Miracles | When Life is Difficult

Good morning.

Oh man, so happy to see you.

Welcome.

Welcome to Freedom.

Welcome to our series.

We are uh we we kicked this off last week talking all about miracles.

This is officially week one of our of our series.

If you were here last week, we kind of introduced this whole topic of miracles uh by addressing a lot of the tensions and the misconceptions around miracles.

In fact, I would be willing to bet this isn't exactly um everybody's go-to topic when you start talking about your faith or the or the Bible.

Now uh our the Bible, our faith is inundated with miracles.

You can't get away from this, but there are a lot of tensions and misconceptions around what miracles are and and and how to experience a miracle and and the purpose behind miracles.

Uh, I think for some of us, we feel like we start talking about miracles, we feel like we we're like kind of like our feet are kind of off the ground a little bit.

We kind of feel like we're talking about something that maybe even feels a little bit childish.

It's like, well, that's great for you, but I got to live my life right in the in the real world.

Like I still gotta get up and go to work tomorrow, kind of thing.

Like that's how we feel oftentimes with with miracles.

But I I would just say, like, well, I here's another part of it.

It also doesn't help that the people who love to talk about miracles the most are always kind of a little bit weird.

Have you ever noticed that too?

Just me.

Okay, that's just my this is my anecdotal observation.

I'm just like, yeah, this is you're not helping my cause here, you know, stop talking so much.

And that what that is, is it's like we're not like part of the misconception is we think miracles are like God's way of entertaining us.

You're just kind of like, it's almost like God, miracles are almost like the moment when God decides things are a little bit boring.

So he decides to shake it up a little bit by doing a miracle.

It's like, whoa, then maybe everybody will get excited about that.

And uh, and I would say, no, there's there's actually a lot more going on than that.

We we said it last week, like there's there's things that God is doing that that are intended to show us things, to reveal us things.

And in fact, this is this is my working definition of miracles.

It's on the screen behind me.

It's an unusual act of God that shows his power and points us to who he is.

An unusual act that shows his power, reveals to us his his character.

I think oftentimes, I think oftentimes the other the other side of the coin when it comes to miracles is God's usually at work far more than we give him credit for.

In fact, we just sort of live in a culture where we're really quick to explain things away, we're really quick to dismiss things, we're we're quick to take credit, we're a little bit slow to give God the credit.

I mean, you ever had one of those moments where you're like, I just can't figure this out, and then boom, it's like a light bulb moment, you're just like, man, I'm good.

Come on, we've all found that we've all done that before.

It's like we never bothered to think.

Maybe God just answered your prayer, you know, he just like gave you an idea that you literally could not come up with five minutes ago.

I think just little things, little things.

I just I I would I would make the the case that God's actually way more active than we realize, and oftentimes in spite of us, in spite of us.

I'll tell you a story.

This happened oh man, it's almost 25 years ago now.

And um I was in high school and had I don't know, maybe 16 or so, and I and I was dating a girl, not my wife.

Okay, that's you know, she came later.

So anyway, I said dating this girl, and we're I was on the phone with her, and she's we're talking, and she gets a she gets a call on the other line, she's like, hold on a second.

She goes the other line, and it's her sister.

She goes back, she's like my sister called her car broke down, and she's in like a really bad part of town.

And uh it's like she can't get a hold of anybody.

She's like, she needs somebody to go get her.

I'm like, back up, you know, here we go, ready to be the hero.

I'm like, I I can go, I can, I will drop everything.

I will go rescue your sister.

I let's do this, you know.

So I'm like, I'm ready to go.

Now, this was back in the day.

Listen, this was pre-iPhone, okay?

So there was no like, you know, you didn't like type this in, right?

There, you didn't Google maps this, okay?

You had what was called a map, and it was like a paper thing, right?

And if we say if you were really, you put one of those in your car, you pulled it out, you had lines on it.

I don't know if some of you don't know what that is, but it's paper.

And then and so that's what you use.

If you are really tech savvy, like you really, you would map quest that thing.

Come on, map.

Remember, you know, remembers the map quest days, okay?

And if you are really on it, you map quest it and you press the print button and you brought those directions with you.

That's I don't know, that just that was like a whole era.

It was short, but everybody who did it remembers it.

And so, but see, I was I'm a man, so which means I was born with an innate sense of direction.

That's what that means.

So I'm like, I don't even need to map quest this, just tell me where she's at.

I'm good to go.

Got it.

No, I know, locked on.

I know I'm 16 years old, 17 years old.

I already know this city.

It's not Williston, by the way.

I was in another city, a lot bigger than this.

But I was like, I know this city like the back of my hand.

So I'm like, I take off.

I'm like, I'll be there in just a little bit.

I call her, I'm on my way there, and I've I've got this locked in.

I know exactly where I'm going.

I get to the highway and I'm like, ready to take my exit?

Construction.

Blocked up.

I literally can't go that direction on the highway.

So I'm like, okay, I'll go, I'll take the next exit, I'll go the opposite direction on the highway, I'll get off on an exit, do a U-turn, and head back.

Makes sense.

So I you know, I start heading down there.

I get to the first exit, I'm a mile down the highway.

I finally get to my first exit, construction.

The exit is closed.

I'm like, you got to be kidding me.

I'm like, all right, I'm going to the next one.

I kid you not.

Then a mile down the road, the next exit, construction.

Exit is closed.

Two in a three in a row.

Finally, I get done.

I'm just like, now, I gotta tell you the rest of the story here real quick, but I just want to say this.

Okay.

Um, I was losing my ever-loving mind when I was doing this.

That listen, I'm not who I used to be.

Come on, I'm not where I'm supposed to be, but I'm definitely not who I used to be.

Anybody else can be like, you can ask my wife about that.

Better yet, don't ask her.

But I'm not, I like to remind her that I'm not who I used to be.

That's what I do.

I remind her of that.

So I'm I'm I'm in this moment.

I'm saying things you can't repeat in church.

I'm I didn't down the highway, I'm at my third exit, it's closed.

I finally get to the next exit.

Finally, I can get off on that exit.

I get off there, and it's got one of those like U-turn lanes on the far inside that goes under the overpass, you know what I'm talking about?

So I get in that lane and I'm driving like a stupid 17-year-old, which was really fast.

And so I'm like, and I'm and I'm driving, wheels are spinning, and I'm like, I get around that corner, and there she is.

Her car is broke down right there at that off-ramp or on that on-ramp.

In my mind, I'm trying to go five, seven miles the opposite direction.

In fact, I had every I set out to go seven miles in the opposite direction, and yet I land exactly where she was at, kicking and screaming and maybe cursing all at the same time.

I was like, How's that happen?

I tell you that story because I think sometimes you hear some of these preacher stories and they're like pat on the back.

It's like, oh, see, the preacher's full of faith.

Why aren't you full of faith?

I tell you that story because I go, even in spite of yourself, even when you're doing everything to kick against the will of God in that moment, you're just like in not at your best, you're like God can still work, and God still does amazing things that are unusual and difficult to explain, and well, well, maybe even miraculous.

Like, but but again, I just I would just say this.

I would just say this.

We believe that God can do miracles, and we believe that God still does miracles.

He's still in the business of doing the miraculous in our lives.

I'm gonna here in a minute, we're gonna go to Mark chapter four, and I'm gonna uh teach on this story.

It's it's not a story that you're you're probably unfamiliar with.

In fact, even if you don't really have a lot of history with the Bible, maybe you're new to Christianity or you're just sort of exploring it, or maybe you just kind of heard a little bit about faith when you were growing up, maybe.

Most people are familiar with this story of Jesus calming a storm.

Most people have heard some variation of that.

Jesus is on a on a big sea and the storm comes and he calms the storm.

It's a big miraculous moment.

And and uh But I'll give you, I'm gonna give you some context of that story because in Mark 4, before he gets on a boat and they find themselves in the storm, he he has just come off this day of of teaching.

And honestly, teaching some of the most like profound parables.

They're not all recorded.

In fact, if you read it, it'll take you less than take you about five minutes to read all of them, but but it actually says, we're gonna learn in a minute, he spends the whole day teaching, and and crowds are joining him.

In fact, it says that he gets in this boat on the Sea of Galilee.

He comes off the shore a little bit in order to like his just so he can get some space.

He gets on a boat and he teaches from a boat because the crowds are just piling up around him, and so he's he's teaching from the Sea of Galilee.

In fact, that's the that's the sea they're about to get on here in a minute, and they're gonna get on this boat, and this big storm's gonna come.

Now, just so you know, the Sea of Galilee, it's kind of an odd name to call it because it really should be called the Lake of Galilee.

It's not big, it's not really a sea.

In fact, you can fit, I looked it up this week, you can fit like seven to eight of them in Lake Sokakoeah.

Like that's how that's how small it is.

But it's notorious because it's actually below sea level and it has this reputation for it can be like it can be great weather, and then like that, a storm can run it, can come in, and the swells in that sea, they get so big.

And there's a lot of historically, there's been a lot of even really experienced fishermen that have found themselves in like perilous situations trying to cross the Sea of Galilee.

So here's Jesus.

He's just spent the whole day teaching.

He comes and he looks at his disciples and he says, Okay, we're gonna go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.

The Sea of Galilee was like a borderline.

Okay, on this side that they were on, it was Israel.

These are God's people.

On the other side, it was a boundary line.

That was Gentile nations.

We'll talk about that maybe a little bit next week.

So he's on this boundary line on the sea.

He says, Let's go to the other side.

They get in the boat, they're on their way over, boom, a storm comes.

Storm happens.

This story, it's a short story, um, but it's it's not just some random story about how Jesus has control over the weather.

No, no, no.

It's it's a story that's very emblematic, storms, very emblematic of the things that we face in our lives.

That's the whole thing, that's part of what it's about.

That's part of the meat of the story.

So storms come in our life.

Storms are very emblematic of things that we that we have to navigate in our lives.

It could be marriage stuff and family stuff and financial things and career things, and there's any number of storms that we face in our life.

And so here's Jesus' disciples in the boat, and it starts taking on water and and they're freaking out, and they're just like, My goodness, Jesus, do you even care?

Do you care?

Now, here's the thing about miracles.

Miracles, this is the tension with miracles.

They come after the fact.

Do you know what I mean?

They come after you you get a miracle after you get a diagnosis.

That's a tension with it.

You get you get a miracle after your kids go sideways.

You need a miracle after your marriage has blown up.

Do you see that?

This is part of the tension around it.

And so here's the disciples, they're in a storm, and see, now they need a miracle.

Now they need a miracle.

This is Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

You follow along on the screen behind me, or open your Bibles, Mark chapter 4, verse 35.

Mark 4:35

It says, That day when evening came.

There it is.

He's been teaching all day long.

By the way, that's that's probably a very easily overlooked part of the verse.

That day when evening came.

But don't overlook that because that tells you something.

It tells you something because this is very common for for us.

It's not uncommon for the the challenges and the difficult parts of your life, the seasons, the the storms of your life.

It's not uncommon for those things to show up when you're tired, when you're depleted, when you're ready to throw in the towel, when you're kind of at the end of your rope.

Those are those are seasons when storms have a way of showing up.

In fact, we even have sayings for it.

It's like when it rains, it pours.

Why?

Because it's just human nature.

We've kind of like just discovered you don't even have to be a Jesus follower to have made that observation.

It's like, why does all the difficult stuff happen when I'm tired?

It's like, yeah, I wonder.

Okay.

And this is the same.

This is what's happening with Jesus and his disciples.

He said to his disciples, Let us go over to the other side, leaving the crowd behind.

They took him along, just as he was in the boat.

Meaning they didn't even like prepare.

They just said, All right, I'm done teaching, let's get in the boat and let's go.

That's what they did.

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, sleeping on a cushion.

You gotta love that.

He's got a pillow.

Like, who in the world?

You're on a boat, no time to prepare, but he made sure there was a pillow in the back of the boat.

And it's amazing.

It's like, why does why does the Bible say that?

You're thought that?

This is how I feel about the Bible.

Just full transparency.

This is how I feel about the Bible most of the time.

I'm like, I look at it, I'm like, wow, that's amazing.

And other times I'm like, what?

Like, I don't what?

Why?

Like it's I scratch my head.

This is an amazing detail.

He's in the stern of the boat and he's sleeping on a pillow.

It's a and then the disciples woke him and they said to him, Here's that phrase, Teacher, don't you care if we drown?

He got up.

He doesn't rebuke them, he rebukes the wind, and he says to the waves, Quiet, be still.

Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

He said to his disciples, Why are you so afraid?

Do you still have no faith?

They were terrified and asked each other, Who is this?

Even the wind and the waves obey him.

Now I don't know about you, but I I I think I I have a feeling there's some things going through their minds when the storm starts starts coming up.

I this last week, because it was spring break, we we took a little trip to to Minot, and I went went to Minot and I was on my way back from Minot, and there was no snowstorm here, but for whatever reason there decided to be a snowstorm between here and Minot.

It's like I didn't even think to have to check the weather.

And so I'm on my way back from Minot.

And this, like I for almost like 30 minutes, all I could see was like 20 feet in front of the car.

I started, I mean, I was on like 35 on the on the highway.

I thought, maybe I'll pull over for a little bit.

I was like, I ain't doing that.

That's even more dangerous.

So I was just like, I just gotta keep going.

And I this whole time I'm thinking myself, when am I gonna get out of this?

And I think that's exactly what they're thinking in this storm.

They're going, are we going to get out of this?

Am I am I gonna make it out of this?

This is what we think in any kind of storms that we're we're facing.

Am I gonna, is there an end to this?

Well, will I actually get through this?

And I think you need to know this because there's some things that you can we can pull out of this story that I think will encourage you.

And here's the first one is that you you need to know this.

God knew you were gonna face this.

This is not this is not catching off, catching Jesus off guard.

Do you know how do you know how I know Jesus is not caught off guard?

He's asleep on a pillow in the back of the boat.

He ain't caught off guard.

He doesn't, he doesn't he he just seems to be perfectly okay with this.

God knew you were gonna you were gonna face this.

He he knew that we you were gonna go through this.

Now, I'll tell you, I'll tell you a story.

I I I've told this story a few times over the years about how Bethany and I uh got to Williston, how Freedom Church even even came to to be.

And I'll give you I'll give you a quick story about how that how that came.

We were I was pastoring at a church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and um we kind of came through a season where we were being encouraged to maybe pray about a next step, possibly planting a church.

And so we did.

We took a season and we were trying to figure out what's what's our next step.

Are we going to plant a church?

And and so we had a few other opportunities kind of come up at the same time, and so we were exploring that.

Bethany was dealing with some health stuff, and so we we went on a little trip.

There was a doctor that she was seeing several states away, and so we went on a little road trip and uh decided to make like a week out of it with the kids.

So we go up there, it was in up my Wisconsin area, and and so we're on our way back now.

This whole trip, um, you'll remember this time frame um very vividly.

This was the week that COVID like hit the fan.

You know, you remember ever remember that?

Yeah, that's not a distant memory.

Okay, so there we go.

That that was that week, and I remember on the way there, it seemed like every day I was getting a few phone calls.

All those like other opportunities we were considering and wrestling with and praying about, they were just like all of like they were all falling off.

Everyone's like, yeah, we we decided we're not doing this.

We've decided this isn't gonna work out.

Like there's just all kinds of things, one after the other.

And it was a bit disconcerting.

I mean, it wasn't like the end of the world, but it was a bit disconcerting.

And so we we come to the end of that week.

We're all heading back.

We we had stayed in the Minneapolis St.

Polarity, we're heading back on I-35, we're heading south, heading back to to Oklahoma, and uh, I had like one opportunity left.

One.

I'm heading back and I'm thinking, oh, I guess I'll go home and I'll pursue this.

And you know, it just God hasn't really spoken to us about what we're supposed to do next, you know.

This seems to be the only thing.

And when you know, I get a phone call and that's off the table too.

And now I'm heading back, and I'm going, I looked over at Bethany as we're driving down I-35, and I'm going, I don't even, I don't even know what I'm going back for.

I mean, I we'll figure something out, but I got, I don't even know.

Like all the stuff we were praying about, like, it's just it's gone.

And so praise God, we weren't freaking out.

How so we we decided, you know what, we are halfway between there and Williston.

And we had some family in Williston.

So we thought, you know what, let's just go, let's just go.

Kids would love to see their cousins, let's just go hang out and enjoy the week.

This is literally what we came there.

We're like, we'll relax and spend some time with some family, and we'll just hang out.

We called, they're like, Yeah, come on over.

So we literally did a U-turn on the highway.

No, it wasn't legal, but that's a different story.

It wasn't legal, but we did a U-turn on the highway, went the other direction on I-35, and we we ended up here.

And wouldn't you know that while we were here, I started driving around, and it was like a neon, it was like neon signs were going off.

And one night, Bethany and I were sitting down, it was just the two of us up that night, and and she goes, Do you feel like God's speaking to you?

And I was like, Man, I'm I'm afraid to say it.

I kind of think he is.

She goes, I think he's speaking to me too.

Said we did the whole one, two, three, say it thing.

One, two, three, say it.

I was like, I think we're supposed to move here and plant a church.

She goes, We both said the same thing.

Like, oh my goodness.

You know, long story short, we two months later, we were packed up May 1st of 2020, and we moved, we moved to Williston.

Ten months later, Freedom Church was born.

I tell you that story because God's in it with you.

You need to know this.

God's God's in it with you.

There's some like weird theology built there.

People love to say we have our little phrases we like to use.

We just we've said them so many times, we just think that they're that they're true all the time.

We just think God, God is the source of everything.

Meaning, like all the problems you've ever faced.

It's like, well, there must be a reason for it.

It's like, well, I mean, not necessarily.

It's like, you know, hold on, hold on a second.

Make no mistake, God can use anything to form you, to transform you, and to accomplish his will in your life.

I'm not saying here that God caused COVID so that we could have freedom church in Williston.

It's like, no, that's not what we're saying.

We're saying God was using a situation that was absolutely intended to disrupt my life, my family's life, everybody else's life.

He was using something to discourage us and and to get us down and and to get us to panic, to run home and panic.

What are we gonna do?

And he took that situation that was intended to derail us and harm us, and he used it to accomplish something we never even saw coming.

And I am just I'm gonna help you out theologically here, okay?

But because we reject the idea that somehow God is the one that has taken your loved ones and the one that's robbed you and stolen from you and and hurt wounded you and hurt you, and and we we reject this idea that God is the source of this.

However, make no mistake, it's not out of reach for God to take those things that were intended to harm you and turn them around and bless you.

I mean, I I think you need to get a hold of that.

Thank you.

All four of you that clapped, yes, because I'm excited too.

Thank you very much.

You need to get a hold of that.

God's with you in it.

Here's another thought.

And I know you've had this thought because I've had this thought too.

Okay, here it is.

They're in the boat, the storm's happening.

You know they had this thought.

Hold on a second.

Jesus is in my boat.

Why am I going through a storm?

Go on, you had this thought.

I'm on Team Jesus now.

Why am I even dealing with this?

Why am I dealing with this?

I think this is I think this speaks to a lot of our misconceptions around Christianity.

In fact, there's some of you, you may even be kind of like dabbling a little bit, you're not even sure about this whole Christianity thing.

You're kind of on the fence, you're kind of scoping it out.

And there's some misconceptions around what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a Jesus follower.

We have this idea that Christianity is this sort of like crutch thing that we just sort of lean on, and it's like, well, if I follow Jesus, then that's going to be my way that I get to avoid all the hard things in my life.

Said nobody who's lived more than three weeks, like as a Christian.

Like we just that that that's not how it goes.

Some of you, you are Christians, and you came into faith.

You came to faith in Jesus with a misguided expectation, which is why you have these moments where you're going, I feel like I'm missing something because I thought my life was up into the right, and this feels hard.

You got a new jersey if you didn't if you didn't know that.

You you you're on Team Jesus now, which means that there's an opposing team.

You you need to know that God is with you in it.

Like He's in the boat.

And the fact that he's in the boat doesn't exempt you from experiencing hard things in your life.

In fact, you can't avoid that.

None of us can avoid that.

That's not the promise.

Nobody has ever promised.

Jesus never promised that you're not going to have hard stuff, but he does promise that he's going to be in it with you.

He does promise to be there.

In fact, I was just praying through Psalm 23 this morning before I came to church this morning.

Pray through there.

And there's that line.

You've heard this line.

Hey, you you've heard this.

Your grandma said it to you.

Somebody said it to you.

You heard it on the radio?

He's our shepherd.

Even though I go through the darkest valley, I don't fear.

Why?

Because you're with me.

That's the promise.

God is with you.

And I think it's worth, I think it's worth noting there's different sources for storms and hardships in our life.

They're not all the same.

They don't all come from the same same place.

There's three primary places that storms come from.

The first one we can't minimize.

It's us.

It's ourselves.

It's our own.

Sometimes it's just our own bad decisions.

Maybe we got hasty.

We got impatient.

We just we thought we were making a wise decision.

It turns out we made a foolish decision.

Sometimes we think we're really doing the right thing.

And it turns out, man, I probably shouldn't have done that.

Like we've all done, like oftentimes we're going through things.

We just have to be honest with ourselves.

It's like, man, I'm in the mess because I made the mess.

Now don't beat yourself up about that.

Because you don't have it's not like you got to pay penance for that, or somebody's like, well, I did it, so I gotta be able to sleep in the bed that I made.

It's like, well, sometimes you just have to.

You don't have a choice.

But there's also grace for that.

I just you need to know that.

I hear that a lot.

People are like, well, I I did it, and so like somehow that obligates you to have to like suffer from no, you don't, you you just need to go to Jesus.

You need to like ask for forgiveness, you need to ask for more wisdom.

Come on, somebody.

Like, you need here's another source of problems: other people.

Oh goodness, other people.

Man, if you've ever had to work on a team, if you've ever, if you've if you're responsible for other people, if you if you're an employer, maybe you're a manager, like any, if you're involved with other people, it's like inevitably somebody's gonna make their problems your problems, right?

It just happens, right?

Other people and other people's bad decisions can often be a source of storms in your life.

Another one is you have there's an enemy.

I just told you you're on team.

If you're in Jesus, you're on team Jesus.

You got a new jersey, which means there's an opposing team with a different jersey that hates you.

And I'm not saying there's a devil under every rock, but I am saying there is a very real enemy, the devil, a demonic influence who demonically wants to influence your life.

Those are real.

It takes discernment to be able to recognize when that is.

In fact, next week we're gonna talk about this.

Come back next week, we're gonna talk about some of Jesus' miracles and and his interactions with the demonic.

Can I just I give you the spoiler alert?

You ready for this?

Because some of us feel like, oh, that's kind of spooky.

It's like, let me give you the spoiler alert.

You ready to do this?

Um uh Jesus wins, and he's far more powerful than any demonic influence or force that could ever come up against you and your wife.

There you go.

That's the that's the sum of the story.

Okay, make no mistake, though, it's a source.

These are sources of storms, and they require some wisdom and some discernment to understand where these things are coming from.

Okay, here's another thought.

Here's another thought I know that they had to have had because I've asked this question more times than I care to admit.

I um why?

Why are we even going through this in the first place?

It's like, man, God, I thought you kind of knew everything.

Surely we could have avoided this.

You know?

You know, it's just like, my good, why are we why are we even uh uh going through this?

Why you need to know this.

God, God is doing something in you through it.

You need to know that.

He's doing something in you through it.

You know what's funny about that story?

They're in the boat and they come to Jesus, he's asleep on a pillow in the back of the boat, and they go, Don't you care that we're gonna drown?

Now you you think your your first thought is that it's like, Jesus, make the storm go away.

They have no expectation that he's gonna make the storm go away.

You know what they want?

They want some help.

Jesus, help us scoop the water out of the boat.

That's what they want.

They're terrified that they're gonna die.

And they're going, Jesus, help us.

Why did you this guy's a freeloader?

He's taking a nap in the back of the boat.

Jesus, help us, don't you care?

And then he calms a storm.

They didn't see coming.

And the Bible says that they're actually now more afraid than they were before.

Now they're terrified.

They're terrified.

Oh my goodness, what is happening?

Even the weather listens to him.

Like they're just like, they didn't even, they didn't even expect him to do that.

They just wanted a hand, you know, an extra hand.

God isn't just working around you.

He's working in you.

In fact, I would say this way there are things when you're going through storms in your life, just like these disciples in the Bible, or in this boat with Jesus, there are things he wants to pull out of you, and there's things he wants to put in you.

There's things that he wants to reveal inside you, to pull them out of you so he can so he can put some things in you and and prepare you for whatever it might be.

I think we forget this.

I think we forget, we forget too easily about the work that God wants to do on the inside of us.

You know, I I think I think for for me personally, parenting has been has been one of the most like glaring examples of this in my life.

This is my personally.

Because, you know, as a dad, especially, you just, you know, you got kids and you just think, well, okay, my job is to, I'm gonna provide, right?

I'm gonna, I'm gonna guide, I'm gonna teach them, I'm discipline, I'm gonna, I'm gonna coach them, right?

I'm gonna do all these things because this is what you're supposed to do.

And then you're like, you're so lucky that I'm in your life.

We said we've thought it, okay.

I'm just but you this is what you you think I'm a dad, and this is this is it, and then and then, but here's the thing if you come at it with any sort of humility, here's what you find out really quick.

It's like all your own insecurities have a way of coming out when you're raising kids.

Am I the only one?

It's amazing how many times I'm I'm like trying to coach my kids, and then I gotta go, oh yeah, I better check my own integrity.

Whoops.

It's like, don't do this.

Holy smokes, I better get my act together.

What am I doing?

Don't say that.

Well man, I better not say that anymore.

You know, come on, we've all been there.

That's what parenting does to you.

And it's amazing.

You think it's all about what you have to offer these little ones, and then God goes, Oh, yeah, by the way, you thought it was all about them.

Actually, I got some things I need to work out of you so I can put inside of you.

You see that?

But it doesn't have to be parenting.

You know, maybe you're not a parent.

It doesn't have to just be kids, it could be anything.

Could be your employer right now, could be the annoying guy at work right now, could be anything, could be these situations where you go, Oh my goodness, how am I gonna deal with this?

Oh man, you know what?

The Lord has finally found a worthy covenant partner in me.

And it's just me and the Lord, and we're just gonna walk around and we're just gonna pray for all the wounded people and all the hurt people and all the lost people.

But God and me, me and we're good.

It's just me, and how is God, God, what are you doing in these people's lives, not my life, but just these people's lives, so we can work.

I'm just telling you, that's a dangerous road to go down.

Maybe you're an employer, maybe you're a manager, maybe you're just maybe you're an employee, maybe you, maybe you got a bunch of co-works, and you just think it's you and God and the other people, and it's odd, it's way more than that.

It's not just the the work that God wants to do around you, even in the midst of frustrating and difficult seasons, wherever that might be, at home, at work, wherever it could be, it's not just about the work that God wants to do around you and hopefully through you, it's actually the work that He wants to do inside of you.

There's actually some things.

I'm just telling you, it's a dangerous road to go down in your life.

Ignoring that.

You want to know a quick, a quick path toward bitterness?

Go down this road.

Because you'll get real frustrated because no one around you seems to get it like you do.

No one around you seems to just understand.

In fact, if everybody would just think like you and do what you do and understand what you do and vote like you, then everything would be better.

And you forget.

Wait a second, maybe there's something God wants to do in me.

This is a sad truth.

Did you know that there's very few people who finish well in the Bible?

Do you know what I mean by that?

I'm talking about as you get older, there's very few people.

In fact, it's less than 50% of characters that you read about in the Bible actually finish their lives well.

Why is that?

May that not be said of Freedom Church.

May we be people who finish well.

I'm gonna tell you a quick path toward not finishing well, thinking that you've arrived and forgetting that no matter what it is you're doing, whether you're leading a small group here at Freedom Church, whether you got to get up and go to work tomorrow morning or even this afternoon after you leave church, whatever it might be, forgetting that God is still wanting to work inside of you.

I'm just telling you, you want to finish well.

Here are things that God wants to do on the inside of you.

I'll be even I'll I'll be really transparent with you.

Do you know this is one of the most difficult parts of pastoring?

This is one of the more difficult parts of I people, some people think the fact that I get to preach is the reward of what I get to do.

I'm just like, man, okay, okay.

And don't get me wrong, I love what I get to do.

I'm very grateful that I get to do this.

But be really honest with you, I especially like a week like this, I have to like preach this.

Which means I gotta like stuff, I gotta like, I gotta like get it in me.

So I gotta tell these people about it.

Now I gotta like, I gotta think about this.

Do you see that?

I actually gotta, it's like parenting a little bit.

It's like I gotta check my own integrity now.

Why?

Because it doesn't, it doesn't matter.

Even for me as your pastor, it's just like this isn't just I show up for you.

No, God's also doing something in me through this with you.

I hope you see that.

I hope you see that.

God is doing something in you through whatever it is that you're going through.

How many of y'all hated tests growing up?

I've never met anybody that said they love a test.

Nobody likes a test, right?

Nobody wants to take a test.

I've heard rumors they don't even do tests at school anymore.

Everybody just gets a passing grade.

I don't know if that's true or not.

I don't know.

That's just that's just what I'm another anecdotal observation.

Anyway, uh you know why you take a test?

Tests do a couple things for you.

They they they they show you, they reveal, they reveal what you know and don't know, but they also reveal how far you've come.

That's what a test does.

You know, and often oftentimes and when the Bible talks about tests and things like that, it's not talking about like God's trying to see which way you're gonna go.

No, no, no.

He's he does a test is meant to reveal things in you.

I love how Peter says this.

This is 1 Peter chapter 1.

1 Peter 1 · chapter mention

And by the way, this is a guy, this is one of Jesus' disciples.

He has what you call credibility.

Okay, this guy has denied Jesus, this guy has been rebuked by Jesus, this guy has has found himself in messes that he's created, he's found himself in messes that other people have created.

I mean, this guy, he has gone down the road.

So, whatever the source of the storm is in your life, this guy has been there and he's done that.

And all the while God was pulling things out of him so he could put some things in him.

He becomes the first preacher in the New Testament church.

3,000 people say yes to Jesus the first time this guy preaches.

She was like, that is next level.

I don't know if you know that or not.

It's like, that's who's writing this right here.

And he says, This in all this you greatly rejoice.

Though now he's talking about difficulty, he's talking, he's talking about hardship.

He says, Though now for a little while, that should be encouraging.

It's not going to last forever.

It feels like it's permanent, but it's not permanent.

Feels like it is, though for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.

These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith, of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Storms, they have a way of showing you what's in you.

I've I've I've I've had many, I've had many seasons.

Again, you can ask my wife, but please don't, right?

It's just like we've had many seasons where you go, man, why am I going?

And then it reveals something.

Yeah, you know, I don't really like that version of myself.

And tests, storms.

I know we want a miracle.

I know we want the miracle.

And I'm not saying God isn't going to give you the miracle.

In fact, I'm all for asking and believing and standing in faith, especially through this series over these next six weeks as we gather.

I'm all about it.

Let's ask God and let's believe God for a miracle.

Let's also not forget the work that he's doing inside of us at the same time.

Let's also not work, let's also not ignore what it is he's trying to pull out of us so he can put some things in us.

Let's not forget that either.

You know, I wish the promise, whatever the storm you're in, I wish the promise was pray this prayer, and boom, you'll be out of the storm.

I wish that was the prayer.

I wish it that's how it worked, but that's not the promise.

But there is a promise.

There is something that is real, something that you can experience now.

In fact, I love it because it's in the store, in this story, because there they are, they're in the middle of a storm, and and they're going, Jesus, don't you care?

It's really a stupid question, but they're they're being honest.

Don't you care that we drowned?

It's a ridiculous question.

Jesus is unmoved by it.

And notice he doesn't get up and rebuke them, he rebukes the storm.

And I'm not saying that the promise is that all your problems are gonna go ahead and all the storms of your life are gonna go away, but I am promising you this that God can give you peace in your heart and in your mind and in your soul right now.

He can do that for you.

That is not out of reach.

That in fact, I believe that he can do that for you right now.

Like right now, before you go today.

I believe he can do that for you.

It means this, and this is one of the biggest testaments that Jesus has in you and he's renewed you, and he's making you new every day.

This is one of the biggest things.

You can go through things that are absolutely intended to derail your life, and yet you can go through them with a sense of peace that nobody else can explain.

You can get a hold of that.

And I believe he wants to do this.

I don't know what it is for you.

I don't know what storms look like for you.

Marriages on the rocks, I don't know.

You got a kid that went sideways, you got diagnosis stuff.

There's things that are happening right now, you got financial problems.

I don't know what it is, but before we go today, I'm gonna we're we're gonna pray and we're gonna ask God peace now.

That's what we're gonna pray for.

Let's pray.

Jesus, Jesus, we need you.

Some of us, this is exactly how we feel.

Jesus, don't you care that we are suffering?

Jesus, don't you care about my marriage?

Jesus, don't you care what's happening with my kids?

Jesus, don't you care about my future and my career?

Jesus, don't you care?

And I can hear your voice now, Jesus.

And I can hear your voice now, and we receive it right now.

Peace now.

Peace now.

I thank you, Father, for giving us peace mentally in our hearts.

Give us the ability to walk through this, to get to the other side.

It was your idea in the beginning.

Get in the boat, go to the other side.

But you're with us, and so we trust you and we put our faith in you.

I want to pray for those of you that haven't committed your life to Jesus because here's here's the thing: you can ask, you can desire the peace of God, but you you're not you're not able to receive the peace of God until you're at peace with God.

You have to be at peace with God.

In fact, that's how the Bible describes us prior to coming to Jesus.

He says you are actually enemies of God.

I know we don't like that, but that's what the Bible says.

It says, it says, prior to Jesus, you and I were enemies of God.

The only way to not be an enemy of God, to be at peace with God, is through Jesus.

It's bowing your knee to Jesus, it's acknowledging his lordship over your life, it's a commitment to follow him and to model your life after him for the rest of your life.

It's a commitment to be with him and allowing his Holy Spirit to transform you for the rest of your life.

That's what it looks like.

That's how, that's what peace with God looks like.

If you've never committed your life to Jesus in that manner, I'm going to give you the opportunity right now.

I'm going to give you the opportunity right now.

Just pray this prayer.

Make it your own, actually.

Just in your own way.

Just tell him, Jesus, I give you my life.

I confess, I believe you're my Lord.

I may not even understand all of it.

I may have a bunch of questions still.

I may still have some problems.

I'm still trying to reconcile and I don't really get, but in spite of that, I confess right now, I'm I'm broken, I've sinned, I'm dead in my sins, and I need you, and I need a savior, and I want peace.

I want your peace and I want peace with you, Lord.

And so I bow my knee to you and I confess, Jesus, you're my Lord, and I'm committed to following you for the rest of my life.

For the rest of my life.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hey, listen, if you prayed that prayer this morning, would you raise your hand right now, right where you're at?

Just be bold and just let us know.

Say, yeah, Pastor, that was me.

I prayed that prayer.

Good job.

Good job.

Good job.

Good job.

I see you back there.

Anybody, any other hands?

Just lift up your hand.

Good job.

I see your hand.

Well done.

Any other hands?

Very good.

Good job.

Good job.

I see your hand right there.

Good job.

Love that.

I love that.

Jesus, we love you.

We thank you, Father, that you see us, that you're in the storms with us.

I thank you, Father, that you didn't leave us, you didn't forsake us.

I thank you that you're in the middle of it with us.

I thank you that not only do you want to go through it with us, you actually want to encourage us through it.

That you actually want to do something in us.

You actually want to make us more like you on the other side of it.

And so for all of us, we come to you with an open hands, open hearts, and we just say thank you for making us more like you.

And it's in Jesus' name we pray.

Everybody said, Amen.

Come on, like we mean it.

Let's put our hands together.

Let's tell Jesus thank you.