Sermon

The Fear of the Storm | Pastor Travis Gardner

First Apostolic Church

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  1. Oh. Hallelujah.

  2. How many is thankful for the blood of Jesus Christ?

  3. I would have you know today that you didn't walk into this place

  4. by some accident or happenstance or just some random invitation.

  5. It's the Spirit of God and the blood of Jesus Christ.

  6. It's reaching for you and it's calling you Hallelujah.

  7. Hallelujah, one preacher said. If you can't.

  8. Get excited about the blood. I don't know what's.

  9. Going to get you excited. Oh Hallelujah, Hallelujah,

  10. Hallelujah. You may be seated in the House

  11. of the Lord today. I'm going to do my best today

  12. to, to, to follow the leading of the Lord.

  13. Before I say anymore, I, I give honor today to your pastor, to

  14. his wife, Bishop, give honor to all the ministry here at this

  15. church. What a blessing it is to be here

  16. today. Hallelujah.

  17. It's been a long time coming. Some would say, you know, your

  18. pastor was very gracious today. He was gracious.

  19. He's one of only two pastors that I ever had to cancel my my

  20. invitation to come and preach when I was evangelizing.

  21. And some people don't let you live it down.

  22. I'm not going to say who. But they just don't.

  23. Hallelujah, Hallelujah. It's so good.

  24. I give honor to my wife today, to this beautiful congregation.

  25. Give you honor today. Hallelujah.

  26. Before we, before we go into the word of God at all, I couldn't

  27. help today but think about what God gives us and what God allows

  28. us to do with, with what he's given us.

  29. And today, today, I just want to just, I just want to testify a

  30. little bit. Because they overcame him by the

  31. blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony.

  32. Hallelujah. So the, the clock's not started

  33. yet. Just so you know, it's not, it's

  34. not started. It's testimony time.

  35. It was on the agenda somewhere. I saw it.

  36. Amen. Amen.

  37. I am. So I am.

  38. I am blessed to be here today. I didn't.

  39. I, I, I had the opportunity when I was a small child about Zuri's

  40. age, maybe a little younger. Raise your hand, Zuri.

  41. Just raise it up. You're the little one.

  42. I had the opportunity to to sit under, lay under some church

  43. pews for a little while with, with my mother, my father, my

  44. grandparents. But that didn't last very long

  45. as my dad had troubles living it like he wanted to.

  46. He had a problem with failure and he couldn't, he couldn't

  47. fail and keep coming to church. And so he said, I'm not going to

  48. sit there and be a hypocrite. And so we quit.

  49. We quit going to church and my father was an alcoholic and

  50. basically the local drug dealer. And so I grew up, I grew up in a

  51. rather interesting environment for for several years, not not a

  52. very family friendly environment.

  53. Had a lot of had it had a lot of effect on on what would be my

  54. future. I made a lot of my own choices,

  55. but there was a lot of effect, had a lot of effect on the

  56. choices that I made as I myself became an alcoholic.

  57. I before doing so, though, I did start going to church again when

  58. I was 11, about 10 or 11 years old.

  59. My father had left and my mom started taking us to a, to an

  60. Apostolic Pentecostal church up in the up, up in the town from

  61. us. And that's where the Lord filled

  62. me with the Holy Ghost. You know, I wasn't even looking

  63. for it. I went to the altar basically on

  64. a dare. And God filled.

  65. Me with the Holy Ghost, I was baptized in Jesus name.

  66. But then as time would have it, I I fell away from the church as

  67. a teenager. I was, I left high school my

  68. freshman year. I was a full blown alcoholic by

  69. 19 years old, just a equal opportunity addict.

  70. Just had a crazy life. But I had here's what was crazy

  71. about it is I had a heart for God.

  72. Strange. It doesn't add up.

  73. I really can't paint you a justifiable picture of what my

  74. life really was. I'm just kind of giving you a

  75. snippet. But but I would come to church

  76. at times I'd sit we had a balcony and I would sit in the

  77. balcony and some some great evangelist would be there

  78. preaching and in my my spirit would cry out to God save me.

  79. I want free, I want I want to be saved, but my flash it, it would

  80. hold me to the seat and I would quickly make my way at the end

  81. of service out the back door and but, but I would come back and I

  82. would see God move again. I think it was my 22nd birthday.

  83. I was, I was sitting sitting at the local bar and the phone rang

  84. and the bartender said, hey, Travis, it's your mom.

  85. I get on the phone with my mom. She said, hey, what are you

  86. doing? Funny you would ask.

  87. You called the bar. She said, well, you need to tell

  88. the bartender to make you a pot of coffee.

  89. I've got plans for you after church for your birthday.

  90. Of course, I would always listen to Mom and she would take me to

  91. church. She didn't know it at the time,

  92. but there was time. So she would pick me up from a

  93. dope house and then she would take me to church.

  94. She never gave up. She never quit praying.

  95. Listen, today I'm telling you, there's nobody.

  96. There's nobody that you know. There's nobody that you're going

  97. to run into. There's nobody that's living,

  98. nobody that's breathing. God cannot say that he cannot

  99. reach, that He cannot turn around, that he cannot put up on

  100. the wheel and make a vessel of honor out of.

  101. That's the God that we serve. And he give me a testimony.

  102. He give me a testimony, Hallelujah.

  103. And I'm so grateful to be able to share it with you today.

  104. Hallelujah. I met a man this morning and

  105. this is what it had me thinking. I, I came down out of the hotel.

  106. Don't judge me for this. I came down out of the hotel

  107. near my out of my room and down to breakfast and I saw a man

  108. there, big guy, real big guy. He had on this black leather

  109. vest patches on it and I was intrigued.

  110. That's where you don't need to judge because I was kind of

  111. intrigued in years past been known to have a little

  112. fascination with the with the whole motorcycle club thing and

  113. and I thought, you know, I need to walk over and talk to him.

  114. I want to go take my picture with him now that sounds funny,

  115. but I thought no, I don't want to interrupt somebody first egg

  116. of a morning. So I kept and I just kept

  117. feeling like I needed to. That's it's, it's strange.

  118. And so finally in the rain, I walked to them.

  119. They're they're, they're at their motorcycle, him and his

  120. wife or girlfriend, and they're suiting up and you know, the

  121. weather out there, It's it's nasty.

  122. And I walked up and I said, hey, how's it going, guys?

  123. They said, all right, how are you?

  124. I said, I'm well, I said, what's your name?

  125. Then I thought, man, maybe I shouldn't ask that.

  126. Maybe that's too much. And I think he told me his name

  127. was Trimmer. Trimmer, something like that.

  128. It was, it was definitely a nickname.

  129. And I said, I said. I know this is going to seem

  130. like a strange question. Coming from a guy in a suit and

  131. tie, I said. But would you?

  132. Take a picture with me, he said. Long as you promise not to post

  133. it. I said, no, it's just for my

  134. personal, No, I won't post it. And and I and I kind of give him

  135. a little more information as to why I wanted to take a picture

  136. with him. And, and as he as he got ready

  137. to take a picture beside me, I'll be honest, first I was

  138. going to throw my arm around him, but then he was kind of

  139. just standing there. He's a lot bigger than me.

  140. He was kind of just standing there.

  141. I thought, yeah, I better not. But before his wife said, Hey,

  142. let me here, I'll take the picture.

  143. She said after, after we take this picture because somewhere

  144. in the conversation I worked in, I said, I said I'm a preacher.

  145. And she said, after we take this picture, would you pray with us?

  146. I'm here to tell you today. I don't know what seed was

  147. planted, but if God can save me, God can save that man.

  148. If God can save me, he can reach down into that Stony heart.

  149. He can pluck it out, and he can put in him a heart of flesh.

  150. Don't ever judge the book by its cover.

  151. Saying to God, don't ever. Walk by him and think.

  152. You know what? They don't want what I've got.

  153. Oh, they want it. They want it.

  154. Amen. Amen.

  155. Stand with me for one moment. I'm going to go to the word of

  156. the Lord today. That was testimony service.

  157. Hallelujah. Matthew chapter 8.

    Matthew 8 chapter mention

  158. We're going to read verses 23 through 26 today.

  159. While you're turning there, I want to say this.

  160. I truly believe today that the Lord has a word, a specific word

  161. for someone in this house. It may hey, if it fits, just put

  162. it on, but I truly believe God has a very specific word for

  163. someone in this place. Verse 23 it says and when he was

  164. entered into a ship, Jesus, his disciples followed him.

  165. And behold. There arose a great Temptus in

  166. the sea, a great storm, and so much.

  167. That the ship. Was covered with the waves, but

  168. he was asleep. And his disciples came to him,

  169. and awoke him, saying, Lord. Save us, we perish.

  170. I don't know if anybody's ever been there.

  171. And he saith unto them. Why are ye fearful?

  172. O ye of little faith. Then he arose and rebuked the

  173. winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

  174. Would you help me pray today? Lord Jesus, Lord, I need you in

  175. this. Place today we need you.

  176. God, I'm asking today that you would have your way in this

  177. house, Lord, in every heart and in.

  178. Every life, Lord, I pray. That you would anoint my lips of

  179. clay. God allow.

  180. Me to be a Horico and a vessel God through.

  181. Which you speak today, Lord, do the work through me and in this

  182. place is only you are able to. Do somebody said in Jesus name,

  183. you may be seated in the House of the Lord.

  184. Why are ye so fearful? An.

  185. Interesting question concerning considering the circumstances.

  186. Have you ever been? Has somebody ever.

  187. Asked you a question and and the answer was already obvious.

  188. Is it not obvious why we've come to you?

  189. Is it not obvious why? We have awakened you, but

  190. understand today Jesus. Ask him this question.

  191. While the storm was still raging.

  192. The storm hadn't stopped yet. The boat was still being tossed

  193. to and fro. Waves were crashing over it and

  194. before anything else happens, Jesus just looks at him and

  195. said. Why are you so fearful?

  196. He could have saved his question for later.

  197. He could have just immediately said peace be still now.

  198. Why are you so fearful? But he didn't ask that.

  199. He got up immediately. After before he had rebuked the

  200. storm. He's why.

  201. But. Since you've decided to wake me,

  202. let's have this conversation. I don't know about you, but once

  203. someone wakes me, I'm awake. So what do you need?

  204. I'm not going to go. Back to sleep.

  205. What do you need? No, it's it's.

  206. Fine, whatever. You just tell me what you need.

  207. What is your deal? Why are you so fearful?

  208. Well, how about we start with the storm that is?

  209. Currently raging all around us and threatening to capsize our

  210. vessel and drown us all. How about we start there?

  211. I don't know if you've ever felt that way.

  212. If you want to know what the problem is, is we're getting

  213. ready to die. I'm getting ready to drown in

  214. the sea. The storm that's raging all

  215. around me is getting ready to consume me.

  216. But it's all. Starting to come together now.

  217. It's all starting to make sense. You see, the disciples just stay

  218. with me. Don't write me off.

  219. The. Disciples suffered from a

  220. condition. That Jesus didn't have it all

  221. came together I. Figured it out.

  222. There's a condition, it's called.

  223. Astrophobia, That's what the That was what the disciples

  224. suffered with Astrophobia is an abnormal fear of Thunder and

  225. lightning or an unwarranted. Fear of scattered and or

  226. isolated thunderstorms. A type of specific phobia, the

  227. term astrophobia. Is composed of the Greek.

  228. Words astrophae meaning lightning and Phobos meaning

  229. fear. It is one of the most common

  230. specific phobias. It's the fear of the.

  231. Storm. It's the fear of the storm.

  232. Listen, Astrophobia. It's real.

  233. It causes anxiety and may also cause physical symptoms.

  234. Such as chest. Pain, dizziness, diarrhea, race,

  235. heart racing or heart palpitations, Nausea.

  236. Vomiting, shortness of breath, sweating.

  237. Or tremor. Tremors.

  238. Or, you know, uncontrollable shaking.

  239. Their anxiety, you hear me today was through the roof.

  240. They were fearing for their lives.

  241. Between them, they could have checked the box on every symptom

  242. listed under the. With the help of the Lord, today

  243. I want to preach to you from this thought.

  244. The fear of the storm, the fear of the storm.

  245. There are several things that are going.

  246. On here and not everything that's.

  247. Going on here is just. As it would seem, some would

  248. surmise that the storm was an attack from hell, sent from the

  249. devil with the intention of sinking their boat, effectively

  250. killing everyone on board. That's what some would surmise

  251. and. While that could be a.

  252. Possibility hell would only have been able to do it.

  253. God allowing it. That's the only way hell would

  254. have been able to go through with that plan.

  255. It would be. God having allowed.

  256. It now understand occasionally, occasionally, God has granted

  257. Satan such power, power over these naturally occurring

  258. events. That does not mean that he has

  259. unlimited power. People give the devil way too

  260. much credit. Pastor, what you need to

  261. understand. Is that the devil only has the

  262. power that God has allowed him to have, and if God allows him,

  263. it's for a purpose. And it's not Hell's purpose,

  264. it's God's purpose. In the In the midst of your

  265. storm, somebody needs to hear me.

  266. In the midst of your storm, you need to understand this one

  267. thing. Hell might have a reason for it,

  268. but God has a purpose for it. Hell might have an intention

  269. with it, but God's purpose for the storm is greater than Hell's

  270. intention. If Satan.

  271. If Satan could impact. The weather it would only be by

  272. God's permission and restrained. You can only go so far.

  273. How many remembers Job? Well, in the case of Job, Satan

  274. was allowed by God to torment Job in order to test him.

  275. This included the fire from God, probably lightning.

  276. Which fell from the sky and burned up the sheep and.

  277. The servants. This was followed by a mighty

  278. wind, likely possibly a tornado, that destroyed his eldest son's

  279. home and killed all of Jake, or all of.

  280. Job's children So if the fire from heaven and the tornado were

  281. somehow caused by Satan, they were still they were still under

  282. the. Ultimate control of God and for

  283. His purpose. With this understanding, we

  284. would be foolish to think that every storm that comes our.

  285. Way is sent by hell. That's that's what I wish people

  286. would quit saying. That's what I wish people would

  287. quit doing. Not every storm that you face in

  288. this life. When I say storm, I mean not

  289. every test, not every trial, not every mishap, not every flat

  290. tire, not at, not everything that comes your way.

  291. We sit by hell. You're giving them way too much

  292. credit. Please understand storms are

  293. naturally occurring. They happen.

  294. They're happening right now. Storms are are.

  295. Happening Some storms are isolated.

  296. In the next town, there might be a storm going on right now.

  297. Hey, in the next seat beside you, there might be a storm

  298. going on right now. It's not affecting you it.

  299. But they're naturally occurring. Some are isolated, some are

  300. scattered, but at the end of the day, from what I understand, God

  301. has all the power and God is he's got to, oh, if I'm going

  302. to. Get him ahead of myself.

  303. But if you've taken on the name and you're one of his, I would

  304. say today that there's nothing going to come your way that God

  305. doesn't already know and that God doesn't already have a

  306. purpose for. It's a part of life.

  307. Storms, they happen. For some sitting here today, the

  308. skies are clear. For others, the winds are

  309. threatening to seek your boat. I would submit you today that

  310. this storm was not an attack of hell.

  311. This is my own. It's just my thinking.

  312. I don't believe that their storm was an attack of hell.

  313. I don't believe that this was the enemy's attempt to drown

  314. them in the sea. Rather than an attack of Hell.

  315. I would submit that it was simply a natural occur, a

  316. naturally occurring event. There was going to be a storm

  317. that day. That's all there is to it.

  318. There was going to be a storm at.

  319. That being said, I would say that this wasn't Hell's attempt

  320. to to destroy them. More I would say this, if I was

  321. going to give any credit, I would say the deaths under this

  322. was God's perfect timing. There was no accident the moment

  323. he come down off that mountain. Every footstep was timed, every

  324. footstep was numbered. The moment that he got on the

  325. boat, it wasn't by accident. The moment they set sail, it's

  326. timing was perfect, it was impeccable and they set off at

  327. just the right time to. Catch this naturally occurring

  328. event. No credit to hell for that.

  329. God did have a purpose. God did have a purpose for the

  330. storm. I know some of you think today

  331. that every storm that comes your way, it's only purpose is to try

  332. to destroy you, and it's only purpose is to pull you out of

  333. the church and pull you out of your family and pull naturally

  334. occurring events. And God is the order.

  335. God had a purpose in the storm. That purpose was to reveal to

  336. his disciples who He truly was. Who was He?

  337. He was the mighty God. He was the Word made flesh.

  338. God manifest in the flesh the great I am.

  339. And He did it by showing them the power that he possessed.

  340. If you would have continued reading today down to verse 27,

  341. it would have said this. But the men marveled, the men

  342. marveled, saying what manner a man is this, that even the wind

  343. and the sea obey him? I want somebody to understand

  344. today that just as God could use naturally occurring events for

  345. His. Purpose he did.

  346. We've got right to where I was going.

  347. Hell also attempts to do the same.

  348. Hell wants to do the. Same.

  349. God uses it. God used it.

  350. God still. Using it for his purpose.

  351. And we know that all things work together for good to them, that

  352. love God, to those who are called according to His purpose,

  353. all things, every situation, every heartache, every trial,

  354. every pain. But Hell attempts to do the

  355. same. The storm was not an attack of

  356. the enemy though, nor was this storm Hell's attempt on their

  357. life. However, what Hell did was use

  358. their circumstances to have them drowning in.

  359. Fear. Drowning in their fear.

  360. These were disciples of Christ. They watched him perform.

  361. Miracles. They had forsaken all other

  362. things. They put their trust in Him.

  363. They followed him. And there they are.

  364. In the moment, still following Christ, Christ got on the boat.

  365. The disciples following Christ, trusting Christ, went ahead and

  366. got on the boat with them. Who am I to say that they didn't

  367. look up at the sky and say, you know what, fellas?

  368. I don't think this is a good time to be on the boat, but they

  369. got on the boat anyway because they were following Christ and

  370. they had put their trust in Christ.

  371. Here they are following Christ, and they find themselves in the

  372. midst of the storm. The enemy didn't need to kill

  373. them. I know that that's what some

  374. people think is going on in their lives right now.

  375. The storm, the things that are happening.

  376. People think this is the enemy's plot and the enemies attacking,

  377. the enemies trying to kill me. Oh, let me tell you something,

  378. though. I've been in this long enough,

  379. Pastor, and I can look back on my life and I can look back on

  380. my ministry with my wife and I can say we've gone through some

  381. storms, we've gone through some trials.

  382. We went through the struggle. At the time, it felt like hell

  383. was trying to destroy me. I'll just give up.

  384. It'd be easier if I just. Quit.

  385. Hey, you know what? I just leave these keys to the

  386. church right here and I'll go on down the road because I but I've

  387. been in it long enough to understand this one thing.

  388. Every storm that I've been through, every trial that I

  389. faced, God had a purpose in it and God was using it.

  390. I am what I am today because of the storms that God allowed to

  391. come my way. Don't you despise what you're

  392. going through right now? So they're following him, but

  393. they're still in the storm. The enemy didn't need to kill

  394. him, nor had he been granted the authority or the power to.

  395. That's something to take home with you.

  396. He wasn't the enemy. Hell does not have the authority

  397. to destroy you. The gates of Hell shall not

  398. prevail against the Church. He's not been granted the

  399. authority to do so. He hadn't been granted the

  400. power, and he didn't need to kill him.

  401. They were, however, in the moment, drowning in their fear.

  402. Oh, I don't know if you've ever been there drowning.

  403. I'll testify about it. I've been there.

  404. Pastor McGee, where I have absolutely no.

  405. Idea what to do and I feel like I have nowhere to turn and fear

  406. and anxiety have gripped my life and it's got me so weak and

  407. beggarly that I don't even hardly know how to walk anymore.

  408. Oh, but there was a purpose. Drowning in their fear.

  409. The enemy wanted them to doubt. You hear me today.

  410. The enemy wanted them. Wanted them to.

  411. Doubt who it was. That they got into that boat

  412. with. The enemy wanted them to doubt

  413. who it was that they had been following.

  414. We've been following this far. We've seen him do this.

  415. But here we are now. We followed him.

  416. We knew better. We were looking up, but we

  417. followed him. And here we are in the midst of

  418. the storm, and we're going to die.

  419. But neither hell nor the disciples truly understood who

  420. it was. That was asleep in that boat.

  421. This was no ordinary man. This was the word made flesh,

  422. the man Christ Jesus. That's who was asleep in the

  423. boat that day. So what was Hell's part in all

  424. of this? Fear and doubt that.

  425. Was the whispers in the ears for the whispers of hell in the ears

  426. of the disciples that day? It was fear you're going to die.

  427. It was doubt. He's not going to save you.

  428. It was fear you're going to perish.

  429. It's fear you follow the wrong word.

  430. It's fear Hell wanted them to fear and doubt.

  431. Oh, but that. Plan came to a screeching halt

  432. when Jesus lifted up his head off that pillow and he stood up

  433. upon that boat and he spoke to the wind, and he spoke to the

  434. storm, and it had to obey. Don't ever underestimate church.

  435. Don't you ever underestimate the plan nor the power of Jesus

  436. Christ. You're not going to die in your

  437. storm. You're He has not brought you

  438. onto the boat with him to let you drown.

  439. He's the same God now that he was back then.

  440. He has not changed. Why are you fearful?

  441. Why are you fearful? I want to reveal to you today

  442. what the most successful weapon is that hell has ever deployed.

  443. And not to give the enemy any credit, that's not what I'm

  444. doing. I want to reveal in order to

  445. dispel. And destroy it.

  446. So if you understand the weapon that's coming against you and

  447. you can dispel it, you can destroy it.

  448. If you can dispel it and destroy it, it no longer has any

  449. authority over you. It no longer is able.

  450. To do what it was intended to do.

  451. That weapon is fear. The.

  452. Weapons. Not the storm.

  453. The weapons, not the storm. It's the fear of the storm.

  454. It's the fear of the. Storm fear has been Hell's most

  455. successful weapon against God's people.

  456. And Hell has. Weaponized fear against the

  457. church. And.

  458. All too often I have. Seen God's children crippled and

  459. paralyzed by fear sent by hell not They were not crippled and

  460. paralyzed by the storm. They were crippled and paralyzed

  461. by fear that the outcome of the storm might not be what they

  462. expect. And that, my friend, is hell.

  463. 'S intention to cripple and paralyze the church.

  464. That is Hell's intention, because a crippled, paralyzed

  465. church is not capable of moving forward.

  466. A crippled and paralyzed St. of God is not able to keep going in

  467. the direction that God would have for them to go.

  468. A crippled and a paralyzed. Church, you know what they're

  469. not capable of doing? They're not capable of fighting

  470. and. I'll tell you.

  471. Why? Because I'm so scared that even

  472. if I do get through this storm, Pastor McGee, I'm scared that

  473. the next one's going to come. And I'm, I'm scared if I do too

  474. much, I got, I just got to hide over here a little bit and maybe

  475. hell won't see me. And that's where Hell's back,

  476. Hell's back. The church into a corner,

  477. paralyzed in fear, crippled by fear.

  478. But you need to understand today that if God has allowed it, then

  479. God has a purpose. And if God has a purpose, hell

  480. cannot destroy you. Hell cannot drown you.

  481. Hell cannot stop you. But as long as hell.

  482. Can keep you in that state. He doesn't need to destroy.

  483. You. He doesn't need to kill.

  484. You because you pose no threat in that current condition, if I

  485. can. Just.

  486. It's time to get up, Church. It's time to get up.

  487. I don't know who I'm speaking to today.

  488. It might be a whole bunch of you, but it might be just one.

  489. But I'm here to tell somebody in the House of God today.

  490. It's time to quit cowering in the corner.

  491. It's time to time to quit hiding in fear.

  492. It's time to get up. I came into this house today to

  493. tell somebody. Silver and gold have I none but

  494. such as I have. Give I thee in the name of Jesus

  495. Christ, rise up and walk through your storm.

  496. If, if hell could have stopped them, if hell could have stopped

  497. the disciples, if he could have kept them from moving forward,

  498. he would have successfully delivered a punishing blow to

  499. the church. Don't let hell use you.

  500. God's purpose. Has never been for you to sit.

  501. Back and cower. I'll tell you what.

  502. If the early church would have cowered in fear, they would have

  503. never The gospel would have never spread.

  504. Hey, if the threat of some whips could have stopped Paul, his

  505. message would have. I'm not saying he didn't.

  506. Go through the storm. But God had a purpose.

  507. Hell wants you worried. Hell wants you.

  508. Trembling. Hell wants you caloried.

  509. Hell wants you tormented in fear.

  510. People freeze in. Fear, anxiety, now more than

  511. ever, runs. Absolute rampant in our

  512. churches. In this world, I'm not saying

  513. that. That that.

  514. That that, that every anxiety. Or every person that suffers

  515. with anxiety is suffering solely from from the.

  516. Fear of hell, and I'm not saying that.

  517. But there's a great deal. Of them in the church today,

  518. that is suffering from anxiety. Hell has people living in

  519. constant anxiety, not just while the storm is raging, but when

  520. everything is sunshine and roses.

  521. Sister McGee, they're still coward in the corner.

  522. When everything's going good and there is no storm, they're still

  523. living in fear because I don't want them to recognize me.

  524. I don't want to do anything to get Hell's attention.

  525. You're that would be a. Successful attack from hell if

  526. if during. The times of plenty, and during

  527. the times you're cowering over in the corner when you should be

  528. marching forward. Hell has used it for.

  529. His own purpose. What many preachers have said.

  530. Through the years. You've heard this before.

  531. Somebody in here has heard this before.

  532. I've heard it. They would say listen.

  533. They tell some young preacher, some young, you know, some young

  534. couple that's started the ministry, listen, some young

  535. pastor, you know what? Listen when you start moving

  536. forward. You're going to face hell, I'm

  537. afraid. That some of them done more

  538. damage than they did good. Because you know what they've

  539. created? They've created an an.

  540. Atmosphere. Not an atmosphere of God, but an

  541. atmosphere of fear. An atmosphere this has.

  542. You better not tread on hell too much, because if you do, Hell's

  543. going to rise up against you. I'll tell you what those

  544. preachers left out. They should have said listen.

  545. Listen, young man. They're God.

  546. You're going to face hell. But greater is he that's living

  547. within you than he that is in the world.

  548. Go fight hell. Go.

  549. Don't you live in fear? Don't you cower to those giants

  550. you fight hell tooth and toenail, and God's going to take

  551. care of you. You're going to fight hell.

  552. But don't you cower. You're going to fight hell.

  553. But don't you run. You're going to fight hell, but

  554. don't you be afraid. That's what they should have

  555. said. But hell weaponized the.

  556. Statement. To keep people from moving.

  557. Forward. I've seen it, I've done it.

  558. The church now lives in. Fear of the storm?

  559. Even the storms that don't. Currently exist.

  560. Let's not do. Too much.

  561. Hey, let let's just fly under the radar here in Mount Carmel.

  562. We don't want to stir up too much.

  563. Hey, we're not marching down to the enemy's camp today.

  564. We better put that song back in the book.

  565. We don't want to get. Hell stirred up.

  566. Listen, I. Hate to be so.

  567. Secular today, but I'm going to be.

  568. Iron Mike Tyson. I don't know if you know that

  569. name. Maybe it's just me.

  570. Iron Mike Tyson, one of the greatest boxers to ever step in

  571. the ring. It would be said of.

  572. Him that he had most of his opponents defeated before they

  573. ever got in the ring. Is that possible?

  574. Oh yes, it is. He had most of his.

  575. Deponents feeded before they ever stepped the first foot into

  576. the ring. Before they ever.

  577. Arrived at the arena, he had them defeated before the day of

  578. the fight. He had them defeated and likely

  579. before they ever knew that they were going to fight the champ.

  580. He had them defeated because of fear.

  581. They were so terrified. He was so intimidating that even

  582. if they were a better boxer, even if they were a better

  583. fighter, they wasn't going to get in the ring and and pose any

  584. threat because he had them by the head.

  585. He had their mind. Oh, come on, somebody.

  586. Don't. Don't you let steps.

  587. Don't you let Theo grip you. Fear defeated them, but I.

  588. Didn't just. Come here with a message of

  589. fear. Today I came here.

  590. In the in the closing moments, hopefully of this sermon to tell

  591. you this, you need to remember who it is that you got into the

  592. boat with. You've got to remember who it is

  593. that's he's right there with you.

  594. He's right there beside you. There's nothing.

  595. I don't know about you. But when I was a young man, I'm

  596. not a very big guy. And when I.

  597. Was like 1819, I was a lot smaller than I am now and.

  598. You wouldn't have known it. By the way, I talked and acted,

  599. but there's. Something I learned to do.

  600. I wasn't the biggest guy. And I.

  601. Wasn't going to whoop the. Biggest guy.

  602. But you know what I did, Bishop? I had friends.

  603. Man, and they were. I'm with him.

  604. Oh. Yeah, you got a problem.

  605. Hey, we can take care. Of it.

  606. Because I knew. Who it was that I was standing

  607. with, I knew who it was that was walking with me.

  608. And if any threat came upon me, I knew that the guy standing

  609. next to me was big enough to deal with the problem.

  610. Understand Today, put your faith, your hope, your trust in

  611. the one that's in the boat. Jesus.

  612. Is in the boat. Why are you so fearful?

  613. From from Genesis 15 to Revelation chapter 1, God was

    Revelation 1 chapter mention

  614. redundant with one statement. Fear not, Fear not, Fear not,

  615. Fear not, Fear not, fear not. You don't have to.

  616. Live in fear of the storm. You don't.

  617. You don't have to live in fear of what might come.

  618. You don't have. But yet hell has manipulated.

  619. The church into living with anxiety and trembling in fear.

  620. But let me tell the. Church today, Church something

  621. today. We don't need to use scare

  622. tactics. For we have weapons.

  623. You hear me today. I don't need you to intimidate

  624. hell with fear. You don't have to intimidate.

  625. Hell, with fear, you don't have to act bigger than you are

  626. because we have some weapons. The church has some weapons that

  627. if they would pick them up and dust them off and use them to

  628. fight the good fight, there would be No Fear that.

  629. The weapons. Of our warfare are not carnal.

  630. Oh, you hear me today. The weapons of our warfare are

  631. mighty through the pulling down of strongholds.

  632. While half of the. Church is trembling, I want you

  633. to understand. Something.

  634. When I speak, when I walk down to.

  635. The enemy camp Sister McGee and I speak the name of Jesus.

  636. I'm here to tell you that all hell trembles and hell shakes in

  637. fear, and hell is crippled and hell is paralyzed at the name

  638. of. You don't have to.

  639. Come up with some new way to fight hell.

  640. You've already got it. How to speak the name?

  641. Jesus. Jesus over this situation.

  642. Jesus in my family, Jesus in my church, Jesus in my mind.

  643. Just realize. Who you're in the boat with?

  644. Just know who it is. That you're in the boat with.

  645. Listen, you need to understand. The power and the authority that

  646. is in the name that you took on when you were baptized, the name

  647. of Jesus. In that name there is healing

  648. power, saving power, restorative power, triumphal power, power

  649. over fear, power over anxiety. Somebody needs to speak it

  650. today. Somebody needs to speak it into

  651. your fear and into your storm and into your situation and

  652. power over all of hell. Hear me today.

  653. I'm I'm I'm closing. He wasn't done yet.

  654. He wasn't done yet. You don't even.

  655. Make it to the. Next chapter.

  656. I've come to empower. Somebody today, you don't.

  657. You don't even make it. Brother McGee, there's not even

  658. another verse in between What happened there and what would

  659. happen next that would further bring an understanding to not

  660. only hell, but the disciples just who he was.

  661. He said. I'll tell you.

  662. I'll show you what kind of a man I am because they marveled.

  663. What kind of a man is this? So there he is, verse 27.

  664. They marveled. Verse 28 it says and when they

  665. were come to the other side of the country.

  666. The Gurga scenes. Country that I don't know good

  667. enough. For me there met him too.

  668. Possessed with devils. Coming out of the tombs.

  669. Exceeding fierce that no man. Could pass by that way.

  670. Long story short, if you. Go on down it does 32 it says.

  671. And he said unto them, Go, he said.

  672. Him. He looked.

  673. Hell in the. Face and he said go, and that's

  674. all that he had to say. And when he said go, they went

  675. because he had the power over hell.

  676. Not just the power over the storm, but the power over the

  677. enemy. Let me say it again.

  678. Hell has no power that can compare to the power that we

  679. possess in the name of Jesus. Jesus is with you in the midst

  680. of your storm, and He will you through.

  681. Stand with me. You're on the boat with.

  682. Jesus today. We need some people in the.

  683. Church that will start walking in this Apostolic authority.

  684. We need some people who speak. To the storm today in the.

  685. Authority of the name. Of Jesus Christ.

  686. Can I tell you something? They didn't even have to wake.

  687. Jesus up you understand that They went and they woke him up,

  688. but they didn't have to I. Assure you today.

  689. And they just grabbed a hold of the side of that boat.

  690. And they just rode. Out the storm with Jesus.

  691. Guess what? They'd a steel came to the shore

  692. safe. They'd a steel made it to the

  693. other side. Why?

  694. Because Jesus was in the boat and they were with Jesus.

  695. And if you're with Jesus, there's no weapon of the enemy

  696. that's formed against you that's going to prosper.

  697. So whether your storm ends? Today or not?

  698. I'm here to tell you, you don't have to live in fear.

  699. Of it. You can live above it.

  700. You can live above fear, you can live above anxiety, you can live

  701. above your storm because Jesus is in the boat with you.

  702. We need some people that would be like.

  703. Those three Hebrew boys. They were.

  704. Faced they could we can either bow down and be delivered, or we

  705. can face the fire and when they. Were presented when the.

  706. When the king presented them with that.

  707. You know what they said they said.

  708. If it be so, our. God.

  709. Whom we? Serve.

  710. Is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace.

  711. But at the end of the day, you understand when you really get

  712. some faith in Jesus, when you really understand who it is that

  713. you serve. You can look hell in the face

  714. and say, you know what my God's evil.

  715. But if he doesn't, if I go down with this ship, he's still going

  716. to be with me and he's still going to deliver me out of your

  717. hands. Because hell has.

  718. No power over the church. You don't have to walk in fear

  719. anymore. Either way, we're going to.

  720. Be delivered. Whether the storm.

  721. Stops or not, it doesn't. You hear me today, somebody.

  722. It doesn't matter if the storm stops or not.

  723. Why? Because there's a fourth man in

  724. the fire with you. Why?

  725. Because Jesus is in the boat with you.

  726. Why? Because Christ is in us.

  727. The hope of glory. I want somebody just close.

  728. Your eyes today lift your hands toward heaven with me.

  729. Somebody needs to give their fear and their doubt and their

  730. worries to Jesus today. I want.

  731. Somebody to hear? Me.

  732. If you would be willing. Today and you would say I'm

  733. tired of living in fear. I'm tired of the anxiety.

  734. I'm tired of cowering in the corner.

  735. I'm tired of being crippled by hell.

  736. Would you just step out then say Jesus, I'm done with the fear?

  737. I don't need the anxiety anymore.

  738. God, my, my troubles, my my stars.

  739. I'm going to bring them to you today because they're bigger

  740. than me. And I'm going to lay.

  741. Them at your feet, and I'm going to trust today that you're in

  742. this boat with me. You can be set free.

  743. Today somebody you can be set free from your anxiety.

  744. You can be set free from your fear.

  745. You can be made whole today. Hell has.

  746. No power over you. Listen, this boat ain't going.

  747. Down as long as Jesus is on it. Come on, would you pray?

  748. Today. Hallelujah.

  749. Hallelujah, God, I know that you're with us.

  750. God, you'll never leave us. You're not.

  751. Going to forsake us. God you're going with?