a message I'd like to share with you on thriving in a season of change, which is exactly where we are today.

I have what I think is a very clever sermon title.

Tell me what you think.

It's called This Caffeinated Life.

This Caffeinated Life.

And so I'm going to invite my precious wife to pray, and then we'll get to work.

Well, can I admonish you for just a second?

Uh, we've been in ministry for, I guess, well, when I married him, I started ministry, so that was 43 years ago almost.

But so, you know, there's mountains and valleys always in God's church because we're human beings and we fail, but we just were covered by the blood of the Lamb, and that is a thick and awesome covering.

It defends us, it renews us, it covers us.

So I want to ask you to pray for your leaders.

I want to ask you to pray for your elders, even when you don't get it, you think it should have gone this way or that way, but they need you to pray.

God needs his church to be unified, his greater church.

I'm not just talking about gateway, but his greater church.

So this psalm came to me um for your for your elders, and it says, do not turn me over to the desire of my foes for false witnesses to rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations, for I remain confident of this.

I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

And we we want to be in agreement with that, that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

So let's pray, Lord Jesus.

You are the goodness of the Lord.

And we just can't, I mean, all of this seems like a lot, all of it, but Lord, you are in all of it, and you are so big, and you are so mighty, and you are so great, and your mercy is endless, and your grace is our sufficiency, and your peace is something no one can understand, but it is something that we have because of your spirit.

So, Jesus, we bring all of this before you.

We declare you to be faithful.

You are our faithfulness, you are our healer, you are our redeemer, you are our savior.

None of this surprises you, none of this shocks you.

Because you are omniscient, you are all knowing, you are everywhere all the time.

Jesus, you are praying for us right now.

You know who to pray for, you know what they need, you know all of our hearts, Father, all the feelings, all the emotions, all the thoughts that we have.

You know all of it.

And we thank you that you are so trustworthy that we can bring every thought, every feeling, every question before you.

And you hold them, you validate them, you love us through it all.

You have purpose, you have grace, you have healing, you have meaning for our lives.

So what we want to ask is that you give us strength to keep our eyes on you, not on the earth, but on you, Jesus.

For you are the author and the perfecter of our faith.

And you, Jesus, you will tell us how to be, how to think, how to feel, how to know.

And really all we want is you.

And as the as the worship song said, you're the only one who can.

You make graves in the gardens, highways through the sea.

And you you said in your word, make a highway in the desert so I can come in.

So this may feel like a desert right now, Lord, but we just want to be bricklayers.

And we want there to be a highway in the desert so you can come in and do your work your way.

So may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Jesus.

Amen.

You know, if only we could order life the way we order gourmet coffee.

Wouldn't we love just to mix and match all the ingredients of our life?

I would like a tall, extra hot cup of adventure, cut the danger, and two shots of good health.

I would like a decalf brew of longevity, please, with the sprinkle of fertility, please.

Go heavy on the agility and cut the disability, please.

I'll go with the grande happy latte with a dollop of love sprinkled with the Rocky Mountain retirement.

Take me to that coffee shop.

Too bad it doesn't exist.

Truth is, life often hands us a concoction different than the one we expected, and certainly different than the one we requested.

Joe Jones, enjoy your early retirement.

It looks like it comes with marital problems and inflation.

Mary Adams, you put in an order for four years of university and then pregnancy.

Now you're pregnant.

We'll see about the university.

Gateway church.

How about a summer-long ride on a roller coaster?

Life comes caffeinated with surprises, modifications, transitions, alterations.

Some changes welcome, some not.

And in those seasons in which we think we know what's about to happen, we're surprised, right?

Just driving down today from driving up today from San Antonio.

We stopped at a little cafe in Waco, and next to the cashier's table was a box that said, if you're tired of your, if you're tired of change, just put it in here.

Well, we're all a little weary of change.

You certainly had your share.

We're in a changing country.

We have one presidential candidate who got shot at.

We had another presidential candidate who bailed out.

And now we don't know what's about to happen.

And then you're going through change in leadership at church.

We just don't know what's going to happen.

We might request a decaffeinated life, but we don't get it.

The disciples didn't.

Jesus got into a boat and his followers went with him.

A great storm arose on the lake so that the waves covered the boat.

But Jesus was sleeping.

His followers went to him and woke him, saying, Lord, save us, we will drown.

Jesus answered, Why are you afraid?

You don't have enough faith.

And then Jesus got up and gave a command to the wind and the waves, and it became completely calm.

And the men were amazed.

And they said, What kind of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him?

At first, blush, we think Jesus is kidding with this question, why are you afraid?

Surely he's teasing, right?

Surely he knows, correct?

Pulling a quick one, isn't he?

It's kind of like one swimmer asking another, why are you wet?

I mean, it's pretty obvious why they're afraid, but Jesus doesn't smile.

He's dead earnest.

And so are the disciples to whom he asked the question.

I mean, a storm has turned their Galilean dinner crews into a white-knuckled plunge.

I mean, look again at Matthew's question or description.

Jesus got into a boat, his followers went with him, a great storm arose on the lake, so that the waves covered the boat.

Years later, when he wrote these words, he remembered that pouncing tempest and that bouncing boat, and he was really careful in selecting the right word.

In my imagination, he pulls a Greek thesaurus off the shelf.

And he goes looking for the right word to describe this storm.

He bypasses summer squall, rainfall, that's not enough.

Spring shower, that won't do.

That won't capture what he saw and what he felt that night, which was a rumbling earth and a quivering shoreline.

This was more than just winds and white tops.

He keeps looking for that right synonym and finally he finds it.

It's that Greek word, S-E-I-S-M-O-S, Seismus.

Seism.

We recognize the word, right?

A seismologist measures earthquakes.

A seismograph measures earthquakes.

And Matthew, in reflecting back on what that day was like, uses a word that he only uses two other times in his gospel.

And the other two times is when he describes one, the ground shaking at Calvary when Christ was crucified.

And two, the ground shaking when Christ was resurrected from the dead.

So apparently, this miracle deserves a spot in the trilogy of the resurrection and salvation, and now the defeat of fear.

This was a seismos.

It was sudden fear.

We know the fear was sudden because the storm was.

An older translation reads: suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea.

Not all storms come suddenly.

Those of us who grew up in the flatlands of West Texas, as I did in the Permian Basin, we could see a storm coming when it was all the way up in Amarillo.

It was so flat.

But this storm came out of nowhere.

It barreled out of the Golan Heights and it turned the Galilean Sea into a teapot.

And all of a sudden, the boat in which the disciples were riding was popping like popcorn in a popcorn popper up and then down and then up and then down.

It sprang like a lion out of the grass.

One minute the disciples were shuffling cards for a pre for a mid-journey game of hearts.

And the next minute they were gulping Galilean sea spray.

Peter and John, they were seasoned sailors, and they struggled to keep down the sail.

Matthew was a confirmed land lover, and he struggled to keep down his meal.

The storm was not what he bargained for.

Do you sense surprise in the way he linked these phrases?

Look at this.

Jesus got into a boat and his followers went with him.

A great storm arose on the lake.

All the disciples did was what Jesus told them to do, and a storm showed up.

Wouldn't you hope for a happier second sentence?

Jesus got into a boat, his followers went with him, and suddenly a great rainbow arched in the sky.

Jesus got into a boat, his followers went with him, and out of nowhere there was a covey of dove in the sky.

Jesus got into a boat, his disciples follow him, and the water was like glass, reflecting the mast.

This story sends a not so subtle and not too popular reminder that disciples get caught in storms.

You can do exactly what Jesus told you to do, follow him exactly where he went, and look up and see the waves are churning and the wind is blowing, and you're wondering, wait a second, all I did was do what he told me to do.

Christ's followers battle cancer.

Christ's followers bury children.

Christ's followers wrestle with addictions.

And as a result, face unexpected and unrequested, highly caffeinated events.

Like this one.

It's not the absence of storms that sets believers apart.

It's whom we discover in the storm.

An unstirred Christ.

Oh, you're gonna love this.

Verse 24.

Jesus was, what's the word, church?

Sleeping.

Jesus was sleeping.

There's this thing.

The disciples scream and Jesus dreams.

Thunder roars and Jesus.

You got it?

Do you ever imagine that God on earth could be heard going in a storm?

In the midst of a storm?

Who could sleep in a seismos?

Who could you?

Could you sleep on a roller coaster ride?

Could you sleep at a kettle drum concert?

Could you sleep in a wind tunnel?

And yet Jesus slept in the midst of all three.

What a Savior we serve, that what stirs our fears does not stir His.

When we are stirred, He is unstirred.

In Mark's gospel, he adds two wonderful details.

Jesus was in the stern asleep on a pillow.

In a stern on a pillow.

Why the first, and from whence came the second?

First century fishermen used large, heavy, sane nets for their work.

And when they weren't using the nets, they stored them in a nook built into the stern for this purpose.

So those nets wouldn't trip up anyone's feet.

Sleeping upon the stern was impossible.

It offered no protection.

It didn't have enough space.

But right beneath the top of the stern was just enough room for somebody, if they wanted to, to pull out the net and crawl in and catch some Z's.

And that's what Jesus did.

And he rested his head on a pillow.

Not a fluffy pillow that you're already thinking about using at some point when you get home.

But this was a ballast bag, a leather bag that literally was a ballast to the boat.

It weighed as much as a hundred pounds.

Fishermen in the Mediterranean use them to this day.

And so Jesus just used the ballast bag.

Now, did Jesus take the pillow into the stern?

Or was he asleep in the stern and someone rustled up the pillow?

I don't know.

But I do know this was a premeditated slumber.

He didn't just doze off.

He wasn't sitting there and just.

He said, I think I see a storm coming, a good time for me to take a nap.

The view our God has of our storms is entirely different than the view we have of them.

Amen?

Do we not need a God who is unstirred by what stirs us?

Do we not need a God who looks at the storm and says, I'm in charge.

I can manage it.

Do we not need a heavenly father who, when our world gets turned upside down, says, Oh, I can set it right side up.

That's my job.

And so this story is in the Bible.

Now, this nap really ticked off the disciples.

I mean, it really did.

Matthew and Mark record their response as staccato commands.

You know, the Bible was, New Testament was written in Greek.

Forgive me for being a bit of a nerd here, but this is really just three Greek words in the original.

And it reads like this Lord, save, dying.

That's it.

I mean, they're about to go down.

They can't even get a sentence out.

And what the gospel writers remember are these three commands.

Again, they are commanding Christ.

And then they have a question.

A question?

Teacher?

Do you not care that we are perishing?

How do you process that question?

Do you not care?

They don't question his strength.

Jesus, can you manage this storm?

They don't question his know-how.

Do you have any experience with this storm?

They question the character of Christ.

Don't you care?

When we think that God is not paying attention, do we not tend to do the same?

Do you really love me, God?

If God really loved me, if God really cared, He would not allow this to happen.

We would question the very character of Christ.

Friends, fear does this.

Fear does this.

Fear corrodes our confidence in the goodness of God.

And we begin to wonder if love lives in heaven.

I mean, if God can sleep in my storm, if he can appear inactive when I'm in a hospital, or if I hear nothing but silence when I'm asking hard questions.

I begin to wonder, does he care?

And fear can stir a flurry of faith-robbing doubts.

Fear does this.

Fear also turns us into control freaks.

Do something about the storm, the disciples are saying.

They don't say please, they don't say Lord, they don't pray, they command.

Isn't there something stunning about the fact that they are commanding God to do something?

Now, or else fear does this.

Fear at its core is a perceived loss of control.

It's a perceived loss of control.

Life begins to spin wildly, and we grab for something that we can control.

Right?

We grab for a component of life, something that we can manage, maybe our diet or the tidiness of a house or even the armrest of a plane.

Do you ever think it's kind of funny how we grab an armrest of a plane?

Is that really gonna keep the plane in the air?

Hang on there.

I've got it, I've got it.

But we want to control something, right?

We want to grip something.

It brings a false sense of security.

The more insecure we feel, the more we control, and hang on, you're gonna get mad at me.

But the more insecure we feel, the more demanding we become.

The disciples demand it, not request it.

They demand it.

We bear our fangs, we shake our fists.

Why?

Because we're bad, not really, but because we're cornered.

We're cornered, we feel trapped, and so we lash out.

We're not always the easiest to get along with.

Fear does that.

And you know what fear also does?

It deadens our recall.

It deadens our recall.

And the disciples had reason to trust Jesus.

I did a little research by now.

They had seen him heal all kinds of diseases and all kinds of disease among the people.

They had seen this.

They had seen him heal a leper with the touch of a servant.

They had seen him heal another person with just a command.

Peter saw his mother-in-law recover.

They all saw demons scatter like bats out of a cave.

He cast out spirits with the word and healed all who were sick.

Where is the disciple who's going to raise his hand and say to the others, hold on a second, guys?

Don't you remember what we saw him do a month ago, three months ago, a few weeks ago?

Don't forget his track record.

Where is the disciple who raises their hand in the midst of a storm and says, We've seen God do this before, we know he'll do it again.

Where was that disciple then?

And let me ask you, where is the disciple now?

Where's the disciple now?

Fear has a way of deadening our recall.

We forget.

And Satan sucks us into this lie that says, Oh, this is too big even for God.

He'd never seen anything like this before.

Oh my goodness.

And our memory goes dull.

Fear makes us forget the character of Christ.

Makes us forget the power of Christ.

And you know what else?

Fear makes us feel yucky.

Right?

Dreadful.

It sucks the life out of the soul.

It curls us into this embryonic state.

It drains us dry of contentment.

But you know, fear never wrote a symphony.

Fear never wrote a poem.

Fear never really loved a church.

Fear never pulled a family out of poverty or a country out of bigotry.

Fear never saved a marriage or a business.

Courage did that.

Faith did that.

Hope did that.

Belief did that.

But fear, fear herds people into a prison of unlocked doors.

Wouldn't it be great to walk out?

Imagine your life wholly untouched by angst.

What if faith, not fear, were your default reaction to change?

What if the people in your circle came to expect that you're the one who's going to say, oh, God's got this?

Oh, I've seen him do that.

Oh, let me tell you about the time he.

What if fear was placed in the back seat and faith was placed in the front seat?

What if you could hover a fear magnet over your heart and extract every last shaving of dread, insecurity, and doubt?

What would remain?

Imagine a day, friend, just one day.

Absent a dread.

Absent a dread of failure.

Absent a dread of calamity.

No worst case scenarios.

None.

Just okay.

It's a tough time, but our God can talk to wind.

Our God can talk to waves.

I've seen him do it before.

He's going to do it again.

This is the possibility behind the question.

Why are you afraid?

Jesus asked.

Now tell me again.

Why are you afraid?

I haven't shown you enough.

Now, why are you afraid?

You need me to do what?

Now, why are you afraid?

Did you know that the most common command of Christ emerges from this theme, this genre of fear not.

He issued 125 commands, as recorded in the Gospels.

By far and above the most common, sounded like this.

Fear not, don't be afraid.

Here's a few.

So don't be afraid.

You are worth more than many sparrows.

Don't be afraid.

Just believe.

It's all right.

I'm here.

Don't be afraid.

Do not fear little flock, for it is your good father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Don't be afraid or troubled or afraid.

Arise and do not be afraid.

And we could go on and on and on.

The bottom line is this, dear friend, dear son or daughter of God, God does not want you to live a life that is sucked hollow by fear.

God did not give you a spirit of fear.

That comes from the devil.

God gave you courage.

God gave you the very mind of Christ.

And you are one choice of faith from becoming a person who puts his or her shoulders back and takes in a deep breath of hope and faith and presses into the wind.

The storm is coming.

The waves are bouncing.

The sky is dark.

The lightning zigzags.

But you've got a king of kings who is so calm and comfortable that he can take a nap in this storm.

And you don't belong to the storm, you belong to the storm stiller, right?

He's the one who is in charge.

By the way, don't you want to be a person with less fear?

Don't you?

Down deep, do you really enjoy a life that's marked by anxiety?

How many of you have ever said words like these?

Oh, my phobias just put such a spring in my step.

Or I'd be a rotten parent if it weren't for my hypochondria.

Oh, thank God for my pessimism.

I've become such a better person since I lost hope.

My doctor says if I don't begin fretting, I will lose my health.

We've learned the high cost of fear.

That's why the question of Jesus is a good one.

He lifted his head from the pillow and he stepped into the very storm.

And he said, Now, why are you fearful?

Oh, you have little faith.

And what he said then, he says still today.

Now, to be clear, a fear serves a healthy purpose.

It's a canary in the coal mine.

Fear in limited doses does us good.

Fear can keep a child from running across a busy road or an adult from smoking a pack of cigarettes.

Fear is an appropriate reaction to a burning building or a growling dog.

Fear can help us in limited doses.

And fear in and of itself, my friend, it's not a thing.

It's an emotion.

It's not a thing.

Don't beat yourself up for these surges of fear.

They're healthy.

They're good.

They're necessary.

Fear will knock on the door.

The key is to not invite the fear in the fear for dinner.

And for heaven's sake, don't invite the fear to spend the night.

You see, if we treat our fear with angry horses, or drinking vengeance, or sullen withdrawals, or self-starvation, or life-like control, what we're doing is we're excluding God from the solution.

We're looking for a short-term solution to what is deeply rooted problem.

And we we subject ourselves to a position of fear.

We allow fear to dominate our lives, to define our lives, to our joy.

For God has not given us a spirit of fear.

Two ideas on how to do this, and then I'm done.

Number one, recall the faithfulness of God.

Just recall the faithfulness of God.

Has he not been faithful to you?

Has he not been faithful to us?

Has he not been faithful to Gateway?

Has he not been a faithful, good God?

The Old Testament says, remember his marvelous works which he has done.

Here's your homework assignment.

Catalog God's successes in your life.

Just make a catalog of them.

Make a list of them and rehearse them.

Rather than rehearse your woes, rehearse his accomplishments.

I mean, you're gonna think about something.

Might as well think about how good he is as opposed to how tough life is, right?

Has he not proven to be faithful?

Have you not known his provision?

How many nights have you gone to bed hungry?

How many mornings have you awakened in the cold?

Has he not made roadkill out of the demons that came after you?

Has he not sent Satan with Satan's little tail tucked between his legs?

Has he not delivered you from child?

Do you not have a testimony of how good he has been?

Then why would we focus on the tough times when we can focus instead on our good God?

Write today's worries in sand.

Chisel God's accomplishments in stone.

And then number two, pray first.

Pray the most.

Pray first, pray the most.

Don't pace up and down the floors of the waiting room.

Pray.

Pray for a successful surgery.

Don't bemoan the collapse of an investment.

Just ask God to help you, ask him for wisdom, ask him for strength.

Don't join the chorus of co-workers who endlessly complain about work or the boss or the environment.

You be the one who wears them out by so often saying, Well, let's just pray about it.

You be the one they see coming in and they say, Oh no, she's gonna want to pray again.

That's okay.

Inoculate yourself inwardly to face your fears outwardly, casting the whole of your cares, all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all.

When I was six years old, my dad let me stay up with the rest of the family and watch the movie Wolfman.

Boy, did he regret that decision.

The film left me convinced that Wolfman lived in our living room, right behind the couch, and that every night he was awaiting his preferred meal of red-headed, freckle-faced, six-year-old boy.

That proved problematic because, in order to reach the kitchen from my bedroom, I had to walk right past the couch.

And so I would awaken in the middle of the night and I'd want a glass of water, I'd want something, and then I'd get up and I'd start walking, and then I would remember Wolfman's in there.

And I would step into my father's bedroom and I would shake it.

I would get eye-level with him, and I can still remember.

He would open one eye.

What do you want?

A glass of milk.

You know where the milk is.

Yeah, but Dad.

Wolfman.

And he would sigh, and he would climb out of bed, and he would take my hand, and you know what?

He would walk, I mean, within a few feet of Wolfman.

I mean, he would walk right past him.

My little heart was pounding in my chest, and he was not even afraid.

And he would walk me right into the kitchen, and he would pour me a glass of milk, and I'd look up at my father, and I would think to myself, what kind of man is this?

That not even wolf man scares him.

The disciples looked at Jesus after Jesus spoke to the wind and the waves, and they asked one of the great questions.

What kind of man is that?

Can I tell you what kind of man this is?

This is a man who is alive and well at the core, at the center of the universe right now, and he oversees all the details of your life and mine, this church and the church where I serve in San Antonio, and the church universal.

This is the kind of Savior who has already circled the date.

He's got that return on the calendar, and it's just a matter of staying faithful until he returns.

He can turn a typhoon into nap time.

He did then, he does still.

As we pray, I'll pause for a few moments and let you talk to Jesus.

And my prayer for my desire would be that you just tell Jesus whatever fear you have and you give it up to Him.

Oh, great Heavenly Father, we thank you for this reminder of your goodness, how faithful you are.

Father, we know you love this church.

And we know that you are mighty and strong.

And that at those seasons in which we feel a seismust has come our way, all we need to do is turn to you.

We beg you, Lord, to speak to the way.

Speak to the way.

And not hear our personal fears as we lift them.

Oh my days, I've been healthy.

From the moment that I wake you to the late, I will see forgiveness of God.

Oh my God, you have been faith.

Oh my God, you have been so so good.

You know, I'm not you.

Oh my life you have been faith.

Oh my life you have been so good with every breath that I made I will see of the goodness of God.

Oh I will see of the goodness of God.

Yes, I will see of the goodness of God.

Well we thank you for your faithfulness.

Just take ten seconds and just and just say, God, we are so thankful for your goodness, for your faithfulness, for your love that endures forever.

Amen.

Amen.

Well well we uh we we have two two announcements.

One, uh, this is baptism weekend, and uh if you uh are being baptized, if you want to be baptized, even if you weren't planning on it, we've got all the things that you need uh to do that, you can just go out uh to the lobby, the baptismal's there, and we are ready to go.

The water is warm and it is a great opportunity to be baptized.

Also, if you need prayer in just a moment, I'm gonna I want to pray a prayer of blessing uh over all of us.

And uh at the end of that prayer, when I say amen, if you need prayer for any reason, instead of going that way, we need to come this way, and our prayer team will be here, and these guys are full of God, they're full of faith, they know how to pray, and we want to have the opportunity to pray with you.

And we say it like this don't hit the parking lot today, wanting prayer, needing prayer, and not coming forward uh to receive prayer.

And then finally, uh our elders, Pastor Max, Pastor James, and Bridget, they will all uh be here at the front.

So if you want to uh to meet them or greet them, they're gonna be right up uh here in this area, and uh they're amazing.

Let me pray this prayer blessing over you.

Uh, this blessing is found in Numbers uh chapter six.

And if you would just posture your heart and even your hands to just receive from the Lord, may the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you his perfect shalom, his perfect peace.

And Lord, we pray that you would draw every person from every part of this room and even those that are watching online that need prayer to come and to receive prayer.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Amen.

God bless you, and we'll see you next week.

Thanks for joining us today.

If you'd like to connect with us, text Connect to 71010 or visit gatewaypeople.com.

We hope you have a great week.