Rick Warren - Withstanding the Winds of Life

If you pull out your message notes inside your little

program bag, we're looking at part four of our series

today on building a better life with the title of

Withstanding the Winds of Life. Now, during this series, we've

been looking at two big ideas. One of them is

that there's a better level of living than simply the

good life. We call it the better life. Good life's good.

You're already living the good life, looking good, feeling good,

having the goods. But the better life is the life

that's at the next highest level. And now is the

perfect time to step up to this higher level. After

all of the storms and all of the winds of

change that we've been through this past year in our

COVID pandemic and all the other storms that we've had,

you've had to adopt to a lot of different things.

God doesn't want you to resume the same old life,

but instead he wants to reset a better life, reboot

to a better life, rebuild, redefine life. restart for a

new life. So, Farr, we've looked at eight principles, okay?

We've looked at eight principles for rebuilding your life, and

today we're gonna look at four more. Now, one of

the most powerful forces of nature is wind, is wind.

You know, Kay and I live out in the canyon,

and we have canyon winds for several months in the year,

and in the windy season, it's brutal. I remember one

time we had a giant hurricane about a 15-foot trampoline,

and the wind came along, and this is a heavy thing,

and it blew it up against the second floor of

our house, and in the wind, I had to go out,

and I couldn't even pull it down. The wind was

so strong, I had to take it apart one little

spring at a time to take it apart. Have any

of you ever lost patio equipment to the wind? Okay,

you know what I'm talking about. One of the most

powerful forces of nature is wind. You know, one time

God actually gave a wind show to Elijah. Look up

here on the screen. 1 Kings chapter 11, chapter 19,

1 Kings 11 · chapter mention

verse 11. It says this. The Lord told Elijah, go

out and watch what I can do to a mountain

with wind. So Elijah watched as the Lord sent a

great and powerful windstorm to hit the mountain. And it

hit with such a hurricane force that it split giant boulders.

And everything was torn loose and coming apart. You know,

that last phrase could be a description of this last year.

Everything was coming loose and being torn apart. Everything was

coming loose and being torn apart. Now, we know that

winds are very powerful. Can winds knock you off balance? Yeah,

of course they can. Can winds blow you over? Yeah.

Can they cause you to fall? Yeah. Can winds blow

away valuable things? Yeah. You've lost some things maybe from

the wind. Can winds cause erosion? Yes. Wears things down.

Can winds force you off course? Yep. You know, your

head in one direction, the wind. Have you ever had

to drive in a heavy wind and you just feel

like it's pulling you over to the side one way

or the other? It's a very strong force. Can winds

wear you out? Yes. Yes, winds can wear you out.

Is it harder or easier to work in the wind?

It's harder. It's harder. And that's why part of stepping

up to the better life that we're looking at in

this series is means learning how to handle, how to manage,

actually how to withstand the rogue winds of life. You see,

living a better life, this life we're talking about for

several weeks, it's not a problem-free life. You still have

problems in the better life. It's just now you have

a stronger foundation and you have better skills. Because you

can handle the problems better in your life. There on

your outline, Proverbs 10, 25 says this. Storms can blow

away unrighteous people. But the godly have a foundation that

keeps them standing firm. The godly have a foundation that

keeps them standing firm. So that when the winds of

life come into your life, you're not blown away by

the problems that you have. Now, the Bible uses wind

as a metaphor for a lot of different things, both

good and bad. Both good and bad. And we're going

to look at some of those metaphors. Before I share

four biblical principles for withstanding the winds in your life,

I just want to ask you to consider for just

a minute a simple question. And the question is this.

What kind of winds are blowing in your life right now? Okay,

help me think this through. What kind of winds are

blowing in your life right now? And I've written down there.

Are there some winds of change? Are there some things,

winds of change that have blown into your life? Are

there winds of opposition? Are you facing some opposition? Physically

and mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Are there winds of temptation that

you're facing? Are there winds of conflict? that are causing

problems in your life? Are there winds of trouble? By

the way, these terms are all used in the Bible.

Winds of testing, winds of trouble, winds of temptation. Now

all of those things that I just mentioned, do you

know what they have in common? They're all uncontrollable. Winds

are uncontrollable. And that's what we're talking about this weekend.

The things that you cannot control in your life. You

can't control the wind. You never have, you never will.

And there are relational winds, there are financial winds, there

are spiritual winds, there are physical winds. These kind of

things happen in your life. And what all these have

in common, change, opposition, conflict, trouble, testing, temptation, You can't

control them. Why? Because they're either involving other people and

you can't control other people or they're involving circumstances and

you can't control all the circumstances around you. So what

I want us to look at this week as we're

on this journey to moving from the good life to

the better life is how do I handle the things

in life that are uncontrollable? That's what I'm calling the

winds in your life. The rogue winds. the winds that

cause problems, difficulties, opposition, fatigue, but you can't control them, okay?

These are all uncontrolled. They're uncontrolled. So what do you

do with the things in your life that are uncontrollable?

What does God want you to do with the things

in your life you have absolutely no control over. You

know what to do with the stuff you've got control over.

But this weekend, we're looking at what about the stuff

that you don't have control over? Well, the Bible uses

the word withstand. You withstand the winds that come into

your life. Winds of change, winds of conflict, winds of temptation, testing, trouble,

all these different things. You withstand them. When I can't

control a disease, when I can't control another person, when

I can't control what's going on in my country, when

I can't control the direction culture is going, when I

can't control how my spouse acts or reacts, what am

I supposed to do? The Bible uses the word withstand. Now,

I've written down a definition here. You might write this down.

It's on the screen. To withstand means to remain undamaged

by a destructive force. This is extremely important, so write

this down. To withstand means to remain undamaged by a

destructive force. And all through scripture, this word is used

about things you have no control over. God wants you

to withstand the darts of the evil one and so many,

many other areas. All right? Ephesians chapter 6 verse 13

Ephesians 6:13

says this. Put on the whole armor of God so

you'll be able to withstand in evil days. Circle the

word withstand. You'll be able to withstand in evil days

and when they're over, when those evil days are over,

when those rogue wind days are over, you'll still be standing.

You'll still be standing. So, since I can't control the

winds that occur in my life, I can no more

control the wind. Tomorrow's supposed to be really windy, and

it'll be windier for the people who are here for worship.

What do you do? Well, you withstand the winds, the

destructive winds of life. What I want us to do

this weekend is look at four passages that talk about

wind and the antidote to winds by withstanding, all right?

There are four keys. I'm gonna give you four more

principles on how to move from the good life to

the better life. This has to do with the problems

in your life that you can't control, all right? Here's

the first key. The first key to withstanding destructive winds

in your life. Stay connected to my spiritual family. I

need to stay connected to my spiritual family. God never

meant for you to face destructive winds, whether it's a

death or a disease or a detour or a delay

or a difficulty. God never meant for you to withstand

the destructive winds of life by yourself, on your own.

The very first thing God says is it's not good

for man to be alone. So whether you ever marry

or not is irrelevant. What I'm talking about is you

need a spiritual family. You need a spiritual family for

support so you can stay connected during the rough times

of life. It is one of the main reasons Jesus

created his church, to be a family of support. Now

let's look at a passage on this. Ephesians chapter four,

verses 11 and following, down to 14. God has given

his church... God has given his church gifted apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,

and teachers to equip God's people for their work of service.

What's your work of service? That's your ministry. God puts

you on this earth not to live for yourself, but

for you to make a difference with your life. That's

called your ministry. Your work of service is your ministry.

So God gives these gifted people, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers,

to equip you for your work of service so that we,

in the body of Christ, may be built up together

until we're all unified in the faith. Now remember, we're

talking about building a better life. This is about how

do we build a better life? How are we built up?

We're built up in the better life together. You're not

built up for the better life on your own. We're

built up together until we're all unified in our faith

and we become fully mature and grown up in our

thinking like Christ. That's God's goal for you. Then here's

the goal. Here's the result of it. Then we'll no

longer be babies tossed back and forth tossed back and forth,

blown here and there by every shifting wind. We're not

blown here and there by every shifting wind of teaching

from deceptive people who lead you into error with lies

that they make sound like the truth. Now that passage

has got a lot of stuff in it, so let's

just tear it apart a little bit at a time. First,

circle the phrase built up God's church is his tool

for building you up in the better life. You cannot

live the better life on your own. You can live

the good life on your own, but you can't live

the life that God intended for you on your own.

You need a spiritual family. And it says in that

spiritual family, God has gifted certain people to teach you

and to build you up. I'm one of them. I'm

a pastor. I'm a teacher. God has gifted me to

build you up for the better life. My gifts aren't

for my benefit. My gifts are for your benefit. And

God has given you gifts and your gifts are not

for your benefit. Your gifts are for my benefit and

everybody else too. Our gifts are always for the benefit

of others. That's how we need each other in the

family of God. Now, It says that their job, these apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers,

guys like me, women like me, it says their job

is to keep you from being blown away by false ideas.

Blown away by shifting winds of teaching. What are shifting winds?

That's something that people believe it this year, and next

year they believe something else. And next year they believe

something else. Opinions shift. The truth never changes. If it

was true 1,000 years ago, it'll be true in 1,000

years from today. But an opinion changes. Facts actually change.

You know, nothing is more irrelevant than a 10-year-old science book.

And nothing is even more irrelevant than that, than a

five-year-old computer book. They're worthless. You use them as doorstops. Why?

Because they don't stay current. Because it's not simply truth.

And they get out of date. And stuff that we

used to believe, we now know, oh, we don't believe

that anymore. We know that's not true. We now know.

Even stuff about biology and about anatomy, things that doctors

used to think, well, that piece of the body is irrelevant.

We now know, well, we've discovered a little bit more.

It's more relevant than we thought. So our job, my job,

is to help you not be blown away by shifting

winds of teaching from deceptive people who lead you into

error with lies they make sound like the truth. Okay,

let me just say this. I beg you to stop

watching cable news. I beg you to stop watching cable news.

I don't care what channel it is. Just stop watching

cable news. Why? Because they are deceptive. What do you mean?

They're not telling me the truth? No, they're telling you

a partial truth. Because now we don't have news anymore.

We now have opinion. And people will tell you what

they tell you is true, but it's not the whole truth.

It's not all the truth. They're only telling you the

part of the truth they want you to hear. They're

not telling you all the truth. They're not giving you

the whole picture. They're giving you partial truth. And partial

truth means it's partial untruth because it's not the whole

truth and nothing but the truth. So help me God.

All right. So it says the first thing we need

to do is we need to stay connected to our

spiritual family. These people in the family help us with

the shifting winds and all the deception that's out there

and people who are sharing lies that make it sound

like the truth. God's tool built up is to build

us up for better life. By the way, let me

just stop here a minute and say, I'm proud of

you guys. I'm proud of you. I commend you. Why?

Because you have stayed connected to the body of Christ.

In this last year, a lot of people didn't stay connected. Why?

And they wandered off here and there. And I mean,

you're here at service. The moment was opened back up.

You were watching online. I value you. I commend you.

I praise you for staying connected. Why? Because that's how

you keep growing. Unfortunately, there are people that the moment

we stopped having public services, they're gone. And they're never

coming back. They won't be back at Church White. They

got out of the habit. So I commend you for

doing that. Here's the first key to withstand. Stay connected

to my spiritual family. Here's the second key to withstanding.

Write this down. Put into practice everything I learn. That's

the second thing God tells us to do in order

to withstand the tough winds of life. I need to

not just hear the word of God. You've been hearing it.

You've been listening to it online. You've been coming back

to services since we reopened public services. But more than that,

You put into practice. You don't just listen to God's word,

you do it, you obey it, you practice it. And

that's what helps me withstand stuff I can't control. Here's

what Jesus said, a very important passage in Matthew chapter seven.

It's the last words of his famous Sermon on the Mount.

Matthew 7, 24 and 25, Jesus said, everyone who hears

these words of mine and puts them into practice, circle that,

puts them into practice, is like the wise man who

built his house on a solid rock. The rains came down,

and the waters rose, and the winds, there's that word,

the winds blew hard and beat against that house, yet

it did not fall. That's my goal for you, that

when the winds blow against you, you do not fall. Why?

Because it had its foundation on the rock. Now notice,

when a storm comes, it says three things happen. The

rains come down, that attacks the roof of your life.

It says the floods come up from the ground, that

attacks the foundation of your life. And it says the

winds blow, that attacks the walls of your life. So

you're getting from the top, you're getting it from the

bottom you're getting from the side and it said the

only way you're going to make it through the rogue

winds of life the stuff you can't control when you

get a diagnosis that you can't control if you have

a special needs child you can't change If you have

a circumstance or an inability or a disability that you can't...

You're going to have to live with your entire life.

As you get old and things change in your life,

what do you do with those things you can't control? First,

I stay connected to my spiritual family. Second, I practice

everything I learn. And it says there, then, because you

put it into practice, your house... is built on the

foundation on the rock. Now what's the rock? The rock

is this book. It's the word of God. And the

more I build my life on this rock, the more

solid I'm gonna be. The winds can come at me.

I can lose a son to suicide. I can have

a wife get breast cancer. I can have enormous, physical

problems myself, a brain disorder. I can have criticism. I

can have all kinds of things that I can't control,

but they don't devastate me. Why? Because I'm practicing what

this book says. In John 13, 17, the next verse,

Jesus says this, now that you know these things, you

will be blessed if you know them. Oh, it didn't

say that, did it? Now that you know these things,

you will be blessed if you what? Do, circle that, do.

The blessing doesn't come in knowing. Right now, you're knowing.

Right now, you're learning. I'm teaching you four ways to

handle things that are uncontrollable in your life. The four things,

all of these are antidotes to the winds of life.

You need a strong family, spiritual family to give you support.

You need a foundation of God's word that you trust,

when everything else can be changing in your life, now

that you know these things, you'll be blessed if you

do them. You know, it occurred to me that some

of you are new to Saddleback Church. We have used

these outlines, these message notes, for 40 years. And a

lot of churches don't use these. You know, you don't

have anything to write anything down on, but it's one

of our hallmarks of Saddleback Church and maybe you're new

to Saddleback and I thought I might just pause here

as we're getting started back in public worship to remind

you why we use these things. Because maybe for the

last year you've been watching the service on your iPhone

or your Android or whatever and you're not taking notes.

Now that we're back I encourage you to take notes. Why?

Here are the reasons. Why do we use handouts? Not

everybody has a Bible, okay? Number two, it relieves embarrassment

in finding text. Some of you say, if I said,

turn to the book of Job, and you go, where's

that one? Okay, and then you're over there thinking, Job? Oh,

maybe this is a book about work or something, you know?

And what's this all about? Haggai, who's Haggai? We're gonna

look at him in the weeks ahead. It relieves embarrassment

in finding text. We can cover more verses in less

time when I put them all out here. We can

read verses aloud together. We can review what we learn later.

We can compare multiple translations. We can emphasize key words

by circling or underlining. We can remember and retain more.

And we can use it for small group study and discussion.

I've told you this before. that the United States Air

Force did a study and said that you forget 90

to 95% of everything you hear in 72 hours. You

forget 90 to 95% of everything you hear in 72 hours.

If you want a statistic to depress a pastor, that's it. Okay,

because it means I'll spend 20 plus hours preparing to

teach you You know, a lesson from God's word, realizing

that by Wednesday you will have forgotten everything except the jokes.

Unless you write it down. The shortest pencil is longer

than the longest memory. So what I need to do

is I need to write it down. Outlines help us

fulfill James 1.25. Those who look intently into God's word,

perfect word, that gives us freedom. And continue to do this.

And remember what they've heard. And then do it. They

are the ones who will be blessed in what they do.

You want to be blessed? Notice the four things it

says you got to do in order to be blessed.

Four things. First, you look intently into the word of God.

That's study it. You look at it intently. You don't

just listen. You look at it intently. And you continue

to do that. That means you make it a habit.

And then you remember what you heard. That means sometimes

you memorize a verse. And we'll do that. You remember

a verse. And then you do it. That's the practice part.

He said, they are the ones who will be blessed.

And these outlines help us do that. All right. With

those two out of the way, let's get to the

third and fourth key. And these are even more important

in understanding how to handle sin. Situations in your life.

That are out of control. Number three. The third key

to withstanding wins is this. When it comes into my life.

Something that I cannot control. Turn my focus. Turn my focus.

To how great God is. Turn my focus. To how great.

God is. When I'm going through a situation. I have

no control over. I need to remember that it may

be out of my control, but it's not out of

God's control. Turning my focus to God and his greatness,

there's a word for that. It's called worship. Anytime you

turn your focus to the greatness of God, you are worshiping, okay?

You're worshiping. Worship, listen, worship is the secret. of withstanding.

Worship is the secret of withstanding the uncontrollable things in life.

When I go, I cannot control this. I can't do

anything about it. I need to flip my focus and

think about the greatness of God and his power and

how it's not be, it may be out of my control,

but it's not out of his. I want to put

a sentence on the screen here that I want you

to write down. When battered by a wind, don't tell

God how great my storm is. Tell the storm how

great my God is. Okay, write that down. When I'm

battered by a wind, that means something totally out of

my control. I just can't do anything about it. My

spouse is having an affair. I can't do anything about it.

My kids are going crazy. I got a bad health report.

When I am battered by a wind, don't tell God

how great my storm is, how great the wind is. Instead,

tell my storm how great my God is. My God is.

I turn my focus to how great God is. Worship

is the secret. to withstanding. Now, there is a beautiful

example of this in the New Testament in Matthew chapter 8.

Matthew 8 · chapter mention

And the story here is Jesus is out in a

boat with his disciples on the Sea of Galilee, and

he's asleep. Now, the Sea of Galilee is a huge,

huge lake. And it's very easy for, quickly, for storms

to come up suddenly. In fact, Pastor Tom and I,

many years ago, in a trip to Israel, went out

on a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and out

in the middle of it, all of a sudden, it

was a beautiful day when we went out, and all

of a sudden, in the middle of the lake, the

dark clouds came over suddenly. It started pouring, raining. It

started getting windy. And I was that excited about being

in that boat. Okay, because it was like big gale

winds and choppy waves in the ocean. So here's the

story that gives us the example of how to turn

our focus to God and how great he is. Matthew 8,

Matthew 8:24

verse 24. Suddenly, that's always how storms come. That's always

how winds come. Suddenly, and they don't warn you in advance. Suddenly,

without any warning, a violent wind hit hit the lake

so that giant storm waves swept over the boat and

threatened to sink it. But Jesus kept on sleeping. This

is funny, okay? The ship's going like this, tossing and turning.

There's a little ship out there, a three-hour tour, you know.

And it's about to capsize. Jesus is not paying any attention.

He's totally asleep. He's at peace. He's not worried. Jesus

kept on sleeping. So the frantic disciples woke him up shouting, Lord,

you must save us. And they didn't say it that calmly.

You must save us. We're going to drown. Jesus replied,

why are you so frightened? Your faith is so small.

Then he simply spoke to the winds. What are the winds?

The uncontrollable forces in your life. He spoke to the

winds and the waves of And everything became completely calm.

What's out of my control is not out of God's control.

Everything became completely calm. And the men were amazed. And

they asked themselves, what kind of man is this? Even

the winds and the waves obey him. Now, this whole

experience leaves them in awe of Jesus. They're not afraid.

They're worshiping him. Why? Because they've just seen him have

power over nature. And if God has power over nature,

he's got power over everything else. Here's the point. Why

were they afraid? They're afraid the boat's going to sink.

Do you really think it's going to sink with Jesus

in it? If they'd realized who was in the boat

with them, do you think they would have been afraid?

They forgot who was in the boat with them. If

Jesus is in your boat, your boat is unsinkable. It

isn't gonna sink. If Jesus is in your boat, it's unsinkable.

So what are you afraid of? Now, worship, when I worship,

when all of a sudden I've got negative things in

my life and a lot of stuff I can't control,

I can't control my salary, it's set by somebody else.

I can't control other things. All these things that I'm

worried about. Worship is a way to set your sail

so that the winds drive you in the direction you

wanna go rather than a direction you don't wanna go.

And the direction you wanna go is let the wind

drive you to Jesus. Let the wind drive you to

focus on God. Let the pain, let the problem, let

the stress drive you to get closer to God. And

when I do that, I'm not gonna have to be afraid.

That's a choice. Am I gonna worry or am I

going to worship? All right? Let worship set the sails.

So that the negative things that happen in your life

actually drive you further in the direction you want. You

can't control the wind, but you can control the direction

of the set of your sail. And a good sailor

knows that you can take a wind that's totally opposite

you and still move in the direction you want if

you set your sail correctly. That's your attitude. That's the

way you trust. You can't control the wind, but you

can control the set of your sail. And I do

that by choosing to worship. Now there's one more, and

I wanted to spend the most on this, and that

is the fourth key to withstanding. How do I withstand

in stuff I can't change in my life that's just there?

And here it is, number four, very important. Remind myself

how much Jesus cares. When I am going through a

period that scares me to death, When I'm going through

a period I don't like. When I'm going through a

period I don't want. When I'm going through a period

that I can't control. I don't just focus on how

great God is, that's his power. I also focus on

his love. And I remind myself how much Jesus cares.

Now there's another boat incident in the Bible. This is

different than the one we just looked at that teaches

this truth. of reminding myself how much Jesus cares. In

Mark chapter six, here's another boating incident out on the

Sea of Galilee, Mark 46, 47, and 48. It says this,

another evening, the disciples were out in their boat in

the middle of the lake, and Jesus was alone on land.

So he's not in the boat with them this time.

But Jesus saw his disciples were in trouble Okay, from

the shore. He could see they're in trouble. Rowing hard

with their oars because the wind was against them. So

Jesus decided to walk out to them on the lake.

This is his famous walking on water miracle. Okay, he

sees they're in trouble. Background of this story. Jesus had said,

you guys get on the boat. I want you to

take the boat up to Bethsaida. It's a three-hour trip.

up the coast of the Sea of Galilee to get

to Bethsaida. Nine hours later, they're way off course. They're

out in the middle of the Sea of Galilee and

can't even get back to shore. They're way, way off course. Why?

Rogue winds. And so rather than something that was going

to be a three-hour trip up the coast, it's nine

hours and they're dead tired. Now, In this passage I

just read you, I want you to notice, and I'm

not gonna go into this in detail, but in those

few verses I just read, we see six common reasons

we get fearful. We see all six of them right there. First,

it says another evening, it's nighttime. They're in the dark.

Isn't it true that your fears go up in the dark?

Isn't it true that you get more anxious, you get

more fearful, When you can't see your way, I don't

see any way out of this financial problem. I don't

see any way out of this mess. I don't see

how we're going to make it through this. When you're

in the dark and you can't see well, then you

get fearful. Second thing, they're in the middle of the lake.

What's that mean? They're far from the safety of shore.

They feel insecure. When you feel insecure... And you're not

near safety. You're out in the middle of the lake.

You get fearful. Then it says they're in deep water.

They're out of their comfort zone. They're in deep water.

They're out of their comfort zone. They're not in the

shallows of life. They're way in over their head. Some

of you right now are in a situation where you're

way in over your head. And that's making you nervous.

It's making you fearful. It's making you anxious. It's making

you anxious. So it's nighttime, but they're in the middle

of the lake. They're in deep water. The fourth reason

they're fearful is Jesus isn't in the boat. So they

feel like they're all on their own. And when you

feel like you're all on your own, maybe you feel

that way right now. This thing that I'm facing, I'm

facing it all on my own. I'm trying to handle

it all by myself. I'm sorry. That's why You need

to share it with your spiritual family and let other

people pray with you, pray for you, work with you,

support you. That's why you need a small group. Jesus,

when you feel like you're on your own. Then it says,

and the wind was against them. We get fearful when

we feel opposition. When we feel like opposition is preventing

our progress. The wind was against them. What's against you

right now? What? uncontrollable circumstances are against you. And that's

causing you to feel fearful, okay? And then it says,

Jesus saw that his disciples were in trouble rowing hard

with their oars because the wind was against them. They're

in trouble rowing hard. You know what? They're frustrated and

they're tired. And you know what? When you get frustrated

and when you get tired, your fear level goes up.

Your anxiety level goes up. Now I'm sure many of

you are identifying with at least one of these things.

You're in the dark. You feel insecure. You're out of

your comfort zone. You feel like you're on your own.

There's opposition preventing your progress when you're frustrated and you're tired.

You've been rowing all day and you're not making any progress.

They've been on the lake for nine hours and it

was only a three-hour trip. Now that's the reason we

get fearful. But this same passage that I just read

gives us the three reasons why you don't need to

be fearful. The three reasons why you don't need to

be upset on the things that are out of your control.

And here they are. First thing is it says Jesus

saw his disciples were in trouble the first reason you

need to be afraid is that Jesus notices our struggle

Jesus notices our struggle he pays attention to our struggles

Did you know that everything you're going through right now,

there's nothing that Jesus hasn't noticed? He knows what you're

going through. He pays attention to your struggle. And just

as he saw his disciples from the shoreline going, they're

having a hard time rowing and they can't get back

to shore. They can't get back to safety. He sees

where you're struggling. He sees where you're straining. Now here's

what happens. The disciples are unaware that that Jesus is

paying attention to their struggle, so they get scared. When

you're unaware, you get scared. When you forget that God

is paying attention to every problem in your life, then

you start acting like it's just you. It's not just you.

You get scared when you're unaware that Jesus is paying attention.

Never forget that Jesus pays attention To every single detail

of your life. That's a fear reliever. Job 31 verse

Job 31:4

4 here on the screen says. He sees everything I do.

And counts every step I take. So I should not

be fearful. Even in uncontrollable situations. In the winds of life.

Because Jesus is noticing. He's paying attention. It's not like

he's unaware. Number two. He doesn't just pay, he's not

just aware, he cares. That's the second thing. Jesus cares

about your fatigue and Jesus cares about your frustration. He

sees his disciples, they've been out there for nine hours

rowing and they're not making any progress and they're tired

like you're tired after what's happened all this last year.

Jesus is not just aware. He cares. He cares. And

he saw that they were rowing hard. But there's another thing.

He not only pays attention and he not only cares,

he does something about it. The third thing we see

is that Jesus comes to me at my moment of desperation.

Jesus comes to me. at my moment of desperation. This

story is actually told in the book of Matthew, in

the book of Mark, and in another gospel too. It's

in three different gospels. So Mark chapter 6 says this,

Mark 6 · chapter mention

it was the fourth watch of the night when Jesus

decided to go out to them. They're out there caught

in the middle of the lake, walking on the lake.

It's famous walking on water miracle. Now It says it's

the fourth watch of the night. Do you know what

time that is? That's between three and 6 a.m. That's

the fourth night of the watch. In the darkest time,

in the loneliest time, they're exhausted, they've been fighting, as

I said, the storm for nine hours. They're not getting

anywhere and the storm's blown them way off course. Many

of you feel that way that COVID and all these

other factors, these other storms that we've talked about have

blown you way off course. What does Jesus do when

you're desperate? He comes out to you. Notice that Jesus

did not stand on the shoreline and shout instructions. He

didn't stand on the shoreline and tell them what to do.

He goes out to the people that he cares about

He comes to you in your moment of desperation. And

he goes out to where they are and he intervenes. Friends,

that's the gospel. A God who intervenes. A God intervenes.

who becomes incarnate, a God who comes to earth, a

God who becomes one of us, who takes on all

our problems and dies on the cross for our sin.

He didn't shout from heaven new instructions. He comes and says,

I'll solve the problem that you can't solve. He comes

out to you. I don't know what you're going through

right now, but I will tell you this. You may

feel abandoned right now, but you're not. You are not.

God is with you. God is with you. And you

need to open your eyes and see Jesus walking on

the water, coming to you in your moment of desperation

between 3 and 6 a.m. in the fourth hour in

the darkest part of the night. This is the promise

of Jesus. John 14, look here on the screen. John 14,

John 14:18

verse 18 says, I will not abandon you. What is

it about that you don't understand? I will not abandon you.

I will not leave you as orphans in the storm.

I will come to you. Will you let him come

to you today in the problem you're going through? Will

you stop trying to row and do it all on

your own power and let Jesus come to you By

the way, how does Jesus come to you when you're

buffeted by the winds? When you're buffeted by those uncontrollable

circumstances you can't change if you wanted to. How does

he come to you when you're buffeted by winds and waves?

I'll tell you how he does. Walking on the very

problem you're afraid of. He walks alone. on the waves,

they're afraid, I'm gonna lap into the boat and sink

the ship. He's walking on the water. Why? He's God.

And you say, how does he do this? Friends, this

is not hard to understand if you understand that Jesus

is God. Since Jesus is God, that means he created water.

He can part the water. He can stop the water.

He can get water out of a rock. He can

walk on water. He can do anything he wants to

with water. He's God. He invented it. Because he's the creator. Now,

the rest of the story, there's a great sub-story of

faith and doubt. And it says this. So they see

Jesus walking out to them in the middle of the night.

Scares them to death. They think at first it's a ghost.

And it says, then Peter... He looks out there and

he sees Jesus walking. He says, Lord, if it's really you,

tell me to come to you on the water. So

Jesus said, come on. Come on down. So Peter jumped

out of the boat, started walking on the water toward Jesus.

But when Peter looked at the wind, you're always going

to get in trouble if you stop focusing on God's greatness,

start focusing on the wind. When Peter looked at the wind,

he became afraid and he began to sink. So he

cried out, Lord, save me. And immediately Jesus reached out

his hand, caught Peter. Why did you doubt? Jesus asked. Okay,

so you just had a little faith. Why did you doubt?

And when they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped.

Then those in the boat, worshiped Jesus saying, truly you

are the son of God. Now I think this is

really kind of interesting here that before jumping out, Peter

asks for ID. Lord, if it's really you, tell me

to come be with you, okay? Can I join you? Now,

Peter is not doubting the possibility of walking on water.

He just wants to make sure it's Jesus. He wants

to just make sure that he's really seeing the Lord.

Peter knew it's safer to be with Jesus out of

the boat than to be in the boat without Jesus.

So he goes, I'd rather be out there with him

on those waves than in here without him. And Jesus says, come.

And you know what? I am absolutely certain that when

Peter said, Lord, if that's really you, invite me to

come walk on the water. I'm sure that pleased the

heart of God. He thought, that's my boy. He's willing

to take a risk. He's willing to move against the impossible.

He's willing to move against the storm. He's willing to

go against the uncontrollable winds. And I'm sure it pleased

him so much because that's what faith does. It's a,

Peter gets the experience of a lifetime because without faith,

it's impossible to please God. John Ortberg wrote a book.

If you want to walk on. water, you got to

get out of the boat. Where do you need to

get out of the boat post-COVID? Where do you need

to take a risk that you've never taken before? Now,

it's interesting, in fact, you might write this down, that Peter,

as long as he focused on Jesus, he's doing just fine.

As soon as he starts looking at the problem, he

starts sinking. You might write this down. When I trust

instead of think, I walk on water instead of sink.

When I trust instead of think, I walk on water

instead of sink. You know what the problem of many

of you is? You think too much. You overthink everything,

and that keeps you worried. But when I trust instead

of think, I walk on water instead of sink. Now, notice,

Jesus reached down to Peter, and he says, you of

little faith. Notice, he didn't say you of no faith.

The guys in the boat were the guys who had

no faith. Peter had a little faith. He just kind

of lost some of it. But when Jesus gets in

the boat, you notice the storm stops because the only

unsinkable ship in the entire world was that boat at

that moment. Because Jesus is in it. John 6, 21.

And after they took Jesus into their boat, they were

able to reach the destination they'd been trying to head

for on the shore. Are you getting this? After they

took Jesus into their boat, they were able to reach

the destination they've been trying to head for on the show.

Some of you have been trying to get to a

certain destination, but you're doing it on your own power.

You're rowing on your own power. And you're rowing against

uncontrollable winds. And you're not going to win against uncontrollable winds.

But you take Jesus in your boat. and you focus

on his greatness and you remember how much he loves

you and know that he cares and that he comes

to you in your deepest need. And they were able

to reach their destination. That is my goal for you

in 2021. I want as your pastor who loves you,

your friend, your buddy, your spiritual coach, I want you

to reach your destination in 2021. but you're gonna have

to do these four things we just talked about. Now

let me conclude by mentioning this. Sometimes God sends winds himself.

They're not from Satan. Sometimes God sends winds himself in

order to help you grow. And opposition and problems can

actually be beneficial to you if you let it grow

your character. You grow stronger with opposition. You grow stronger

through difficulty. And opposition can be helpful if you respond correctly.

A kite rises against the wind. A kite doesn't fly

with the wind. A kite flies against the wind. And

the stronger that wind is, the higher the kite can go.

I have found in my own life that the greater

the opposition, the higher I can go. The higher I

can go. Kites rise with the wind. They use the wind.

They use the opposition to soar even higher. That's what

I want Saddleback Church to be known for. That's what

I want you to be known for. Last verse, Psalm 104,

Psalms 104:4

verse 4. You, Lord, use the winds as your messengers. Hello.

What is God trying to say to you through your

uncontrollable circumstances? You use the winds as your messengers. What

message is God trying to get to you? What is

he trying to say to you? He's trying to say,

stay connected to your spiritual family. He's trying to say,

put into practice everything in this book. Don't just hear it.

You only get blessed if you do it. He's trying

to say, focus on my greatness and remember, I will

never stop loving you. And I care and I see

and I'm aware, and I pay attention to everything in

your life, and I will come to you in your

hour and moment of despair. Just trust me. And if

you'll let me get in your boat, there is no

way it's going to sink. Let's bow our heads. Jesus Christ,

thank you for your word, that it's practical, it's relevant.

Think that you have given us a church family that

we may be built up together so that we all

become fully mature, so that we all become grown up

in our thinking, and then we'll no longer be spiritual

babies tossed back and forth and blown here and there

by every shifting wind. Lord, there's so many shifting winds

in our society today that are just wrong. They're wrong,

they're false, they're lies, they're half-truths. And they're led by

deceptive people who want to lead us into error, that

they make sound like the truth. Help us to look

to your word knowing that it will always guide us

in the right way. Why don't you pray? Say, Jesus Christ,

you know the winds in my life. You know the

uncontrollable circumstances in my life. that scare me, frustrate me,

and fatigue me. Help me to do these four things

you've told us to do, to stay connected to my

spiritual family. Help me to put into practice everything I learn.

Help me to focus on your greatness And to not

just tell you about how big my problem is, but

tell my problem how big you are. Help me to

remember that you will never leave me alone. Thank you

that you come walking on the water, the thing that

scares me the most in my deepest need. Amen. Jesus Christ,

if you've never invited him into your boat, say, Jesus Christ,

come into my boat today. Be in my heart. Be

in my life. Be my Lord and be my Savior.

In your name I pray. Amen.